Bonehead deeds from 2005

These days news organizations are doing a variety of lists and “best of” and “worst of” from the past year. I’ve seen listings of things such as Top Stories, Top Newsmakers, Biggest Jerks, Worse Person, etc.

After having lunch with a couple of my former coworkers and the mention of a couple of bonehead calls or statements we had encountered, I thought it might be interesting to hear what kind of bonehead things or stunts people have seen or heard in the TV business over the past year.

Since I’ve not been in the business during the past year, I can only go on things that I know of from my days in the business.

There was the news producer who, when writing about Lady Diana, referred to her as the Princess of Whales. When told it was Wales, she said, “No, it’s Whales. England is an Island and there are whales around it and that’s why she’s the Princess of Whales”.

Then there is the high-ranking manager who, after the station was knocked off the air, wanted to run a Chyron crawl at the bottom of the screen, alerting viewers that we were off the air. I think somebody had to explain that we couldn’t do that since the station was off the air.

Then there was the high ranking manager who, when seeing the station’s logo projected on the studio floor, was worried that people walking on it might scuff and scratch it. The logo was projected onto the floor a spotlight from the lighting grid overhead.

Then there is the news director who after getting several contracts signed by talent, handed the wrong contract to an anchor.

Then there is the EP who wrote a scathing memo to a newsroom employee. The EP was using the new newsroom computer system and sent the email to everyone in the newsroom instead of just the person in question and the ND. The EP then raced through the newsroom to tell people NOT to read it.

Folks, I’m not making this up. This all happened down on the river.

Do you have any fun things that happened in your shop or at your station over the past year?

Please, don’t name names. Just tell the stories. We’ll let the readers of this blog decide on their own as to which situation merits the status of “top Bonehead” from 2005.

Let the postings begin.

There’s nothing like getting together with old friends over lunch.

I got together Friday afternoon for lunch in Southaven with Jamey Tucker, and Marybeth Conley. We got caught up on life in general and business in particular and it was so much fun. I’m sure glad that I wasn’t trying to drink milk during lunch because they probably would have had me laughing to the point it would have come out my nose.

As it was, we sat there and strolled down memory lane together. I had forgotten how much I missed chatting with MBC since we used to spend about three hours every morning chatting about stuff. I know I’ve talked with and emailed Jamey more this past year than when we worked together down on the river. I’m going to miss Jamey as he prepares to move off to Nashville to work there as WKRN’s religion reporter. In my opinion, they are lucky to have him and he will be a great asset to the organization. For those who don’t know Jamey, he’s a great guy who has an endless supply of jokes. If you can call him your friend, consider yourself fortunate. I know I do. I’ve gotten spoiled to being able to pick up the phone and call him just about anytime of the day.

Thanks to the efforts of MJ who has posted a couple of times on my blog, I have a couple of photos to show you. One is from lunch. I’m the one with the beard and Marybeth is the one with the…oh never mind. You’ll figure it out.

The other is an old publicity photo that was sent to me. It’s about ten years old. In that photo, I’m the one with the dark hair.

Guess what everybody, I’m headed to WMC Channel 5 AND I’ll be working at WHBQ Fox 13.

Those are the rumors that have picked up steam in the last couple of months as my non-compete runs out. I think the WMC rumor stems from the fact that I had lunch back in August with 5’s ND Peggy and was working with some of my wife’s PR clients over at 13. Several good friends have asked when I’ll be back on the air in the Memphis area. I’ve told them while I never say never, I’m not sure it’s going to happen, at least in the area of news. More on that in a minute.

Speaking of getting out of the news business, one of the first people I met when I moved to Memphis was a former reporter from down on the river by the name of Earl Farrell. If you’ve ever met Earl, you know he’s quick with a joke or snappy comment in that growl of a voice, and never met a person he didn’t like or at least wouldn’t say hello to. When I first met Earl he was a partner I think in “Sleep Out Louie’s” in downtown Memphis. Earl had just gotten out of the news business and was telling me how glad he was to have put it behind him. But somewhere along the way, something happened at Sleep Out’s and Earl found himself looking for a job. He briefly reported again at 3 and was later working mornings at WMC for a while. After a few other things, he started producing a show called “My Favorite Restaurant” which airs on the PBS affiliate here in Memphis and also airs in Texas. He’s done well with that.

My wife and I had a chance to have lunch with him last summer and he was talking about restaurants again. Now I see in today’s CA that Earl is opening an eatery in the old Friday’s location at Overton Square. It’s called “Garcia Wells Southwestern Grill”. If you get the chance, stop by for a drink or a bite to eat when it opens. It’s the least you can do for a person who used to be in the news business and still trying to find life after it. While Earl may not buy you a drink, I’ll bet he’ll tell you a joke and chances are, you won’t be able to repeat it to your mom.

I also see that one of the most popular threads in the “Watercooler” section of TV Spy these days has been “I’m so glad to be out of Television”. At this writing it has 118 responses and has been going since 12/22/2005. I think they’ve just about beaten it into the ground. Check out some of the comments at www.tvspy.com .

I talked to my long time friend Jack recently about the news business. He and I started working together in Jackson, TN where I anchored the news and he was sports director. Jack and his wife Pam (who is the most generous, kindhearted and tolerant person you’ll ever meet) have traveled the country as he went from station to station. Jack eventually moved into meteorology and has his degree and seal of approval and has worked at news operations in Missouri to Florida to Texas, to California and to New York State. He has walked away from the news business more often than Vanderbilt has lost to Tennessee. (Okay, not that many times) He’s also worked in TV sales and in sales of equipment for TV. Jack has gotten around and you can just about say that if it has to do with TV, Jack has been there and done that.

I managed to catch up with Jack recently and he and I talked about the TV business and my future. Jack described the news business as being similar to being an athlete. I’m adding to his analogy here. Basically you get the adrenaline pumping for your next performance and you hustle and hustle, trying to get where you need to be on the field or court. The adrenaline rush can sustain you for a while but once the game is over; you realize you have to have another “fix”. It’s the same way in news.

As long as you don’t get hurt and the team does well, everything is fine and you’re looking forward to another round of beating the clock and the competition. But the truth is it takes more than adrenaline to keep you going. A person has to have substance and in the last few years, it seems that is harder to come by.

