MY TV JOURNEY

   The years floated by and like all things, familiarity bred contempt.  I started to bite the hand that fed me (add you own cliché here).  As my job became repetitive and routine, I started not to believe the slogans that I was promoting – making communications accessible to everyone became grabbing a buck from as many as possible.   Telecommunications was not mired in the old ways as evolved into an “entertainment and online store for the customers.  Many of the old guard were disappearing and the mantra for all of America’s blue-chip companies was “down-sizing.”  I used to quip to my secretary – “If my boss calls get her name!”  Then even those quips ended.  I became a “Self-Sufficient” manager which actually meant many of the support staff was laid off or reassigned.  Along with producing programs  I had to type my own contract letters,  make copies at Office Depot and stop by the post office – we no longer had company...

   During my 10 years of Corporate Television work I must admit I was called on to produce some real "boring" shows - but there were also moments that made me want to go to work.  Here's a brief list of the "highlights" of my time - that I can remember. Over the years I saw many changes in the stodgy old phone company as it expanded into a communication giant. Working with James Earl Jones was an event.  We shot a piece with him in his NYC Village apartment - what it was about I really can't dredge up but I learned an amazing fact.  Mr. Jones stuttered!  He said he lived with it growing up and he went into acting because when he memorized scripts he didn't stutter.  I also learn that he was paid $10,000,000 to exclusively do VZ commercials and $1,000,000 every time he made a new commercial.  Not bad for someone who was speech challenged. For another taped employee recruitment show which was going out to higher learning institutions I suggested ...

I spent ten of my 19 years with VZ Corporate Television starting as a producer, then staff manager and finally I managed Philadelphia - this final phase of my TV work needs explanation.  My boss Austin asked me to start reporting at the Corporate Studio at #1 Parkway instead of Newark NJ.  This wasn’t a problem commuting because I live about half-way between the two cities and actually Philly was a much easier commute.  No the downside - I was given this assignment because the Philadelphia staff was in trouble.  The PTV employees reported to my boss but were managed and evaluated by the director from the public relations department who was a writer and knew nothing about production and she and her superior weren’t happy.  None of the personnel except received their annual performance bonus - this was rare in the company.  Austin reported that the studio was considered unresponsive, missed deadlines and, expensive and not easy to work with by other “customer...

          (Note: One of my most memorable of all corporate TV memories starts with Don Amendolia, Broadway and TV actor,  a dear friend I worked with at Glassboro State when we “starred” in a couple of Campus Players productions.  Dominic (his real name) was very talented and could sing and dance - two skills I could never master.  Matter of fact, when I played Harold Hill and he was my sidekick Marcellus in The Music Man the director cut my dance scenes - but that’s another story.    After graduation, Don went on to NYC and studied acting at the famed American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He urged me to join him, but I wasn’t that brave - I chose television (which I thought was a much more reliable way of earning a living than on the big stage, especially for a tone-deaf actor with two left feet)  A choice I don’t regret, but I always wondered where I would be now if I had taken the “performing path not chosen”. Oh well. We ke...

     I was happy working at the telephone company - but frankly I wasn’t a “Bell Head”.   Many of the 96 staff in media relations and public relations on my floor took a month to do simple jobs; three people produced a newsletter; two people produced the bill insert (by the way none of these people actually did the work, they hired freelance graphic artists and writer to fill their publications.  And we had a ton of informational products including a monthly newspaper that even had want and selling ads.  Frankly, I could have done all of their jobs in a couple of weeks.  But I soon realized that the phone company had a lot of non-wire stringers who did minimal work.  Why because if the company didn’t spend all of it’s money the government allowed it to make it would have to be returned to the rate-payers. An  incident that stands out as an example of the cultural climate at the headquarters is a shoot I was assigned to do with the preside...

