Whew! You know I really never thought that it would be "Big City" crazy living in Cincinnati, but I'll be damned if the city isn't trying to prove me wrong.
Last night (Saturday) at work was one of the strangest shifts that I've worked in my going on 22 years in the News business.
Starting at 2pm yesterday we had: 4-people shot, 2 of whom are dead, a murder-suicide, a 2-alarm house fire and another homicide.
Now I realized that we live in troubled times and all of that and yes, I know that I've been working mostly in Sports over the past 10 years. But geez, the only thing missing was a plane crash (Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud).
((Me at a Reds game//Courtesy: TLB))
I'm hoping that it won't be like that all of the time. Heck, even in Atlanta we didn't have many days like that.
Somehow, even with very limited weekend staffing, we got it all covered. Even with only one reporter and one nightside photographer. The dayside guy was able to keep us going with the stuff in the afternoon, that freed up the night shooter to do the other stuff.
Whatever unsure-ness that I had about being back at at a TV station and not in the field pretty much has now gone away. Between running the dayside desk by myself on Friday and dealing with yesterday, I feel much better.
Now it is on to learning the producing systems. I'm beginning to post stories and video to the website, which is now a very big deal and I'm getting more comfortable writing for news. It is a little more difficult than I thought. Writing my own Sports stories and an occasion News package isn't too difficult, its the breaking news voice overs and the re-writes of poorly written wire stories where it becomes a challenge.
But, as they say...challenges are good. It is a lot more fun to be on the upside of a learning curve than the down side. At least for me...it keeps me involved and pushing forward. Learning is always a challenge and that folks...ain't such a bad thing.
Enjoy your accompanyment music...Ozzie does the "Crazy Train":
We've finally begun to settle into a bit of a routine up hear in Southern Siberia and that is, I think a good thing.
This weekend I finally got cut loose and was on my own working the Assignment Desk Saturday and Sunday night. I can't say it was the greatest experience I've ever had...because it wasn't. Mind you it wasn't bad and I don't want it to sound like a complaint because I am really quite thankful for the job.
I never really had to work on the Desk much before this. Sure, I filled in on occasion...a shift here, a couple of hours there but never really had to do it regularly.
In some respects, its kind of interesting. You'd be amazed at the wide variety of people who call TV stations, particularly on the weekends.
My favorite thus far is Keith. He calls every Saturday and Sunday night, he's always drunk and he's always being chased by the KKK who are trying to beat him up. The conversation is usually quick, "I'm Keith (I can never understand his last name), I want to report that I'm bein' chased by the kkk and they is tryin' to beat me up". "Hi Keith, Okay, I'll look into it, I've gotta go, thanks for the call".
My other is the guy who wants to know why we aren't investigating the government making us a socialist state. Not "in the process of" for all my crazed republican friends but rather, "already done it". He also calls every weekend. "You do know that we've been taken over by a hostile force don't you?" "Why aren't you investigating them?" and "Don't you want to save Democracy?" . "Well sir, I can't start the investigation myself, but I will pass your concerns on to the I-Team, thanks for calling I've gotta go".
Love it. I learned a long time ago that when you get callers like that, you give them a minute and when they want you to say something...which they always do, you give them a long, run-on sentence that finishes with "I've gotta go" and hang up. Works every time.
Of course there a wide variety of others. I think that a lot of people believe that TV folks work 24-7. I got a call about 10pm this past Sunday..."I need to speak to someone on the I-Team right now". "Well, ma'am, they aren't here tonight, I can send you to their voicemail". "Why aren't they there?". "Well, they usually work during the week". "When should I call?". "Try after 10am on Monday".
There are other weird things that go along with this, most of the job involves either calling people or in a lot of cases police departments and taking calls from people.