I left the business in part because I felt drained and exhausted from 25-years in the business. I felt it had sucked the life and energy from me. Like an aging athlete, I wanted to quit before I got traded or booted.

Jack told me it’s easy to be seduced by the siren call of TV news. Like I’ve blogged before, everyone who isn’t in it wants to be and those in it, want to get out. Jack’s returned to the business several times and says at most, it only takes a couple of weeks before you regret having done so. He says the last time, the feeling of regret came just seconds before he went on the air for the first time at his new job.

Jack has managed to parlay his experience into a job where he sells stuff TO television stations now. He’s home on holidays with the kids these days and manages to be there for those special events.

So, will I go back into TV news? I don’t know. I’d like to do something related to TV, but I don’t think it will be the news business.

But like I said, “Never say never”. It will get you every time.

The 50-years of WREG-TV should have been an hour long.

I love history. The History Channel (or as my wife calls it, the World War II channel) is my default channel. It’s educational and offers a great amount of what I call “gee whiz” stuff to help clog your brain.

That’s one of the reasons I TIVOed the 50^th anniversary of WREG that aired Wednesday night. I remember when I set it up to be recorded that I was stunned to see it was just a half hour long. But good things come in small packages. I liked the open and I could see the creative hand of producer/videographer Mike Suriani immediately. Let me just say that Mike makes things sing and when he and I worked on projects, he always made the projects look great and helped me look like I knew what I was talking about. Mike is a detail man.

I was stunned to find out that WREC founder Hoyt Wooten was such a visionary and in my opinion, genius. Yes, I know you have to be smart to get something like this started, but he was thinking about TV back in 1928 when RADIO was in its infancy and TV was the stuff of science fiction, much like warp speed and phasers are today.

Then the show started showing the people whose names became synonymous with WREC/WREG over the years. Some of these people I had the good fortune to meet during my 16-years down on the river and others I had merely heard of. My lovely and talented bride Bethany, who grew up in East Memphis, knew of many of the old timers.

There was Russ Hodge, Kitty Kelly, Fred Cook, Paul Dorman, Roy Dickerson, Olin Morris, Frances Kelly, Charles Brakefield, John Powell, Jim Hutchinson, Ray Pohlman, Pam Crittendon and Tom Stocker.

The program looked back on the station’s first broadcast, which featured the 11^th Gator Bowl with Vanderbilt taking on Auburn. My wife beamed with pride knowing her beloved Commodores were part of this historic event.

It was interesting to hear the comments from the “old timers” as I call them who helped shape television in the MidSouth. I was glad to see they had an interview with Paul Barnett who used to stop by the newsroom well after he retired. He used to stop by and offer news tips and story ideas to the news director and then would stop by my desk to chat with me. He said he liked me and thought I was a level headed young man. Okay, maybe he wasn’t a good judge of character. It broke my heart when one of the news directors basically had him barred from the newsroom because the ND found him to be annoying and out of touch with the current view of what passes for news. Paul died a few years ago.

We got to see groundbreaking events such as the first stereo broadcast in Memphis. (It was the Sunset Symphony) and to hear from those who covered the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel.

It showed Pam Crittendon, who is now at FedEx. She was the first black woman to anchor evening news at 3. I remember I had just started anchoring in Jackson, Tn and I saw her on a Sunday night broadcast that was just 15-minutes long. She was moved to 6 and 10 weekdays not long after that. Later, I would work with Pam at 3 for several years before she left the station.

I saw Ray Pohlman who served many roles in the newsroom including ND. He’s now a honcho at Autozone. I interviewed with him once. He didn’t hire me.

I also have a quick story about former sports anchor Tom Stocker which I will relate at the end of this posting.

But getting back to the special. By the time we got 19 minutes into the commercial free show, I remember wondering, how are they going to get everything into this since they’ve spent 2/3rds of the show just getting us to the mid-80s. I found out in the last ten minutes. They kicked it into high gear and raced through the 90s and early part of this decade. I was disappointed. I got the impression that this project was originally going to run an hour and someone high up on the food chain said cut it and shoe horn this puppy into a half hour slot because we don’t want to lose money by pre-empting a network show. I also speculate that some editing had to be done close to the end to remove those in news who no longer work there. (Pam McKelvy, Jennifer Van Vrancken). You can’t tell me they weren’t in the original wrap-up.

I ended up on the cutting room floor (the original host of the News Channel 3 Outdoors show which is the only locally produced outdoor show) but then that doesn’t surprise me. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people ended up on the cutting room floor.

All in all, I give the show a 7 on a scale of ten as entertaining and informative. It started a strong 9 and then in my opinion, dropped off a bit. Still, if you can tear yourself away from a silly sitcom and catch a re-run of this, it will be worth your while. You may be able to see it on-line at 3’s website.

Now, back to Tom Stocker, local sports announcer and former sports guy at 3. I first met Tom back in 1982 at the State Basketball Championships in Murfreesboro, TN. I was anchoring at WBBJ back then and the sports guy at 7 was Jack Church, who is still one of my best friends. He was going to cover the championships on a Saturday night and wanted to know if I would like to go along and help him. He would shoot the games and I would shoot the interviews for him in the locker rooms. We were up in the press box with crews from around the state shooting the games and there was this guy right next to us, complaining about something that had happened at the station. He was saying they wouldn’t give him a shooter for this or that and managers didn’t appreciate this or that. I thought he looked familiar and Jack Church was almost beside himself. Jack turned and whispered to me, “Do you know who that is, that’s Tom Stocker. He works at Channel 3 in Memphis.” We were both quite impressed since he worked at a place that reflected the pinnacle of achievement. We introduced ourselves and later remarked how we couldn’t believe he wasn’t thanking his lucky stars he worked at that station in Memphis.

Almost ten years later, after Tom had left the business and I was working weekend nights at 3, he filled in for somebody for a few weeks on sports. I asked him if he recalled our meeting back in Murfreesboro. He didn’t. But he was flattered that I could recall the event in such detail.

Oh, the TV news business.

News that I can use from the past 24 hours.

