MY TV JOURNEY

    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...

And so the TV Titanic was launched.  And it made news as we were one of the last UHF stations to be built in the nation.  Because our fearless leader Frank ordered no rehearsals our first news show which I christened “NEWS & MORE” (which nobody liked at first).  However, my choice was limited because Philly TV and local AC radio had taken most of the cliches’: Evening New, Today’s News, Tomorrow’s News Today, Action News, Headline News, NewsPlus.  I wrestled with our slogan for days - but to every doubter within a month it was familiar to a surprising number of new viewers.  The radio stations were worried.  And the other local station in Wildwood was mortified because they had very few viewers before us. Our sales team really had their fingers on the pulse of our market penetration and they were amazed.  Many outside the industry think the business is about programs - the reality is that it’s about sponsors first and programming is the hook (wheth...

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”....