MMJ Serendipity and a Little From the Wayback Machine

Newsblues posted this today, so a tip of the hat to Mike James.  And a tip of the hat to Lori Jane Gliha.  I don't know her but I'm proud she is a Scripps co-worker.  Lori Jane sang this song at a station gathering recently:



Her song struck a chord.  I blogged about our new reality six years ago when I was a news director in another market:

==============================================
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Tonight something happened that got me thinking. Let me set the stage. Our service technician (consultant) has been in for the past three days. That's Always stressful even if you like the person (and I think I do). So tonight, I left work early (6:25pm) and was settled into my couch about thirty minutes later. I learned from another station's cut-in that a robbery and shooting had occured at a grocery store. MY grocery store. Less than two miles from my house.

I immediately started putting my shoes back on and told John he should drive me there. Good plan until I realized the camcorder was dead. No battery. Dead freaking camera. Somehow it got left on when we were shooting video of our fantastic holiday light display.

A big story happening in my neighborhood and No battery.

For a moment, I was apoplectic. Seriously irritated.

But then I remembered that I work with professionals and although they could not get to the scene as quickly as I could, they would get there and do a good job.  And they did. I watched the late news and save for an audio buzz in the lead live shot, our coverage was fine. More than fine. I'm proud of my team. (Thanks y'all)

But dammit, I really wanted to be involved...shoot some video. Twice in my tenure here, I've shot stories that made it onto the NBC regional feed.  I gotta tell ya, that's serious thrill.

Probably the photojournalists who work at Action News 5 have a "no-big-deal" attitude about shooting stories that are good enough to be sent via satellite to the rest of the world because they do it all the time but I haven't had a camera on my shoulder for a living since the 70's. Nixon was president, for godsakes!

Where I'm going here is that Forward Thinkers say that at some point, all local TV news employees will carry cameras and all will report stories.

I can't wait./pp
============================================
Here's the deal.  The Newsroom of the Future is HERE.  On NBC Action News Thursday evening, we presented our viewers with four stories that were shot, written, edited and presented by MMJ's.  It is the new way.  And we will do it every day.

Since that night in December, 2003, I've never been without a video camera (complete with fully charged battery).  These days I carry a Flip with me and I hope to upgrade to a Flip HD.

I intend to make the network feed again.  Hopefully soon.

Snow Day!

I don't agree with Ben-the-Producer but I understand his frustration.  Winter weather hype is not just a problem in Chicago.

However, vigilance is an expectation with today's television audience.

I grew up in South Dakota and learned early that snow can disrupt life.  If it blows around at 30-plus MPH when it's zero degrees, it can kill.  I respect snow.

I also spent one delightful winter in Syracuse.  Imagine living in a snow globe and God shakes it about every other day or so.  125-inches of snow per year.  My friends at WSTM would snort at the storm that's got us all so crazy right now.

What's the old song?  It's not the meat, it's the motion.  With snow, it's not how much falls, it's what happens after it does.  Will it melt?  Re-freeze, causing treacherous roads?  Blow around?  Do nothing?  We don't know so we have to plan for the worst case scenario.  The trick is not tranferring that plan to the newscast in a "sky is falling" presentation.  It's a delicate dance.

So as I watch the Ravens and Packers try to set a record for pass-interference calls, there's a little voice in my head telling me to go to bed because at 4:30am, the alarm will blare so I can get to work at 6am.

The challenge is to tell a weather story that hasn't been told a thousand times already.

We can do this.

Weeth Reekings Avorian Tar

I finally added the local constant-Christmas-music station to my car radio.  Mostly I listen to sports-talk and KC has a couple of great choices although I'm partial to The Border Patrol.  Steven St. John and Nate Bukaty make me laugh on my drive to work more often than not.

Friday morning I was flipping around and heard the word "Memphis" so I stopped flipping and listened.  Turns out, a "Memphis suburban mayor" posted a controversial comment on his Facebook wall, blaming President Obama's Tuesday speech about the troop surge for disrupting his family's annual Charlie Brown Christmas viewing.  Russell Wiseman is the mayor of Arlington, a community east of Memphis along I-40.

The city of Memphis is an oasis of Democrats surrounded by conservative Republicans so I'm no longer surprised by outrageous political stories and comments.  The conflict makes Memphis one of the greatest news markets in the country. 