Automakers must have heard that except for pineapple, I’ve never met a food I didn’t like. Apparently a growing number of Americans (emphasis on growing) feel the same way (except for pineapple) since automakers announced that starting in 2006, they’re making car and truck seats a half-inch wider to accommodate our posteriors in particular and backsides in general. Thank you Big 3 automakers for thinking of me. Nothing worse than a hangover from alcohol and “hangover” from eating too much. A former coworker told me of an easy way to lose 15-pounds of ugly fat…. Just cut off my head! (rim shot) Good night folks, make sure you tip the waitress on the way out! That’s right, it's an old joke, but this is an old show!! (rim shot)

The other news I can use from the past 24 hours comes from the CA by way of Woman’s Day magazine. You should eat all day long since sticking to 3 meals a day isn’t the smartest eating plan. You do have to watch what you eat and I’m not talking about the short journey it takes from the plate or box into your mouth. The blurb also says watching your favorite sitcom may just make you feel better about yourself by boosting your self-image and relieving stress. Let’s see, eating all day and watching the tube. That’s my kind of plan. One other thing, the experts say don’t stretch before a workout but do stretch afterwards. I like that too since that means I don’t have to stretch before I jog from the sofa to the refrigerator and back. I can just stretch out on the sofa when I get back.

Folks, that’s news I will use.

When you lose an established news anchor, what’s the best route to filling the slot?

That’s a question that’s facing the incoming news director down on the river in Memphis.

I’ve never had to make such a decision and I’m sure it’s going to be a tough one.

Pam McKelvy’s departure after ten years on the evening news at 3 started the speculation on who would take her place. Earlier this year, Markova Reed who anchors the morning show pinch-hit for PMACK while she was on maternity leave. Nightsider Jennifer Van Vrancken, who left after the November book, also did duty on the desk.

The problem stems from the fact that GMs and NDs along with consultants will tell you that mornings are where the growth is. At least that’s what they used to tell me. With 3 and WMC 5 locked in a close race for first place in the mornings, do you pull MRE off the morning for the evening, disrupting an established show and perhaps losing momentum there while trying to get things clicking on the night side? Or do you keep her on the morning show to keep strength there and hire someone from outside to step in, to minimize the disruption. If you do that, you run the risk of alienating the morning anchor who, unless she can be dissuaded, will feel she’s a victim of her own success on the mornings and now has nowhere else to go. It’s a hard sell since the hours are bad for the early mornings, but the night side isn’t so great if you want to have nightlife.

I’d be curious as to what news directors think about this situation and what they’ve had to do or would do in a situation like this. It’s merely speculation of course since the incoming ND and the present GM have the ultimate say.

My name is Joe Larkins and I’m a packrat.

We’re almost into a new year and my lovely and talented bride and I need to lose some of the clutter around our house.

How two people and two dogs can accumulate so much junk is beyond me. I’ve got magazines, books, woodworking and shop manuals, banjo building catalogs, (yes I plan to build a banjo even though I can’t play one) more books, stuff and more stuff. I’m tired of not being able to find anything because of clutter. I tend to be a stacker and my desk at home shows it. If a messy desk is a happy desk, mine is overjoyed. I get this trait from my mother who is an admitted packrat. She and I agree that less than a day after you get rid of something, you will need it. It has happened every time I’ve tried to get rid of the clutter but I’m determined to do something before out house collapses from the sheer weight of stacks of National Geographic, Smithsonian magazines and American Heritage periodicals.

Is there perhaps a 12-step program for this condition?

Is it too late to send out Christmas cards?

This has been such a crazy year and the holidays have proven to be rather hectic because of family circumstances. My lovely and talented bride reminded me as she has for several weeks that we haven't sent out any Christmas cards. I figure that if people can leave their Christmas lights hanging until June, I can send out Christmas cards after the first of the year. Hey, you can take the boy out of Kentucky, but you can't the Kentucky out of the boy. Besides, it's the thought that counts. That's my line and I'm sticking to it.
I know Christmas trees are already showing up on the curb. It's such a sad sight. My mother-in-law usually has hers on the curb at first light the day after Christmas. I hope she doesn't do that this year since we got her an artificial one. Bethany likes to keep ours up until after the 12-days of Christmas. It's such a pretty tree this year. If I can figure out how to do pictures on this blog, I'll post it.

Happy birthday to 3, Happy birthday to 3, Happy birthday....

Nice write-up in the Commercial Appeal this morning for the 50-year anniversary of the operation down on the river. The Wooten Radio Electric Company has come a long way since Hoyt Wooten was first drawn to the warmth and humming of radio tubes. I know that in my 16-years there I saw a lot of changes and that was well after they had switched from steam-driven cameras. I know Jerry Tate has worked much of this past year on this special that looks back on 3’s 50-year history.

When I was hired back in January 1989, Olin Morris was the GM and former GM Frank Roberts was head of the NYT’s broadcast group, which I think included four stations. Olin truly made you feel like you were part of the NYT family and you received a handwritten note on your birthday. His calligraphy was beautiful. Frank Roberts was a little more gruff, but he always spoke to me when our paths crossed. I feel fortunate that since I left 3, I’ve been able to pick up the phone and call them and have had lunch with them as I sought their advice. I was fortunate to have met former GM Charles Brakefield while I was covering the MidSouth Fair. I didn’t know who this white-haired gentleman was who walked up to me and asked me if I knew Frank Roberts. I said I did and he told me the next time I saw Mr. Roberts I was supposed to tell him he was a no-good S.O.B.
I told this gentleman I couldn’t do that since I would be fired. It was then he revealed his identity and I later learned he and Frank had a father-son relationship. Mr. Brakefield’s relationship with and support of the MidSouth Fair was such that they named a building after him.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, word on the street is that the operation down on the river plans to become Numeral Uno in all local time slots during this anniversary year. They’re there in at least one position and are making some headway in others. As for other timeslots, it’s going to require some serious mojo to make it happen, especially with the departure of Jerry Tate and Pam McKelvy. But that’s a posting for another time.

The VJ experiment and cross training in the newsroom

Some folks in TV newsrooms across the country are keeping an out on the VJ experiments taking place at stations WKRN in Nashville and KRON in San Francisco. A good friend and former coworker is joining the effort in Nashville after the first of the year and looking forward to it. I think the brouhaha over this may be lost on some of those working in smaller markets. I know from experience in small markets, it’s not unusual for people to work as one-man bands or to even switch off. Those working in a switch off crew means one person will be the reporter on one story while the other person shoots the story and later in the day or the next day, they switch up jobs. IMHO that makes for a well-rounded person when he or she is ready to move up to a bigger market. It also gives a person some appreciation for the job that someone else is faced with. Back in the early 80s I worked occasionally as a one-man band. It was tougher then because the cameras were heavy and the record deck was a separate unit that weighed a ton. Add a heavy tripod, and battery belt for the camera or light and then try slogging through some mud. That’s some character building experience. After that, you’re a little more appreciative of what the shooters do day in and out. That’s why any videographer I worked with will tell you that I always offered to carry equipment from the camera or sticks to lights. Yet, I know some reporters whine about carrying a microphone or cable.

