MY TV JOURNEY

Unofficially WWAC-TV had been broadcasting a test signal for a week but tonight we would “officially” publicly go on the air.  Our engineering department constructed a large switch that was connected to nothing for Frank, our chairman to “turn on”.  Everyone was nervous.  The 7:PM show time was announced in the AC Press which had a big distribution throughout South Jersey.  We had radio spots on all 4 of our local radio stations (several of their morning drive-time staff were going to moonlight on our air - their dream was to come  true; their faces would be finally seen after years of never being recognized in restaurants.  I spent a lot of time pacing and checking things that already had been checked and double checked. I got into my “costume” two hours early - a new expensive gray suede sport coat, french cuffs and a great regimental striped tie that was provided by one of our newest sponsors.  Our first trade deal with the top men’s store on the is...

The Premiere broadcast was 10 days away and it was a madhouse of details to be decided.  One must understand for the months leading up to this big event only the essential employees needed for building the studio and building our programming = me were on the payroll.  The full staff was “hired” but not being paid but many of my production folks were working anyway.  They were finding apartments and rooms as most were not local.  Nora our “street” reporter was out and about every day for several weeks shooting “B” roll clips of police cars, fire trucks, boardwalk scenes, etc. which could be used to supplement our news stories because of our limited story shooting staff (and we only had one RCA handheld news camera ($15K) and two  studio models $25K each).  (The handheld would be used in the studio on a tripod after it returned from the field.  This budget factor limited our daytime production capabilities). Seven days out from going on the air I made (w...

The By the Way meetings continued as Frank brought in a series of local entrepreneurs who “advised” me on how to program the station.  Frank insisted that WWAC look like a Philadelphia UHF station that had been on the air for years as I tried to convince them that we should do a few things well and grow our schedule - this was denied. I was ordered to it all and my days turned into days, nights, weekends, sleep times.  The only steady force was Bob who constantly supported and assured me I could do this as he taught me the independent TV business day by day.  So I stopped trying to crawl and began to sprint without worrying about cost, budgets or the outcome of our haste.  What would naturally take a year to do was done in 5 months - this was my “herculean task” that somehow I completed. By first week in May after wading through literally 150 resumes and 100 phone calls I had assembled the Production Department and Bob handled the salary negotiations (needless to sa...

Haste makes waste as the old adage proclaimed and it is especially so in television station building and in programming.  As we raced to the premiere date the construction of the facilities was at “warp speed”.  The concrete floor in the studio was poured and then the chief engineer reported that it was great for a cellar but not for a TV production studio - much too bumpy and uneven for the camera to make dolly moves.  Frank of course asked, Why did we have to make dolly moves…just don’t do them?  I left this with Bob to duke out.  Bob won after a morning of wrangling.  The fresh concrete was jack-hammed out and a special company from the West Coach was contracted to lay a “TV flooring” - a rubberized substance that when dried was absolutely pristine.  We could now call for a dolly shot - at an added cost of $75,000.   While the studio was progressing I was working on filling it.  If we going to do a news cast we needed a “news set”....

As me and the Chief Engineer hired staff  our TV53 family was growing everyday.  Every space in Frank's insurance business office was occupied by my production staff trying to look busy in the boardroom - but we were running out of chairs and only one phone line was on the long meeting table.  The engineering staff was hanging at the studio location that was entirely empty.  They spent the time helping to clean out the trash from this long vacant building, fighting off panhandlers who used it as home and watching the massive crew of carpenters, plumber and electricians. In one of my countless morning meeting with the "What About Boss" - was told, "Get these people out of my office and put them to work...I ain't paying people to sit around.  I replied, "Frank, I can send our news team out into the City to meet key people and news sources and when we get a handheld camera I have them shoot stock footage."  I had to explain then that they would be shooting...

Week by week the TV53's studio space was being built literally from the groud up in a detoriated space with crews working overtime.  I was given an edict from Bob our Prez.  “You must have severn days of 9AM to Midnight programming by June 1.”  And he made it very clear that this was written in stone - if we didn’t go the air for the summer at our seashore resort home all would probably be lost.  Little by little I hired the production staff as I improvised a I hired away from NJPTV a former (and great help to me) production assistant who was now an Assistant Director.  Frank S. inserted several “political appointees” into the organizational chart - and all had zero TV experience and I inherited his insurance company partner’s daughter - I made her an production assistant and her learning curve was going to be steep. By the way I was going to do these 12+ hour days 7 days a week commuting 140 round trip which took me 1 hour 30 mintues if the wind was right and ...

Where to begin?  That question weighed heavily on me as I made my commute through the pines to the shore.  I had proposed and produced many programs but always had the tools and the crew waiting for my directions.  On my first real workday on my own was at hand - the prep had ended and it was time for me to be the program manager - so I went to work.       My philosophy since high school was "always take my strengths with me!"  What this meant for me was that everything I did was a product of what I had done and learned before and that I should not try to invent but use the tools I already honed.  And so I began like I had many times in the past by breaking down the very complex into its parts.  I made a list of what I needed to produce programs based on how NJPTV was built around me: Production Staff - As our engineer began to solicit technical staff I focused on the creative personnel needs. I produced a press release that focused th...