Middle School Career Day May, 2007

Ennis Manns, Principal of the Edwn H. Vare Middle School, Philadelphia, PA … asked me to talk to some of his seventh, eighth and ninth grade (middle school) students Thursday, May 10, 2007. It was Career Day at Vare. Allow me a bit of humor in the following remarks when I refer to the school as Ennis Manns Middle School.

Here is what I said to the young people of Vare Middle School:

Thursday, May 10, 2007
Edwin H. Vare Middle School
24th Street and Snyder Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Last September, most…. if not all of you ……….. made a decision. You decided you should go back to school. You might have thought ……….. “I have to go back to school.” ………………. (You might not have been happy about it. Or you MIGHT HAVE BEEN.) ………….. The situation this morning is….. YOU’RE STILL HERE.

And whether you LIKE SCHOOL or don’t like school…. down deep…. inside… when you think about it…. you most likely realize: YOU BELONG IN SCHOOL.

Is school tough? Yes. Sometimes. If you wish to excel in life, you must confront school head-on. It is a grind. School was a grind when I attended. It is a grind today. School always has been a grind.

You NEED to go to school. And…. you need to STAY IN SCHOOL.

So it is a pleasure to be with you this morning at Ennis Manns Middle School!

Now, as part of Career Day here at Ennis Manns Middle School, I will tell you about myself. You will hear that I have had three jobs in my life (three “careers”), each fun….and rewarding. What you may find surprising is that ……..at AGE 73…. I am still working and also launching my fourth career. I don’t HAVE to work… but it’s just continued to work out that way.

(Don’t think that you may have to work until you’re 73…but also know… if you do …. it will be because you LIKE the job.)

However, while I will talk about myself, I first need to talk about YOU.

YOU ….. as an INDIVIDUAL. One person in this classroom.

YOU are the important consideration today. And YOU are the one who needs to make an important decision today . . . . . . even though you don’t have to DO ANYTHING about it right today.

I want to show you the photograph of a little boy. His name is Kevin Pierron.
(Photo)

He is my GREAT GRANDSON. He is a very nice boy.

He lives with me. Yes, he lives in my home in Philadelphia.

His lives with me….because his Daddy…. my grandson…. decided when he was in the ninth grade…. that he didn’t like school. Not only did he not like school…. he started SKIPPING SCHOOL. He started neglecting his homework. He fell behind. He got disgusted about himself. And about life.

And then……….. SURPRISE !!! He quit school.

In the ninth grade.

Over the next few years, my grandson tried to learn about computers ………………… how they work and …………. how you can put a series of them into a network. And he has made some progress. But he is still looking for his first good job. And he has to continue to look ……… and look…. because employers at all levels of work are seeking EDUCATED job candidates. Whatever it is you do, you need to do … and be …… YOUR BEST. You need to be educated.

DO YOUR BEST at WHATEVER JOB you get.

So, about my grandson ……. In the midst of this period after he quit school, he had a girl friend. And nearly three years ago, they became the parents of Kevin.

Neither my grandson nor his girlfriend was able to SUPPORT Kevin. It takes MONEY. They were teenagers who thought everything would just be so easy, so “duckey”, and they would have so much fun being parents. ………….. (They would not listen to others who told them how important it is to get a good education. And to finish school.)

No, it just didn’t turn out so easy. It doesn’t turn out that way.

If you quit on your education, and become a Mommy or a Daddy at a young age, you are suddenly trying to lift a TRAIN LOCOMOTIVE to get through life. It doesn’t matter how strong you think you are: you cannot lift a train locomotive.
My grandson was trying to do that.

And then he and his girlfriend broke up . . . . . . after they had pledged themselves to each other ……….. FOREVER. ……… They no longer are a couple. ………. They had no means and no money to take care of Kevin.

This happens all over Philadelphia. All over America. All over the world.

WHY? It is relatively SIMPLE. Mommy and Daddy thought it would be DIFFERENT in their case. They could DO IT…….IT WOULD BE SO WONDERFUL to be parents….. to have a child. They knew more about it than the older folks in their families.

Teenage Mommies and Daddies (such as has been Kevin’s parental situation) ……. are going to fumble every single time.

Not almost always. Every single time.