A few years back, there was a very brief effort down at the newsroom down on the river to “cross-train” everybody. The idea was a good one but it never really got going perhaps because of logistics. Anybody in a newsroom knows there’s nothing worse than a producer or assignment editor screaming about needing some video or a live shot in one part of town when you are way on the other side. Those folks who have never worked in the field sometimes get the idea that you should be there shortly after you get the phone or radio call. The folks who’ve never been in the field don’t know what it’s like to get caught in traffic or have to drag gear from the car to the scene, shoot it and then hoof it back to the live truck or sat truck for a feed. And if they’ve never had to power up a live truck, get the mast up, tune it in and feed tape, it makes the problem worse. They don’t care if you get a speeding ticket or maybe drive a bit on the reckless side.

Then there are those in the field who have never worked in the newsroom when the news director is trying to get folks scrambled so somebody can do a live report on. The producers have a ND, an assistant ND or executive producer breathing down their necks trying to beat the competition on the air. On top of everything else, the anchor about to hit the air or the reporter who just arrived on the scene is begging for information so they don’t look like a total doofus when that red light comes on. It’s pretty intense. That’s why I think it helps everybody to be cross-trained so they have some idea of the limitations and needs of everyone else. I’m talking about job swapping or at least job-shadowing. It helps people to not take someone else in the news operation for granted. Anchors need to get unhooked from the desk on a regular basis and go out and report and not just regurgitate what a line producer or field producer has written for them. I know reporters would sometimes like to remind anchors that there is more to reporting than just shooting a standup. Without reporters, anchors can get mighty lonely on the desk.

Reporters need to remember that without the video shooter, they’d just be just a voice…radio. (No, there’s nothing wrong with radio. I used to be a radio reporter). Reporters, also remember the shooter works with reporters, not for them. Ask to carry some gear.

Reporters and shooters need to remember to keep the folks in the newsroom abreast of what’s going on with them. Things such as where they are, how long it will be before they’re on the scene and ready to go. Producers need to remember that that the folks in the field are usually scrambling to get where they’re going and constantly calling them on the cell or radio isn’t going to do anything but add to the tensions. And those folks higher up on the food chain need to remember to not go into the production booth unless things are going to hell or you really don’t trust a producer. I’ve seen more than one producer along with the production staff get into a meltdown situation because a ND or EP decided at that time to come in and produce the cut-in or show over their shoulder. It doesn’t accomplish much and usually only aggravates a bad situation. After you get off the air is the time to ask what the heck someone was thinking, not during it.

And everyone should remember that if everything goes to hell, it’s the ND that the GM will be calling.

Just let me say, I’ve been there, seen that.

Does anyone want to come out and play?

The New Year is almost upon and some big changes are underway already for some of the local operations. I predict we'll see some changes in the way some of the Memphis area TV newsrooms operate as well. I'm thinking about trying something that may or may not work. I know there's a lot of inside information floating around out there from people who work in these newsrooms, but some if not most have been told not to share. I'm talking about someone getting ready to be promoted or leave. that kind of stuff. Some don't want to post something because that might reveal that person's identity and put his or her job in jeopardy. Nothing is worth losing a job over. So, I'm entertaining the idea of letting my website become a clearinghouse for such information. I've got an email address joelarkins1@yahoo.com
and if you have some information you'd like to share but don't want to post it directly to this blogspot, then just email it to me. If you want me to know your name that's fine. If you don't, that's fine too. I won't reveal sources since I don't want anyone to lose a job or catch some heat at work. I'm not sure if there will be any contributions at all and this might be one of those things that might have seemed like a good idea but really wasn't. So, I'm planning to run this up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes. If not, then nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it works out, who knows what will develop. Let the emails begin

Around my house I'm third in line for a butt scratch and the last to be fed.

You should be so lucky to be one of my wife's dogs. Bethany and I started rescuing Scottish Terriers about ten years ago and up until last July when we lost Barkley, we had three of them. Two wheaton colored Scotties and a black one. Now we just have Newby and Mac. We refer to Newby as the AD&D dog since he forgets he just came in the house and has to go right back out. Mac has serious medical problems including allergies (we give him an injection every two weeks to combat that), he gets an antihistamine for scratching, he has joint problems so he gets a special additive to his food each day and he has epileptic seizures ( he gets a custom made pill for that twice a day) . I've told Bethany to never tell me how much we've spent on Mac's medical bills but I do know I could buy a good used car with that money. He is a lucky dog to be in my wife's care.
Our dogs are treated like children. They have bone shaped stockings hanging by the fireplace. Santa Paws, as my wife refers to the jolly old elf, leaves chew bones and squeak toys in those stockings. They had a big time Christmas morning.
But don't think the dogs don't earn their keep around stately Larksmith Manor. They keep marauding squirrels away and we've yet to be invaded by a single one of the shadows they see and bark at in the yard and alley. They alert us to the arrival of the postman who dares to drop stuff through the mail slot in our door and then walk by the windows to the next house. How dare that person walk through our front yard.
They also alert us to when it's time to get out of bed and pay attention to them, take them for a walk and when dinner time rolls around.
Yes, one should be lucky enough to be my wife's dogs. They have their humans well-trained.

I've blogged more this past week than I have all year.

