Goodbye Uncle Walter, Hello Anniversary of the First Man on the Moon and How Long Before a Musical Based on the Life of Michael Jackson

And that’s the way it is.  I can still hear Walter Cronkite utter those words as he signed off the evening news.  In Western Kentucky, we only really had two stations that came in clear enough to watch.  One was the CBS affiliate out of Cape Girardeau, MO and the other was the NBC affiliate out of Paducah.  Dad used to alternate between the Huntley-Brinkley Report (Good night David,  good night Chet and Goodnight for NBC news)  and the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.  I remember watching all of the space coverage with WC and whoever he had with him as the expert.  It seemed to me the coverage  was sponsored by Gulf Oil but that may not be the case.  I remember the coverage of the Democratic National Convention in 1968.  I remember WC and how he used to light his pipe at the end of a broadcast until the anti-smoking group protested and he stopped.  I regret that I never had a chance to meet WC face to face.  I know many people in the TV news biz did and had their photograph taken with him.  He could have anchored until he didn’t want to and SHOULD have been able to but the politics of the news business got in the way and we got 20 plus years of Dan Rather instead.  I just wonder if WC had stayed in the chair would he have still kept the title of “the Most Trusted Man in America”? Also, I saw an article in Sunday’s Commercial Appeal asking whether WC would have “tweeted”.  I think not.  I think he would have blogged but I think he would have thought the whole “tweeting” thing was overboard.  Speaking of WC, I understand that “60-Minutes” is doing a segment on his life.  I haven’t had a chance to see it yet but I have it TIVOed and look forward to watching it.

Monday marks the anniversary of the first man walking on the moon.  I remember being all excited about the rocket launch and I remember all of the coverage.  Since it was the middle of the summer and I lived on a farm, it seems to me that my brothers and I were all busy doing farm stuff when the actual moon landing took place.  We later went out to catch a movie in Paducah  and it seems we got home in time to watch the coverage of the actual first step on the moon.  I remember thinking this is really taking a long time to get someone out of a vehicle.  I guess too much Star Trek had me wondering why don’t they just open the door and get this show on the road!  Oh, the arrogance and impatience of youth.  I will admit that as a space buff, I really disappointed that we haven’t gone back to the moon.  Afterall, when I was in grade school in the 60s, we were led to believe that we would have cars that drive themselves on super highways and we would have jetpacks to get around town as well.  I’m still waiting for my jetpack.  For those who remember the original “Lost in Space” series, I think the launch of the Jupiter 2 space ship for Alpha Centauri took place around 1997.  Did I miss something here.

Finally, as I was cutting the grass today, I was listening to the musical “Evita” on my I-phone.  As I listened to the music it occurred to me that with all of the brouhaha over Michael Jackson, someone will write a musical based on his life.  Okay, laugh if you will but if someone could do “The Buddy Holly Story” and “Evita” don’t be surprised to see a musical in the works based on MJ.  Hey, you heard it here first.

Odds and Ends on a Tuesday afternoon.

“It is an ill wind that blows no good. ”  I must say that John Heywood  hit the proverbial nail on the head when he came up with that particular phrase.  I say that because I recently traveled to Bowling Green, KY for the visitation services of the engineer at the first radio station I worked at.  I posted on the passing of Dean Maggard previously.   I flew to BG,  and while I will admit I always dread going to funerals I’m always glad afterwards that I went.  I had not seen Mr. Maggard since I left WLBJ in 1979 or 1980.  At the visitation I ran into a couple of my former co-workers Jay Preston aka James Preston Swafford (now at WTVF-TV in Nashville and Rick DuBose (former GM at WLBJ) and now working with Western Kentucky University.  It seems we all had something in common: We had all lost hair and gained weight! Here’s the picture:

(L to R) Joe Larkins, Rick DuBose, Jay Preston, Otis Blanton

We stood around and swapped stories and caught up for the better part of an hour before we were joined by a fourth former employee from WLBJ (former DJ)  Otis Blanton.  I was told that former friend and co-worker Mike Green might be there but if he showed up it was after I left.   It was good seeing everyone despite the occasion.  Once I got home, I hoisted an adult beverage in honor of ALL my former co-workers and to Mr. Maggard.