And what did my grandson and his girlfriend do ???

Well, the question REALLY is: WHAT DIDN’T THEY DO ???

They did NOT STAY IN SCHOOL.

So, now, at age 73, I ………. Kevin’s GREAT GRANDFATHER…. am the one who plays basketball, and baseball, and football and golf …. with Kevin.

___________________________

When he was a young teenager, I tried to tell my grandson how important it was to go to school. I told him how I had made up my mind….at a very young age….that I was going to try to get the best grades. I told him how I NEVER cut a class……. I NEVER skipped school. Some of my classmates over the years thought cutting classes and skipping school was COOL.

I just did not agree. What I said (to my grandson) went in one ear and out the other. Ask yourself: is that happening to you this morning? You are listening to me with deaf ears?

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Before I finished college, I got a job…. at age 19…. at a small radio station in Missouri. In four years, I was the station’s manager.

During that period, I was graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. The school was the FIRST JOURNALISM school in the nation…. it was started 99 years ago.

It was a terrific school. And I got high grades. Unlike some of the other students, you wouldn’t find me drinking beer at two o’clock in the morning. And I never cut a class in college, either.

After graduation, I went to a radio and television station in Des Moines (????? what state ?????)….and after five years, my work there led to my move to Philadelphia. Channel 3 and what eventually became “Eyewitness News” ….. where I worked eight years. I was a street reporter ….. newscaster …….. investigative reporter.

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I had great teachers…. both in college …. and in radio and television.

I learned how important it is to speak well…. to speak clearly. And I learned the tricks of speech. For example, I was taught not to say the word PARTICIPATE; instead, TAKE PART.

I was taught not to try to say PAR TIC U LAR LY.

It is much easier to say ESPECIALLY.

I was taught the difference between the word LIE and the word LAY. You lay a book on a table. You LIE DOWN AND REST. It has been my experience that perhaps 90% of the doctors and nurses I have met…. have asked me to LAY down….. so they could examine me.

I am a public annoyance, frankly. I usually tell the nurses and doctors that they have used the wrong word. They should have asked me to LIE DOWN.

___________________________________________

I was taught the difference between FARTHER and FURTHER.

To win the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick Contest, you have to throw the football FARTHER than anybody else.

If you want to know more about the football contest, you can look into the matter FURTHER.

Said simply: FARTHER means distance; FURTHER means EXTENT.

__________________________________________

When you answer the phone, do you, as a boy, when somebody asks for you….. do you say “This is him” ………. or …. if you are a girl…. do you say “This is her”. To be grammatically correct….you say: “This is he” or “This is she”.

And what about the difference between “I” and “me”? You boys who watch football on TV might have heard John Madden describe a pass: “The quarterback threw that right between he and the defender.” (The “he” in the sentence referred to, most likely, is a receiver on the quarterback’s team.)

John Madden is wrong every time he says it. He should say “between the defender and him.”

How do you know what is correct? (STAY IN SCHOOL…and you’ll find out.)

_________________________________________

I was taught proper grammar. And spelling. I was taught so well that I now know how badly many of today’s speakers SPEAK, especially those on the air….on your TV screen. And too often, I see where television people behind the scenes do not know how to spell.

And they don’t know their history…… the history of this country, and the history of the world. This is very important to be able to handle all kinds of life issues as you become an adult.

It is so important that you learn how to speak. And how to spell. Your ability to speak well….. and to spell words…. demonstrates not only for others….. but for YOURSELF….. that it is SO IMPORTANT TO BE EDUCATED.

TO BE EDUCATED….. YOU MUST STAY IN SCHOOL.

You must pay attention to your teachers. Get to school on time. Attend all your classes. Attend school every day the school is open for you.

_____________________________________

I was very busy during my 18 years in broadcasting. Perhaps my most significant TV work here in Philadelphia came more than 40 years ago… during one two-month period. I appeared three times on the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC. In those days, the newscast was watched by 36-million people, so that’s a big audience to speak to.

(Ironically, there were more viewers for that newscast than …. today …. for ALL of the viewers for NBC, CBS and ABC combined for their 6:30 national newscasts …..).

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A reporter experiences a thousand stories, a thousand incidents. I once attended a news conference with former President Harry Truman.

