tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21627966652437008322024-03-05T13:09:31.773-05:00Ira Fusfeld's BlogIra Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comBlogger622125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-28662982533096096352013-09-25T13:39:00.000-04:002013-09-25T13:39:20.721-04:00It's me againSo, where was I?<br />
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Oh, I was saying bye-bye after 43 years at the <i>Freeman</i>, ready for some rest and thinking about new challenges. <br />
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That was at the end of July. <br />
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But six weeks into my new life, a text message alerted me to the resignation of Jan Dewey, about a year after she had succeeded me as publisher. <br />
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It wasn't exactly news I wanted to hear. Not only had Jan been doing a wonderful job leading Kingston and our company's other New York properties, but I knew a phone call was likely to come. <br />
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It did, a couple of days later, and on Sept. 17 I was back at my old desk, the one behind which I sat for 25 years.<br />
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I'd say it was like riding a bike, except I never learned how to ride a bike. (That's a long story involving the rules at the Parkchester apartment complex where I spent my formative years.)<br />
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Be that as it may, the company asked me to grab the reins again while it seeks a new publisher. I'm rooting for the search to end sooner rather than later. After all, if you've experienced an employee's sense of uncertainty awaiting the arrival of a new boss, you'll understand why I hope ours don't have to wait long before there's clarity and stability in their professional lives. (This presumes, of course, there are such things as clarity and stability in today's newspaper environment.)<br />
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Am I also rooting for a quick hire so that I can return to "private" life? Who, me?<br />
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That said, one doesn't just towel off 43 years of sweat equity in six weeks. Or, to put it another way, I've been telling people that just as Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda boasts of bleeding Dodgers blue, I bleed <i>Freeman</i> blue. Whatever I can do to hold down the fort, that's what I will do. The <i>Freeman</i> is too important to me and the community for me to not answer (excuse another baseball analogy) a call to the bullpen.<br />
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I'm in the office a few days a week. I can get away with that because we're fortunate (as I was most of the time when I was publisher) to have excellent department heads. They work hard and they know what they're supposed to do. Yes, they can lean on me, but I'm not worried about them toppling me over. <br />
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I've been catching up with the managers and their staffs, learning about initiatives soon-to-be launched and orienting myself about those already on their feet. <br />
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It never gets dull at our shop. Indeed, it wasn't dull even when I was a rookie typing bowling scores in our former home at 3 Broadway.<br />
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I had intended to resume this blog after a reasonable period of inactivity following the conclusion of my <i>Freeman</i> career. I hardly expected the first entry to be about the start of another one.<br />
Funny how these things happen.<br />
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For the time being, you know where to find me.<br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-15476902660287647302013-07-30T11:32:00.002-04:002013-12-11T14:02:09.539-05:00Closing the circle on a 43-year careerIt was on Sept. 14, 1970, a Monday, that I walked into the Freeman building for the first time. We were at the foot of Broadway then. It was 43 years, 50 pounds and a lifetime of memorable experiences ago.<br />
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It will be on Aug. 2, 2013, a Friday, that I will exit the Freeman building for the last time. We’re on Hurley Avenue now. <br />
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Oh, the stories I could tell.<br />
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I’ve given considerable thought to what I might say in this “farewell “ blog. (Actually, “farewell” is not quite accurate, since the title of “publisher emeritus” will always be with me. And I do expect to maintain this blog as the spirit moves me.)<br />
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To be sure, when I began my career as the third person in a three-person sports department – learning the ropes and the Kingston area phone book by typing (on a typewriter) bowling scores – I hardly expected to be working at the Freeman for three years, much less 43.<br />
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But a variety of personal and professional developments – from marriage to fulfilling a local National Guard hitch to a pair of job promotions in the sports department – altered the road map. It also didn’t hurt that this New York City native came to like living “in the country.” After a while, the original goal of becoming a big-time sports columnist didn’t seem so important anymore.<br />
So here I am, having been a sport writer, sports editor, editor, general manager and, for 25 years, publisher of the Freeman, before becoming publisher emeritus a year ago, to round out my career.<br />
It’s been a roller coaster of a ride, as you might imagine. How could being a journalist in this community be anything but? I’ll save some of those aforementioned stories for another time … or for my book … or maybe I’ll just keep them to myself.<br />
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Instead, I’ll take on the foolish job of mentioning Freeman people who were particularly memorable, influential and important to me. This newspaper enjoyed extraordinary success during most of the years when I was publisher. It’s not false modesty, however, to admit the obvious: I didn’t do it alone.<br />
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No doubt I’ll forget someone’s name, so I apologize in advance.<br />
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Here goes:<br />
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Legendary sports editor Charlie Tiano hired me in 1970. I worked for and with him for six years until succeeding him when he retired. I learned more about the newspaper business and this area from him than anyone else. He was responsible for giving me a start in this business and I’m eternally grateful.<br />
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Dick Treat was my first publisher. Ralph Ingersoll II, Tom Geyer and Jim Plugh followed. Bob Saehloff preceded me as general manager. Plugh convinced me to take the editor’s job, even though I’d turned it down earlier. Then he promoted me to succeed him as publisher in 1987.<br />
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Editors Peter Barrecchia, Tom Geyer, Chazy Dowaliby and Rob Borsellino helped prepare me to move into their chair in 1983.<br />
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In the newsroom, where I spent 13 of my formative years, I won’t soon forget people with whom I worked like Tony Adamis, Sam Daleo, Jeremy Schiffres, Matt Spireng, Jed Horne, Hugh Reynolds, Ed Palladino, Mort Laffin, Steve Kane, Bruce Goldberg, Tobie Geertsema, Rekha Basu, Irwin Thomas, Paul Burton, Brian Hollander, Ron Rosner, Dorothy Narel, Joan Saehloff, Tom Wakeman, Edwina Henderson, Betsy Sandberg, Jean Dolan, Mary Chris Kuhr, Emily Spoljaric, Wade Burkhardt, Bonnie Langston, Sid Leavitt , Rick Remsnyder, Mikhail Horowitz, Cynthia Werthamer, David Grice, Mike Stribl, Pat Courtney, Rose Morris, Carol Schaff, Alan Carey, Bob Haines, Dan Chidester, Bill Madden, Pat Doxsey, Modele Clarke, Sheila Isenberg, Craig Gilbert, Neal Allen and Kent Allen, among many others (plus a couple of decades worth of reporters, photographers and editors who arrived after I inherited the front office).<br />
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I learned plenty from advertising people like Jack Martin, Bud Walker, Barbara Norton, John Greklek, Mike Matranga, Greg Appel, Tim Tergeoglou, Jon Powers (a former reporter), Harold Johnson, Carol Stahl, Penny Ducker and Cindy Jones.<br />
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First-rate production people Bill Studt, David Hyatt, Peter Chadik, Michele Sisco-Martin and Len Bovee made sure the computers worked, the newspaper was printed and the building was maintained.<br />
Dan Jagunic, Tom Amato and David Fogden were a few of the guys in charge of getting the newspaper delivered, but only after supervisors like Vince Crantz, Walt Daw and Lee Hazleton led teams that packaged it in the mailroom.<br />
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Financial gurus Bob McClintock, Tony Sakellariou, Tom Cincotta and Bob Wachter did the heavy lifting on budgets and other money matters. Brenda Crantz and Crystal Subeh put the “human” in human resources.<br />
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And where would a publisher be without quality executive administrative assistants like Geraldine Wilson, Debbie Katz, Margret Amato and Joan Beesmer?<br />
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Many at the corporate and counsel level s believed in and advised me -- Bill Higginson, Dave Carr, Mike Tannler, Bob Jelenic, Jean Clifton, Mike Murray, John Collins, Jim Hall, David Ross, Michael Rybicki, John Paton, Jeff Bairstow and Tom Wiley.<br />
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A newspaper publisher needs other newspaper publishers for advice and commiseration. Among my company colleagues, I spent time schmoozing (a technical term) with Frank Gothie, Mike O’Sullivan, Karen Alvord, Frank McGivern, Ann Campanie, Shelley Meenan, Ed Condra, Kevin Walsh, Bill Murray, Kevin Haezebroeck, Paula Walsh, Matt DeRienzo, Jack Shores, Deb Shaw, Chris Chamberlain, Marc Romanow and Jim Williams.<br />
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It was also wonderful working with Diane Kennedy, who heads the New York Newspaper Publishers Association, which I had the honor of chairing in 1997-98.<br />
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All of these people and others whose names have slipped my 65-year-old mind – I didn’t even get into citing colleagues from the non-daily publications in Dutchess, Putnam and Columbia counties that I operated for several years while also publishing the Freeman – were tremendous teammates.<br />
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The Freeman is in excellent hands under the leadership of Jan Dewey, whom the parent company was smart enough to lure as publisher right around this time last year. It’s no surprise that Jan is a dynamic, insightful and creative publisher, just the right person to inject new ideas and energy as our newspaper reinvents itself in print and, more importantly, continues to blaze a trail in the digital world, the place where our industry’s future resides.<br />