This past Saturday, I had to try and get some information on a shooting that I sent a photographer to. He tried, but couldn't get much information. This happened in one of Cincinnati's smaller "Townships" (for those who have never been here, there are hundreds of them, some have their own PD's, some don't). I called the "Township" Police Deparment...not once, but seven times trying to get some information or at least someone who could tell me something. On the 7th try, I finally got a human being. "We can't release anything" "We'll be sending a release to you by no later than 2300 (11pm)". That release...showed up...at 2pm on Sunday.
Really, in some respects it is kind of fun. But it is also kind of sad. I always knew that people randomly called TV stations about pretty much every aspect of their lives, but over time you forget that. I never really understood it and I never really considered that a large view of the audience. It just I guess is a statement on people in general, there are always bad and strange, but I also know that there are plenty of good and normal...they are the ones you don't hear from.
Enjoy one of the truly great Classic Rock Groups...Styx featuring our Fav Tommy Shaw...singing about the "Blue Collar Man". Thanks You Tube:
Well...if you haven't seen my Facebook post yet, I'm back in...albeit a little reluctantly...to the TV News wars. Most of you who read this are friends and family and you know my situation. Left the business back in September, very willingly, to move to Cincinnati with my wife for her job. It was something, I never hesitated to do and would more than willingly do again (she has a really cool job).
Unfortunately, my timing in regards to the national employment situation wasn't good. There were precious few jobs available when I got here. None in TV. I also found out the hard way, that my work didn't really prepare me for work in the Production sector and really didn't qualify me to do much of anything else.
So I struggled. A lot. I had never really had to look very hard for work and it showed. I bitched. I moaned. I compromised. I took a job for something to do, thinking that it would be fun, it was miserable.
I learned. Learned a lot. I learned that the job search these days is totally different than it was the last time I was looking. I learned that it is all about networking, with a little luck thrown in.
Finally after a false alarm in November, when I interviewed for a producer job that I didn't get, something showed up. It was disappointing not to get it...but I made a contact and that contact insisted that I stay in touch for when something else opened up. I did.
Forward to the end of January and I see a story in the local newspaper that my contact is leaving at the end of February. That same day, I look at the station job site and low and behold, there is a job there. At the time it said "Assignment Editor/Associate Producer. Okay, I can do that, it isn't ideal, but I most definitely can do it. Before I applied, I got in touch with my contact who said "Oh, yes, apply" "We've already brought your name up".
Cue the frustrating part. The original listing went from Full-Time Assignment Editor/Associate Producer to Part Time Assignment Editor and then a separate Associate Producer job. I didn't understand or know what to make of it. I wanted to work and nobody else in town had anything.
So I sat. And waited. They asked me to come visit in early February. It was a quick and informal visit. Nothing happened. About a month later "Can you come in for an interview?". So I did. Finally, it was mid-March and I thought something might happen. We spent an hour and they asked me about all kinds of things, stuff that made me think..."OK, maybe we are serious and going to do this".
Finally, after 8+ weeks, I got the call and it was for the Assignment Desk position. It's part-time, not full, but it pays fairly well and there will be opportunities to fill in and pick up extra hours. It isn't perfect. The hours are going to be a sacrifice. I don't like the thought of not being able to see TLB (The Lovely Bride) as much. She travels a lot and isn't home much during the week and I'm not going to be around on Saturday nights to wine and dine her. It bothers me, a lot that I can't, but I don't think that I have a choice. I couldn't continue on the path that I was on and I have to hope that some more options will appear as we go.
It's going to be strange walking back in. When I left TV in September of '09, I was kind of over the job and the business. I didn't want anything to do with it. I think some of that had to do with my frustration with the employer rather than the work. I think that everything changed in mid 2005, when I had to work a 42 out of 44 day stretch (the 2 off-days were when my grandfather passed away). I think it changed when I got to live my dream and run a Sports Department for almost a year and then had to hand it off to someone else and then watch that person destroy everything that I did and try and destroy me. It soured me but I held on. Held on and didn't do anything about it and that was my mistake.