But seriously?  President Obama planned his speech on purpose to preempt Charlie Brown?  Seriously.

When I was a little kid, my limited vocabulary made me the Queen of Misheard Lyrics.  I remember being so excited when (and I think it was during the summer between second and third grade) I found the Christmas-themed songs in the United Methodist Hymnal.  No more listening to the sermon, each Sunday I instead read and re-read the words to songs I'd heard all my short life, finally learning the truth about what was being sung.

King forever, seasoned leather...

So Russell Wiseman, ye with the name that is a holiday classic, it's time for you to admit you were wrong.  Our president is not a Muslim.  Facebook is a public forum.  You messed up.  Apologize and move on.

KCTV Makes a Change

Flitting around the KC blogosphere is a story that the somewhat-notorious Tracy Brogden-Miller (read the story I found via Google or watch the video from 2008) is out as ND at KCTV.



I can't help but be struck by the parallels to my death spiral in Memphis:

• She welcomed a new General Manager at the end of the summer.  Lee Meredith joined WMC in September 2006.
• KCTV had been contending for ratings but slipped by 20% in some news time periods in July.  WMC slipped to second place in the late news in February 2006.
• Despite strong lead-ins, KCTV slipped again in November.  WMC lost the late news race by 2/10 of a point in November 2006.
• After three months of working for the new GM, she's out.  I was sacked at the end of the November book in 2006.

I wish her the best.  Getting fired sucks.  Not cool.

Advice to the Famous Having Sex With Women Who Are Not Their Wife

RTDNA - Radio Television Digital News Association Communicator Chairman's Blog: A Memo to Tiger Woods

Truly a Class Act. Godspeed MB

I've worked with lots of anchors over the years in bigger markets than Baltimore and smaller ones too. Mary Beth is truly among the best ever.   Watch the video and you will see why she's so beloved.  Genuine, warm, engaged and just a little self-deprecating.  I really miss Mary Beth.

Mary Beth Marsden Says Goodbye - Baltimore News, Weather, Breaking News | WMAR-TV

Help Wanted...but Jeez, be Smart About Applying!

After more than three decades in the news business I am still AMAZED how how sloppy some wannabes are about job seeking.

Eric Maze is the Deuce at KSHB.  For the past few weeks, we've spent some hilarious moments watching resume reels (DVDs) and reading clever (and some, not so much) cover letters. 

History moment.  My first resume tape was on three-quarter...(sigh)

Right now, we've got five positions open:  Weekend Meteorologist, Weekend Anchor, Morning Anchor, Multi-media Journalist, Photographer.  Interested?  Apply online (click on "careers").

But before you do, a few words of advice.  All of our jobs require the ability to shoot, write and edit.  If you can't do those things, don't bother.  You have to understand and be competent with the difference between broadcast writing and online writing.  If you send a resume and cover letter, spell my damn name right.  (It's not Rick Ilar.  The former ND's last name is spelled Iler.  Seriously I opened one addressed that way today.  And it came from an agent!)

Here are some other tips that I penned for another blog, some time ago:

Cover letters: Note to cover-letter-senders. Write this down. Have somebody look over your letter before you send it so you don't make hideous mistakes like using "of" instead of "have." As in..."I was happy to of seen the posting for a postion at your station." Spellcheck won't catch that but a friend might. Also, don't start your letter with "I'm the next (fill in the blank) at (fill in the blank). If you want to get my attention and that's VERY HARD TO DO, tell me something about yourself that you know will mean something to me. You have to do some research to find out what that is...Be curious, not pushy and you can get the info you need.
Experience: If the posting says two years experience required and you HAVE NONE, go ahead and send me a tape. I look at every one (eventually) but first I read the cover letter and resume and if you don't have ANY experience, that does affect my attitude about you. If you have between one and two years, definitely send a tape. I'll look closer at it than those who don't have any time other than internships in a newsroom. If you have more than ten years under your belt, I'll look at your tape FIRST and wonder how I got so lucky. And...If you have more than ten years experience in two-year increments in triple digit markets....maybe you're in the wrong business.
Phone calls: Call me once if you want, I answer my own phone and maybe you'll get lucky. Be ready for me to be busy because many meetings take place in my office. If you catch me, I might talk to you. I'll tell you about the hours and what I'm looking for as far as live shot experience, etc. Most of the time, I counsel the recently-graduated to look at the smaller markets around Kansas City--Springfield, Columbia, St. Joseph, Topeka. If you don't catch me, leave a message. I check voice mail regularly and if I have something to say, I'll call you back. Most of the time I won't, because I don't have anything to say. You can call more than once but know that there's a thin line between tenacity and stalking. Be careful not to push, especially if you don't have the goods.