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The Freeman has gone from “hot type” to “cold type” to digital publishing during my 43 years. We moved from a historic location on the Strand to a renovated supermarket uptown. We shifted from an afternoon newspaper to a morning newspaper. We expanded from six-days-a-week to seven. We added popular sections like Preview and Doorways (dropping others like Tempo and Channels). We made the product more colorful and, yes, we redesigned it several times. We launched a short-lived Spanish weekly, which I hope the company can revisit once economic conditions are more favorable. We won awards and we became embroiled in controversies, some due to excellent stepping-on-toes journalism, others due to our own missteps. We occasionally tested the patience of readers, most of whom have thankfully remained loyal because they are mindful of the importance of a local daily newspaper. We angered politicians (not necessarily a bad thing) and we frequently took advantage of the bully pulpit of our editorial page to raise the community’s consciousness on a variety of significant issues.<br />
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It’s fashionable to predict the death of newspapers, given the decline in paid circulation and print advertising revenue. But I’m confident newspapers aren’t going anywhere, even if print continues to dwindle and maybe even disappear. <br />
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Between print and digital, the Freeman now has more readers than at any time in its 142-year history. The digital platform and all it encompasses enables newspapers to do what they’ve never been able to do: offer immediacy and audio and video to complement the printed word. The industry and this newspaper seem to have rediscovered equilibrium and momentum in order to grow in this still young century.<br />
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I was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2009. I have been in remission since November 2011. Prognosis is good. But it is a disease that never really goes away. The time is right for me to bow out of the often stressful day-to-day newspaper environment. The corporate team at 21st Century Media (formerly Journal Register Company) has been more than understanding and kind in advance of my departure. <br />
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I’m not calling it retirement. There are tweets, blogs, stories and maybe even books to write. Could be I’ll find myself in front of a classroom or behind a radio microphone or both. Maybe my professional experiences will be of interest to others in the industry. I think they call it consulting. <br />
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Then again, my golf game needs plenty of attention. More importantly, granddaughter Elizabeth, 8, is in Connecticut and grandson Dylan, seven months, is in California. My sons David (and his wife Jennifer) and Matt (and his wife Jessica) will be seeing more of me.<br />
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So will my wife Eileen (like it or not!). We started dating a month after I joined the Freeman and were married just shy of a year before my first anniversary of employment. She’s not prepared to say it’s always been a walk in the park. But we’re going strong after all this time, having weathered child-raising (mostly by her, since I was also married to the job), to being a sounding board as I vented about the latest work-related problem, to my illness. Who can be sure what’s next, other than Eileen and I remaining together and Woodstock being our home?<br />
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Yes, it’s been quite a ride these last 43 years at the Freeman. Thanks for joining me for all or parts of it.<br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-75340365778727794932013-06-26T13:54:00.000-04:002013-06-26T13:57:44.672-04:00Naming names-- Tuesday's 5-4 ruling along ideological lines against the Voting Rights Act to the contrary, say this about the U.S. Supreme Court: It isn't predictable. Months ago it was Chief Justice Roberts tilting the balance in favor of Obamacare. A couple of weeks ago it was Justice Scalia in the dissent on DNA. Today Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Scalia were on the same side on gay marriage. Must be something in the water.<br />
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-- A-Rod gets chastised by the Yankees' general manager for exuberantly claiming he's finally ready to play some games. The Yankees like to control the message on injuries, you see, as is their right. But you suppose GM Brian Cashman would have told Derek Jeter to shut up if The Captain had done the same as A-Rod?<br />
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-- An estimated 13 million people watched <a href="http://nikwallenda.com/">Nik Wallenda</a> do his tightrope thing over the Grand Canyon the other night. Imagine how many would have seen it had it not been on an obscure cable channel. But the key question remains, how many of those 13 million tuned in only to see if Wallenda would plunge to his death? No, it was more than that, says noted <i>Washington Post</i> columnist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nik-wallenda-gives-us-a-rarity-in-modern-life-something-real/2013/06/25/f12887ba-ddb9-11e2-948c-d644453cf169_story.html">Sally Jenkins</a>.<br />
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-- A show of hands: How many of you think <a href="http://www.pauladeen.com/">Paula Deen</a> used the n-word only once? Just asking.<br />
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-- Kicking myself for missing <a href="http://www.stevemartin.com/">Steve Martin</a> at UPAC the other night. I'm told not only did Banjo Steve show up, but so did Funnyman Steve. If you were there, tell me if you liked the show.<br />
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-- Survived <a href="http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2013/06/25/sports/doc51c8d12eab6a8393768588.txt">54 holes of golf</a> on Saturday. Glad I did it; had done it once before; might try it again next season. But I'm only up for 18 holes this weekend.<br />
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-- Interesting watching Assemblyman Cahill play defense.<br />
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-- Radio next week: 6 p.m. Sunday (repeat 3 p.m. Monday) on <a href="http://wamc.org/programs/media-project-wamc">WAMC Media Project</a>. 7:30 a.m. Tuesday on <a href="http://www.mykcr.org/">WGHQ Kingston Community Radio</a>.I'll remind you on Twitter. Follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/irafusfeld">@IraFusfeld.</a>Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-90446394757786830992013-06-11T11:29:00.000-04:002013-06-11T11:29:16.318-04:00Catching upSince last I blogged, the notepad has been filling up. Here are some quick-hitters:<br />
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* Looking forward to a major redesign of the print edition of the <i>Freeman</i>. It will happen around mid-summer, followed a couple of months later by a new look to our website. Newspapers don't take format changes lightly, given how resistant readers typically are to change. Indeed, since we run the risk of aggravating readers every day with what content is and isn't in the paper, why go out of our way to upset the apple cart by the way we appear? The answer is that freshening one's appearance is a good thing, particularly if the makeover is an improvement. We switched to our current format about 15 years ago, if memory serves me. Some people took to it immediately, others scolded us, as in, "How dare you mess with our local paper!" No doubt we'll get that again. Nevertheless, it's time.<br />
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* Fascinated to see in the <i>Freeman</i> website's comment section the never-ending, generally respectful, back and forth between supporters of the Catskill Mountain Railroad and those who advocate a rail trail. That said, seems to me the posters long ago got their respective points across and aren't likely to change any minds by reciting the same arguments. Might be time to yell "jump ball!"<br />
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* I'm guessing Tim Tebow is more likely to succeed with the New England Patriots than he was with the New York Jets. Patriots' coach Bill Belichik runs a tighter ship than does the Jets' Rex Ryan. Belichik won't let the media sideshow overtake the team.<br />
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* Looking forward to the return of <a href="http://www.starz.com/originals/magiccity">"Magic City"</a> this weekend on Starz. And critics are saying <a href="http://www.sho.com/sho/ray-donovan/home">"Ray Donovan" </a>on Showtime will be like "The Sopranos" based in Hollywood. <br />
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* Speaking of Showtime, if you have access to it, make sure you see the <a href="http://www.sho.com/sho/reality-docs/titles/3361052/richard-pryor-omit-the-logic#/index">Richard Pryor</a> documentary currently airing.<br />
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* WAMC Northeast Public Radio is nearing the completion of another successful $1 million fund drive. If you haven't chipped in, please call 1-800-323-9262 or pledge <a href="https://wamcpledge.wamc.org/alleg/WebModuleV862/Donate.aspx?P=PLEDGEPAGE&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=2IHggXVb%2bSb9fFZFtBRGQb1YhDw50SikSh2nq0qouhg%3d">here.</a> By the way, Alan Chartock, Judy Patrick and I recorded this week's Media Project, but it didn't air because of the fund drive. You can listen to it <a href="http://wamc.org/post/media-project-1149">here.</a><br />
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* In sports, you come to expect the unpredictable. But there was no way to anticipate that the Mets would beat the Yankees four straight games and then collapse on successive weekends against the Miami Marlins.<br />
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* Spent a couple of days on Cape Cod late last month and ate more lobster than I had the last couple of years. Hadn't been on the Cape since 1972. What took me so long?<br />
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* It's my 8-year-old granddaughter Elizabeth's dance recital Saturday in Connecticut. Always fun. Grandson Dylan, age 6 months, isn't dancing yet. But his parents had him in the swimming pool over the weekend in California.<br />
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* I'm supposed to play 54 holes of golf in one day later this month. Ten years ago, a bunch of us did that and survived. But I needed shoulder surgery a few months later. Coincidence?<br />
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* Sorry to learn of the passing of <a href="http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyfreeman/obituary.aspx?n=john-jack-peter-martin&pid=165272861&fhid=27364">Jack Martin</a>. Jack was my first advertising director after I became publisher and he had the unenviable task of tutoring someone (that would be me) who had made his bones in the newsroom, with little prior contact on the sales side. Jack was a very important player in one of the most successful periods in our newspaper's history. Condolences to his wife, Elaine, daughters Amy and Laura, and the rest of the family. Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-25540616323723385362013-04-26T14:14:00.003-04:002013-04-29T12:00:58.207-04:00The sale of a newspaperThe company that owns the Freeman was sold earlier this month. You may have heard about it; it was in all the newspapers.<br />
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Indeed, the sale seemed to attract more public attention than previous times when Freeman ownership changed hands. (More on that history in a moment.)<br />
