Out of the Newsroom

I spent the better part of this weekend trying to be useful.

There was a little work on the annual pilgrimage of acquiring and erecting a Christmas tree. The fact that a 7-foot tree cost $70 at the tree sale that annually takes over a local golf driving range, brings to mind a classic bit from the the late George Carlin on what to do with golf courses.

After the typical trial and error, the tree is up and it is reasonably straight. This is my contribution to the process. The actual lighting and decorating of the tree is left to others, with a far more discerning eye for such things than I.

Then there was the assembly of the new bit of furniture for the television to sit on in the living room. There has been a lengthy quest to get a nice “media center” type deal for the television to perch upon so that it looks more like it is a part of the room, rather than just a big electronic screen in the corner, which is exactly what it is.

I’m not sure who started the whole “knocked down” furniture concept, which always features the complete lie known as “some assembly required”. It could be those damn Swedes behind IKEA. (I am not sure I trust any furniture store that serves Swedish Meatballs and is proud of the fact.) But in this case, the item in question came from another of these retailers of carefully engineered frustration and do-it-yourself madness, Crate and Barrel.

Now I want it known, that I did not do the usual male thing and just start whipping out the various parts and hardware of this project and just diving right in. No, I actually took the time to read and study the directions. Which were decent enough, though with not nearly enough detail to make the process as “easy” as was promised in the store, buy a breezy sales fellow who I guarantee has never touched an allen wrench in his life.

But after about four plus hours of serious work and some interspersed cursing and a scraped knuckle or two, I have to say that it turned out OK. It is a nice looking bit of home decor with a place to put the DVD’s that seem to be spontaneously reproducing in every corner of my home. Aside from realizing that I was not born to have a screwdriver or allen wrench in my hand for more than a minute or two at any given time—I have briefly recaptured that wonderful feeling of working with my hands and actually accomplishing something.

Except both hands hurt now so much that I can barely make a fist, let alone type. So much for being useful. Hopefully a good night sleep helps

That I find intelligent conversation to be the highest compliment you can give some one.

That I think learning about cool new technology and sharing that knowledge keeps me younger than the 52 years old I turned today.

That I believe all a man can leave behind, is the reputation of how he treated others.

That I find Rachel Maddow and Marisa Miller equally attractive–in of course, a very platonic way.

That I have been known to lie when it comes to what I think about attractive women.

That I secretly yearn to be a stand up comedian, a motivational speaker, a televangelist or a teacher. (understanding that the latter role neatly encompasses all of the others.)

That I am a sucker for a genuine compliment of any kind, despite my loud protests to the contrary.

That I think Daniel Craig is the best James Bond that has ever been on film, with Sean Connery a close second.

That I can’t quite figure out a washer or dryer, even though I fix computers for fun.

That I am pretty sure that medical science will never figure out why I sometimes feel so bad from a pain in my chest, that I think I am not going to wake up the next morning.

That I still don’t have a solid clue why someone as intelligent and attractive as the woman who married me nearly 25 years ago wouldn’t have wised up before now and traded up.

That I am prouder of my two daughters for who they are, than anything else I have ever done in my life even though I realize that I had precious little to do with how they turned out.

That I would put up these dozen thoughts and rhetorically ask you to answer what they say about me.

I’ve noticed lately that I keep writing about relatively “heavy” topics here on my blog. It wasn’t my intent to turn this into my virtual soap box when I started this effort, but I just keep having to throw up my two cents on whatever topic–personal or professional–interests me at a given moment.

It’s my observation that blogs are sort of like stuffing recipes, in that everyone has a different take on what they think they should put in theirs.

Me? I can’t quite do the “put every significant detail of my life online” thing. Then again, I’m not read by enough people to throw out my considered opinion and believe it to be anything close to “influential” (though I do so appreciate your taking the time to prove me wrong.)

So I’m still happy with the idea of writing about what interests me, and then seeing if it has any impact with anyone who happens by. (And again, thanks for being one of those people who happens by.)

But before I forget, I’m always happy to consider a particular topic that I may have overlooked somehow. If you think that is the case, please feel free to drop me a line and attempt to incite me to post on whatever you might think deserves another opinion in the virtual wilderness.