I shook hands with former President Dwight Eisenhower on his 73rd birthday and (for NBC) I covered the speech he made that night.

I was assigned by Channel 3 to President John Kennedy’s Philadelphia appearance just one month before Dallas.

In 1964 …….. yes….. this was 43 years ago!!!! ………… I interviewed Richard Nixon, then the former Vice President, a year after he lost the 1962 race for Governor of California.

And in 1975, after I had left Channel 3, for the only time in my life, I shook hands with a sitting President, Gerald Ford, who died four months ago at the age of 93.

My work at Channel 3 led to an invitation from the incoming Mayor of Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo, to be the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Civic Center. At the Civic Center, I was the boss of 200 employees. I was in that job for eight years …. all the time Frank Rizzo was Mayor.

That was a great job. Being the boss of 200 employees is not unlike being the boss of 20 or 2,000. You must have leadership qualities. You must be able to “lead” people ….. to manage them…….. to direct them. If you cannot do it, your shortcomings will reveal themselves quickly. You won’t stay in the job very long.

At the end of the two terms of Mayor Rizzo, I helped to start a business that is still operating 27 years later. Included in this operation is a travel agency which also conducts day trip and overnight tours. During those 27 years, we acquired five motorcoaches. We had to hire travel agents for the travel agency, drivers for the motorcoaches.

I’ll tell you a little secret. Don’t let this get around. One of our travel agents was a young fellow by the name of Ennis Manns.

Your Principal. This was before he became famous.

_______________________

Whether at the Civic Center or at the travel agency, the challenges are the same: you must lead, you must perform, you must be ready at all times to handle problems and emergencies. You must be able to “think” on the spot and act accordingly.

Only experience in life …………. and a proper education….. will enable you to make the correct decisions.

And yes, the way you speak…and the way you WRITE …. in your job ….. and in your life ……… is critical to your success. Whether you are one of the employees….or the boss…. you must be able to present yourself effectively. Said another way: YOU HAVE TO BE “ON THE BALL”.

You can demonstrate “leadership qualities” even if you are not the boss. The boss is looking for people who can produce work, who are reliable …. who are intelligent …. who show up for work on time….. do not call in sick every time they get a sniffle …. and who are on the ball….. and who are “educated”.

____________________________

Let me speak for just a moment about “MISTAKES”.

When you do not get an “A” grade, implicit is the likelihood that you were not perfect; you made a mistake or two in completing your assignment. A “mistake” never should be so great a problem for you that you lose confidence in yourself. You try to do better…and work harder…. the next time.

Because “MISTAKES” are part of life. I see “mistakes” every day. Sad to say, many I see are due to a person’s lack of education. What I see clearly allows me to tell you: there is great opportunity for YOU after you complete school. So many employers are looking for EDUCATED employees. And I assure you…. once you have that nice job you want…. you can…. from time to time…. make mistakes.

(Just don’t make too many of them, and don’t make the same mistakes over and over.)

___________________________

I am sorry to have to tell you but some of you are not going to make it. It is not because you are stupid. But it IS BECAUSE you are not smart. You did not pay attention in school. You did not get to school on time. You missed homework assignments. You stayed up so late at night, you were too sleepy the next day to pay attention. You let your friends drag you down. You did not have the “guts” to tell your friends you had to get home and get to sleep…because you had school the next day. And school is more important than your friends.

Wait a minute: Did I just say that ? Yes you heard right. School is more important than your friends! And more important than TV shows.

Oh, please forgive me. I should not have said that! At your age now, there is no way you will agree with me: School is more important than your friends. But do me a favor and write that down. School is more important than your friends.
And then put the piece of paper you wrote that on….. someplace where you know where it is. Because…. 10 years from now… I want you to re-read the statement and see if you have a different opinion of my statement….than you do today.
______________________________

If you cannot dig it, you will fail. Failure never pays off. Failure becomes a statistic. Failure becomes a life sickness. Do you want to just become another of the thousands of statistics in Philadelphia?

Why do I say that some of you in this class won’t make it in life??? Because that’s what the percentages say. I hope you prove me wrong. ……….. The news is filled today… with losers. Guys and gals who could not dig it. Who did not show up on time. Who let their friends dictate their lives. Who showed up late or cut their classes in school.