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Maybe that was because the parent company was in bankruptcy for the second time in three years, prompting many in the public to expect us to go out of business as the latest casualty in what is often described as a dinosaur of an industry. <br />
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Maybe it was because there are more print, digital and broadcast outlets attempting to cover our community these days, some of which weren’t around to chronicle past sales.<br />
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Maybe it was because the sale coincided with negotiations with unions representing employees at our newspaper and others owned by the parent Journal Register Company. As typically occurs when unions (public and private sector) seek outside support in hopes of applying pressure on management, the unions expressed dissatisfaction about what they were facing at the bargaining table during talks with 21st CMH Acquisitions, soon-to-be new owner of Journal Register Company (and an affiliate of Alden Global Capital, the soon-to-be former owner). <br />
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I get it.<br />
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But here’s where I’m going to take on the persona of Father Time, as I’ve increasingly found myself doing over the last several years.<br />
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When you’ve worked at the same place for nearly 43 years, you get leather-skinned about the kinds of major business developments at your place of employment that you’ve experienced time and again in the past.<br />
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Put another way, while the sales of the Freeman’s parent companies and/or a resulting change in management are always unsettling for employees and a curiosity/concern for customers, it’s less so to the greybeards on the payroll.<br />
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I don’t mean to be cavalier about it. It’s a lot easier for me, someone who’s a lot closer to the end of a career than to a beginning or middle – and one who’s lived through it to tell the tale – to react with little more than raised eyebrows. No doubt the level of angst is elevated among my younger colleagues.<br />
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That said, before I tell you where I think the Freeman is and where it’s going, for some context, here’s a bit more on that aforementioned history, in abbreviated form.<br />
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The Rondout Daily Freeman was born in 1871. The owner -publisher was one Horatio Fowks. Over the next 20 years, what soon became the Kingston Daily Freeman was sold to S. D. Coykendall, then to Charles Marseilles, then back to Coykendall. The newspaper was losing money in 1891 when 25-year-old Jay Klock purchased it.<br />
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Klock ushered in what was considered the “modern era”, installing new presses, moving the operation into a building at the foot of Broadway (currently the home of Mariner’s Harbor restaurant) and making the kinds of improvements that saw its circulation grown from 3,000 to over 20,000. <br />
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After 45 years in charge, 70-year-old Klock died in 1936. For the next 30 years, the Freeman was run by his widow, Lucia.<br />
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(Yes, the Klocks were the namesakes of the Klock Foundation, which for decades has been a generous benefactor to a variety of worthy causes in the community.)<br />
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“Modern era No. 2” began in 1966 when the Freeman was purchased by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, two nationally known impresarios who’d made their fortunes producing TV game shows like “The Price is Right”, “I’ve Got a Secret”, “Match Game”, “To Tell the Truth” and “What’s My Line?”, among others.<br />
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The sale coincided with the onset of larger companies purchasing family-owned newspapers. Newspaper families made large sums of money and the companies immediately realized big profits and considerable influence. Today, it takes a bit of searching to find a daily newspaper that is still family-owned.<br />
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Goodson and Todman purchased what they were to call the Daily Freeman (Kingston was dropped from the flag) and other similar-sized newspapers in the Northeast. The Freeman now was part of a “chain,” albeit a small one, managed by noted journalist Ralph Ingersoll. (Ingersoll had invented a short-lived publication called PM in the late 1930s. Some look back on it today as USA Today decades before its time.)<br />
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Ingersoll’s son, Ralph II, later came on board to manage the Goodson-Todman properties, as well as a number of other newspapers that he purchased, all of which fell under the umbrella of Ingersoll Publications Company.<br />
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In 1989, Goodson (Todman had died several years before) ended his management agreement with Ingersoll and formed the Goodson Newspaper Group for the newspapers he wholly owned.<br />
Goodson died three years later, but his newspaper company, inherited by his children, carried on until 1998, when it (including the Freeman) was sold to Journal Register Company. <br />
Saddled with significant debt after a couple of huge acquisitions (including the Goodson deal), and faced with a severe downturn in the economy and the newspaper industry, Journal Register Company entered and quickly exited bankruptcy in 2009, with Alden as its new owner. Journal Register Company, still faced with huge debt, emerged from a late 2012 bankruptcy earlier this month, with yet another new owner (the aforementioned 21st CMH Acquisitions).<br />
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Yes, that was the abbreviated version of our history. It didn’t include the long line of CEOs, CFOs, VPs, publishers, department heads, etc., who have directly and indirectly influenced the Freeman over the years. <br />
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I’m guessing most of you who have read this far didn’t have any idea about how much was going on behind the scenes as long as your newspaper was delivered each day.<br />
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A statistic worth noting – and I offer it more to make a point about turnover than to pat myself on the back – is that my 25-year tenure as Freeman publisher was longer than anyone else in the newspaper’s history besides Jay and Lucia Klock. (You are likely aware that I stepped aside as publisher last August and took on the role of publisher emeritus. Jan Dewey now publishes the Freeman and Journal Register Company’s New York newspapers in Saratoga Springs, Troy and Oneida.)<br />
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So what’s the point? Oh, yes, the point.<br />
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Changes here aren’t new. The history above briefly describes the evolution in ownership. There were also many publishers and editors for whom I’ve worked since walking through the door as an idealistic 22-year-old in 1970: Dick Treat, Ralph Ingersoll II, Tom Geyer, Jim Plugh, Peter Barrecchia, Irwin Thomas, Charlie Tiano, Chazy Dowaliby, Rob Borsellino, Reg Gale, among others. And that roll call doesn’t cite the many corporate people to whom I have reported or the laundry list of adjustments and improvements we’ve made to the publication itself, not the least of which was becoming a 7-day morning paper instead of a 6-day afternoon paper. <br />
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Understandable internal and external anxiety aside, the sale of the Freeman’s parent company this month is business as usual for us. We have another new owner, new management, new procedures, and a reinforced commitment to digital publishing, which most observers agree is the future of our industry (and which Journal Register Company and its umbrella management group Digital First Media were spearheading long before many of our industry colleagues).<br />
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I’m betting on the Freeman being here long after I’m gone. In what form? If anybody in the newspaper business can tell you that for sure, they’re kidding themselves. <br />
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Who knows … maybe the parent company will be sold again. After all, it’s happened before.<br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-16167578792716407402013-04-19T14:36:00.002-04:002013-04-19T14:36:56.397-04:00Pat Summerall and meHere's my Pat Summerall story.<br />
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I'm old enough to remember No. 88 place-kicking for the New York Football Giants (as we called them). Summerall wasn't a soccer-style kicker; he employed the straight away approach common until about a decade later.<br />
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And like the rest of you, I remember Summerall broadcasting with Tom Brookshier and then John Madden on NFL games, with Tony Trabert on U.S. Open tennis, and with Ken Venturi on pro golf events.<br />
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But I best recall the correspondence we exchanged when I was a kid.<br />
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Summerall had retired from football and was breaking into announcing as the sports guy on WCBS radio in New York. This was around 1962, when I was 14 and a relatively new, but already rabid New York Rangers hockey fan. <br />
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Back then, the prevailing wisdom was that the Rangers were of interest only to the 15,925 who routinely filled the old Madison Square Garden. So you could only find them on TV once a week, Saturday nights on Channel 11, with Win Elliott at the mike. ("He's shilly-shallying the puck!") If the Rangers played an afternoon game, it would air via tape-delay in the evening. <br />
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Radio? Get this: WCBS broadcast the last six minutes of the first period, the last six minutes of the second period, then all of the third period. Hard to imagine today.<br />
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So I wrote Summerall a letter complaint. And he replied!<br />
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It matters little what he said -- something about sympathizing, but not being able to do anything about it.<br />
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What did impress this 14-year-old was that he answered. He opened my no doubt near-incomprehensible letter, read it and fashioned a reply. <br />
<br />
You have to understand what it was like back then to open your mailbox in the lobby of your Bronx apartment building. You expected to retrieve your parents' bills. Instead you found a personal letter to you, with the CBS logo as the return address, and with a note actually signed by a big time sports guy, which Summerall definitely was in New York, long before he became a national TV star.<br />
<br />
Summerall could do no wrong from then on.<br />
<br />
In reading his obituaries this week, I was pleased to discover he was widely considered a good guy, in addition to being a great announcer. He battled substance abuse and emerged an even better man.<br />
That was the Pat Summerall I "knew".<br />
<br />
----------<br />
<br />
Odds and ends:<br />
<br />