I had to leave Bowling Green in somewhat of a hurry as nasty weather was bearing down on the area from the northwest and when a small plane like the one that I fly tangles with a bad storm, it usually means headlines and I didn’t much feel like making the news.  I managed to squeak through an opening in the line of storms.  That made me think about the poor guy who was flying (I was told) this plane for the first time on Father’s Day into Gaston’s Trout resort near Mountain Home, Arkansas.  Here are the pictures I took after landing there:

This will ruin your day!

Hey, the prop is only bent on the ends!

The best I could gather was that the nose gear collapsed which meant the prop was bent and that the engine will probably need to be torn down.  That’s not to mention the damage to the plane.  Then there’s the damage to the pride of the pilot.  Of course it’s better to bend the plane than to bend the pilot.   Hope this doesn’t turn him off from flying.

The chance to catch up with some former co-workers reminded me that I never did post pictures of me catching up with former KFVS’er Mike Schuh in Baltimore.  MS is a fixture these days in Baltimore as a reporter and it was good seeing him.  The picture isn’t very good but it’s the best I can do with a camera phone.

(L to R) Mike Schuh, Joe Larkins in Baltimore

Finally,  I guess some of us kind of get used to the mind-numbing shennagins that pass for politics in the Bluff City.  I know I’ve heard from a few folks who have shared comments on this blog.  I will have to say that when I was out of town (both in Kentucky and in northcentral Arkansas, that when I mentioned that I lived in Memphis, folks really can’t get over the politics/antics that take place here.  The most common comments made reference to “what a joke the city has become” and “why would anyone want to live there”.   Wow.  Maybe it IS time for a reality check on the city.  I guess it IS a lot worse than even I thought.  I guess it’s time to do some soul-searching on the future.  We’ll see where that gets me.  I’ll keep you posted.

Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Renew Old Acquaintances

I received an email this morning that made my heart sink.  The email shared with me that Dean Maggard, the former engineer for the first radio station I worked at (WLBJ-AM/FM in Bowling Green, KY)  had died.  The person who contacted me, Jay Swafford (aka Jay Preston, James Preston Swafford) used to be the Assistant Chief Engineer at WLBJ and the head of the FM side of the radio station known at the time as Natural 97, an album rock station patterned after KDF in Nashville.  I remember when the FM side went stereo in the mid 70s.  The promotional slogan was “Natural 97, now a little to the left of your right ear” and “Natural 97, now in both ears“.  I started work for WLBJ as a DJ on their AM/ Country side before eventually sliding into the news position when the person there departed for greener pastures.  I think her name was Jennie.  Anyway, I will be the first person to admit that I had no business being a DJ for ANY station but it was a chance to get my foot in the door and I took it.  The chief engineer, Dean Maggard, was one of those guys with a miltary background with a gruff exterior and who could be a real pain but was generally a nice guy.  He always seemed to wear short-sleeved jump suits and he smoked a pipe.  The bottom line:  he was a good guy and once when he knew I was short of money and needing some extra work, he told me I could make some extra cash by climbing the three, 250-foot radio towers on site and change the bulbs.  He told me he’d pay me 50 bucks per bulb and he  just wanted the top bulbs changed.  Hey, the prospect of 150 dollars for about four hours work helped me overcome my fear of heights. (I only later found out he paid Jay Swafford $100 per bulb!)  He also hired me to build the desk top for the FM side control center  and the shelves for all of those Natural 97 albums.   I lost contact with all those folks from the early radio days when I moved to Jackson, TN for my first TV gig.

About a year ago, my former coworker, Jay Swafford, now at WTVF in Nashville,  helped me get back in touch with Dean Maggard and we emailed back and forth.  I had planned to stop by to see Mr. Maggard the next time I was in Bowling Green.  I had hoped to do that this summer but my schedule prevented it.  Now it’s too late.  So, I’m left with my old, fond memories of Dean Maggard.  Oh, I’m headed for Bowling Green this weekend unless the weather keeps me grounded, so I will pay my respects.  DM’s passing was noted on the local TV station in Bowling Green.  JW shared this link for those who want to check it out. The bottom line:  Don’t wait too long about renewing those old acquaintances…there’s less time than you might think.

If I Promise to Clean my Plate, Make My Bed and Take Out the Garbage Without Complaining, Will You Please Stop the Michael Jackson Coverage/Specials and Why Does Memphis Have an Inferiority Complex (and not a very good one at that!)