The losers are weak. They are weak people. They did not grab their lives in their hands and decide to succeed.

Because y’see, success is easily within reach …. if you have a plan for your life. At your age right now, you can make that decision I told you about. You can decide to stay in school.

Yes, I know you won’t remember much of what’s being said here at the Ennis Manns Middle School Career Day. That is understandable and normal. (Your teachers may give you a quiz on what you heard today from the various speakers so pay attention to today’s speakers!)

___________________________________

But you will make me very happy….. if you walk out of school today and remember ONE THING YOU HEARD FROM ME. It is so important; at your young age, it just may not be sinking in. But I hope so.

I hope you will show up every day …….. on time ….. And I hope you….get a great education and become a leader. The world is waiting for leaders. The world is waiting for YOU.

How do you do it ? Throughout MIDDLE school……….. HIGH school…. college……….. you stick with it. You do your homework. You don’t just dig it. You dig in.

You stay in school. Thank you for your kind attention. ####

The above remarks were made before four of the Vare Middle School classes. You might have seen a reference above to my “fourth” career. As an unexpected feature at the close of each talk, I looked to the hallway and welcomed into the classroom ONE MASTER KEVIN PIERRON. Each time, on cue, Kevin ran to my arms and said “Hi” to the school children (on one occasion, he was bashful and said nothing). I admit to considerable bias, but he was terrific.

Katie Couric

To start off, this is an update entered Wednesday, October 18, 2006.  It is not a gloating statement  nor an “I told you so” but simply to point out that Katie Couric so far is not setting the world on fire at 6:30 p.m.  EDT or EST.  On Monday, October 14, the DrudgeReport gave ratings for Katie in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.  These were ratings for the LOCAL VIEWERS in each of the three markets.  In New York, WABC (Charley Gibson) was at 7.1, WNBC (Brian Williams) was at 5.3 and WCBS (Katie) was at 3.7.   In Los Angeles, KABC was at 5.9, KNBC was at 3.1 and KCBS was at 1.5.  In Washington, NBC was out front with a 9.3, ABC scored 7.8 and CBS (Katie) was at 2.5.

Then, on Thursday, October 26, 2006, the Drudge Report had even more sobering news for Katie and CBS:  on Wednesday night, she was SEVENTH in the ratings in Los Angeles.  Katie had fewer viewers in LA than a “FRIENDS” re-run, and also “KING OF QUEENS” and “MILLIONAIRE”. 

Katie’s rating in Los Angeles Wednesday (October 25) was a meager 1.1 with a 2 Share, which means just 2% of those who were tuned into television at Katie’s news time were watching her in LA.

 

  What follows is my “blog” on Katie from this past summer. 

This is NOT a sexist statement:  I will not watch Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News. So you and I are clear in the comments below, it has nothing to do with gender.   My reasons are not the same as Andy Rooney’s, but rather are of many years in the making, deep-rooted long before Andy thought he would be in any way affected by Katie Couric.

I  respect  any person who can attract a multi-million-dollar salary legally.  Whether they deserve it or not, the fact is the individuals can  laugh all the way to the bank.

So it doesn’t matter to me whether Katie Couric took a “cut in pay” to move from the TODAY SHOW on NBC-TV to the CBS Evening News.  Her annual salary will be in the millions, and she deserves credit for impressing her future bosses who agreed to pay her even above what her competitors are receiving.  Truth to tell, that DOES matter to me.  But it’s not my money, it’s NBC’s and now CBS’s.  They can afford her, whatever they pay her.

That is not a key point, except to Katie.

Katie… in this week’s Newsweek cover story …. is more or less commended for getting more ink during the week than the announced resignation of Tom DeLay.  She was featured in a recent story in the AARP Magazine.

Tim Russert, moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press”, hired Katie in Washington in 1991.  She was a reporter on a local Washington TV station.  She was “Katherine Couric”.  Tim is the Bureau Chief for NBC News in Washington.  It always has been fashionable to hire liberals for network jobs.  You won’t find as much slant on this at the local stations, but they are themselves changing, as has been noted elsewhere on this blog. 

Tim told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Gail Shister  (who writes columns on television):  “I saw a spark, an energy, a tenaciousness.  She was all over the place.”