* As long as I'm playing geezer, please note that I'm one of those baby boomers who ran home from school each day to watch "The Mickey Mouse Club", particularly to see the Mouseketeers, featuring Annette (who also was a part of one of my favorite serials, "Spin and Marty". Annette (we later learned her last name was Funicello) died last week at age 70. Many of us who grew up with her have been feeling a lot older since then.<br />
<br />
* When Wolf Blitzer is on CNN, I'm changing the channel. Sorry, Wolf, I "exclusively" won't "stand by."<br />
<br />
* Question I didn't hear asked in the wake of that recent Rutgers men's basketball brouhaha: Where were the beat reporters who covered Rutgers all that time when coach Mike Rice was abusing his players? You mean nobody knew what was going on? Reporters either covered-up, or didn't have their arms wrapped about the team about which they were supposed to know all the ins and outs. Either possibility is troubling.<br />
<br />
* If you like "60 Minutes" on CBS and you're into sports, you'll also like "60 Minutes Sports" on Showtime. Same people, same format, same strong journalism.<br />
<br />
* Here's what I know about Dr. Oz: Oprah made him famous and I get way too much junk email from him. Hey, doc, for my health, cut out the spam.<br />
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* Happy for the local guy, Jimmy Fallon of Saugerties, who'll be the next host of "The Tonight Show", replacing Jay Leno. Still bummed out that David Letterman, the best of the later-nighters post-Johnny Carson, wasn't selected instead of the decidedly bland Leno when Carson retired. <br />
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<br />
I haven't forgotten to write about the recent sale of the <i>Freeman's</i> parent company. I'll do that in this space next week.<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-46343744977311925242013-03-13T13:54:00.002-04:002013-03-13T14:12:09.676-04:00Notes on a boarding pass- If you watched Friday's "Real Time With Bill Maher" on HBO, you likely were impressed by the passion and irreverence of a former <i>New York Times</i> reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner named Charlie LeDuff, who talked about troubled times in the city of Detroit. I was in the audience for the program in Los Angeles (broadcast from the CBS Television City studio that's home to "The Price Is Right" game show). Unfamiliar with LeDuff going in, I deemed him the star of the show going out. Come to learn that LeDuff has a reputation for being quite a character in Detroit, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/charlie-leduff-detroit-wjbk-tv-reporter-fight-_n_2866755.html">the latest example</a> being his being intoxicated and involved in a brawl after urinating in public on Sunday at a St. Patrick's Day Parade. I'm guessing it won't hurt his brand.<br />
<br />
- Everybody has an airplane story. Here's my latest: Decided to fly to Los Angeles starting from Stewart in Newburgh. It's a short puddle jumper (propellers, no less) to Philadelphia, followed by a non-stop flight to LAX. My concern had been that the first flight would arrive too late for me to make the connection. No problem. The Philly plane was <i>delayed three hours</i> for maintenance (at one point it was supposed to be a 5-hour wait). That's three hours of quality time in the Philly airport - and I couldn't find a cheese steak. The return trip departed LAX on time Sunday, but was about a half-hour late landing in Philly (for reasons that weren't clear). That left us about a half-hour to exit the plane, run across a terminal to get a shuttle bus which had to go from one end of the airport to the other, then run through a second terminal to get on the Stewart flight. We missed it by six minutes. (You mean US Airways couldn't have waited, particularly when it knew it had passengers connecting from a flight that was late, but on the ground?) Since I had to be in the office for meetings on Monday morning, I was already thinking about renting a car to finish the trip, since I figured the limited number of flights would make it unlikely I'd get an instant rebooking. But, no, there was one last Stewart-bound puddle jumper in four hours. The tally for this trip, approximately 7 hours in the air each way, 7 hours on the ground in Philly (and one more prior to the first outbound flight at Stewart). The moral: Despite being farther away from home, it's back to flying non-stop in and out of JFK next time.<br />
<br />
- Made it to a Los Angeles Kings hockey game. First time in the sparkling Staples Center. Great place.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi7hfQMqAO2Y6EmMy3KRPDOrn9rk6dIgETz7FpZeyGluPBPr6CujhSTX2sTppq9oXyl3nDS42X-va0EQrQyplKdm487xzmPHECFm7UPyuonCGw_mC_69EaeN88pIitFREBpkk8xO4-gvO/s1600/Dylan.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi7hfQMqAO2Y6EmMy3KRPDOrn9rk6dIgETz7FpZeyGluPBPr6CujhSTX2sTppq9oXyl3nDS42X-va0EQrQyplKdm487xzmPHECFm7UPyuonCGw_mC_69EaeN88pIitFREBpkk8xO4-gvO/s320/Dylan.JPG" /></a><br />
<br />
- Celebrity sightings (large and small): Vince Vaughn, Matthew Perry, David Hartman, Jon Hamm, Franklin Ajaye, the cast of "Shake It Up" (a Disney show on which my daughter-in-law, Jessica Replansky, is the costume designer), Mario Lopez and Maria Menounous.<br />
<br />
- Best "celebrity" (seen in the accompanying photo): my grandson, Dylan James Fusfeld. <br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-66769522951740800252013-02-27T13:56:00.001-05:002013-02-27T14:20:13.373-05:00Seth MacFarlane and the OscarsSo what did I think of the Oscars?<br />
<br />
Funny you should ask.<br />
<br />
Besides it being too long -- isn't it always? -- and despite the fact that most of the awards are of interest only to those in the film industry, I thought this year's event was injected with a healthy dose of inventiveness, making it a refreshing change from the recent past.<br />
<br />
Most of the day-after water cooler chatter had to do with host Seth MacFarlane.<br />
<br />
(A disclaimer: I met MacFarlane when my son was a writer on his animated sit-com "American Dad" and I watched him work several times at "table reads," where the cast performs a script for the first time. He's funny, likable and extremely talented. So let's just say I was inclined to enjoy his Oscar performance even before the first joke.) <br />
<br />
Here's what you have to understand about MacFarlane and the Oscars: He was hired in large part because of his appeal to young males, a demographic the aging Oscars show needed to attract to the broadcast. (TV ratings did rise overall and in that category.) And he was selected because the producers wanted what MacFarlane could deliver: the kind of edginess that has helped make his three Fox comedies ("Family Guy" and "The Cleveland Show" are the two) and his movie "Ted" popular, plus his ability to sing standards in the manner of old Hollywood. In short, MacFarlane is a younger, hipper Billy Crystal, a perennial Oscar favorite.<br />
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So MacFarlane performed as advertised, something he parodied in a bit-too-long opening routine anticipating him being called the worst Oscars host ever (with which many on Twitter during the show and in the press afterwards were in agreement).<br />
<br />
Here's the equation: Past Oscars shows have been considered predictable and, yes, boring. Bring in an irreverent performer and turn him loose. Then duck when spitballs from an offended peanut gallery come flying.<br />
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Jokes about breasts, domestic violence and Jews in Hollywood drew the predictable screams of foul from some individuals and special interest groups. <br />
<br />
(Meanwhile, the "In Memoriam" segment, something with which MacFarlane wasn't involved, produced anger among Hispanics for the omission of an actress they thought was snubbed. (Days before the Oscars there were reports about "In Memoriam" being such a hotly contested segment, given the guarantee of many exclusions, that the names of those who decide who's in and who's out are closely guarded secret, lest they be subjected to backlash.)<br />
<br />
What all this says to me is that there's no tougher "room" than the Oscars, both in the theater and on TV. When you look up "no-win situation" in the dictionary, there's Oscar.<br />
<br />
Hey, it's supposed to be entertainment, all in good fun, from the movie capital of the world, no less. Lighten up. If the Seth MacFarlanes of the business are scared away from hosting future Oscars, we'll get more shows hosted by the likes of Ann Hathaway and James Franco. Remember when they had the gig? Yikes.<br />
<br />
If you want to know what disappointed me most about this year's show, it was that other than the electrifying performance of "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey, the James Bond tribute highlight reel was pedestrian stuff. I'd hoped that all the James Bonds would do a walk-on -- Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. It's been speculated that both Connery and Brosnan weren't interested in attending.Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-51233913655416405662013-02-20T14:27:00.000-05:002013-02-20T14:27:32.864-05:00In case you were wondering ...* As one who's in remission from a different kind of blood cancer, I'm heartened by Robin Roberts' amazing recovery from a life-threatening disease and subsequent return to morning TV today. That said, I've never been a fan of Roberts, dating back to her days at ESPN. Meanwhile, don't tell me ABC didn't exploit Roberts' condition to milk ratings.<br />
<br />
* Speaking of morning TV, if NBC named David Gregory to permanently replace Matt Lauer, the "Today" program would be significantly improved. Gregory's been filling in for Lauer the last couple of days. He's been sharp, funny and likable, and he meshes well with co-host Savannah Guthrie, who has been a big upgrade over Ann Curry.<br />
<br />
* Give credit to those who had the guts to speak up for the state's gun law at last night's Ulster County Legislature meeting at UPAC. It couldn't have been easy given the hecklers and boo-birds they encountered in the large crowd.<br />
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* I'm looking forward to Seth MacFarlane hosting the Oscars, but I suspect if he sticks to his irreverent "Family Guy", "Ted", "American Dad", "Cleveland Show" humor, the core audience in Hollywood and in Middle America will be upset. If one-time host David Letterman's relatively mild "Uma ... Oprah" was panned in 1994, MacFarlane doesn't have a chance. Hope I'm wrong.<br />
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* My wife's out of town. Thank goodness for the hot food and salad bar offerings at Adams.<br />
<br />
* I have three email addresses, one of which attracts an endless stream of spam, which I immediately trash without opening. I'm guessing I'm not alone, thus the question: Does anyone read this stuff and, if not, why do spammers continue to send it?<br />
<br />
* I don't much like politics, but in my next life I'm coming back as a political consultant so I can get a lucrative contract from a cable channel in between elections. <br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-50425900234169970892013-02-08T14:13:00.000-05:002013-02-08T14:13:48.556-05:00Mr. Wonderful* Phil Mushnick's <i>New York Post</i> column is a must-read, particularly when he's keeping tabs of the overrated, overexposed, overbearing sports radio talker Mike Francesa. Today's piece is a perfect example: <br />
<br />
<i>Even by Mike Francesa’s transparent and hilariously haughty standards, he has been on a spectacular run. A few highlights:<br />
<br />
Tuesday, his superior expertise and extensive inside knowledge of all college football and NFL matters allowed him to predict Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater will be “the steal of the [this year’s] draft,” adding he could go earlier than Southern Cal QB Matt Barkley.<br />