I know that I’ve already visited this particular rant but when I opened the morning paper this Monday morning and saw that all of the networks plan to offer live coverage/specials for Michael Jackson this week, I almost spit out my coffee.  I guess I just need to turn off the old tube for about a week or month or so until everyone gets this out of their system.  I will have to admit that I was channel surfing Sunday and was wondering how they got MJ in one particular movie that I ran across.  The movie: Passenger 57.  The person I thought was MJ was actually someone named Alex Datcher.  Perhaps I’m the only one who sees the similarity but I did a double take when Datcher made an appearance as a flight attendant.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  Moving on.

As we gear up for the next round of (special) elections in Memphis, I  still find it amazing that race plays such an issue in EVERYTHING in the so-called “City of Good Abode”.  Having grown up in a redneck environment and having been exposed to racism, I know racism and too many times, the race card is played in Memphis when it really isn’t racism involved.  Heck, I’ve been accused of being a racist by African Americans who didn’t like my comments about something and it had nothing to do with race.  IMHO, it just happens to be an easy fallback position.  That’s one of the reasons it pains me so to see  those who know better to use the race card when it comes to politics. I generally do NOT discuss how I vote in this blog but I will share this: I did not vote for Willie Herenton when he ran for mayor the first time.  I did vote for him twice after that.  I have not voted for him since then as I think his time at being effective as mayor has come and gone.  The person who earns my vote will NOT play the race card and will be a uniter and NOT a divider.  If the only way someone can get elected is to play the race card then that really doesn’t speak much for the direction the Bluff City is headed.  In the short term, it may get someone elected but in the long term we will all drown in the cess-poll that has been created by the divisive politics.  I’ve said this before and I will say it again: If someone had told me 30-years ago that I would call Memphis “home”, I would have not only called that  person a liar, I would have called that person a “damned liar”. After living here for 20-years, I still think Memphis has a lot of potential but right now it has a huge inferiorty complex and even that isn’t a very good one.  It’s time for people to rally behind someone who can lead us from the wilderness.  Quite frankly, I don’t care if that person is black or white.  I just hope he or she has a good sense of direction.

Stick a Fork in Me Regarding Michael Jackson, I’m Done.

So, have the rumors started circulating yet that Michael Jackson isn’t really dead and that he just did all of this to get away to have a normal life?  No?  Expect them to start soon enough.  Afterall, it didn’t take that long before sightings of Elvis began.  I will have to admit that I am already “done” with the King of Pop.  He’s dead. He ain’t coming back no matter how many stories we do on him.  I was trying to decide if I’m in somewhat of the same mindset that Uncle Walter Cronkite was when he reported the death of Bring Crosby and Elvis.  He really played up the death of BC but wanted to downplay the death of Elvis.  I guess to come degree your view on how big a story these deaths would be goes to how much influence the musician had on your life.  I like Elvis and I really like MJ but enough is enough already.  I know  that all three of these guys had a huge impact on the music world and on people in general.  Having said that, I’m really tired of the MJ coverage.  I DON’T CARE ANYMORE.  Even NPR has given me MJ overload.  I’m just waiting for the next phase of the MJ hysteria:  MJ impersonators.  When that happens in a big, big way then MJ will FINALLY have arrived.

Farewell to Farrah, Goodbye to Michael & Why We can’t Do Without Good Newspaper Reporters

I got back to the office in time for lunch and I flipped on the TV to provide background noise while I made some magic in the kitchen.  The big story on the cable networks: The death of Farrah Fawcett.  FF was one of those “one name” stars that everyone knew even though she used her first and last names (and later used three names when she was married to actor Lee Majors, who once played football for Eastern Kentucky University by the way).   I remember seeing the poster of FF in a bathing suit.  Actually it was difficult NOT to see the poster since it was hanging in just about every bedroom/dorm room of young men from L-A to New York.  And while many young men woke up to the sight of that toothy grin (if they ever looked that far up on the poster that is), many young women wanted the Farrah hair-do.  There were many imitators but no one that I ever encountered ever quite achieved that Farrah look.  Then, when Farrah appeared on “Charlie’s Angels”, I know I tuned in just because of the incredible plots.  Can you say “Jiggle TV”.  No, it had nothing with the jiggling of those three detectives in tight T-shirts!  Later FF went on to achieve honors for her acting but I never saw many of those shows.  I just know these last few years she battled cancer and eventually lost.  I saw a picture of her not too long ago and almost didn’t recognize her.  I choose to remember Farrah in all of youthful splendor with the wild mane of hair and that dazzling smile and I’m sure there are literally millions who will speak her name today and smile fondly of the memories her name evokes.  Moving on…