Tim mostly does not show his own liberalism.  But there, in commenting on Katie Couric, he clearly was.  But this is not about Tim Russert’s own liberalism, which, as indicated above, does not reveal itself very often.

He said he thinks Katie Couric will succeed as anchor for CBS News. 

Part of the problem here is that the three major networks’ early evening newscasts have been transformed into treatises for senior citizens.  As a senior citizen, I feel insulted.  The so-called “magazine pieces” on television news started back when I was working as a TV reporter.  In those days, they were founded on journalistic principles.  Today, the magazine pieces are fluff and often liberally, not journalistically, oriented.  I am not going to cite examples here.  Just listen to any of the three networks any evening.  Not only is there the liberal slant (Brian Williams on NBC is the least guilty) but there is the constant effort for magazine pieces aimed at the assumed major TV audience of the newscasts:  older people.

Will Katie Couric attract younger viewers?  That is probably going to be her main appeal, although the “audience” that tuned to her on the TODAY SHOW also can be counted on to be somewhat loyal to her on CBS.  Yet the young people, generally speaking, are not tuned in to the news of the day.  If you listen to Jay Leno or Sean Hannity doing a MAN ON THE STREET interview, you find that young people have almost no clue who national figures are.  They probably can tell you all about the kind of guitar a rock star has, but they don’t know who the Vice President is.

A long-time star of the news spot Katie will occupy later this year, Walter Cronkite, applauds the selection of Katie Couric.  He occupied the chair from 1962 till 1981 when whatshisname took over.  To hear CBS tell it, Walter was “the most trusted man in America”.  Of course, this ignores the fact that the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC enjoyed a higher audience.

“I think she’s a terrific choice,” said Walter.  “I’ve followed her.  I knew her work apart from TODAY SHOW.  She’ll be fine.”

That line is precisely why I am writing this.  Katie’s work apart from the TODAY SHOW was a collection of liberal diatribes masking as journalism.  She started with the completely biased reporting she did on the Clarence Thomas (Anita Hill) Senate confirmation hearings. Along with millions of others, I watched those hearings virtually non-stop, and was appalled at her reporting.  I could not believe she would be long for the job once the coverage was concluded.

Sad to remark:  NBC News loved her.  There was more bias in her reporting than you’ll see in a month of reporting on all three networks of the evening newscasts.

The Media Research Center has done an outstanding job of compiling Katie’s liberal diatribes. citing year after year of her various liberal slants. Check out  http://www.mediaresearch.org and put “Katie Couric” in the search line.  They currently have more than 900 “links” to Katie, and while it takes a while to retrieve the various items, the summary is absolutely riveting and compelling:  Katie Couric is a flaming liberal, and likely will emerge as more of a biased reporter than Dan Rather in the same spot.

She starts on CBS-TV September 5th, the day after Labor Day. She may enjoy an early boost in the ratings due to viewer curiosity.  Sorry, I won’t be among her viewers. 

She is replacing Dan Rather, and more recently, Bob Schieffer.  The irony of Bob Schieffer’s tenure during the past year is that he has garnered better ratings than Rather.  Schieffer is a nice fellow, but nevertheless decidedly on the liberal side, based on his questioning on FACE THE NATION, which he hosts each Sunday morning. 

Said Bob Schieffer:  “I’ve known Katie Couric since she broke into journalism and she’s going to be a great addition to the CBS News team.  She’s tough, she’s fair, she’s a straight shooter…..  She’ll be terrific.  Just watch.” 

The comment is carried in TV ads on the air this summer.  Of course, CBS would not quote him saying something negative.  And I suppose he pretty much feels the way he is quoted above.

Not so Andy Rooney.  Andy Rooney is clearly a liberal, admits it and lets it all hang out. But he doesn’t dig Katie Couric.  It should be noted that Andy favors good journalism, with an aim toward objectivity  (except on SIXTY MINUTES, where he appears!!).  He doesn’t think Katie will be a benefit to CBS  just as he thought Dan Rather was a poor excuse for a TV anchor.