I learned from that experience and will never forget it. Yes, I'm also putting down the camera, but I quite honestly won't miss it. I did so much as a photographer. I went to, shot and documented so many cool things, so many big events, so many great stories; I'm ready for something different. The one thing I did over my career that is paying off is a variety of things. I learned how to produce. I learned how to write. I spent some time on the desk. I edited. I planned and coordinated. I know how to and have done almost every job in the newsroom.
Will I stay with this forever? I don't know. What I do know is that I will be prepared for something else. I will not get caught like I did this time. I was in no way prepared to look for other work when I got here. I know that now. I will be prepared. I will be ready. Most of all I will enjoy the opportunity. Make the most of it. Be ready. Be a sponge and soak up as much new information as I can. Most importantly...I can start moving forward again professionally...because I'm back in.
Enjoy one of my all-time favs...Back in Black! Thanks AC/DC-You Tube:
I am officially torn. And before any of you start cheesing out about that Natalie Imbruglia song from a couple of years ago, this is a little different.
It has been a little over a week now since my last job interview. I was told that they would let me know what they would do one way or another. So far...nothing. Is it unusual for a TV station to take their time on a hire or not follow through on what they said? No, it happens all of the time.
Normally, I probably wouldn't be incredibly concerned about it, but this time is a little different. I want to contact them and find out what is up...but TLB (The Lovely Bride who is an HR person) says that it is a bad idea, I'll sound desperate...even though that is exactly what I am.
In fact, the reason for my worry is this: Two days after the interview, the job posting disappeared. Two days later, 2 part-time and 1 full-time job showed up. I interviewed for an Associate Producer/Assignment Desk job. They suddenly now have a full-time Associate Producer and part-time Desk job plus another part-time AP job available.
Should this worry me, I think so. I thought after the interview things were good and they would take care of me, now I'm not so sure. It sounds an awful lot like they took the original job and made it two positions. I worry because that has actually happened to me before. In 2004, I became the Sports Photographer in Atlanta. By the end of 2004, I was Sports Photographer/Producer and by early 2005, I was Producer/Photographer and running the day-to day Sports operations. New management came and in 2007, it was back to Photographer only and they hired a Producer. I got half of my old job, he got the other.
My point, I guess is this. I don't know what to do. I feel like I should at least make contact with the TV station and see what is up or if they have moved on from me. It would be disappointing...terribly so in fact. But at least I would know. It just is difficult for me, the News Director seemed to like me and was floored at my qualifications for just about any job in the newsroom, but was somewhat concerned about paying me. As much as told him not to worry, it isn't that simple and maybe that is the issue...I don't know.
Unfortunately I don't have a lot of options here where I am. The TV marketplace is almost non-existent. Aside from a couple of jobs at one station, nobody else is hiring...for anything. As for production work...same problem. They use a regular stable of freelancers all whom they'd pull from before they'll talk to me. There are a few odd freelance jobs that fly through town on occasion, but they require gear that I don't have.
I'm at a point where though I appreciate my friends saying "Keep Your Head Up", I am having a really hard time doing it. I never thought that I'd be stuck working part-time at a Panera Bread shop right now. Yeah, I know I was seriously burnt out on the TV thing when I came up here, but I'm well over it. I need to find full-time work....somewhere...anywhere....I've been on the beach 5+ months now...and need some work. If this opportunity doesn't work, I'm not really sure that there is a plan B. Yeah, I'll keep skimming the job ads and starting tomorrow I'm sending out some DVD's even though they will be blind sends. That may or may not work, but I've gotta try something...I'm slowly going crazy and need to do something about it.
Enjoy the Working Man from Rush...perhaps I'll be the Working Man again someday. Thanks You Tube:
Okay. So now I sit through the end of a mild snowstorm and now really, really cold temperatures while waiting to hear where my fate lies. It's a little strange, really I haven't felt like this in quite a few years; 1999 to be exact.