I had already posted this and was working in the office when I heard some music by Michael Jackson coming over the NPR station I was listening to.  I thought at first it was just the fact that he had been hospitalized as I had heard earlier.  Turns out they were reporting his death.  Wow.  I listened to the Jackson 5 growing up,  It was when Michael went out on his own that I really started listening to what he was cranking out.  I guess it was his “Off the Wall” album .   Then, just as MTV arrived, MJ became “Must See TV” with his music videos.  I think I wore out the “Thriller” album.   Then his “moonwalking” hit the TV and many of us were wondering how he could keep topping himself.  Sadly, he really couldn’t and then he just started getting bizarre.  As someone once pointed out, here was a talented kid who managed to transform himself into a middle aged white woman through plastic surgery and generally strange behavior.  I felt sorry for him and repulsed at the same time.  I hope MJ has finally found the peace that I think he so desparately craved for so long.  Moving on…

If there is ever a reason that newspapers should NOT go away, think Gina Smith.  Smith is the reporter who broke the story about the Governor of South Carolina who was not hiking the Appalachian trail but was instead strolling through the old Grand Tetons while down  in Argentina.  Actually what I find amazing is that any news organization would be interested in spending the manpower on  staking out TWO locations (the airport in Atlanta and in Columbia) to meet the governor.  I think it is safe to say that Gina Smith will have several job offers here very soon if she is not fielding them already.  She has what is missing in so many newsrooms these days…imagination, instincts and the support of managers who actually care about real news instead of what passes for news anymore.  A tip of the hat to Gina Smith.  You go girl.

The Arrival of Digitial TV at My Neighbor’s House, Why People Don’t Watch Local TV News Anymore and How to Communicate With a 20-Something.

As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve been on the road a lot recently for business and haven’t had much time nor inclination to blog.  I’m now trying to catch up on the wackiness that I call “business as usual in Memphis”.   While I was out of town, I received a call from one of neighbors asking if I might be able to help him get his new digital TV set up and running.  He doesn’t have cable and was trying to get local signals with a set of “rabbit ears.”   I told him I would stop by when I got back in town and that’s what I did.  Now, I’ve not hooked up a TV to an antenna in many many years and wasn’t sure what to expect.  Turns out it wasn’t that difficult.  I did find that unlike the old analog signal, the new digitial signal is either there or it isn’t.  Specifically, if you have a strong signal, then the picture and sound are good.  If’ it’s marginal, it just pixalates and locks up.  The old analog signal would at least be fuzzy but it might be watchable.  I also found that I could get WREG, WMC, WPTY, and WLMT tuned in with a good signal but WHBQ and WKNO didn’t have a strong signal.  And when I fot those two tuned in, the others pixalated.  It was making me crazy.  I finally told my neighbor he might have to get an outside antenna or resort to cable or satellite.  Moving on…

An interesting editorial was posted a few weeks ago in the Commercial Appeal titled: TV news dealing overdose of violence.   It makes for good reading.  I used to work with Dr. Lurene Cachola Kelley before she saw the light and left the world of TV news to get her doctorate and teach.  And before someone chimes in with the old saw “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach” let me just say I have the utmost respect for Dr. Kelley and she and I have had frank discussions about being honest about what college students should expect should they decide to enter the world of TV news.  She says she is honest with them and I believe it.  But getting back to my point about the editorial that Dr. Kelley and Joe Hayden co-wrote.  If one goes only by what they see on the local news, one would think that if one walks out the door then you stand a pretty good chance of being a victim of crime.  That’s because stories about crime makes up about half of the daily newscasts, at least according to a U of M research project concerning  local news.  Crime is easy to cover and according to research that TV newsrooms seem to operate on, that’s what people want to see.  Also, the editorial touched on race when it comes to covering crime.  I know while I was working as a reporter that, generally speaking, I found that when the victim of a crime turned out to be black/African American, I had much less trouble getting a family member to talk on camera than if the crime victim was white/European American.  I also found that getting the required photograph of the victim was much much easier if the victim was black than white.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing I don’t know.    I do know that as I have traveled around and talked to various folks over the last few months that the issues about local news are echoed from South Florida (Miami) to Baltimore, MD.   People tell me that they are tired of watching the local news because it’s all about crime and I’m told that the news stations run the same thing over and over on various news casts after, of course, they tease and tease the story.   And one person told me that part of the problem is that too many of the newscasts look alike.  It was described  like this: “When we had just a couple of newscasts, it was MUST SEE TV and similar to a good strong cup of coffee.  But with a bunch of newscasts, the product, like coffee, has been diluted to the point that it watery thin and not worth much more than a sip.”  I’m just sharing.  Moving on