Said Andy on IMUS IN THE MORNING June 22:  “My problem with Dan was always that you knew where he stood politically.  And the fact that he stood on my side didn’t have anything to do with it.  I thought he was a bad representative of the liberal side because he was SO OBVIOUS with his opinions.  There were just little words he used when he was on the air that made it apparent to everyone that he was a liberal Democrat.  And Walter Cronkite on the other hand had the same liberal Democratic opinions as Dan had but you would never know it.  No one knew it during all the time Cronkite was on the air.”

About Katie Couric coming to CBS??  Said Andy:  “I’m not enthusiastic about it.  I think everybody likes Katie Couric.  I mean how can you not like Katie Couric.  But, I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here.”

CBS is arranging for Katie to go on a “listening tour” in at least six cities this summer.  She will meet with viewers who will give her their ideas on how CBS should report the news.  That is a laugh-and-a-half. 

Over the years, television people have organized so-called “focus groups” to tell them why they tune into TV news.  By and large, these focus groups courageously say they turn on TV news to get the weather.  And boy, do they get the weather.  The TV newscasts “lead” with the weather if it rains (see other item in this blog on this remark).

So, come September, Katie Couric may be giving us the weather !!!  Now, lesseee…… how can you give a LIBERAL WEATHER FORECAST  ???

In mid-July now, Katie has given her new bosses something else to think about:  she told “Access Hollywood” she would NOT venture in the Middle East to cover that hot spot  (Israel and Lebanon for the moment).  Said she:  “I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that’s something I won’t be doing.”

Katie will have great appeal to the wusses of our society !!!

 

Wow! It’s Going to be Colder Tomorrow!!!

Unfortunately for the viewing public everywhere, not just in the Philadelphia area, weather “news” has overwhelmed the typical TV newscasts today more than ever.

Back in the 1960’s, this writer was a member of the Channel 3 “Eyewitness News” team.   We were the first of the “Eyewitness News” shops.  News Director Al Primo is credited with launching it.

As part of the new Eyewitness News, Channel 3 built a new studio/newsroom set.  It likely was the first time a television newsroom actually was in the studio.  More about this below.  If you are a senior citizen, you probably saw this studio in your youth.  This was where Ernie Kovacs did his network show.

Last night, on the 11 p.m. news (I usually watch my former station, Channel 3), the news had not been on for long when the “weather girl” was introduced.  Forgive the sexism but the “weather girl” has been a TV news staple since Trudy Haynes did the weather on TV news in Detroit.   Trudy moved to Channel 3, Philadelphia, not as a weather girl, but rather a reporter.

The television bosses don’t want to read items like this,  but rest assured or at least informed:  they want the babes doing the weather.   It is assumed you know why.   This is not a sexist statement but I think you also have noticed there are a lot more news bunnies today.  Some people will say that’s a good thing.  I would prefer that if they must be of the feminine gender, they ought to be able to show the professionalism of, say, Marge Pala, of Channel 3.   I think the high number of females in TV news has enabled the continuing softening of “hard news”, and I believe the station executives prefer it that way.   Some day I will have a lot more to say about this on thishere blog as this is nothing directly personal ”against” the women of today in TV news.   In large part, they are unable to fulfill a full commitment to journalism not due to their gender, but rather the policies of their bosses.   But this yarn is about….. lessee….oh yeah….the local weather!!

Last night, what was the reason the weather bunny was on almost at the start of the newscast?   It was to get 20 degrees colder “tomorrow”, i.e.,  Sunday (today, as I write this).  My, my, as I write this in the early afternoon, the temperature is 31 degrees.  The low today was 23.  The weather lady more or less suggested by her tone and commentary that weather terror was just ahead (“tomorrow”).   It may go below 20 tonight.  My, has that ever happened before???

It should be pointed out here that it would be the same reporting and emphasis situation if all the weather reporters on TV were men:   their bosses still would use weather as a major news item, even with a sprinkle of rain.  This is because most broadcasting executives are not journalists and want to stay as far away from journalism as they can. 

This also is because TV stations have conducted research of news viewers like you.  They have asked, in effect, why do you turn on the news?  To my chagrin, a most prominent response is to get the weather.   I would have preferred that you tuned in to find out the latest news.  But nowadays, it seems they mostly cover the “safe” stuff like fires and murders.  Their investigative pieces not infrequently are stings… or setups… such as the recent Channel 10 series catching pedophiles.   There are alot of murders in Philadelphia, and Mayor Street says he is concerned about that. 