<br />
But Al Alburquerque has as good a chance to be drafted. As a “true sophomore,” Bridgewater is not even eligible for the NFL draft. Oh, well.<br />
<br />
Then there was his “interview” with Dick Vermeil, more an opportunity for Francesa to tell Vermeil how much he knows about football and to tell listeners how he and Vermeil have been pals for years.<br />
<br />
Late in the chat, Vermeil, ostensibly the fellow who was being interviewed, interrupted Francesa with, “I don’t mean to interrupt.” Classic.<br />
<br />
Then there were Francesa’s chronic problems with straight addition math as applied to his football picks. Francesa always loses track of his losing picks, when he has merely misplaced them — over there in the “win” column.<br />
<br />
Heck last year he claimed to have picked the Giants to cover in Super Bowl XLII when, in fact, he picked the Patriots to crush the Giants.<br />
<br />
Even this NFL postseason — 11 games, easy to track — the simple math threw him. He claimed to have finished “6-4 or 7-3,” but as truth-tracker Gary Lewbel chronicled, Francesa was 5-5-1. Yes, even the smallest, most foolish matters fuel his egomania. Hey, 5-5-1 — for you, Mike? — that’s fabulous!<br />
<br />
And there was his expert tout that this Super Bowl’s ratings would be poor. Leave it to Mikey! It’s now believed to be the third most-viewed TV program in U.S. history.<br />
<br />
Which brings us to next year’s Super Bowl, at PSL Stadium. Francesa already has authoritatively ensured us that the weather here on Feb. 2 will not be an issue.<br />
<br />
And that can mean only one thing: The Great Super Bowl Blizzard of 2014 is just 51 weeks away!</i>Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-29652698168799736892013-02-04T14:10:00.000-05:002013-02-04T16:49:24.959-05:00All fall down ...* If you use the Tappan Zee Bridge and you have a strong stomach, make sure you read <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/tappan-zee-bridge-2013-2/">this story</a> from <i>New York Magazine</i>. Even if you're not of the faint of heart and keeping traversing the Tappan Zee, you'll grip the wheel harder each time you do, praying your trip isn't the one during which the span collapses.<br />
<br />
* My Ed Koch story: The state newspapers publishers were conducting their convention in Manhattan, 1998, I believe. I was the chairman of the board and introduced the guest speakers. Even though he'd been out of office for years, you couldn't do an event like this one in New York City without inviting the outspoken Koch. He didn't disappoint. I remember telling Koch that as a New York City native, I appreciated what he had done to inject new energy and spirit in a city that really needed it after the financial crisis of the Abe Beame years. Koch was gracious in accepting the praise (which he no doubt believed was earned and probably not effusive enough), and he even seemed to like the commemorative golf shirts each guest received (although I'm guessing that if he wore it, it wasn't on the golf course). Koch was a character in many ways, outspoken and often politically incorrect. But he loved his city and was a "public servant" in the finest meaning of the phrase. At his funeral this morning, as the coffin was being removed from the temple, the organist played "New York, New York". That says it all, no?<br />
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* I almost made it through the day without watching any of the Super Bowl, which is my annual goal (mostly fulfilled since I left the sports department). But that darn power outage at the Superdome screwed it up, because the office emailed me with a question about moving back our press time to get the result in today's paper so I needed to see how far along the game had progressed. As it was, we had arranged for a special press time (an hour later than normal), so the Super blackout created an unanticipated situation. The decision was to start the press at the pre-determined 10:30 p.m. without the final score, then stop it and send a new lead sports page once the game was over. Shortly after 11 p.m. the updated page was sent. Thus, the final score wound up in just over half of today's copies. As for why I don't watch the game (or its endless prelims), it's a habit I've stubbornly adhered to all these year, mostly to be different. Not sure what that says about me. Calling Dr. Phil! <br />
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* By the way, the movie I recorded to watch instead of the Super Bowl was 2006's "The Black Dahlia". Bad choice. I really like Los Angeles film noirs (think "LA Confidential"), but this one fell short.<br />
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* Radio daze: WAMC (90.9 FM Kingston) is fund-raising again (1-800-323-9252). I'm on the station's board and a regular on its "Media Project" program, so you know where my heart is regarding Northeast Public Radio. Meantime, my standard first-Tuesday-of-the-month visit to Kingston Community Radio (WGHQ 92 AM) comes up at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. Give me a call at (845-331-9255). I'll be on until 8 a.m.<br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-54151733966923529072013-01-31T13:00:00.001-05:002013-01-31T13:01:06.437-05:00All talk* Thanks to Jay Hochstadt and the Lifetime Learning Institute at Bard College for inviting me to spend 90 minutes Wednesday talking about the future of newspapers (yes, there is a future). Call my office if you'd like me to speak to your group.<br />
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* There's been so much commentary about gun control from so many different places that I can't recall where I read this one. But I was struck by the gun owner who said he isn't a hunter, but wants to be able to protect his family, thus is against gun control. Need a gun to protect your family? Absolutely; it's your right under the Second Amendment. But with what is commonly described a weapon of war? <br />
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* I'm not in favor of doing anything to the Second Amendment, by the way. But I'm not opposed to opening our minds to the view expressed in italics below from Louis Michael Seidman, professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, as expressed last week on "CBS Sunday Morning":<br />
<br />
<i>I've got a simple idea: Let's give up on the Constitution. <br />
I know, it sounds radical, but it's really not. Constitutional disobedience is as American as apple pie. <br />
For example, most of our greatest presidents -- Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, and both Roosevelts -- had doubts about the Constitution, and many of them disobeyed it when it got in their way.<br />
To be clear, I don't think we should give up on everything in the Constitution. The Constitution has many important and inspiring provisions, but we should obey these because they are important and inspiring, not because a bunch of people who are now long-dead favored them two centuries ago.<br />
Unfortunately, the Constitution also contains some provisions that are not so inspiring. For example, one allows a presidential candidate who is rejected by a majority of the American people to assume office. Suppose that Barack Obama really wasn't a natural-born citizen. So what?<br />
Constitutional obedience has a pernicious impact on our political culture. Take the recent debate about gun control. None of my friends can believe it, but I happen to be skeptical of most forms of gun control. <br />
I understand, though, that's not everyone's view, and I'm eager to talk with people who disagree. <br />
But what happens when the issue gets Constitutional-ized? Then we turn the question over to lawyers, and lawyers do with it what lawyers do. So instead of talking about whether gun control makes sense in our country, we talk about what people thought of it two centuries ago. <br />
Worse yet, talking about gun control in terms of constitutional obligation needlessly raises the temperature of political discussion. Instead of a question on policy, about which reasonable people can disagree, it becomes a test of one's commitment to our foundational document and, so, to America itself.<br />
This is our country. We live in it, and we have a right to the kind of country we want. We would not allow the French or the United Nations to rule us, and neither should we allow people who died over two centuries ago and knew nothing of our country as it exists today. <br />
If we are to take back our own country, we have to start making decisions for ourselves, and stop deferring to an ancient and outdated document.<br />
</i><br />
<br />
* I won't be watching the Super Bowl again this year. Yes, there are a few of us in that category. I heard this statistic earlier today: 100 million Americans will watch. That means 200 million won't.Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-74549524808407333182013-01-17T14:22:00.001-05:002013-01-17T14:22:08.672-05:00On a winter's afternoonA little of this, a little of that ...<br />
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* I'm speaking to a group at Bard College later this month about the future of newspapers. I promise it won't be a one-sentence lecture.<br />
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* A couple of days earlier, we'll get our annual visit from the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Development class. It's always a healthy exchange, although past students chide me about not talking enough about leadership. It's a three-hour session, the last half of which is a tour of the <i>Freeman</i> building. The stop at our idle pressroom is bittersweet.<br />
<br />
* Best I can tell from the peanut gallery is that the National Rifle Association is doing a wonderful job shoring up support among its anti-gun control base. But the NRA seems not to be in step with the majority of Americans (at least according to polls) and is losing the public relations battle, thus marginalizing itself. In other words, the NRA and its supporters are where the Republican Party was in the run-up to the presidential election: listening to themselves in the echo chamber.<br />
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* It's too bad it took a long lockout to get to this place, but the 48-game National Hockey League sprint beginning Saturday likely will be much more intense and interesting than the usual 82-game slog. On the other hand, if the league doesn't figure out a way to open up the ice, we'll get more of those goalmouth scrums and deflected pucks that made many games a chore to watch last year.<br />
<br />
* Only recently did I learn of this "Catfishing" phenomenon, in which a social Internet relationship between two people can be fostered under false premises. Had I not known about it, it would have made it easy to blow off this business about the Notre Dame football star's "late girlfriend" as a fabrication of his own making. Now, that I've seen a couple of "Catfish" episodes (in which the hosts track down people to see if their stories are real), I'm more inclined to think Manti Te'o's tale may have merit. By the way, if Te'o was fooled, so were those who reported the death of a fictitious girlfriend without confirmation.<br />
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* I'd been loyal to BlackBerry for as long as I can remember. Last week I finally bought an iPhone. You are correct to ask, "What took you so long?" I should have known better several years ago when my iPad became a valued tool.<br />
<br />