NJBTV many times offered its services to the community as a public service.  I was assigned to do a public service announcement by the “Colonel” , the head of the NJ State Police.  (NJSP was modeled after the military when it was first formed to protect the rural areas of NJ).   He arrived bright and early in a polished uniform followed by a contingent of staff - a lieutenant and captain who were in charge of public relations and his trooper driver.  After our introductions and a brief rehearsal all agreed that the boss cop was ready to put his words on tape.   But as I was ready to roll tape I noticed that his braided cap looked wrong.  I asked the lieutenant and he reluctantly said, “It's squashed!”  I replied, “Who's going to fix it?  You could hear a pin drop.  I looked from officer to officer and they all remained stonefaced and sitting at attention.  The poor trooper was the only one who gave me a look of “please don’t ask me to do...

From 1984 to 1996 I had a wonderful time producing, directing and managing freelance production professionals as the telecommunications industry had major change.  New Jersey Bell morphed from a major part of ATT into Bell Atlantic and with a merger with NYNEX it became Verizon, one of the largest most profitable businesses in the world.  But getting there was a herculean task at times as I live 50 miles south of the facility. And each day I made my way to Newark NJ mostly by taking the 6:05 train to Newark.  I hated getting up this early.   Each morning was a series of challenges - trying to find a parking spot at Princeton Junction, grabbing a coffee from a crowded ruck and then battling the preppy Princetonites who would knock down a pregnant lady to get a seat so they could read their bible - the WSJ.  They had an obsession not to let anyone sit in the middle seat of the three in a row on the NJTransit cold, uncomfortable conveyance.  Their “evil-eyed” ...

    During my entire career in broadcasting and public relations I had a “five year” plan.  Simply put - if I didn’t get promoted or advanced in my skills and assignments I would start looking for another position.  I left broadcasting and accepted the job at New Jersey Bell’s Corporate Television department for several reasons - the studio had the newest and best production facilities that were far better than most broadcasting stations; the studio produced 200 programs a year for training, product roll-out and public information distributed via a live network and through VHS cassettes.  But most important I once again was “my own boss” and would manage many of the best TV freelancers and work with top  NYC productions companies.        The first day on the job I experienced how much different working for one of NJ’s biggest, richest companies was from what I was used to in public supported broadcasting.  After my direct ...

 Hi Ho! It's off to work we go ...and for the first time in years I was producing what others wanted rather than for myself.  And for a year I spent mornings soliciting jobs and calling friends for leads.  In the afternoons I got to play with my son - which was the best part of being basically unemployed.  Word of my situation soon got around to many of my friends and associates.  One day even our minister stopped by to “see how I was doing.”  After a half hour he left me with the remark, “I was worried about you not working, now I worry that you aren’t worried.”  And he was right - I was confident that something permanent would eventually come around. (And that year the reality was that with my wife working the only effect of losing my full time job was that we didn’t buy a new car that year and we didn’t get out to dinner much. The work paid very well when I got it but - it wasn’t consistent. I overbooked myself many times taking two jobs in one day ...

The day WWAC sank made the national news in the print media and TV stations ran the final signoff of our 7:00 PM newscast.  (This made news because our license was the first new UHF station built from the ground up in many years).  Twenty-one of us reported for unemployment that week and I officially became a freelance producer/director (another term for being out of work).  I took a few days off and then started making calls to my long list of contacts I made during my long tenure at NJPTV. After a few calls I got a job.  One of my co-workers at NJPTV was now a manager of ATT Corporate TV.  I couldn’t believe he it when he said, “Can you be here at our headquarters tomorrow?  Wow, I was unemployed for just a weekend! I drove over an hour to the ATT’s massive executive complex in Basking Ridge Nj, a building that housed over 4000 middle and upper managers who ran the world’s communication.  Phil show me around a studio that was better than any I had wo...

The first sign that our meteoric success was short lived came a week before Christmas when Bob instructed me to “layoff” two of my people (he also canned one salesman and two engineers).  First I was totally taken by surprise!  “Bob why - I thought we were doing so well?” He replied, “Our programs are great - but our budget isn’t.”  (Bob always referred to a budget that no one in the management of the station has ever seen - since the beginning I couldn’t budget my programming expenses or future plans. I just filled the schedule and never signed a contract or knew how much money Bob had bartered or negotiated.  After the bad news sunk in my astonishment turned to anger that I contained because I had learned that Bob was famous for punching associates in the mouth or disagreed with him.  I returned to my office to decide who must go - by the deadline that was set by our fearless leader Frank - the weekend before Christmas, no less. After much angst and review...