But anyway, about that newsroom in a studio.  Back in the 1960s’, the Channel 3 sportscaster was Jim Leaming, who sat right behind me in the four tiers of news desks.  Jim was in the last row, I in the third tier.

Whenever I was doing a “cut in” on the six o’clock news, I would be seated at my desk, with Jim behind me.  We were part of the wide shots’ ambience during the newscast. 

Down below us, Bill Kuster would be doing the weather in the weather set portion of the floor level where the newscasters stood in front of a high table (where the late Ernie Kovacs once performed).

It was Jim’s almost nightly routine to whisper to me while Bill Kuster was on.   “Hey John!”

“Hey John!”.   I would turn around and Jim would say:  “Call WE 6-1212″.   And we would laugh.

The first time he had done this, I had asked him why.   

He replied:  “You can find out what he’s (Bill Kuster) talking about in 30 seconds.” WE 6-1212 was the phone number to get the weather forecast.
Now the phone company charges for this service.  I would not be surprised if the reason for the charges in part was because TV and radio people complained that the phone company was competing with them.

It would frustrate Jim that so much time was devoted to the weather, and so little to his sports.   You couldn’t cover the sports in 30 seconds, but frankly, you could take care of the weather with the 30-second forecast. 

When he first started at Channel 3, he was working two blocks down the street at Radio Station WIP where he did the late afternoon sports amidst a disc jockey show.  After his last radio broadcast, he would walk to KYW-TV and do the sports at 6:25 p.m., just before the Huntley-Brinkley Report.

After doing the radio sports in the afternoon, he had most of the sports news in his head, so he didn’t require alot of preparation for his little two-minute bit on TV. 

But this is my point:  most times, the newsroom’s assignment editor would not give Jim a crew so as to film a sports story earlier in the day.  

In other words, even in the 1960’s, the emphasis was to give nearly 10 minutes to the weather, two minutes for sports.  They didn’t want to give sports more time so why waste time and money on film stories that would mean you would have to take time away from the weathercaster.  

  
In a major sports town with major and minor pro sports and five major colleges, two minutes was ridiculous.  (Alas, sometimes even today the sports on the local TV news is a blip.)

Subsequently, Jim Leaming fought for more air time and sometimes got it.  He even got film crews.  One day, he asked me to “sub” for him and go down to the Spectrum (this was 1969)  and interview the new kid on the Flyers who, the night before, had scored his first NHL goal.   I never forgot that interview with Bobby Clarke.  I came back to the studio with the film and Jim came in and asked:  how long is the interview?  I replied it’s one minute and 23 seconds; three questions.   Said Jim:  I’ll use it all.  And he did.

That evening, Jim told the Channel 3 viewers this 19-year-old kid is going to be a big star.

Of course, Jim was right.

I was sad to hear of Jim’s death a few years ago.  I do not have to tell anybody who knew him:   Jim was a gem. 

His material, if he had been given the time, would have been better than one of those Bermuda highs.

As a postscript to all of this, all three local (network-affiliated) stations with early evening Sunday news led with the weather this evening.   I submit this is pathetic.   DANGEROUSLY COLD said Channel 3.   Channel 6 used the wind chill factor to say that it feels like 11 degrees.

Lemme see, now.   Doesn’t it get cold in the winter?

Nowadays, weather has become the lead story on many occasions, both summer and winter and even spring and autumn.  Hot and cold.  It is at the expense of good television journalism.

I submit to you that you are living a dull life if you pay attention to those Bermuda highs.

 

Weather Weary

Last Monday (December 5, 2005), the company phone rang at 5:36 a.m. (We handle day and overnight bus tours, among various trips, including cruises.) The caller was group leader for a casino bus trip departing at 11:30 a.m. She wanted to cancel the trip. In recent days, the TV weather forecasters were predicting the winter’s first major storm. Her trip did not leave Philadelphia until 11:30 a.m., but presumably people already were calling her regarding the ominous warnings. She said she had heard it already was snowing heavily in Atlantic City (the report was untrue). She agreed to wait until 9:00 a.m. when a final decision to cancel could be made. And at that time, she canceled the trip.