* I recently tweeted my preference for "Argo" over "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty". Since then, it's won the top prizes at the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice awards. It can still take the Oscar for Best Picture, but Ben Affleck wasn't even nominated for Best Director. His omission, as well as those of Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty") and Tom Hooper ("<i>Les Miserables</i>") doesn't speak well of the motion picture academy.<br />
<br />
* Leftover from my recent vacation: If you get to Los Angeles, make a point to eat at <a href="http://roscoeschickenandwaffles.com/">Roscoe's</a> for Southern-fried chicken and waffles. Just to be clear, what's leftover is this tip, not the meal. My son and I took no prisoners with that, thank you very much.Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-43559412485501909742013-01-08T15:06:00.002-05:002013-01-08T15:06:49.944-05:00Take your pick* Fascinating and frightening. That's the way I'd describe last night's Piers Morgan program on CNN. It featured an incredible appearance by extreme gun advocate and radio talk show host Alex Jones, who has been spearheading a campaign to get Morgan, a Brit, deported due to his stance on gun control. Watch for yourself <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XZvMwcluEg">here. </a> It will make your jaw drop.<br />
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* I'm already on record as saying the <i>Journal News</i> newspaper's decision to print a data base of gun permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties could have used more context -- and that the specific names and addresses were unnecesary (although proponents make a good case when they say they'd like to know if their next-door neighbors have guns, particularly for the safety of their children). But I'm in the newspaper's corner when it comes to its ability to access what is public information. That Putnam County officials are blocking the <i>Journal News</i> from doing so is against the law. They and a frequently volatile state senator, whose rant against the newspaper was predictable grandstanding, can lobby to change the law. But for now, they're on the illegal dog in this fight.<br />
<br />
* Fortunately, I don't get nearly as worked up about sports as I once did. But in my younger days, I'd have been livid after listening to a press conference like the one conducted today by New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and coach Rex Ryan. They're "excited" about the future. They're committed to fielding a winning team. They're this and that. Based on what? Nothing other than their say-so. And Johnson says Ryan will be involved with hiring a new general manager. Doesn't a coach work <i>for</i> the general manager? This franchise has gone backwards the last couple of years and fans can't be confident it will get better any time soon.<br />
<br />
* I'm actually more interested in the National Hockey League than the National Football League -- yes, I'm the one. So I'm glad the lockout is over. Commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners rolled the dice with this labor dispute. The league's popularity was growing and now it's lost more than half a season. Will casual fans come back? It says here, not right away. As far as the negotiations are concerned, I believe that while money obviously was the primary issue, Bettman was not going to allow players' union executive Don Fehr emerge a winner, as Fehr often did when he ran the powerful baseball players' union. You know the old saying, "It's personal, not business." In this case, I say a lot of it was personal.<br />
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* I've already written about how NBC made the right call dumping Ann Curry from the "Today" program. But many viewers were outraged by (and sympathetic with) Curry's tearful (and defiant) farewell. They blame host Matt Lauer and that's sent his stock and the show's ratings in a nosedive. Now the network is tripping over itself with feel-good look-at-our-happy-"Today"-family commercials (as well as the on-air laugh-fests with Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales that are torn right from the playbooks of those nonsensical NFL pre-game shows on CBS and Fox). Best way to fix "Today": hard news in the first hour -- not parochial missing people stories, celebrity garbage or silliness from YouTube -- and lifestyle stuff later in the program. For now, as with the evening news, your best bets in the morning are on CBS, not NBC.<br />
<br />
* Used frequent flyer miles to fly Business Class to Los Angeles. Plenty of room, a hot meal and other benefits up front of the plane. It will be difficult to return to coach (which, make no mistake, I will have to do). By the way, I sat behind a actress, model and former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant whose head I accidentally bumped trying to get luggage in the overhead bin. It's best I don't mention her by name.)<br />
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* Last weekend, newborn Dylan James Fusfeld in Los Angeles. This weekend, 7-year-old Elizabeth Grace Fusfeld in Connecticut. Hard to beat that. Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-58645494057178745162012-12-10T13:13:00.001-05:002012-12-10T13:13:37.690-05:00Tweet, tweetIn case you aren't following me on Twitter (and you know who you are), here are some of the tweets and retweets I've posted @IraFusfeld over the last few days:<br />
<br />
<br />
-- It's official: #Jets are unwatchable.<br />
<br />
-- Bettman, Fehr piloting sinking ship of fools in NHL dispute -http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/massarotti/2012/12/bettman_fehr_piloting_sinking.html … via @BostonDotCom<br />
<br />
-- ‘Amazing Kreskin' offers to fix ‘cliff' http://wapo.st/TLunay <br />
<br />
-- Hard to knock #NYKnicks so far, but it says here they'll eventually fall from the weight of age and injuries.<br />
<br />
-- Good story, good album: Professor Louie and the Crowmatix flying high - http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2012/12/07/entertainment/<br />
doc50c168f317133000257079.txt#.UMIVjFsqjxE.twitter … (from @dailyfreeman)<br />
<br />
-- Review: Bill Murray shines as FDR in 'Hyde Park on Hudson' http://lat.ms/RceJHg <br />
<br />
-- Although they currently have no RF, 3B or C, I'm guessing @Yankees will put nine players on the field come Opening Day.<br />
<br />
-- Looks like I'm in minority, but I had no problem with the @nypost photo of the NYC subway tragedy.<br />
<br />
-- @MikeFrancesaNY does better interviews when he falls asleep and lets his guests do the talking. <br />
<br />
--If I wasn't in the news business, I'd tell you to ignore all the #fiscalcliff stories. The partisan rhetoric will drive you nuts.<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-70676403408830020602012-12-03T14:54:00.003-05:002012-12-03T14:57:59.011-05:00Rice and BondsFrom the weekend notebook:<br />
<br />
-- <i>New York Magazine</i> columnist John Heilemann predicts Susan Rice will replace Hillary Clinton as next Secretary of State. He offers a variety of reasons <a href="http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/susan-rice-secretary-of-state-2012-12/">here</a>. This passage, in particular, caught my eye: <i>4. Because McCain is being a jackass—and Obama is sick of it. Arguably more than any other national figure, the senior senator from Arizona is driven in every aspect of his public behavior by personal pique. In the wake of the 2000 Republican nomination fight, when he believed Bush and his campaign had defeated him by nefarious means, McCain lunged to the center and became one of the sharpest thorns in the side of the new president from his own party. In the wake of the 2008 election, when he was soundly thumped by a Democratic challenger whom he regarded as a neophyte and a pretender whose experience and valor were no match for his own, McCain immediately shed all traces of mavericky independence and became one of Obama’s fiercest critics from the right. Now into McCain’s crosshairs has come Rice, who routinely stripped the bark off him four years ago as one of Obama’s most quotable surrogates. (“His tendency is to shoot first and ask questions later; it is dangerous, and we can’t afford four more years of this reckless foreign policy” is just one vintage example of the form.) No one who knows McCain believes he has forgotten these brickbats or that they are not a substantial part of what is motivating him now. Nor does anyone close to Obama not suspect that, after four years of McCain’s truculence, he’s had quite enough of it, thanks, and is indeed sorta spoiling for a fight."</i><br />
<br />
-- Had to see "Skyfall", the newest James Bond movie. Like many of a certain age, I go back to the first Bond film -- "Dr. No" -- and have seen them all. This was one of the better Bonds, but truth be told, I'm getting weary of suspending disbelief on these increasingly over-the-top stories. Meantime, a good case is made by Stephen Lynch in the <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/nobody_does_it_badder_8bDtUCbjAhbQSKvpwtAAkM"><i>New York Post</i></a> about why Bond is a terrible spy.<br />
<br />
-- Big season-finale for "Boardwalk Empire" last night on HBO. Diehard fans are wondering what's next. Series creator Terence Winter offers a preview in this report from <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/12/02/boardwalk-empire-season-3-finale/"><i>Entertainment Weekly</i>.</a><br />
<br />
-- Jets' coach Rex Ryan won't say who'll start at quarterback this week, but he told reporters today he has three good ones from whom to choose. He must be talking about somebody else's team.<br />
<br />
-- A-Rod is facing more hip surgery and probably will miss upwards of half of the 2013 season. I can't recall the last big-time baseball player who aged and broke down as fast as this guy. <br />
<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-39609659031779665932012-11-19T13:36:00.002-05:002012-11-19T13:50:26.161-05:00Political lies and liars-- I understand that liberal columnist Frank Rich makes conservatives' skin crawl, but his latest piece in <a href="http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/gop-denial-2012-11/"><i>New York Magazine</i></a> might draw a grudging nod in his analysis of Mitt Romney's defeat. In particular, there's this passage about the propensity of politicians of all stripes to stretch the truth and how Romney was particularly proficient: <i>"All politicians lie, and some of them, as Bob Kerrey famously said of Bill Clinton in 1996, are 'unusually good' at it. Every campaign (certainly including Obama’s) puts up ads that stretch or obliterate the truth. But Romney’s record was exceptional by any standard. The blogger Steve Benen, who meticulously curated and documented Mitt’s false statements during 2012, clocked a total of 917 as Election Day arrived. Those lies, which reached a crescendo with the last-ditch ads accusing a bailed-out Chrysler of planning to ship American jobs to China, are not to be confused with the Romney flip-flops. The Etch-A-Sketches were a phenomenon of their own; if the left and right agreed about anything this year, it was that trying to pin down where Mitt 'really' stood on any subject was a fool’s errand. His biography was no less Jell-O-like: There were the still-opaque dealings at Bain, and those Olympics, and a single (disowned) term in public service, and his churchgoing—and what else had he been up to for 65 years? We never did see those tax returns. We never did learn the numbers that might validate the Romney-Ryan budget. Given that Romney had about as much of a human touch with voters as an ATM, it sometimes seemed as if a hologram were running for president. Yet some 57 million Americans took him seriously enough to drag themselves to the polls and vote for a duplicitous cipher. Not all of this can be attributed to the unhinged Obama hatred typified by Mary Matalin’s post-election characterization of the president as 'a political narcissistic sociopath.'"</i><br />