     Soon after our Election Night Show success two major events happened - The November ratings sweep was tabulated What are “sweeps”? Sweeps are time periods when television stations/networks typically schedule special programming designed to attract a larger than usual audience.   The result - WWAC beat all three of  the Philly UHF station in our ADI (Area of Demographic Influence).  Our owners immediately heard the “ca-ching” of our cash register drawer opening.  Our sales department raised our rock-bottom commercial rates to the level of our competition.   This news was followed by another major kudo - The Atlantic City Press Best of South Jersey winners were announced.  Headline: “WWAC Voted #1  TV Station”.  And the frosting on our cake - Atlantic City Tonight was airing nationally of three cable networks - SPN, Cablevision and USA Network. Lynn and I were famous (almost our show was aired opposite Johnny Carson - but my ...

     Days quickly turned to months and our penetration in the market always for full speed ahead. November came and Bob B said, “What are you doing for election night.” I replied with mystandard “We’re working on it.” But I was thinking OMG here we go again - what the hell are we going to do now.         So with Mike our News Director we planned a full night of “coverage” and said HOW would come later.Our first Election Night was another was a big hit. In the past the only TV coverage for Atlantic City was from Philadelphia stations that aired phone call-ins from our local political headquarters. I created an “illusion” of big time coverage. And to do required “all hands on deck” - including some volunteers from Frank’s insurance office and some of his political cronies. We sent crews to both party headquarters. Mike and I were going to host the two hour minimum show and his staff booked some current elected officials to stop by and...

Our WWAC production team produced a schedule that had manyfirsts. And many were herculean tasks for a bare bones staff.  Everyone worked long hours. Some we invented and others came from a long line of locals and TV pros seeking a job with us or a Program Director who would listen to their idea for a TV show that was “unique” and bound to be a “winner”. I was very busy every day those first few months but accepted every request for an appointment - and it paid off.  For instance, Sam Lit, Hy Lit’s son and producer, who was one of Philadelphia's top radio rock n roll jock visited us from Philly. Sam told me that his Dad had received over the years a ton of promo films and tapes the record companies and performer’s agent had sent in hope that he would talk up their tunes (this was the era of “payola” which Mr. Lit’s station was investigated) - Sam didn’t tell me if there was anything else they delivered.. Sam’s idea was that he and Dad could produce and co-host an hour-long show...

My program schedule was set.  The cable companies were set.  TV Guide was printing our schedule - but I soon found that “programming” was a job that nevers ends.  And so was my commute from Central NJ to the shore.  I was running out of my personal gas by the end of the week and driving even with the low gas prices of the 1980's was killing my family budget.  Our show-biz neophyte owner stopped asking me, “What About?”.  A bit of startup success apparently give him the idea that he was a TV pro. (with 6 months of arms-length work).  He started to compare us with the Philadelphia U’s that years of survival in the 4th major market and staffs that dwarfed our minimal crew.  He now called me with - “We have to have!”  I would consult with Bob, my immediate boss and he would say - do it and find the extra budget.  I would leave is office shaking my head. My next task - create a weekend newscast withe the skeleton weekend crew!!!  And I d...

     Now after half a year of building worry and sweat WWAC was pumping out our programming product 7 days a week from 8:AM to Midnight (I was surprised that our Chairman hadn’t asked Whadabout 24 hours a day?  All our competition runs round the clock.  Thankfully he was satisfied with actually getting us on the air - for now!)  And now it was my turn to find out if my program schedule would “sell” to sponsors and viewers too.  The following is the highlight reel of the building of the most watched station in our ADI.   (Area of Demographic Influence which was determined by the ratings companies and ours was Philadelphia to Cape May.  And our major competition was a local Wildwood stations that we really didn’t worry about because it was closed to a cable company’s local access channel when it came to programs.  However, Philly had three big independent UHF stations which were to be our market penetration benchmarks - they had been on th...