A wide eyed Hoosier boy arrives in California...
5PM NEWS HOUR
LINE PRODUCER
February 14th '83 to the same Holiday in '85
After Dunn & Bradstreet's Corinthian Broadcasting transfer from WANE-TV, I directed development and implementation of unified graphics, DVE, ESS, and expanded use of bureaus, and satellite remotes.
About the time Belo took over from Corinthian, I met a beautiful woman who was genuinely psychotic. However, Nathalie's physical appearance made me blind to her mental problems. I saw no evidence of her psychological problems until after we were married - about two weeks after we met. We sped up to Lake Tahoe for one of those four minute ceremonies - a ceremony which would haunt me for years.
You know the old line about side effects: If you try to help someone who is depressed, chances are pretty good you're highly likely to also get depressed. I started turning as crazy as she was about the time the new station owners replaced the managers in the News Department. The combination of the two was more than enough to make a grown man cry - at least scream. I can't count the number of trips I made to a sound proof audio studio (closet) to blow off steam.
Roger Bergson arrived as News Director. Dave Clegern showed up shortly after as Assistant News Director. Right off the bat, they announced they had no immediate plans for staff changes. However, all of us in the ranks as middle managers began shaking in our boots - in my case that was now earth shoes. My "Nathalie Lunacy" was compounded by occupational anxiety. Before very much time passed I was paralyzed at work - totally unable to make the quick decisions necessary to do the job of producing a daily hour long newscast.
Roger and Dave recognized my talent, but knew something outside the station was greatly affecting my work. Instead of flat out firing me, they moved me first to the daily half hour newscast at 6:30PM. When I became unable to handle even that, they moved me to the weekend producing slot. By the time I woke up and realized what was happening, it was too late. I had spent all the compassion my bosses had in the bank.
Two years to the day after my arrival at KXTV, I was called in to Roger's office and given my walking papers. It was Valentine's Day, 1985. Like a matter of the heart, I refused to believe it was my lack of performance until years later. At the time, I firmly believed I was all recovered from the Nathalie Epsiode, and was filled with resentment for my dismissal. Instead, I should have thanked Roger and Dave for risking their own positions by letting me stay as long as they did.
The day after my firing, I discovered another shock. When I kicked my cheating wife out of my home, I kicked her out with a purse full of MY credit cards. Not only did she go on one heck of a shopping spree, she also maxed out the cards with cash advances over a three month period. She kept me from finding out, by intercepting my bills - with visits to my mail box when I was away. My first day "off the job," I got to the mailbox as Nathalie arrived - quite red faced when she saw me. She turned and ran. I opened my mail and discovered I was 80-thousand dollars in the red!
Without a job, I knew where I was most likely headed - off the middle span of the Golden Gate Bridge! I went to San Francisco on a typically foggy night. I got as close as one could to the bridge and still buy a drink - a little bar near the back gate of Fort Mason. The little money I had left was certainly enough for my drinking binge - the lightest drinker known. I thought getting schnockered would ease the pain of hitting the water.
I made it to the bridge, and passed out with one leg over the railing! I came out of the stupor and found myself just past the first step for a suicidal plunge. I was still drunk, but realized how dumb it is to kill yourself over a lost love and financial disaster - even if they attack you at the same time!
Instead of suicide, I found a nice dumpster and moved into it and made some bizarre friends. Click the LOGO to find out how an old college friend helped me eventually upgrade my housing.
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