It's all about the reseach.  Look at our website, view some of the videos.  Do you like what you see?  Are we doing the kind of news you aspire to do?  How is our writing?  Are we creative?  If you're not impressed, we might not be the shop for you.  Life's too short folks.  Find the right gig and you'll be happy a long time!  Good luck on your search.

The Wayback Machine--November, 2004

Every once in awhile, I'm going to reach deep into the archives of my old blog and pull out a post from before.  This particular piece was written just before the November sweeps period ended in 2004.  There might be slight edits to protect the innocent...

"Sweeps Burnout."

A full week has passed since I last blogged.

And I am  t i r e d o u t.
Not so much that I can't function, mind you. I'm just feeling the "sweeps burnout." For instance, I watched an WREG "dramatization" super tonight that was so small (extreme lower right) that it got buried in the video. Usually I would laugh at the...attempt. Tonight I just smiled.

But you know what? This is how I always feel at the conclusion of Nielsen hell.
When will we/they ever learn? We should be in "ratings" all the time. Every day, every hour, every minute. Why should we save our best behavior for three or four months of the year. I was always a "what, in the book????!" manager when it came to requests for time off in February, May or November. July, I could handle. But I've been conditioned by sales and marketing and Nielsen to avoid allowing people to take time off during those three sacred months. And I'm really starting to wonder how wise that is. Why can't I expect people to jump high in January, April or October? And if they do, and if they need some time off in a "sweeps month"...why shouldn't I let them have it?
I'm just saying, is all.
Changing topics...let's all relax!  In the interest of amusement and relaxation, here's a joke recently sent to me:


INTERVIEW SKILLS, PLEASE. A reporter is dispatched to interview the chairwoman of the quilting society. A gentile lady, she greets him at her door with a warning: "My pit bulldog looks vicious but he's quite well behaved. But you mustn't say anything to the parrot!"


Agreeing to her terms, the reporter enters the grand dame's living room and commences the interview. And as she promised, the dog looks vicious but is calm, lying on the carpet and watching the reporter, his tongue lolling out between sharklike teeth.


But the parrot is a horror, screeching profanity and bloodcurdling curses at the top of his lungs with a voice that could curdle ice cubes. The reporter tries to persevere, but finally the bird gets to him and he mutters, "Oh, shut up, you!"


Whereupon the parrot, a wry grin on his beak, says, "Sic 'im, Spike!"
...
Another topic.Action News 5 has had a good run with the Mid-South Emmys. We've won enough over the past five years to make any GM or ND proud. Last night, the 2003 nominations came out and we didn't get many. I will admit to some initial disappointment but here are the facts: WMC is number one is this market. Has been for...years. We are UP in both rating and share in the key newscasts. We are VERYCLOSE to winning all news time periods, sign on to sign off. We don't do it with a sat truck or more crews on the street or fancy graphics or a fancy slogan. We do it in the trenches. We do it with journalism. We do it with our people. We do it with Mike Puccinelli, Carrie McClure, Ron Childers, Joe Birch, Donna Davis, Kym Clark, Dave Brown, Bill Lunn and Jarvis Greer on the front lines every day. Every single one of those people listed has at least three years in the market. Six of them have more than ten years. Four have more than fifteen years. Three have 25 years or more. That's what makes us what we are.
OK, so Carrie's on maternity leave but she'll be back. And until then, Renee Malone is doing a fine job of filling in.
My challenge to the other NDs....I'll put Janice Broach, Joyce Peterson, Anna Marie Hartman, Darrell Phillips or George Brown on our lead story any day. And we're ably backed up by other solid reporters and photographers, producers, editors and production folks who give 110-percent because they care about the product...
I'm thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to you...