Another Atlantic City trip that morning, from a Philadelphia suburb, did proceed. Its group leader said he was not overly-concerned by the forecast, but he asked that the departure from the casino be moved up one hour (in other words, he wanted to leave Atlantic City at 6:00 p.m. instead of 7:00). The casino agreed. The rest of this particular part of the story is that the trip proceeded without incident.

But that first trip was postponed until mid-January.

The main cause of the above developments was not the weather. It was the weather foretellers. The TV weather guys. During the past decade, they have succeeded in scaring the hell out of many people, and the damage likely has amounted to millions of dollars. And yet nobody will be able to develop an appropriate money loss total, and nobody at the TV stations cares.

So many times, the forecast has been ominous; the eventual result: not nearly as severe. This is not a direct slap at meteorologists. They are more accurate than the TV weather prognosticators (some of whom also are meteorologists). Weather reporting on the TV newscasts seems to involve personnel who relish dwelling on the most severe possibilities. And the viewing public has been sold a bill of goods. The obvious theory here is that the TV weathercasters want to boost the ratings.

And it all comes at a considerable cost.

In my business, a postponement or cancellation always costs money. If it is a postponement, the bus driver (based on the rugged rules of being a charter/tour motorcoach operator) loses a day’s pay. It is the rub of the green. The purpose of the trip may not be replaceable. If you are going to New York to see the Rockettes in the “Christmas Spectacular” at Radio City Music Hall, you are out of luck. Only once in its 75 years has the weather resulted in a show cancellation.

In extraordinary cases, Radio City would seek to offer another show date, but because the Rockettes and their annual show are so popular (they do about 200 performances at Christmastime), it may be impossible to provide a makegood.

If you cannot “make good” on the trip, you have to open your wallet, one way or another.

Yes, there are times when the storm is severe enough to cause a group to cancel. But these situations are in the minority. Even so, because of the scare tactics on the TV weather reports during newscasts, the public has become panic-stricken. Surely there are times when passengers cannot get out of their driveways to get to the trip pickup point, but in a majority of situations, the people are just too scared to venture out. And the snow may be an inch, or such as last Monday, less. When the forecast is updated by weather events, the people do not listen; they go by the prior scare and stay home.

In other words, the “storm of the century” mentality has become so rampant, people are quick to cancel. Last winter, one major storm did shut down trips for a few days, causing one group leader to cancel his trip scheduled nearly one week after the snowstorm.  By the time of the trip day, the church parking lot had been completely cleared, and of course the streets and highways were open. But the people canceled, anyway.

There is some justification for being scared to death, but it is completely overblown. And the implications of the TV weather reports affect many industries, not just the bus business. It seems that practically everybody anticipates coming disastrous results if you don’t stay home.

John Bolaris, former weathercaster at Channel 10, Philadelphia, probably will be for years ahead the most infamous TV weather scarer. A couple of years ago, he was so convinced a major storm was poised to strike Philadelphia some days later, he succeeded in convincing his station to allow him to announce during the evening entertainment fare (before the 11 o’clock news) that he would have a report on “the storm of the century” at 11 o’clock.

This prompted other stations to provide similar ominous forecasts, and people were canceling things all over the place.

Isn’t it time to stop this stuff ??

MAYBE THE LAW IS A ASS

This comment includes a quote from Charles Dickens.   A further explanation of   THE LAW IS A ASS  (sic)  may be found on another post on thishere blog.   Look for  “A PLEA FOR OVERTURN OF NJ DOT LAW”.   Here, then, is this particular post:  

Dr. Laura says:  WHATEVER THE LAW SAYS, DO.  You would think that would be a liberal talking.

What does a liberal say, then?

On the May 27, 2001, “MEET THE PRESS” (NBC-TV, with Tim Russert), James Carville, chief apologist for William Jefferson Clinton, dismisses the law (Carville is a lawyer).  Challenged by Russert, Carville snapped:  “The law is just a sheet of paper!”

So, it depends not on whether you are conservative or liberal; it depends on what suits your purpose.

As the learned Harvey Diltitcher once said, if the facts are on your side, try the facts.  If the law’s on your side, try the law.

The NJDOT conveniently elects for the latter.