Wait a minute, I've only been blogging since Tuesday. lol
This will probably be my last post for this Christmas weekend. I ran into a former coworker and her husband at a restaurant in Southaven Thursday. I really would have liked to visit with them since I used to make it a point to annoy "D" at every opportunity. I couldn't since I was meeting my elderly aunt for lunch and to give her a photograph. It was a picture of my grandparents' house during the 1937 Mississippi River flood. The house, which used to stand in the now almost non-existent town of Dorena, Missouri, had water up to the roof line. Several people are standing on the roof and one of the small boys may be my dad. I'd share the photo with you but I haven't figured that out yet on this blog. The picture, which was about 2 inches by four inches, was crumpled and looked like it had been stepped on by a muddy boot. I cleaned it up and removed the wrinkles as I'm trying to teach myself Photoshop. It only took me about six hours of work and it looks okay in my opinion. I'm planning to give it to my Dad tomorrow. This may be his last Christmas. He was diagnosed with cancer back in April and right now the prognosis is not good. He's 77 and at one time I would have thought that was old. But as I'm about to turn 50, I've changed my opinion on age. Anyway, I hope it brightens his day a little.
After lunch with my aunt, I stopped by to see an elderly, ailing friend who lives just behind Graceland and has since 1962. My friend who is 87 was diagnosed about a year ago with inoperable cancer. My wife made some pralines, minature walnut pies and cheese wafers. I wanted to drop them off because he has a sweet tooth. His wife, is bedridden and has alzheimers. One of their sons lives with them and helps take care of them. My heart goes out to them this holiday.
And for those of you who read this blog, please, be safe if you have to travel over the Christmas holiday. I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Why did I leave the studio down on the river?

That has to be the most commonly asked question I’ve received since I bid farewell to viewers December 24^th of 2004. People want to know if it had to do with my relationships with particular co-workers.

On the anniversary of my departure, I’ll try to explain in this post, which I will tell you will be a long one. I want to make sure you have the background in context. These are the events as I recall them and I’m sure there are those who dispute what’s in this post. As my younger brother says, there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I will also say at this point, if you are one of those posters who like to write nasty things anonymously, please, please don’t on this blog. These are my thoughts and like I used to tell people who would call and complain repeatedly about something they saw on 3: “Don’t watch” or “Switch the channels”. One of the things great about America is that we have the freedom to choose what we watch and read. If you don’t like what you’re seeing, watch or read something else. It’s just that simple.

When I first went to work at the studio down on the river, I signed a contract. It was a page and a half long and basically included a non-compete clause, spelled out my salary, had a morality clause and some other boilerplate you’d expect in such a contract. It was a fair agreement. Both sides knew what was expected of each other. There was a little give and take and both sides felt it was acceptable. Every three years after that, the contract seemed to grow. It eventually grew to 17 pages. More on that later.

At 3. I was originally hired to report and work the then, half hour morning show with Todd Demers. Jerry Tate was still working at WHBQ at the time and since so many people had left, Alex Coleman, who had been working weekend nights, was working six nights a week on the 6 & 10. I filled in for him on Saturday nights. Todd and I enjoyed working with each other and a good time was had by all on the anchor desk.

Around the last of June 1989, six months after I started, the station announced that Jerry was coming back to 3. The news director also announced that Alex was being promoted to Weekday mornings and that I was being promoted to weekend nights with reporting three days of the week. Yes, Alex and I were give “promotions” to each others spots. At the time I told the news director I appreciated the “promotion” but that one of the reasons I had moved to Memphis was to be able to see my two young sons on the weekends in Western Kentucky where they lived. I told him I knew the station placed an emphasis on family and I hoped he understood. The news director smiled, said if I wanted to work there, I would suck it up and do what he said. I did just that, especially since my wife and I had just bought a house.

I knew that if a person worked hard, let people see you as a team player, that doors would open for you. I made the best of the situation and grew close to my co-workers on the weekend. A good time was had by all.

Fast-forward to the early 90s and a couple of news directors later, I was called into the ND’s office on a Friday morning. It was announced that starting the next morning, 3 was starting a two-hour Saturday morning newscast that would run from 6 to 8. I asked what unlucky %&#! got stuck with that shift and he smiled and said YOU. I showed up the next morning at two o’clock for the inaugural Saturday morning news and for the next six weeks, I single anchored the show. That’s when the ND announced the response to the morning show was so good that they would lengthen it to three hours and start a Sunday morning show as well. I would continue to single anchor it. The hours were bad but I knew in my heart that if you worked hard and showed you were a team player, that doors would open for you.

By now, the weekday morning show had expanded to an hour and Alex Coleman and Marybeth Conley anchored it. Alex was then moved to the 10 to co-anchor with Jerry and they needed someone to sit in with MBC. Since I was anchoring weekends, I was put on the desk with her for three days a week and Dennis Turner sat in with her the other two days. Eventually I was promoted back to the morning show Monday through Friday, where I had started back in 1989 and Dennis was moved to the weekends and he was given a co-anchor. I figured one more promotion would either have me back on weekend nights or out the door.

Now in the ten years of news prior to my arrival at 3, I had worked with a variety of co-anchors and except for one who couldn’t seem to remember my name, (kept confusing me with the weather guy who was Jack) I can safely say I got along with everybody. I learned if you want to be a successful anchor, get to know your anchor team, and let the audience get to know you. If the audience considers you to be part of their family, it builds trust and they are more apt to welcome you into their home on a regular basis.

When it comes to a co-anchor, one would be hard-pressed to find someone better than Marybeth Conley. For about nine years, she and I were joined at the hip for two and a half hours each morning. Except for my wife, she knew more about me than anybody else in the city and I would say except for her husband, I probably knew as much about her. I used to tell people that with her last son, I was there for everything but conception and birth. MBC was the consummate professional and was a stickler when it came to what she thought was sloppy writing by the producers or reporters. I always said she made me look good and I hoped that I helped her in some way or another. The two of us were paired with Todd Demers on weather and Joey Hadley on traffic and not only did we climb to the number one spot for a while in the mornings, we had fun doing it. I used to actually look forward to getting up at that time in the morning just to get to work. What kind of insanity is that? By this time, I was also anchoring the Noon show where we had what I felt was a close knit group and was also co-hosting the only locally produced outdoor show, which proved to be quite popular. I felt I had hit my stride and that things were looking up, Things were going so well that during my next to the last contract signing, I was led to believe that I had a path to the night side anchor slot, which was the only post I had not held at the station.

But somehow things started to unravel and it came not long after the arrival of the last news director I worked with. I guess I just couldn’t get in sync and I got the impression that unless you were hired by this person, your stock really wasn’t much good.