/pp

The Road to Sedition (we're on it)

My pal Bonnie sent this to me today. 

If you consider yourself a journalist, please read it.  And ask yourself, when was the last time you practiced your craft?  When was the last time you were proud of what you produced?  When was the last time you aggressively pursued the truth?

We must put ourselves and our precious reputations at risk.

We must ask tough questions.

We must not be afraid.

We must expose.

We must.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dark humor but it always makes me laugh:

When I'm wrong.

This past week has had some great leadership lessons for those of us who made decisions every day.

Bill Belichick gambled and lost last Sundays's game against the Colts.  Les Miles (LSU) couldn't get his field goal team on the grass quickly enough Saturday and blew a chance to win against Ole Miss.  Notre Dame's Charlie Weis is probably facing the end after his team lost AT HOME in double overtime to Connecticut (who? what?!).  Mark Mangino, a man who had the Kansas Jayhawks at the Orange Bowl a couple of years ago will be fired as soon as those in charge can figure out an exit stategy.

All of these men have been at the top of their game.  And they've made incredibly bad decisions.  How they handle their mistakes is up to them.

How I handle mine has changed since I first became a news manager.

I've always been pretty decisive.  But I'm not always right.  In fact...if TV news was baseball and I was a batter, I'd be in the Hall of Fame for making correct decisions five out of ten times.  Nobody bats .500 forever.

There are no flawless bosses. Even the great ones have their quirks. But the best bosses I've had have also been self-deprecating sometimes.  Admitting faults.  Admitting wrong decisions.

Local news is not baseball.  Running a newsroom is much harder than baseball. 

I am demanding.  I have high standards and I don't like my team to make avoidable mistakes.  But we do.  Every newsroom does.

So when I make a mistake, I try to be very overt about it.  I say I screwed up.



I wish I'd learned this lesson earlier in my career.

System Restore

Last Sunday the NY Times did not appear on the front lawn.  That's the second time it's happened since we moved to Olathe, KS.  So, Sunday afternoon, I logged onto the customer service website (which will NOT be linked here) so that I could complain and get a credit for my loss.
Because John was making arrangements to fly to CT for his cousin's funeral, I probably paid less attention to the computer workings than I usually do.

I am not a neophyte.  I understand about viruses and I know better than to click on random links but Monday night, I had a virus message.  I ran my virus software (Trend Micro) and it told me there was a Trojan that couldn't be quarantined or cleaned.  Apparently I'm not the only one.  Was I a latent victim?

I tried to delete the offending file.  Nope.  So I shut the machine off and went to bed at midnight.

Tuesday night, I ran the virus scan again.  In Safe Mode.  It appeared to be deleting bad stuff but when I finally was prompted to restart, the virus message  YOU ARE INFECTED still appeared.  I shut the machine off and went to bed after the late news.

Wednesday night, I tried everything I could think of.  My virus scanning software no longer worked.  The freaking whatever-it-is virus had completely taken over (even CTRL_ALT_DEL) did not work.  (I was urged to contact my adminstrator.  I'm the administrator, dammit!)

Tonight, I came home with a determination to wipe the damn thing clean and start over.  I created the eight System Restore discs back in the fall of 2004.  John's dad had just died.  John was still in Connecticut, caring for his family.  We lived in Germantown, TN.  Carly was in college, Charlie in high school.  Dottie still ran around, crazy, when we put dog food in her bowl.  I worked at one of the most dominate NBC affiliates in the country.

Five years later, as I put the discs into the CD drive, I thought back.  Rewind.  Fast forward.  The death of Clyde.  The death of Bernice.  The death of my job at WMC in Memphis.  Move to Syracuse.  Move to Baltimore.  Move to Kansas City.  Friends lost, friends found.  Eight discs took just over 53 minutes to load and copy. 

Good times. 

I'm in a good place now. 

Can't wait to see what the future holds!

Eddie Vizzo

We have a routine on Saturdays during the football season. No matter where we live, John finds a casino that has a free NFL football contest. Reno, Memphis and Syracuse were not a problem -- casinos were readily available. Other places, not so much but we managed.  The rules are simple. You pick who you think will win the game, slide a "players card" through a slot and then leave.

Yeah right.

