Through the Woods to the Competition I go...
EXECUTIVE NEWS PRODUCER

Early '81 to February '83


I received public acclaim and numerous awards for production of newscasts and documentaries: MOTHER TERESA, FORT WAYNE FLOODS, and THE DEMISE OF INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER. That's the black and white of it. Look behind the words and there's a rainbow of experiences.
Discovering Fort Wayne's biggest employer was on the verge of moving out of town carried a hell of a burden before we finally put it on the air. After a long debate which I lost to myself, I told the News Director - and assured him my source was legit. Getting a second source to verify my knowledge of International Harvester's plan (without burning a friend who first told me about it) was going to be nearly impossible.
Here's how I did it: I went to the mayor's office on a day I knew Mayor Winfield Moses was meeting elsewhere in the building - and told the receptionist I would just wait there for him. Using the phone in his outer lobby, I called the IH headquarters in Chicago. I asked for the chairman by name and made it as far as his private secretary. Then I told the truth when I said, "This is Jon Duffey calling from the Mayor's office in Fort Wayne. We'd like to know the day you are going to announce the plant closings in Fort Wayne?"
"Just a moment Mr. Duffey, the chairman's schedule has him flying there on...
"Will he announce ALL of the Fort Wayne plants shutting down on that day?"
"Why yes, I doubt he'll want to go there again after that visit."
I'd say that's a solid confirmation! Picking up the walkie-talkie I contacted one of the photographer's and tried to hide my excitement and sound routine as I asked him to meet me in the Mayor's office. When the mayor arrived he told me, "Hi Duffey, I don't have much time for an interview...."
Interrupting his honor, "Win, I have some really bad news you'll want to hear about - in private." He motioned to follow him into his private office and I signalled the shooter to turn on his light and start rolling.
After getting him to promise NOT to say anthing to other media until AFTER our 6PM newscast, I told him about Harvester's plans. He started laughing, until I told him it was NO joke. I gave him the number in Chicago and he called. He reached the private secretary and asked what I had. A moment after he asked the same question - he turned white as a sheet.
After he hung up, we got the obligatory "Mayoral reaction" and rushed back to the station with the story which would lead hundreds of newscasts for the next few years. Still, in the pit of my stomach I felt sick knowing the grief I would deliver to thousands of families that evening.
Plans and dreams families had to buy a new home or car, to send their kids to college, to work for a company and retire with a nice pension were all left in shambles that night.
But Fort Wayne is a town of survivors, as it was all the way back to when it was a FORT. This episode would tear many families apart but it would also teach many lessons, some of them very painful. The most important lesson: Never again let "The Fort" pin a big chunk of its economy on one industry or one kind of business. The city survived the depression... just as the original fort came back after it was burned to the ground three times.
It wasn't fire but water which threatened to destroy the city when the spring thaw turned the waters of the Maumee, St. Joseph, and Saint Mary's rivers into a giant lake - covering downtown in March of 1982. Again, that spirit of survival kept it from happening. It was a grand time for broadcast journalism. Part of it was passing along warnings about things such as where levees were getting weak. Instead of people moving away from threatened sites, people mobilized into sandbag brigades to reinforce the earthen mounds.
It was also a time for us to forge new alliances to do our job, as we broadcast every moment of the drama, around the clock. It generated a unique kind of comraderie. The usual mistrust between the media and government was washed away. I convinced the mayor to activate the city's cable access channel (unused until then) and our station supplied a camera to give a constant feed from the emergency operations center. In return, we got to use the line as a way to feed stuff back to the station - cutoff from the downtown flooded area.
One of those who did a great job (much of it live over that unique cable hook-up) was a reporter named Cinny Kennard. If her name doesn't ring any bells, perhaps the picture to the right will help. I know I have her on some of my old archive tapes - somewhere. But here's something more recent... Cinny in Bosnia where she's covering the US military for CBS. She doesn't get much chance to show it these days covering things such as the Paris terrorist bombings, but she is one hillariously funny lady! Click the picture or text link to hear part of her Sunday, January 7th, 1996 report from Tuzla.
I can't remember, but I think NEWS-15 was her first TV reporting job, where she ALWAYS told us (EVERY day) she would be bigger and better than Jessica Savage. I'd say she certainly kept her promise, now covering EVERYTHING imaginable out of the London Bureau. Between the two assignments she spent a lot of time at KHOU-TV (our company sent her there when they sent me to Sacramento.) I'm sure folks in Houston remember her well.
The "live truck" proved it was worth every penny spent on it, beaming back pictures and words of reporter John Hoylman waddling down a flooded street in hip boots, narrating sand bag stuffing at the Coliseum, reporting live from a boat as firemen rescued an old man stuck in his flooded home, and bringingt us the touching story of a woman named Rose as she got a check from FEMA to start rebuilding her home and life.
It also put a live picture of me stepping out of my producer shoes to give John a few hours rest. I was reporting from a mound of sandbags when they dissolved under me. I tumbled backwards into the river and drifted toward a dam. Barely fifty yards from certain death, I managed to grab a low hanging branch and pull myself to safety. What a time for the aircheck tape to run out!
The story was so big, the network sent crews to Fort Wayne cover it. What a treat to sleep next to Meredith Vierra - even if it was on the newsroom floor!
The word of our local heroes spread beyond our borders and got the attention of Mother Teresa. She flew into town to lead what resembled a pep session with the volunteers at a local Catholic high school. She is truly an inspriring person. Near her feet as she spoke on the stage, I actually saw a golden white glow around her head. I looked at various NEWS-15 crew members and made a halo motion, and they all nodded yes - they saw it too. But it NEVER showed up on ANY of the videotapes!


On the day the Mayor declared the disaster over, we aired a documentary to salute the city's survival. The way people worked together to beat the forces of nature was so similar to how the British stood up against the Nazi war machine. Click Winston Churchill's picture to hear a short version of how the Prime Minister's described the British effort... which became the name of our documentary on Fort Wayne's victorious stand.


Playing the PM's long version (by clicking the text link or IWave icon) takes the Hoosier effort out of context, while the short one does not. However, the long version paints an eloquent picture of how the English refused to succomb to the German attacks... as we refused to get washed down the river.
At the time, WANE-TV was a Corinthian Broadcasting station. Corinthian was owned by Dunn & Bradstreet. The company was pretty good about promoting from within. After the International Harvester saga played out, I was offered a transfer to a bigger operation - WVEC, the company's station in Norfolk, Virginia. Even though I said I wasn't interested, I was flown down there for a visit. The attitudes outside the building were TOO much like those in Jonesboro, Arkansas. So, when asked to make the move - I said, "No Way!"
Not long after that I saw a posting for a producer job at KXTV, Corinthian's station in Sacramento. I got on the company's E-mail machine and sent a message to the News Director: "Your new producer is the EP at WANE." That was all, simple: No resume. No references. No videotape. Not even my name." Less than five minutes after I hit the SEND button... I got the call. A week later, I flew out for my first trip to California. The next day I got the job, came home, and started packing.


As I said before: Luck & timing is EVERYTHING.
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