It was about this time that my last multi-year contract was wrapping up. I knew things were not going to go well when I first sat down to talk contract. The ND said she hated negotiating contracts and after talks started, I found out why. I think the ND didn’t understand the concept of give and take in negotiating. It was at this time I mentioned that I was interested in coming off the morning show and since it was “all about family” and being a “team player” down on the river, I said I was ready for a change. After all, I had taken one for the team every time they had asked. I wasn’t getting any younger and I said my wife and I wanted to get a life back while we were young enough to have one. Since I knew Jerry was planning to leave in the not too distant future, I raised that possibility with the ND and the GM. It was then that the GM who had been there for ten years at that time informed me that I “had not really proven myself in news”. Now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’m smart enough to know that for all practical purposes, this case was closed. So much for being a team player and that overall family concept at work. They did tell me how much they felt I contributed to the morning show and they’d like for me to stay on there. I was also informed that my participation on the Outdoor show which I helped build from scratch was entirely voluntary. Wow, what a kick in the pants.

On top of everything else, the new contract was close to falling under the heading of indentured servitude. My wife looked at it prior to me taking it to an attorney . She remarked about how one sided it was and that while it spelled out what they could do, it didn’t give me any much of anything. It also toughened the non-compete to the point where if I left or was asked to leave, , I would just about have to move out of town. I showed it to an attorney who laughed and asked “wasn’t slavery abolished by the 13^th amendment?”

I told the folks down on the river that I couldn’t sign the new and improved contract and that I’d just leave at the end of the year. The ND then asked if I would stay on for just one more year under the new contract. I asked why the ND would think I’d sign this contract for one year but not three. Then I was asked if I would stick around for one year under the old contact. I eventually signed an extension of my old contract for money they wouldn’t offer in the new contract. To add insult to injury, I discovered after I got home that the contract that the ND gave me as my copy was actually that of another employee.

While all this was going on, Marybeth was moved to another show and I found that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get the mojo working with her replacement. I finally asked a co-worker whose opinion I valued and I was told that it was not just me. While that made me feel better, it still didn’t resolve the problem and I was called into the ND’s office on more than one occasion where I was asked what the problem was. I never really had an answer. Those who know me, know that I like to joke and tease with my co-workers. I tried that approach and I tried to be straightforward with things too. Nothing worked and eventually we ended up with a situation similar to that found in the “breakfast scene” from the movie Citizen Kane. Go see the movie if you don’t get the reference.

In retrospect, staying on the extra year was not a good idea on my part. Once I had made up my mind that I was going to leave, it was hard to go into work during 2004. Oh, there were times when we really did shine on the morning show, but I will admit there were many days that I was grateful to have Todd on the desk for a distraction. From what I’ve been told, not that much has changed at the desk since then.

So, for those of you who ask, I left Channel 3 because I had nowhere else to go and no future except for the same old, same old. I left because I wouldn’t sign what I consider to be an unfair contract. I wasn’t the only one who thought it was one sided. Still many more folks did sign it. I left on my own terms and it wasn’t because I didn’t get along with a co-worker. That was merely an annoyance that I figured needed to be someone else’s headache and not mine.

Where do I go from here? That’s a posting for another time.

So long Jerry Tate and thanks for all the memories!

I haven't talked with Jerry Tate since around the first of November and at that time he told me Friday, December 23rd would be his last day on the air at the studio down on the river.
I don't know if they plan a big send off but they should.
For those of you who don't know him, Jerry is a class act. He's actually kind of quiet to work around but has a great sense of humor and loves to tell and hear a great joke. I remember he couldn't wait to show a gift that he had bought for someone in the family. It was a Billy Bass, one of those singing mounted fish. He may have had one of the first ones in town.
I first met Jerry at the New Daisy Theatre in 1989 when we were both attending the Gridiron show in Memphis. At the time, he was still working at WHBQ where he had gone for a few years after they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Jerry was with his wife and he came over and spoke to me, calling me by name. I was flattered by such a move since I had only been in town about five months. We exchanged pleasantries and it wasn't long after that he moved back to the studio down by the river.
I've seen Jerry in a variety of situations and even when he was angry, he still seemed to be calm. There was that one time that Congressman Harold Ford Senior called him to chew him out and Senior apparently had the wrong information. Those of us in the newsroom knew the exchange had gotten more than heated when Jerry uttered the words "No congressman, you go to hell". Jerry got a round of applause from most of those sitting around him in the newsroom.
I think Jerry then walked into the news director's office and explained what happened and he may have even offered to resign but he said he wasn't going to take that kind of abuse from someone who was wrongly accusing him. The news director went to bat for Jerry, as he should. Would that happen now? Who knows.
Jerry was a great ad-libber, a talent I never seemed to cultivate. If you had a question about someone or something in the city of Memphis, chances are Jerry knew the answer or could steer you in the right direction.
He was patient and would offer suggestions on a story if you asked. If he had an ego, I don't think I ever saw it come out. That's compared to some who think that just because they are on television, that somehow, that makes them special and gives them the right to be rude or talk down to people. Jerry would be the first to tell you that being on TV is just a job and there is no glamour to being on TV.
The up and coming generation would do well to follow Jerry's example, but from what I've seen so far, they won't. Too many are all flash and no substance and they just want the "old folks" to get out of the way, so they can show everyone how it is done.
I think the newsroom will have a large hole in it that can't be filled after you leave.
Good luck my friend. Know that you will be missed.

A kick in the rear is still a step forward!

I was thinking this morning about Pam McKelvy's departure from down on the river and how, according to one blog I read that they quickly removed all traces of her existence from the station website. Word has it, she wanted off the night-side so she could spend more time with her realitvely new baby. I applaud you for being willing to take a stand about your future. Sometimes you just have to push back from the table and say "hey, no more Jell-O for me Ma". (Some of you younger readers may not get that reference)
I really didn't get to know Pam that well but I know more about her than she might know. That's because from the moment of her arrival, she and I shared the same desk at 3. Our paths just didn't cross that much because she worked night side and I worked early dayside. I will admit that early on I could tell what she had to eat the night before because spaghetti sauce might have splashed on the computer screen or some fried crumbs might have fallen into the keyboard because we all ate at our desks. But she always kept her stuff on the desk a whole neater than I did. I'm just a stacker. I always enjoyed seeing the knick-knacks and photos that she displayed. I never knew who these folks were and always assumed they were family. I never got around to asking her. And it was not unusual to arrive early in the morning and find fresh flowers at the desk. The occasional lilies were a little overpowering with their fragrance and I had to move them into the sports office since they triggered headaches. The rest of the flowers were quite nice.
I only got the chance to anchor with her a handful of times on the night side. She was always so nice to me and we'd chat during the packages and commercial breaks like old friends. It wasn't until much later at 3 that I remember regretting taking such things for granted. I know not everyone cared for Pam's sometimes-verbose nature in the newsroom, but at least she was friendly.
So just in time for the holidays, PMack has given herself a new life with her family. Yes, there will be some adjustment, and you may even look back. Heck you may find yourself back in the fray one day. I'm betting you won't. Here's a pat on the back for PMack.