While we don't gamble as freely as we did five years ago, we still like to give money away, for some reason. Probably because both of us have tasted small victories. A hundred here, a couple of hundred there...sometimes more. When Carly and I went to Reno to scatter Clyde's ashes, I won $800! (Thanks Clyde)

But now we always stick to our budget of losing. Once fifty bucks is gone so are we.

Saturday was no different. We went out for breakfast and then took the dog for a walk.

Dottie is now a very old doggie.  (We got her as a pup in Tulsa in 1994.)  She doesn't enjoy life as much as she once did.  But she does like these walks (we think) and we also believe that the mile or so does her good. 

When we get home, she's exhausted.  She can't climb the three steps up to the front door so either John or I carry her up and then she sleeps for most of the rest of the day.

Saturday started pretty much the same way it always does.  Breakfast, dog walk, grocery shopping, casino.

John's cellphone rang just as we were entering the Harrah's parking gargage.  It was his brother Billy.  Bill is forty-seven years old but we always refer to him in the diminutive.  He's the youngest of two.

"I have bad news," he told John.  I was watching John's face and I saw it screw up in sadness and confusion immediately.  I knew somebody died.

John's parents are both gone.  We miss them all the time.  He has two aunts, one of which is in her eighties.

He turned to me and I waited for the bad news.

"Eddie Vizzo died."

Edward Vizzo was John's cousin's husband.  It might seem like a distant leaf on the family tree but in John's small group, it's a big loss.  Ed and his wife Rainy had two children.  Jessica and Jennifer are only a few years older than our two.  When Rainy's mom and dad got too old to care for themselves and Connie, their developmentally challenged daughter (who is older than John), he built a home where all could stay.  He was a big hunk of the glue that held them altogether and we always said he was "a good guy."  He'd give you his last nickel, if he thought you needed it.  He was always kind and welcoming to me when John and I were first married.  And then, when Carly and Charlie were youngsters, he looked for ways to entertain and include them.

Google him and you'll find...not much. Edward Vizzo Electric didn't have a rating with the Better Business Bureau.  That's not surprising to me.  Ed Vizzo was a journeyman electrician who did business with people who appreciated his one-on-one approach.  He had plenty of loyal customers and others waiting in line.  In fact, he died while working for a client.  Felled by a heart attack in the kitchen.  That person called 9-1-1 right away and administered CPR but he was gone.

I don't know his medical history but he had a stress test recently.  His doctor told him that a surgery might be necessary in a couple of weeks, another stent perhaps.

If I were a young, thin, non-smoker who never drank alcohol, I might move on without much thought beyond the grief I feel for Elaine, Rainy, Jennifer and Jessica.

But that's not the case.

And so I'm studying this.

Thank you Eddie Vizzo.

Taking flight

Tuesday evening we got a news release from the Lafayette County Sheriff.  Five men, a father and his four sons had been arrested for "sex crimes."  We learned some of the horrifying details from the charging documents Wednesday.  Among the allegations:

• a victim was forced to have intercourse with her grandfather
• that she was forcibly sodomized
• a dog was part of at least one of the abuse incidents
• the victim and her siblings were forced to participate in mock weddings after which they were abused by their uncles

The victims are now adults.  Some of the accused men were "lay preachers" at a church in Independence, MO.  A church spokeswoman says they are no longer part of "the priesthood."

Police spent the day digging for clues. The victim says she and her siblings buried glass jars with notes detailing the abuse at the suggestion of their abusers.

The cops also think there may be a body or bodies buried on the farm formerly owned by the patriarch, Burrell Mohler.

This is the type of story that is fraught with pitfalls for any news department and we've already stumbled a few times. We have to be so careful!

There is a court hearing scheduled for Thursday.  I'm sure we'll be covering this story for many years.

I want to love the Chiefs

I love KC, I really do. I could easily create a list of a hundred things I love about Kansas City but it's hard, hard, hard to love the football team. John and I went to one game (when they were anniliated by the Giants) and the most entertaining thing was how KC football fans finish off our national anthem:



Y'all know I'm sports crazy. High school, college, pro. Basketball, football, soccer, boxing (sometimes), softball, NASCAR (sorta) and especially BASEBALL. Go Twins.