Just use the “Contact Me” link at the top of every page here to shoot me an email.

Late word this Saturday night/Sunday morning, that one of my boyhood heros has passed away. Bill Drake, the man behind what was arguably the most successful and influential radio station in the nation beginning in the mid-60’s and running well into the 70’s–KHJ in Los Angeles–has died at the age of 71 from lung cancer.

Drake, along with his right hand man and program director–Ron Jacobs, created the sound that he labelled “Boss Radio”. It was perhaps the most tightly controlled and well executed version of the “Top 40” radio format that would come to dominate radio just as the sounds of the Beatles and Beach Boys would crash across the American music scene and dominate until the rise of music on FM radio stations in the mid to late 70s.

But even though scholars may debate Drake’s role in the success of “Boss Radio”, one thing is clear: Drake was a driven man with a vision, and that vision was to create one of the most significant radio formats for the next decade. For a young man who idolized what American contemporary radio sounded like during this period, the name Bill Drake was synonymous with a hard-charging, yet precisely executed radio sound that was sweeping the country.

Like any good ego driven artist, Drake even put his own personal stamp on the sound of “Boss Radio”. The beginning of each hour on a Drake formatted station began with Drake’s own words laying out the succinct, but mermorable promise. Drake’s voice would boom across KHJ (and ultimately each station of the RKO radio chain) –at the top of each hour: “And now Ladies and Gentlemen…the Solid Gold Weekend!” Or perhaps what would become the true battle cry of the medium, “And the hits just keep onnnnnnnn coming!” In each case, Drake’s voice would be followed by another of his innovations–and incredibly short jingle, featuring the Johnny Mann singers, who would half-sing/half-shout acapella “K-H-J…Los An-gelesssss!”

I wish I had been able to meet the man, because his leadership of KHJ and ”Boss Radio“ were a big influence on me, a young man just starting in the radio business. It took me years to figure out what the attitude at ”Boss Radio“ was all about, and that ultimately pushed me towards working where my passion in broadcasting really was. (It only took that long, because it was easy to not understand the not-so-obvious reasons for the success of KHJ in ”Boss Angeles.“)

But you can decide for yourself. There is a good amount amount of what KHJ sounded like ”back in the day“ all over the internet. One good place to start is a amazing website (from Woody Goulart) named the same thing that I think would perhaps make the best epitaph for the late Bill Drake.

BossRadioForever.com

If you’ve never heard of the man or his station, it is well worth the time to take a listen.

Maybe we shouldn’t call it “Black Friday” anymore?

When a 34-year old part-time worker at a Long Island Wal-mart has to lose his life–just so 2,000 bargain hunting “people” can trample over him to get to a cheap laptop, bigscreen TV or whatever other crap was on sale in “limited supply” at five AM on the morning after Thanksgiving–maybe it is high time to just call this what it really is:

A too-hyped day of conspicuous consumption gone completely mad.

What a tragedy.

As a young man working my first job in a radio station, of all the things that I thought were very cool, perhaps my favorite thing of all were the “wire” machines that brought the Associated Press and United Press International wires to life in the closet-sized space that was called the “newsroom”.

Given that this was…well, let’s just say back in the day, these were the old school massive black mechanical beasts that were known as “teletype machines”. Named as such because they were connected to special telephone circuits that allowed the wires to type out all sorts of news and information at all hours of the day and night. When big news broke, the machines had bells that would start to ring. The more bells sounded, the more urgent the news event. Even the staccato rhythm of these beasts normally operating became the “music” of news being made to the ear, and obviously I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

When the Westinghouse Corporation’s broadcasting division, known majestically then as simply “Group W” launched its all-news radio format on WINS radio in New York City in April of 1965, the soundtrack behind the announcers was this very sound of teletype machines wailing away in the background. Legend has it that they kept a old school teletype machine running long after they were officially retired by the wire services, to keep this authentic audio signature alive.