I’ve discovered that when it comes time to communicate with my two 20-something nieces who have smart phones and who live in the Memphis area that even though they have cell phones, don’t bother trying to call them.  They rarely answer and they rarely check voice mail.  No, if you want to contact them, you must email them or you must TEXT them.  TEXTing is the best way to reach them.  Go figure.  Is voice communication becoming a thing of the past?  Not for an old fart like me it ain’t.  My thumbs don’t work well for texting.  Maybe one day I will have a phone that will convert voice to text.  For now, I will have to do things the old fashioned way if I do it at all.

Odds and Ends on a Monday Night

When it comes to monitoring bad weather that is ACTUALLY occurring in the Midtown Memphis area, there’s one station I turn to: It’s WMC.  Don’t get me wrong.  When it comes to covering the weather, most folks in the Memphis area are pretty much on the same footing IMHO. I mainly watch weather in general for the radar.  The pontifications of most of the prognosticators is lost on me.  I can find the forecast on-line and usually do.  It’s only when I find weather threatening my humble abode of stately Larksmith Manor that I tune in to local TV.  Why do I tune in to WMC? It’s like real estate: location, location, location.  I live closer to WMC than I do the other stations.  When Dave Brown and Company flash images from “High 5” at the station on Union, that gives me a pretty good idea of what is bearing down on me.  I will admit that it is a little disconcerting when I hear tornado warning sirens wailing in Midtown and when I turn to see /Dave and Tim VH on the air and you can hearing that same wailing sound over Dave’s mic, well maybe it’s time to head for cover.  After the storm passed the Midtown area, I started surfing to see what else was going on.  I know this may sound weird but I turned to WPTY/WLMT and my first thought was “Where is Brian.”  (sorry Mark).. I still find it hard to believe that it’s been almost one year since B-T’s passing.  I stopped at WHBQ because their radar looked like it had a whole lot more stuff on it.  Maybe they had it set to be more sensitive, I don’t know.  AS I was trying to figure out what was going on, I heard a rather breathless report from Earl Ferrell who had sought shelter under an awning at a bank in Millington.   I listened to that until Earl was wrapped up and then turned off the TV.

I was taking care of some honey-do errands at the Home Depot in Midtown Saturday and was trying to remember exactly what Bethany wanted me to pick up when I heard my name called from right in front me.  I looked up and lo and behold there was Kym Clark of WMC pushing a shopping cart.  I was trying to remember the last time I spoke to KC face to face and it had been a while.  I know it was long before KC got married and here she was pushing this cart with her daughter in it.  We chatted for a couple of minutes.  It seems that she and her daughter were trying to catch up with KC’s husband who was somewhere else in the store.  It was good seeing KC and I will tell you that her daughter is a real cutie.  I later met KC’s husband as they were preparing to check out.  This by the way is the same Home Depot where I ran into Ethel Sengstacke the PREVIOUS Saturday.

After I left the HD, I stopped by the Mapco at Poplar and Belvedere to fuel up and was in the process of taking care of that when I saw a guy who was walking down the street strolling toward me.  I was just hanging back up the gas hose when this person called my name.  It was my former co-worker at WREG and now currently a  reporter for WHBQ, Les Smith.  For those who don’t know it, LS walks EVERYWHERE around Midtown.  We chatted for about five or ten minutes or so and I was having a great time when I realized that my wife was waiting for my return to home. As I was driving off and Les was continuing on his rounds I was reminded of a time about 10-years ago that I was driving through the drive-through lane of a fast food eatery in Midtown.  The woman taking my order did a double take as I handed her my money and then asked me “Ain’t you Les Smith on Action News 3. ” I told her that “no, I was not Les Smith ” but that a lot of people confused the two of us because we look so much a like.   I then drove on.  That just goes to show that ALL those folks on TV look alike….even those who don’t.

OMG, I’m NOT getting a TV Signal, Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me TV Stations Were Going to STOP Analog Signals!!!!!!!