I realize I'm pretty mainstream (don't like the fights in a cage, for instance). That's how I roll.

Last year at this time, the Ravens, with a new head coach and a rookie QB, were capturing the hearts and minds of Baltimore. Gosh it was fun.

If you didn't wear purple clothes to work on the Friday before a game, you were a turd. Here, I wore a red blouse on Monday and was taunted (in fun) as being a homer.

In Baltimore, if you needed to go to Wegmans, go during the Ravens game. The place would be a ghost town. Here, the mall and grocery store parking lots do not seem to be impacted by Chiefs football.

Chiefs fans say they are the best fans in the world. I don't doubt it. There just aren't very many of them right now.

And then there's Larry Johnson. A real stellar guy who calls out his coach on Twitter and says he didn't know that the word "faggot" is offensive.

It's not very pretty. However, I'd still love to see a win over Jacksonville today!

Go Chiefs!

In the category of "Why?"

From Reuters:
"Multiple shooting incidents are not uncommon in the United States, where there are relatively lax gun controls.
Fort Hood personnel have accounted for more suicides than any other Army post since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, with 75 tallied through July of this year.
Fort Hood isn't Iraq or Afghanistan. It was a protected US military base, home to more than 40,000 soldiers.

Or...this from the BBC:
"...this wasn't Iraq or Afghanistan. It was a protected US military base, home to more than 40,000 soldiers.
A place that was meant to be out of harm's way."


Damn.

Lone wolf?

Twelve Thirteen dead, dozens more injured. Early reports were that the shooter was dead. Hours later we learned that despite being shot numerous times, he's alive and in stable condition.

I find myself glued to the cable stations. All of them.

A former co-worker, Matt Mulcahy, detailed in his blog how Twitter and other digital platforms covered the story.

Here in Kansas City, we rejoice that one of our own was injured, but survived the shooting.  Through her family, we learned that she was in the classroom when the shooting started.  She and her fellow soldiers dropped to the floor and covered each other.

But why?  What drove him to turn on his comrades?  A doctor is not supposed to kill.  Some are calling the rampage the work of a "lone wolf."

Watch out for black women?

Here's an email I received during the 5pm news Tuesday night, followed by my response and his back to me. (Spelling and punctuation has not been changed.)

From: john (redacted)
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 5:14 PM
To: Phillip, Peggy
Subject: Beating At store Parking Lot
I am so sick of your liberal biased news. I never watch you anymore unless the channel happens to be on.You are so liberal and bias you do not report the news, your try and report your agenda. I know this because NEVER do you identify a suspect if he is black or Hispanic if it can be avoided. Case in point when you reproted about the elderly man being beaten I knew the suspect was a black female becasue you never mentioned a description of suspect. I changed to channel 9 and sure enoguh a complete description.No wonder you are rated last. Quick your liberal BS and be a news station . Report the facts even if they do not fit your policrics
SHAME ON YOU


My response was copied to the newsroom:

Mr. (redacted),
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We report suspect descriptions when they can reasonably assist the police in finding persons responsible for crime. In this case, the description from police was vague--black woman, 150 pounds, 5-foot-six inches tall.

"Black" is the color of the words you are now reading but has also been used to describe people whose skin tones cover just about every racial and ethnic group in the world, including tanned white people. The media is often accused of withholding ethnicity and race from criminal suspect descriptions as some sort of cowardly act of political correctness. What may appear to be political correctness is our best effort to professionally and ethically report the truth.

Nonetheless, your opinion is important and I am sharing this with the appropriate news personnel.

Sincerely,Peggy Phillip
News Director

From: john (redacted)
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 6:49 PM
To: Phillip, Peggy
Subject: Thank you / Beating At store Parking Lot

I appreciate you responding. Does show consdieration. Most lberals do not answer as they are too self righteous and important for conservatives like me.Does not change the fact your news broadcasts have been neglect for some time.; You DO show a bias and you DO NOT report when a crime has been committed by a person of color. Yes you show after the fact with photos and desrciptions when some one has been arrested but no never ahead of their arrest. Yes I have to turn to other stations as Channel 9 that reported a description of woman and car. Some one watching your news cast would not have had that information. So you do get creds for answering me., Thak you. But you still fail, the "We are liberal and we will report the news as we see it not how it really is test"
Thanks
John

What do you think? Did I handle it properly? It's a rhetorical question but the topic of suspect descriptions should be addressed regularly in every newsroom.