A new hand on the newsroom helm down on the river

I see it's official that Bruce Moore from WVEC in Norfolk, Virginia will take over the news director post at the end of January. He brings some strong credentials with him and I would assume some strong leadership as well. They may need it in the newsroom down on the river with the changes underway including the loss of two primary anchors in the month of December.
I was thinking back to the news directors that I had seen at 3 since January 1989 when I arrived there and how after talking to coworkers over the years, there seemed to be a cycle of strong (headstrong) directors followed by a not so strong news director.
It started with Bill Berra who hired me. He had taken over after the departure of Ray Pohlman I believe. Berra along with his strong-arm executive produce Shawn Briggs ran a pretty tight ship at 3 with Briggs being the muscle to bully people around. Briggs would have lasted about two seconds in the current HR era of NYT policy. Still, he was a helluva story idea man. I think this team has worked together in other markets in St. Louis, Florida and Milwaukee. When they came to 3, they had T-shirts printed up that stated, "We're here to stay". This was a big deal since there had been so much turmoil and so many departures when they arrived. They stayed 18-months.
Dave Cochran, a former EP out of Baltimore, followed them. He was a mousy little guy who seemed to be more interested in watching game shows during the afternoon crunch than looking over a script for deadline. He didn't inspire a lot of confidence in the newsroom and it seems to me he left after about nine months to a year. One of the last things he did before departing was saddle me with a 21-part series that was sponsored. I damned near died when he did that and then a couple of days later announced he was leaving.
The next news director was Tim Morrissey, who had left the NYT's Scranton station for a post as News Director in Baltimore before coming to Memphis. I really liked Tim and he was one of my favorite ND's to work for. Maybe it was because he managed to get the 21 part series knocked down to just 14. Tim was there for about two years and was an innovator. I understand he is well liked in his current position as GM at NYT's KFOR in Oklahoma City.
When he left Bob Jacobs, the assistant ND took over the post and in my humble opinion, I thought the strong/not so strong news director cycle had been broken. Maybe it was because I really liked Bob as well. Unfortunately, Bob was escorted out one day and to this day, no one really seems to know why, including Bob who told me he asked for an explanation from the higher ups. I think it was just politics at the corporate level that apparently felt they needed a place for someone they felt was a rising star and they felt Bob was expendable.
They brought in Craig Jahelka as ND from the NYT's Huntsville station where he was also ND. I credit Craig with changing the face of weather coverage in Memphis, as we know it. In all fairness, he propelled WHNT to the number one post in that market and he planned to do it in Memphis as well through weathergasms as they were known around the newsroom. This was a guy who would walk around the newsroom during ratings muttering that we just needed some really bad weather to break out. He implemented the wall-to-wall coverage of weather when tornado warnings went out. I remember the first time it happened. He saw that a warning had gone out for Lee County and told the Noon on air staff of weather anchor Todd Demers and news anchor Pam Crittendon to stay on the air until this tornado warning for Lee County was over. He didn't want to hear any excuses when some people tried to protest. Afterwards when it was revealed to him that the county under the tornado warning was NOT
Lee County, Arkansas, which is in the Memphis ADI but rather Lee County, Mississippi, which is not, I think that took a little wind out of sails. I think it's safe to say that Craig brought a more tabloid style of flash to 3. And I think it was politics that got him into 3 and politics that led to him leaving. He didn't like Memphis and told me on more than one occasion how much he didn't care for it. This, he said, was merely a stopping point on his way to a GM post. I credit Craig with changing the culture of the newsroom at 3. He was there about five years. He is now a GM in Bakersfield.
The next news director was Michele Gors Paris. On one hand, she was at the helm when 3 won an Emmy for news excellence and a Murrow award. On the other hand, at least after conferring with co-workers at the time, she was not considered a strong leader. If the consultant or GM suggested it, we did it. Still, an anchor at 3 told me that it was still preferable to the policies of the previous regime. I think if there had been stronger people skills in place and perhaps she had been able to respond to questions about policy faster, then she would have inspired more confidence from the troops. She appeared to be on the fast track to a GM post before she decided to take a ND post closer to her folks so that her children would get to know their grandparents.
So now we get to Bruce Moore. He arrives during the anniversary year of WREG. They celebrate 50-years in 2006 and word has it that the goal is to be Number 1 in all the time slots in local news. That looks like it's attainable in some time periods but it's going to be a hard fought win in others. Bruce, we're looking forward to seeing how that Moore magic will make it happen.

It's all about........timing!

Well if the rumors of Pam McKelvy’s immediate resignation are true and at this writing, that’s what some of the folks in the newsroom on the river apparently are still wondering, then this is a big deal at 3.

Jerry Tate’s been doing a countdown since at least early November and his last day on the air, at least to my knowledge, is Friday night. He’s planning to be on vacation the last week of the year before he moves on to his new post with the city of Collierville. With Jennifer Van Vrancken having already said “sayonara” that leaves Markova Reed the heir or heiress apparent, especially since MR filled in on the early evening shows during McKelvy’s maternity leave. That means they’ll have to get someone else to sit in with Kris Anderson and Todd Demers in the morning. Any shake-up on an anchor desk usually gives viewers an excuse to check out the competition, especially if management is slow about making the announcement and getting people moved. That means loyal viewers may decide to look elsewhere for their local news. Management will look at this in one of two ways. One, will they move MR to the night side and risk possibly slipping on the morning show or Two, will they keep Reed on the mornings and try to bring in somebody new to the night side. Unfortunately, Richard Ransom, who has been working the 10 o’clock news for the past year, has not been sitting on the desk in the early evening. On top of everything else, the newsroom doesn’t have a news director in place, at least to my knowledge. In my opinion, anyway you shake it up, this is good news for the competition. I’d hate to be the managers. But then, I’m sure they’ll tell you, that’s why they get paid the big bucks.