I’m expecting to have a couple of TV Live trucks whipping up to my house just any minute now with reporters breathlessly sharing how some folks (including me) missed the boat on the switch to Digital Only Signals.  Okay, I’m kidding…not just about my TV sets NOT working but also about TV Live trucks whipping up to my house.  They wouldn’t do that now would they.  Okay, maybe they would.  The way that I look at it is if some yahoo hasn’t gotten the message about pulling the plug on analog signals by now then they NEVER would get it.  I’m sorry but that’s the way it is.  There’s been plenty of notice and one big delay.  Either get with the program or get out of the way.  Since I won’t be watching, someone will have to tell me how many local stories and much local air-time will be devoted to those poor souls who were lost in the lurch over the transition.  Moving on.

I’ve been out of pocket with work and haven’t had much time to check my usual internet haunts.  I was distressed to see that Mediaverse has gone on hiatus.  Here’s what you find at their site:

This site is on hiatus until Sept. 30. It’s a self-imposed deadline to implement a feasible business model for Mediaverse®.

It’s not that the current model–the blog–does not work. It does as evidenced by the wide usage of this site as a resource on journalism, news professionals and various related issues. The blog averages about 20,000 page hits a month, which is pretty cool considering that Mediaverse® does little to no external advertising beyond word-of-mouth and ending up in search engine results.

Blogging is easy. Developing a dynamic business model is not.

I can feel their pain to some degree.  Those folks put a lot of effort into their blog and there needs to be some pay-off.   I know I had to scale back so I could concentrate on income as opposed to “outgo”.   I hope they (Mediaverse)  return.  I miss them already.

I received a note regarding a previous posting about WMC’s Sky 5 Chopper being down for a couple of months.  Lead Pipe shared some information (which I will call rumor until I can get confirmation) that the formerly bright red “News Chopper 3 from WREG” which flew off into the sunset after the last ratings book (actually back to the owners in St. Louis)  was being repurposed.  NC3 was newer and had some much newer (and perhaps better) equipment on board and I’m told that it’s being repainted and will return to Memphis at Sky 5.  Talk about the irony there.  If this is true, it will be interesting to see if, after a live shot for WMC, the chopper tries to make a landing at its former home at WREG because it is homesick.  If anybody knows about this possible changeover, give me a shout.

Speaking of changes, I also received word that there is a change of news directors at WPTY/WLMT.    I’m told that Jim Turpin is no longer at the helm and that Peter Jacobus (formerly of Magid,) is in.  For some reason I was thinking that JT (who once worked at WREG as a producer before moving on his way up the career ladder around the country) had received a new and improved title and position that was actually more of a corporate thing.  Maybe I’m just suffering from “Old Timers” disease.  Don’t know if JT is still with the company, still in Memphis or basically anything else so someone fill in the gaps please.

From the “It’s not my imagination after all” file, I see the issue of LOUD commercials on TV is finally being addressed.  For years I fielded calls at the TV station from people calling to ask why the commercials aired were so much louder than the regular programming.  The engineers would dutifully tell me that the audio levels were normal.  After I left the TV business, I posted on that issue and received something about that audio levels were within levels and that it had something to do with compression or the muffler bearing or the freebus pin or whatever.  I’m glad to see that the issue if inally being addressed, at least according to an article in the local newspaper (and they can’t print it if it isn’t true now can they).

I mentioned in a previous post that I was in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina for business (a really quick trip).  I was watching the early morning news (WRAL) and saw yet another case where some video had lost lip sync.  This time it was a network package that the local affiliate was playing during their local news.  Is there nobody who catches this kind of stuff in the news department.  The lack of lip sync was obvious.  Come on folks, let’s get it together.  It must be a digital issue as I have seen it in the Orlando, Baltimore and now Raleigh-Durham area. Maybe there’s no quality control….naw, that would never happen in the TV news business.

While I was in the R-D area, I received an email from former Memphian and now North Carolinian Byron Day who had read that I was in the “hood”.  Viewers of Memphis TV will remember B-D from WHBQ before he went to the big-time and later his return before departing for the Tar-Heel State.  B-D,I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get together with you because this was a last minute trip.  Trust me, the next time I’m there, I will look you up and we can consume adult beverages and swap war/TV stories.