I think I understand John's frustration. He's angry and I don't blame him. In this horrifying case, an 81-year-old man was beaten outside a grocery store while he waited for his wife to finish shopping. This happened in a part of Greater Kansas City (Prairie Village, KS) that used to be safe. Now, not so much.

We are in the information business. It's our job to report as fully and accurately as we know how. But what is "black?" What do you think when you hear that word as a descriptor?

Crimes against the innocent make us feel helpless and we want/need security and solutions. I get that. But demonizing every darker-skinned female of medium height and weight in the greater Kansas City area isn't the answer.

College basketball

I wish I could remember when I fell in love with college hoops.

It was well before we lived in Memphis, home of the Tigers. Before our 1994-96 time in Tulsa when Tubby Smith used to wander through the KJRH newsroom on his way to lengthy interview segments with Al Jerkins. Before we lived in Miami, home of the Miami Hurricanes (1990-94). Even before the Nevada Wolfpack, back when Sonny Allen's miraculous journey to the NCAA tournaments in 1984 and 1985.

(Round one of the '84 game was played at Washington State and I convinced my then-News Director Ed Pearce to let me take a camera on the team plane for highlights. Incredibly, for that appearance, I took Carly, then aged 2, and we stayed with my grandparents in Pullman. There's more to this story and I will collaborate with my friend Patricia Clemm-McCrae to make sure my memories are...clear. Fodder for another blog...)

Now I live in Kansas City. A basketball-crazy town. An area divided by its love for the (Missouri) Tigers, the K-State Wildcats but especially, most especially "Rock chalk... Jay-Hawk... KU!"

My loyalty to the Memphis Tigers has been strained. First by my move to Syracuse where THERE'S NOTHING ELSE BUT TONS OF SNOW AND COLLEGE BASKETBALL. John and I saw a handful of games at the Carrier Dome (which should be air conditioned, by the way, but it's not). We were in The 'Cuse when Memphis lost to Kansas in the championship game. That's still painful because Chalmers never should have been allowed to shoot that shot.

When we moved to Baltimore, we tried to become Maryland fans but it just didn't happen.

Then last spring, the debacle of Calipari, Memphis and Kentucky. It was a week of Ugly. I hated seeing my former hometown folks grovel. (shudder)

And then the allegations of who took what test and where and when and the games vacated and it all boiled down to shame. I'm far away from Memphis now and don't know who knew what and when but dammit, the city didn't need that black eye. And yes, I think RC should go. Whatever.

I now live in nirvana for a college basketball fan. Kansas City MO!

So far here in KC, I've met Frank Martin and Mike Anderson. They both came by the station, submitting to the great Jack Harry. Bill Self still eludes me but it will happen.

I love this town!

Is blogging too old school?

Funny thing about "typing right into the internet." Once you have a taste, it's a hard habit to break.

Instead of blogging, for the past three-plus years, I've kept a journal. On paper. I carry the book throughout the day and write down thoughts and events as they come to me.

But it's not the same as this.

So here I am again. Since I last signed on, we've moved from Germantown, TN to Syracuse, NY to Baltimore to Kansas City.

For a time, it seemed like we were in a financial death spiral. Charlie went off to college in the fall of 2006. We've tried really hard to pay for the kids' school with cash and that plan went out the window! We sold our house in Germantown and rented in The Cuse. Then we bought a townhome north of Baltimore with our proceeds from the Southmoore Cove house and had to sell THAT just eleven months later in a sucky real estate market. Needless to say we didn't make money on that flip!

After I got fired from WMC I took a significant pay reduction when I accepted the ND gig at WSTM in Syracuse but it was a good opportunity for me to lick my wounds and work on Peggy 2.0. And so I did.

Now that we're in KC, the cost of living is more reasonable! For the first time in three years, I'm not always worried about money.

I had put this blog on the shelf and joined Facebook and Twitter. But I've missed it and so now, I'm back. For how long?

Who knows! I think I'll just see how it goes. And if blogging feels too much like shooting 3/4-inch video tape, I'll delete this and move on.