These days, 1010 WINS is still cranking out news around the clock on pretty much the same “You give us 22 minutes, We’ll give you the world” format it has used since ‘65. Alas, the sound of the teletype machine has long since become a digital audio file that is played whenever the news anchor’s microphone is open. But the second you hear it, you know you are listening to the news. The difference of course, is now on the ‘net–you can listen from anyplace in the world on the station’s website.

So I’ve spent five paragraphs going down memory lane to bring you to today. Because in the past 24 hours, I’ve been reminded how Twitter has become my personal wire service.

In that 24 hours, not only has Twitter been the first to tell me of the deadly terrorist attacks in the Indian capital of Mumbai, but its also been the first to tell me of a much smaller news event or two closer to home. It’s told me how one friend coordinated her relatives for Thanksgiving just using Twitter messages. I’ve also followed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade through the funny updates from street level by another friend.

It’s not always the most important information I need to know, to be sure. It’s often raw data, that is subject to change as time elapses and more details become available. But to this person who has haunted newsrooms (big and small) for over 35 years, it is as much the news in my life as any other source–including the wires that were once delivered by those clattering and clanging beasts that I used to feed rolls of yellow paper and reels of black inked ribbons to. These days they show up on a computer screen with a pretty drab “ping” sound.

Twitter even delivered the news that inspired me to write this post.

The influential blogger Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame put up a provocative post this morning titled “I Can’t Believe Some People Are Still Saying Twitter Isn’t A News Source” Arrington debating the point made by some, including a blogger named Tom, who counters that it’s ridiculous to call Twitter a news source because it is often wrong.

What Tom and others might not realize is that Arrington is correct, because he calls Twitter a news source, rather than a source of news. News sources are often wrong, and that’s why journalists learn early in their training that multiple sources are needed to report anything as absolutely factual. The oft-quoted motto of the late City News Bureau of Chicago is the illustration here: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”

The point is that anything or anyone can be a news source. Someone calls our newsroom and says that there is a fire or an accident in such and such location, they have become as much of a legitimate news source as the press secretary for the Mayor telling us about a plan to balance the budget. In either case, a series of people will go into action to determine if the initial report is accurate and then work on getting the story out to the viewers, readers, or listeners as quickly as they can. Then there will be an immediate push to add more information as quickly as possible and update the previous report.

As simple as this sounds, it is pretty much the entire practice of journalism in a nutshell. Of course there are infinite variations on the theme, but the practice of the craft is based on the simple premise. The only real variable is that of time.

The question isn’t whether Twitter is a news source or not. It is whether or not Twitter, or more precisely the people or organizations one follows on Twitter are trustworthy as a source of news. If someone you barely know Twitters out some information, chances are you might be skeptical of what they have told you. If CNN’s Breaking News Twitter feed tells you the same thing, chances are you’ll be a little less skeptical. (Unless of course you are of the belief that CNN’s news is biased by some hidden agenda, but that is a topic worthy of more discussion at another time.) If a dozen people Twitter the same information, how likely are you not to believe what they are saying?

What makes Twitter an amazing news source is the immediacy of its aggregation of information. Aside from the catchy rhyme in that phrase, the concept of being able to receive many news bulletins from different sources in real-time is where Twitter is unmatched in its simple, yet devastating effectiveness. (OK, maybe matched by a wall full of big screen TV sets in a sports bar with every NFL game on a Sunday–but that’s more recreational than informational.)

And yes, I purposely said news bulletins because the forced limitation of only having 140 characters to work with makes everyone try to write in the style that those old fashioned teletypes made famous. A wire service bulletin was usually a terse few words that could stop the world. (It still is) I used to have some of the ones that moved when I was working. Fading slices of history on paper that communicated such monumental events in a scant few words, such as “Nixon Resigns - Ford to become 38th President of the United States”.
(The entire effect is forever immortalized on a teletype machine in the end of the movie “All the President’s Men”)

Yep, that would have been a pretty solid Twitter message, had it been around back in 1974.

Because back then, I would have never imagined that a teletype machine would fit in my pocket and go with me anywhere. So I have decided that I have to find some sound effects that those machines made and load them into my iPhone to sound off whenever I get some news from Twitter.