<br />
-- Entirely different subject: It was throwback night last Monday on WKNY radio when I chatted for nearly an hour with Dan Reinhard on his weekly SportTalk program. I moved over from the sports department in 1983, which is around when I last appeared on his show. The real story is that Reinhard is still at it. In fact, he been doing SportTalk for 36 years, which may be some sort of record for continuous weekly sports radio program.<br />
<br />
-- I read where columnist-author-broadcaster Mike Lupica will receive the 19th annual Damon Runyon Award from the venerable <a href="https://www.blacktie-colorado.com/calendar/event-detail.cfm?id=24616">Denver Press Club</a>. Well-deserved major journalism honor for Lupica (although, as I've suggested in the past, he's much, much better in print than he is on the air). Why the mention here? Because, under the heading of "small world, isn't it?, the president of the Denver Press Club is Bruce Goldberg. A lifetime ago, Bruce worked for me in the <i>Freeman</i> sports department.<br />
<br />
-- My considered view about the demise of the Hostess baking company: I never cared much for Twinkies, but I will miss Sno-balls, chocolate cupcakes (with the swirl on top) and Devil Dogs.Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-81296233885569681252012-11-13T09:44:00.001-05:002012-11-13T09:44:49.500-05:00Looking in from outside the echo chamberFrom the notebook:<br />
-- Many Republicans and Conservatives were said to be truly surprised by Barack Obama's re-election. We're guessing most were regular viewers of Fox News (and, perhaps, listeners to its counterparts on right-wing talk radio). Consider what they were seeing and hearing inside echo chamber: predictions of a Mitt Romney landslide by "analysts" Karl Rove, Dick Morris and Newt Gingrich, among others; and allegations of bias against pollsters who were near-unanimous in mathematically seeing an Obama victory in the numbers. Add the drumbeat of the all-Benghazi-all-the-time run-up to Election Day and it's easy to understand why the far right was all but hypnotized into anticipating a Romney win. (<i>Newsweek</i> columnist and Republican speechwriter <a href="http://tv.yahoo.com/news/david-frum-republicans-lied-conservative-entertainment-complex-165435117.html">David Frum</a> says the "conservative entertainment complex" - meaning Fox News, etc. - is to blame for the the false hope described above.)<br />
-- Let's be clear: Independent <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/193979/pew-finds-less-horse-race-coverage-in-2012-than-2008-but-it-still-dominates/">research</a> shows that there was more anti-Romney commentary on liberal MSNBC than anti-Obama rhetoric on Fox News. But from what I heard on MSNBC, while most of its talking heads were hoping for an Obama win, few were actually predicting it, despite the favorable poll numbers. And while MSNBC voices no doubt were optimistic and pleased by the polls, they were quick to point out that the numbers were close, in fact well within the margin of error. In other words, had Romney won, the disappointment on MSNBC would have been palpable. But there wouldn't have been the shock the results engendered on Fox News.<br />
-- By the way, I've come around to Fox News in this respect: If you're going to stake out one end of the political spectrum and let it define your coverage, so be it. But if that's your game, take the word "News" out of your name and stop branding yourself as "fair and balanced."<br />
-- Apropos of nothing, if you're wondering if sexism still exists in the TV news business, take note the number of female anchors who wear <a href="http://www.beautytiptoday.com/2011/11/top-news-anchors-go-sleeveless-year.html">sleeveless tops</a>, V-necks and <a href="http://www.ihatethemedia.com/fox-news-anchor-babes-short-skirts-video-photo">short skirts</a>. The most skin you'll see on a male anchor is when Morning Joe Scarborough wears a golf shirt or Mike Barnicle comes in without a tie.Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-23461914014568011742012-10-10T11:42:00.000-04:002012-10-10T11:42:30.802-04:00Feeding Big BirdThis will come as a surprise many of you, but I don't disagree with Mitt Romney on the matter of government subsidies for public TV and radio. <br />
<br />
It's not a new opinion; I've offered it a handful of times on public radio, particularly when Gov. Pataki was implicitly threatening WAMC, on which I appear and am a member of the board. <br />
<br />
Government subsidies are worthwhile if the government is flush, which it currently is decidedly not. But true <i>public</i> broadcasting is best supported by viewers and listeners (as well as underwriters - or sponsors, as they call them on the commercial channels/stations). <br />
<br />
Look at the aforementioned WAMC, which this week is completing another successful $1 million fund drive, one of three it conducts each year. That's $3 million in listener contributions, plus the underwriting money. Make no mistake, whatever money WAMC does receive from government is important and welcome. Without it, its fund-raising mission would be even more intense and difficult. But it would succeed if the thousands who listen and contribute were joined by the thousands more who listen and don't put a dime into the pot.<br />
<br />
Moreover, no government money would eliminate the worry that some stations (fortunately, not WAMC) have about restricting political content for fear of alienating those who control the government treasury.<br />
<br />
Now let me tell you what did surprise me about Mitt Romney's declaration about public broadcasting and Big Bird at last week's presidential debate.<br />
<br />
Romney was asked to be specific about what he'd cut in the federal budget. Despite a menu of possibilities, most more financially meaningful than PBS, from which to choose, Romney made public TV and radio his first choice.<br />
<br />
Really!<br />
<br />
Understand the reported $280 million the government provides PBS isn't small potatoes. And, as noted, I can see it on a government hit list. But not at the top, given the significant government waste in a variety of other places.<br />
<br />
Want to go after Bert and Ernie (and all the many other fine public TV and radio offerings)? Go ahead. They mostly will get along without the government dough. <br />
<br />
But public broadcasting isn't Public Enemy No. 1. <br />
<br />
(By the way, a compelling case <i>for</i> public broadcasting was written by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/opinion/blow-dont-mess-with-big-bird.html?ref=charlesmblow">Charles Blow</a> in <i>The New York Times.</i><br />
<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-65526273364961597652012-10-02T14:28:00.002-04:002012-10-02T14:28:17.410-04:00Notes, quotes, anecdotes-- Football headline I thought I'd never read: "Stony Brook beats Army".<br />
<br />
-- Played golf at Grossinger's in Sullivan County. Course is in excellent condition. Much too tough for a hacker like me. Biggest shock, however, was seeing the remains of the once-famed hotel-resort's other facilities. Looks like they were hit by bombs. <br />
<br />
-- Speaking of golf, it's hard not to get caught up in the Ryder Cup. Match play is nearly always compelling. But I remain a critic when it comes to the over-enthusiastic jingoism attached to what noted commentator John Feinstein calls the game's "most emotional" event. I'm also not down with raucous fans turning golf into wrestling by cheering when someone misses a putt or otherwise makes a poor shot.<br />
<br />
-- Keep an ear on WAMC Northeast Public Radio during the on-going fund drive for news of a "Media Project Reunion", which will for a second time bring together current and past "projectiles" (as we call ourselves) for an hour-long program in front of a live crowd at The Linda in Albany. <br />
<br />
-- Speaking of WAMC, is there a better celebrity interviewer than Joe Donahue? <br />
<br />
-- Hope tradition and decorum prevail at the presidential debates and the audience is warned about hooting, hollering or otherwise interfering once the questioning has started.<br />
<br />
-- Can't deny the extra wild card extends interest in the baseball season to fans in more cities. In that regard, it's a success. But, just like in the other major sports, Major League Baseball has largely diminished the importance of being the best team over the course of a long regular season. The World Series will be won by the hot team, not necessarily the best team.<br />
<br />
-- Don't mean to be a name-dropper, but I've had the opportunity to see Seth MacFarlane work up close a couple of times. He may be an unconventional pick to host the Oscars, but I'm here to tell you he is an uber-talented entertainer.<br />
<br />
-- I've been there (long ago, I dare say), so take my word for it: When commentators write or broadcast either, "It will be interesting to see ..." or "Stay tuned," it usually means they weren't able (or were too lazy) to come up with a clever, point-specific ending.<br />
<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-7796577269774503552012-09-26T12:17:00.001-04:002012-09-26T12:40:53.236-04:00Leon RandallBack in the day - as baby boomers like to say - the golf writing around here was in the hands of Charlie Tiano, Steve Kane and Rick Remsnyder. Even after I was promoted to sports editor in 1976, I knew enough to leave golf coverage to those who had a better understanding of the game. But as sports editor, I would have been derelict in my responsibilities had I not parachuted in on occasion, particularly during the annual Herdegen tournament to crown Ulster County's best player. <br />
<br />
Unlike in recent years, when the tournament format and rules (not necessarily the golfers themselves) gradually have been watered down, the-then 72-hole Herdegen was a true test of golf. It had the toughest standards (on and off the course) and the lowest handicappers in the county.<br />
<br />
Which makes the accomplishments of Leon Randall all the more remarkable. You see, Randall, who died Tuesday at his retirement home in South Carolina, won the Herdegen 16 times. That's <i>16</i> times.<br />
<br />
We gave the Herdegen a significant amount of prominence in the paper each year. It was a event unlike any other around here - regardless of the sport - and we treated it accordingly. Leon Randall,in today's vernacular, warrented rock-star status. Everybody thought so. Everybody except Leon Randall, that is. <br />
<br />
Leon Randall was as soft-spoken and modest a man as he was an exceptional golfer.<br />
<br />
"I never met anyone who had a perfect temperament like Leon," Jay Bertha, his longtime friend, told our Don Treat in a wonderful <a href="http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2012/09/26/sports/doc506253578a3b1335913992.txt">story</a> in today's<i> Freeman.</i> "He was mild mannered and always a gentleman." <br />
<br />
"In my life I used Leon as a role model. I wanted to emulate him," said Harvey Bostic, also a longtime friend, as well as a great golfer (and four-time Herdegen champ) in his own right.<br />
<br />
"Leon was our Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus," said Dave Blakely, another veteran area golf standout (and perhaps the best player never to have won the Herdegen).<br />
<br />
The list of tributes like that is endless.<br />
<br />
Which brings me back to one of my infrequent stints as golf writer and the first time I met Leon Randall. <br />
<br />