Pssstt!! Hey buddy, wanna buy a used TV set?

The article in this morning's CA about analog TVs caught my attention. For those who didn't catch it, it focused on how analog television sets will basically become obsolete February 17, 2009 as the nation converts to digital. It goes on to talk about converters and such and why buying an analog set now is not a good idea.

That made me think about how many TV sets my lovely and talented bride and I have in our house. We have seven. We didn't intend for it end up like that. We started out with one in the den and one in the bedroom. Then we got tired of running from the kitchen to the den to find out what just happened in the ballgame or the program we were watching while we went on a snack run. When we turned one of the bedrooms into an office, we had to put a TV in so we could get caught up on what was going on in the world or get an update on the local weather if some nastiness was brewing. When I enclosed the screened-in porch with glass and it became our "lanai" (in Floridian, it means glassed in porch") we added a TV so we could relax as we watched the birds feeding just outside and laugh at the poor folks having to drive home to points east on North Parkway. We have a small set for those staying in our guest room. The last place I put one was after I built out our attic a couple of years and turned it into a master bedroom, full bath and walk-in closet. I was still working on the Morning show down on the river and a guy told me that he enjoyed watching in the morning but that because of his busy schedule of trying to get the kids and himself out of the house, there was only one time he ever actually sat down to watch. I'm not sure if he made editorial comments or sounds while sitting there on the throne to watch. Maybe it helped him stay regular. Anyway, I installed a set in the master bathroom after seeing similar setups in show homes. My wife could watch me make bonehead mistakes on TV while she put on her make-up.
That's seven sets I think.
Anyway, I’m not on the cutting edge when it comes to technology. I just recently heard they had this Internet thing on computers and I'm thinking it's here to stay. I was concerned it might be a flash in the pan.
As for the TVs, I’ll wait for a while. If the deadline is 2009, I may start looking in the circulars around 2010 to start replacing them. In the meantime, I guess we'll have to start finding interesting things to watch. I hope something comes along.

Do you know if where you live is wet, dry or moist?

Kentucky is nothing but accomodating to visitors. I picked up a copy of the "Kentucky: 2005 Great Getaway Guide" this past week while waiting at the Bowling Green/Warren County airport and began thumbing my way through it. As you might expect, there's a "welcome" page from the governor of the Bluegrass State on page 3 and across pages 4 and 5 you will find the table of contents and a road map of the state. On the top of page 6, you find a U-S map with the state of Kentucky highlighted to let those of you who are geographically impaired figure out where Kentucky is. At the bottom of that page is another map that shows you where you can buy alcohol.
Is this the epitome of Southern Hospitality or what. Imagine this scenario. You are driving from Nashville north on I-65 toward Indianapolis and you're thinking, "I forgot to get MeeMaw a bottle of Old Rotgut for her birthday". No problem, you just turn to your wife, child or significant other and ask to see the copy of the"Kentucky: 2005 Great Getaway Guide" that they're thumbing through and you can figure out if you will soon be traveling through a county that sells alcohol. And not only does it tell you if the county is wet or dry, it also has designations for "moist" counties. I guess I'm the last person to have heard of this concept but it actually makes sense if you think about it. A "moist" county (some people use the term "damp") is a location where a city or town in that county has voted in alcohol sales but it's only legal within the city limits.
I grew up in a dry county that was surrounded by dry counties. While I never tasted alcohol until I got to college, I, along with just about everyone else in the county knew who the local bootleggeer was. I later learned that two factions in the county helped keep it dry. Local churches and the bootlegger. My eyes get moist thinking about those dry times. I'll drink to their good health this holiday season.

How honest should I have been about the TV News business?

That's the question I've been asking myself since last Friday afternoon. My wife Bethany and I flew to Bowling Green, Kentucky on our way to Louisville to visit my son, daughter-in-law and eight month old granddaughter. We landed in Bowling Green to visit a friend of almost 30-years who still teaches at my alma mater, Western Kentucky University. We went to lunch and my friend, ever the mentor, had asked a Broadcasting student who was graduating the next day, to join us. My friend asked me to share with him my view of broadcast news and perhaps offer some encouragement. My wife and my friend both cautioned me to go easy on the young man who wore that same look of enthusiasm that I had when I first got into radio and television news back in 1978. He wants to be a reporter and be in front of the camera. He told me he didn't want to be a producer and work behind the scenes. I talked with him for about 30-minutes about the television news business and how it had changed so much, even in the last five years and how he probably wouldn't recognize it in ten years. I told him what I thought was good about tv news and what was bad. I told him to be willing to work long , hard hours and to suck it up when he has to work holidays, weekends or overnights. I told him to jump in and be willing to take the crap assignments and make them sing. I told him to try not to become cynical. It's easy to do in the news business. I then told him of a TRUTH that I had discovered over the years. That truth is this: Many people who are NOT in the television news business want to be in it and many people who ARE in the business want to be out of it. I told him he would not believe me now and would pass this off as the rantings of a jaded former newsman. But, I told him one day down the road, he would remember this conversation and he will smile the smile of one who has discovered a truth about something. Later my wife told me I was too honest. My friend told me I told him just what I should have. I wish I had told him to be extra nice to those in the business. Too many on-air people think they have to treat people they work with like crap and I've never understood that. Just be nice.
I hope this young man does well. He gave me a tape to critique. I haven't looked at the tape yet, but I'm sure I will see some good work. I do wish him the best of luck.

Why would I want to start a blog?

That's the question my lovely and talented bride asked me over the weekend when I announced I planned to start this. I really didn't have a good answer then and still don't. This may end up like a number of other blogs that were started over the past few years and have come grinding to a halt about the time I got used to checking in. I've seen where nasty and questionable responses to postings on others blogs prompted the bloggers to consider pulling the plug on the efforts. I find it interesting that so many people are willing to be vile in their postings when they can hide behind the cloak of anonymity and cower at the mere thought of attaching a name to their rantings. Will I have anything worthwhile to say on this blog? Probably not. Will surfers visit this blogsite? Probably not. Will I keep up the effort anyway? That remains to be seen. Check in and find out.