And finally, a little something to share about my trip to the Raleigh-Durham area.  It was a last minute trip and I was scrambling just to get on a flight.  It was like pulling teeth to find a rental vehicle.  The agency worked for half an hour and said all vehicles were gone because of a race in the R-D area.  I was thinking NASCAR but it was a foot-race that drew about 40-thousand folks. They finally tracked down a vehicle and told me that I could not pick it up until Wednesday morning.  Just having access to a vehicle made me happy as I was ready to rent a goat or a mule to get me where I was going.  Imagine my surprise though when I stopped by the rental place and the vehicle I got was a pick-up truck.  Specifically it was a four-door Dodge Dakota.  Am I the only one who didn’t know that rental agencies rented pickups?  Hey, I’m not thumping the melon here.  I grew up driving pickups and drive a SUV now.  I was just surprised that’s all. Just so you know I’m not yanking your chain, I wanted to share some pictures of me and my ride.

Odds & Ends on a Tuesday Night

I’m sitting here in a hotel in North Carolina and watching some of the of NBA Championship game as a storm passes through the area.  One might not really know that a storm is  passing through since no one is breaking into the game with WEATHERGASM ALERTS. What a concept.  Don’t get me wrong, I bet they DO break into regular programming here in the Raleigh-Durham area but they haven’t so far tonight and I applaud them for that.  It shows restraint.  At least on the ABC affiliate that is.  Moving on….

I ran across an article last week on TVSpy.com that raised the question of what would happen to local TV news operations IF the local newspaper of record augered in.  Actually the article first focused on how local TV and radio stations used stories from the local newspapers and failed to attribute the source.  I know when I was working at the station DOTR, we usually only cited the source specifically when it was a copyrighted story.  The rest of the time we just said something like “published reports indicate” or something along those lines.  The reality is that we didn’t have the resources to investigate like the local newspaper did and those resources are even fewer now at most TV stations.  So, what would happen if the local newspaper of record augered in?  You would see probably less local news than you see now except for the vastly increased coverage of fires, car crashes and other spot news.  Oh, you might see a little more consumer type “on your side” type coverage but not much. It’s a scary thought of what would happen to local news on TV.  I can’t tell you the number of times I was handed a newspaper clipping from the morning newspaper and told “turn this story”.  It happens numerous times across the country each day and the practice is not going away anytime soon.  Moving on…..

I see a growing number of large market stations are “pooling” their resources to cover the run-of-the-mill press conferences and such.  I think this is a practice that will backfire on them in the long run.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand how in the short-term the savings will look good but I think that is the first step toward a reduction of news operations overall.  That slippery slope will be hard to navigate back UP the hill when things get even tougher.  I’m just saying..

I was just wrapping up some aviation this past weekend and was talking to some folks out at the airport when the topic of WREG’s News Chopper 3 came up.  Someone at the airport mentioned that they had done away with the Big Red Whirlybird and I mentioned that the move leaves ONLY WMC with a news chopper.  One of the airport guys told me that WMC has apparently sent Sky 5 off for a two month sabbatical/upgrade.  So, that means there are NO news choppers keeping an eye on all the news that is fit to be told/showed in the Memphis area.  Folks, we had better be careful or we might find ourselves chopperless in this market .

I was out at one of the big box hardware stores this past weekend trying to find some stuff for stately LarkSmith Manor and almost ran into Ethel Sengstacke, formerly of WREG and WHBQ’s news assignment desk.  I gave her a big hug (which I’m sure she didn’t appreciate since I was hot and sweaty).  We chatted for a few minutes and she told me how glad she was to have TV news behind her.  I think she’s just ready to relax. You go girl!

And finally, after posting a note on how former co-worker and former TV guy/FedEXer Doug Johnson had found gainful employment at production house Running Pony in Memphis after budget cuts at FX,  I received this note from former co-worker Joe Incardona.  Joe, who left WREG in the early 90s and started Mediasource in Memphis, which has evolved into a production powerhouse in its own right shared this tidbit with me:

We’ve got some exciting news here as well.  I’m proud that I have taken someone who lost a job during last December’s Raycom/WMC layoffs off the unemployment rolls.  We’ve just hired Jessi Scherr, former Creative Services Producer at WMC-TV.  Jessi had a really nice following among WMC’s TV commercial clients, and was responsible for writing, shooting, graphics, and editing for all spots WMC was producing for its advertising clients.

I feel very lucky to have Jessi joining Randy Paige, Philip Hood, Debbi Hicks, and myself as we continue to grow our HD production business.

Keep up the good work with the blog, we enjoy reading it!

Joe Incardona
President
Media Source

Joe, thanks for checking in.

So, if you are proving opportunities for former TV /radio folks, let me know as we like to let everyone know when someone is able to put their hard-earned TV skills to use in the real world.