For those of you who don't know, I finally got another job interview this past week. Ok, really it wasn't much of an interview, more like a "Get Reacquainted" meeting. I had interviewed with the nice folks at the ABC affiliate here in Cincinnati back in November for a part-time position and I didn't get it. But, I must have made somewhat of an impression because they asked me to stay in touch with them, which I did. I came in on Wednesday and spent about 20 minutes with the News Director, we talked a little about the job and he said he'd be back to me by early next week.
((Me and Intrepid Sports Guy Mark Harmon doing an interview//Courtesy: Atlanta Falcons))
The job this time; a full-time gig. The job would be Weekend Assignment Editor and Weekday Associate Producer. No, it isn't ideal and doesn't totally play to my Storytelling experience nor does it play to my Sports Background. But, right now; beggars can't be choosers. I am working, but it's because I need to do something to keep me sane and have some cash flow. The job is a part-time food prepper at the Panera Bread down the street from my house. Though they really seem to like me there and would love for me to stick around, it isn't exactly a career path that I'd like to stay on.
Some of you who were around me the last year or so before leaving Atlanta are probably asking "Thought you were done with Local TV?". And yeah, at that time I was, though I am really wondering if I just needed to get away from the crappy TV station that I was working at. Granted, I feel a little bit like Brett Favre right now, but at least I know it.
I've already gone on at length about my last two years or so at WGCL in Atlanta. A really bad work environment in a town that I really wanted to stay in. They dumped on me pretty hard and quite honestly, I was never the same after 2005, when I worked 42 out of 44 days trying to keep the Sports Department afloat. The only 2 days I took off were when my Grandfather passed away. It was never totally the same after that stretch of work.
It's really true the absence makes the heart grow fonder. I've been out now since September. No, I still don't care too much for what Local TV has become. Really it has become a somewhat irrelevant parody of its former self. Well, at least in some places it has. Atlanta is a tough market to work in. Most of the time, the TV stations there are comically bad. They think that it is one of the great TV/Media centers of the world; it isn't.
I do like what I have seen so far here in Cincinnati. Does the News here still do lots of goofy, odd things that aren't relevant to most people; sure they do. But, the pace here is a bit slower, the market is older and experienced. They actually have experimented with and tried some interesting things that nobody in Atlanta really had thought of. The quality of the work here for the most part is pretty good. Well shot and told stories, not heavy on the flash, trash and violence that Atlanta lives on.
I hopefully will know something in the next few days about my fate. I'm not really sure what I will do if I don't get this job, there are very...very few openings for anything in this market. I do know that I need to get something in the video or production world and get it soon. As much as the Panera folks have been very nice to me and I like the people that I work with there, I am oh so ready to do something a little more challenging...at least for me. I'm ready to do something in my career field...if only I didn't have to wait so damn long to find out if I get to make a comeback!
Enjoy you obligatory Tom Petty://Thanks Vevo/You Tube:
Well, it has been a bit of an interesting week. Really it was more of a learning experience. Nothing overtly special happened, just a couple of interesting items in that checkbook of life kind of thing.
First was that I finally got to take a class on Final Cut Express. I've been wanting to do this for over a month now and I finally did it. When we bought the mighty I-Mac, one of the extras that we bought for it was something called Apple One-to-One. For $99, we can take an individual course with an expert from the Apple store about any program that we have on the computer. I had been looking at various Final Cut courses, all were considerably more than that. There is a website called Lynda.com that will give you a tutorial, but it is difficult to digest.
((Me in my Producing days//Courtesy: Jon Nelson))
Thankfully, I am already able to edit, I just needed to figure out how to do things with the program. The "Expert" spent about 15 minutes showing me what buttons I needed to use to do things...and I was off and running. He didn't have to say much else, I think I asked 3 or 4 more questions, but I got it and got it quickly. Now, I just need to start applying what I learned. No, right now I probably couldn't cut a story on deadline like I used to on AVID, but with some practice, I will.
