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THE HAT


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 this!” 

“Ok, " I said and went into the studio, followed reluctantly by the PR brigade and pointing to the monitor I asked the Chief, “Sir, is your hat supposed to look like that?”   He checked himself in the floor monitor and yelled, “Damn it, you two dopes!  Were you going to let me tape a message looking like this?”  The colonel removed his hat and punched it out into shape as his staff stood at attention and stared ahead.  I broke the frozen stillness - “Let’s tape this!” 

This scene would be played over again with Governors and company officers.  And it is an example of how so many times the guy in charge only sees or hears what his underlings think he “wants” to hear.

(MORE CORPORATE TV TIDBITS TO FOLLOW)




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