That leads me up to the other interesting tidbit of the week. There is another job open at the ABC station here in town (Assignment Desk and Associate Producer/not perfect, but I'll do it). As soon as I saw it, I contacted the person I spoke to the last time I was there (the Asst. News Director) and applied. So you are asking yourself, "OK, why was that important, you probably are applying to all kinds of jobs". And you are right, I am. This was interesting because on Friday morning, I found out that my contact is leaving to take a job in West Palm Beach (not an option).
Thankfully, I am smarter than I look. Immediately I sent him a congratulatory e-mail. In the second paragraph, I just played a bit dumb and asked what I should do about the job and who should be my contact. He got back to me about an hour later and said that he no longer is hiring the position, but the News Director was and that I am on their radar for spot. (Yea!) I e-mailed the News Director and hopefully I will hear something from him next week (cross your fingers).
Those are the highlights of the week. Michelle had her Surgery follow up on Friday as well. It went really well. She is cleared to work from home next week and then go to the office the week after. Though I love her with every fiber of my being, I'm kind of happy that they are going to let her go back soon. I have kind of come to enjoy my time here while she is at work, I get more done that way. I still haven't finished the book and my deadline is closing fast. Sunday is probably going to have to be a workday where I get at least 2 chapters written.
Well it's time to act like the Southerner that I am this weekend. Why you ask? Because some significant snow is expected up here in the hinterlands of Ohio. Yes, I know, the Southwest corner of Ohio is really Northern Kentucky, but still 2-3 inches of snow are expected this weekend. No, I'm not freaked out about it...my wife is...I'm just laughing.
((Me shooting Football in Chicago//Courtesy: Eric Hager(does that work Eric?))
I'm laughing because this may actually be the first "Big Snow Event"
that I have ever sat out. Even when I was working in the Sports department, I got sucked into the Vortex...everyone did. For the past 22 years, I worked in TV and for TV...it's like a porn addiction. I hate to make fun of a business that I worked in for so long but geez...you would think that it's never snowed anywhere before...ever...if you watch your local news.
The weather people hunker down and try and pinpoint the exact time of the 1st snowflake and just generally try to look busy, telling people to "Be Prepared" and make it sound like the potential end of the world as we know it. The Assignment Desk is calling all of their crews and putting on a big dry erase board all the stories that will need to be done. The News Director will walk around and look important and make sure that there is Pizza for all of the people in the Newsroom...but forget his frozen field crews. The reporters and photographers just groan...and dig out all of their cold weather gear because they are going to spend the next 48 hours of their lives standing out in it.
My favorite is the "Generic" live shot of downtown or the cityscape where the reporter says "Yes, it's snowing out here right now, you can see it coming down". Thanks moron...I was wondering what that was falling from the sky around my house. Really, I shouldn't mock the reporters, they are doing what they are told to do. Weather coverage becomes "Multiple Team Coverage" and someone always does the "Big Picture" story that states and restates the blatantly obvious...multiple times throughout the day. I had to do this one time in Nashville, standing on a bridge with a reporter in a -10 degree morning, every 30 minutes, walking out to the camera and him saying "It's bitterly cold and the roads are covered with snow, not a lot of people out on the road. Most people are staying home and so should you". Duh...
The other thing that I always found laughable is the "Grocery Store" story. News crews all over the path of the storm will descend on the local Kroger or other Grocery store du jour and show video of people buying milk and bread. I never could figure out why that, but I think that is because I grew up in Hurricane alley...Florida. Milk and bread didn't do you much good down there. If the power goes out, the milk goes bad. Fast.
So here I sit, I do have to work in the morning at my part-time job. But, I can walk there if I needed to, it's a half-mile away. I sit and I laugh. Sure, I'll watch the Local News...if for no other reason than to see what I could be doing and take comfort in knowing that I don't have to do it anymore. I guess there is always that chance that I get back into the TV business, then I would have to do it and you will all be sitting back and laughing at me, but right now I'm not. I don't miss it. I just get to write stories like this looking back at it all and thinking "Damn, I'm glad that's not me".
Enjoy some other goofballs in the snow...Courtesy: The You Tube