It was a Saturday afternoon after a Hergeden round at the Twaalfskill Club. I was looking for a column to run as a sidebar in our Sunday paper. Among other things, that meant finding something interesting and someone talkative, and getting what I needed quickly enough to write it on deadline (and still have time to put together the rest of the Sunday sports section). <br />
<br />
I can't recall the details, but I vividly remember introducing myself to Leon Randall at the 19th hole to have him discuss what was a typically terrific round. Leon was reluctant to talk much about himself, but he patiently described his game and answered my questions, all the while trying to deflect the spotlight away from himself. That's the way he was each time we subsequently talked.<br />
<br />
In a microcosm, he was exactly what people were saying about him Tuesday: considerate, genial, self-effacing, one-of-a-kind. I hadn't interviewed anyone quite like him up to that time in my relatively short career and I sure haven't since.<br />
<br />
"He was more than just a great golfer," said Bryan Smith, a four-time Herdegen champ, whose late father was a contemporary and friend of Leon Randall. "He was generous, friendly and someone everyone should have met."<br />
<br />
I'm glad I did.<br />
<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-18091686315579068672012-09-24T14:57:00.000-04:002012-09-24T15:18:01.069-04:00Family mattersI've been touting "Ben and Kate", a new Fox sit-com and promising to tell you why.<br />
<br />
If you haven't guessed by now, yes, I do have a rooting interest: My younger son, Matt, is a co-producer on the show, which debuts at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.<br />
<br />
Matt and his writing partner Alex Cuthbertson worked on "American Dad" on Fox (one more of their scripts is being produced for this season) and "Community" on NBC before hooking up with "Ben and Kate". So, naturally, I became a "Ben and Kate" fan before most people were aware of it.<br />
<br />
Now, with the first show set to air, I'm happy to report that "Ben and Kate" is getting first-rate reviews. And, having already seen the initial episode, I can attest to the show's promise and the likability of its main characters.<br />
<br />
(That's Dakota Johnson - daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith - and Nat Faxon, who play the leads, in the accompanying photo.) <br />
<br />
"Ben and Kate": try it, you'll like it.<br />
<br />
(And please make sure the younger adults in your family are still watching "Shake It Up" and "Austin and Ally", the Disney shows for which Matt's wife, Jessica Replansky, is costume designer. <br />
<br />
That's what's happening on the West Coast. Back East, my older son, David, successfully ran in his first half-marathon Sunday in Torrington, Conn. He has a couple of more planned this fall.<br />
<br />
Considering that I tire just driving the distance that David ran, I'm beginning to wonder if the hospital nurse handed us the right child to bring home those many years ago. <br />
<br />
I hope so: We've gotten quite attached to David, his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Elizabeth.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FNG8hWECdD5U45GYbfkhKffnUwB_OoOZuW7gz5ED9w1DY145JKfxhCf1B28zLUIJflpZY_zDAaRFzLkK0rXT43Pq334ZiPCTEEDEkWLcR_QaXWSjYoi7KM8UB3fL3NdW2pdn7AQO2NGr/s1600/TV-Ben+and+Kate_Fusf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FNG8hWECdD5U45GYbfkhKffnUwB_OoOZuW7gz5ED9w1DY145JKfxhCf1B28zLUIJflpZY_zDAaRFzLkK0rXT43Pq334ZiPCTEEDEkWLcR_QaXWSjYoi7KM8UB3fL3NdW2pdn7AQO2NGr/s320/TV-Ben+and+Kate_Fusf.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-53937806749437944272012-09-21T10:38:00.001-04:002012-09-21T13:25:26.606-04:00Talking (and screaming) headsHere's something that won't come as a scoop: This country is seriously polarized.<br />
<br />
Political rhetoric is at a fever pitch, perhaps more so than ever in our history. The public discourse has coarsened, which in turn has impacted the ability of elected federal officials to get things done, so fearful are they of alienating their political bases by coming to compromises.<br />
<br />
There are plenty of reasons for why we've come to this state. A big one is what passes for commentary on cable TV and talk radio.<br />
<br />
Veteran broadcast journalist Ted Koppel tackled the topic last night on NBC's Rock Center. Watch the clips <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/49113160#49113160">here</a> and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/49113264#49113264">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-90335836116711629762012-09-13T14:24:00.002-04:002012-09-13T14:24:19.118-04:00Lighter fareOn the notepad:<br />
<br />
- I've been touting Fox TV's new sitcom "Ben and Kate", promising to explain at a later date. (I have suggested it's a family thing.) Two new reasons to make it must-see viewing (8:30 p.m. Tuesday starting Sept. 25): I've seen the pilot and it's truly funny, with likable, quirky characters; and <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> this week is calling it one of the fall season's "five best new shows." <br />
<br />
- ESPN's Skip Bayless, a former sports columnist of note in Dallas, recently wondered on air if Derek Jeter was using a banned substance, given the Yankee captain's amazing season at age 38. "I am not saying he uses a thing," Bayless said. "I have no idea. But within the confines of his sport, it is fair for all of us, in fact you are remiss, if you don't at least think about this." Bayless took a lot of heat for his remarks, as he as for others. After all, ESPN pays him to be provocative. But I'm hard-pressed to believe that I'm the only other person in the country who's been wondering the same thing. Jeter's probably perfectly clean. But in steroid era of Major League Baseball and its aftermath, even good guys can unfairly become suspects, particularly when they're accomplishing remarkable things at an age when performances historically go downhill.<br />
<br />
- Speaking of the Yankees, about a month ago, when they still had a sizable lead in the American League East, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine suggested they might not even make the playoffs. At the time, it was shrugged off as Bobby being Bobby. Doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore, does it?<br />
<br />
- WFAN's Mike Francesa insists he didn't briefly fall asleep during an on-air interview the other day. Videos suggest otherwise, but OK, we'll take him at his word. That said, many listeners, me included, have long felt like nodding off when Francesa asks one of his exceedingly long questions, offers one of his repetitive opinions, or seemingly starts every other sentence with the words, "I mean ..."<br />
<br />
<br />
Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2162796665243700832.post-56581797179009849722012-09-12T11:05:00.001-04:002012-09-12T11:05:37.145-04:00The JRC bankruptcyIf your idea of a fun vacation is completing a series of annual doctor's appointments, culminating in a colonoscopy (and all that entails, if you know what I mean), then you would have enjoyed time off with me last week.<br />
<br />
But at least I was prepared.<br />
<br />
What caught me off-guard at midweek was the email from Journal Register Company, the <i>Freeman's</i> owner, announcing it was entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in three years. <br />
<br />
Some vacation.<br />
<br />
Last time JRC went Chapter 11, publishers were given a crash course in advance of the filing. It enabled us to get our arms around bankruptcy, a word that most layman mistakenly associate with always meaning "going out of business." <br />
<br />
"No, we're not closing the doors," the JRC publishers were correctly assured. "This is a reorganization to help the parent company get out from under some of its considerable debt obligations (primarily from a couple of extravagant purchases of other newspaper companies -- including the Goodson Newspaper Group, which once owned the <i>Freeman</i>)."<br />
<br />
We were told, also correctly, that the company would be in and out of bankruptcy in a relatively short time (several months) and that there'd be little if any impact on the day-to-day operations of the individual newspaper properties in the interim.<br />
<br />
The Journal Register Company that emerged from bankruptcy had new, invigorated and innovative corporate leadership. Within months, it was turning around JRC's reputation and direction. Indeed, with its new, heralded focus on digital media, Journal Register Company became the talk of the industry ... for all the right reasons.<br />
<br />
Staring at declines in print advertising and circulation that have engulfed newspaper companies, large and small, Journal Register Company went all-in on its newspapers' digital future. The favorable results are there to be seen on our websites, along with our mobile, iPhone and iPad (the <i>Freeman's</i> to be available very soon) applications. They're also evident on a variety of social media platforms. Readership of our newspapers, in print and on-line, has never been higher. And digital advertising revenue has been growing steadily. Meanwhile, long-overdue internal investments were (and are) being made to replace ancient, often inefficient computers and systems. Moreover, some of the most talented people in the media world have joined our organization.<br />
<br />
Yet, now, here we are again, with Journal Register Company once more filing for Chapter 11. How could that happen and what does it mean to the <i>Freeman?</i><br />
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I'm not in a position to speak for Journal Register Company. But that crash course to which I referred earlier provided me with enough insight offer a little in return. It corresponds both with what the company has announced to the public, and what several of us personally heard yesterday from JRC President Jeff Bairstow, and what we will hear from CEO John Paton when he, too, soon visits Kingston. (Some of his comments are reported <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/for-paton-bankruptcy-for-journal-register-is-embarrassing-but-necessary/">here.)</a><br />
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In short -- my words, not the company's -- the last Chapter 11 filing did not succeed in shedding as much of the debt as it should have. This Chapter 11 is necessary to finish the job.<br />
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I hope it does for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that just as many people associate the word "bankruptcy" with "going out of business," like the last time, many in our community hear "bankruptcy" and <i>"Freeman</i> parent company," and conclude it's the <i>Freeman</i> that's entered Chapter 11 and will soon close. (Many in our community also incorrectly said the <i>Freeman</i> was going out of business when we moved our press and mailroom operations from Kingston to our sister company in Troy. But that's another story.)<br />
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The misperception of us being a newspaper on death row is as distracting as it is wrong. The <i>Freeman </i>has been and continues to be a successful company. The <i>Freeman</i> did not file Chapter 11, its parent company did. There's a difference.<br />
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That is not to say we're immune from the industry wide fiscal declines I mentioned above (and have cited any number of other times here, on radio and at local appearances). But the growth of our digital business under post-Chapter 11 Journal Register Company has renewed my confidence that the <i>Freeman</i> is part of a newspaper company with a smart plan for a successful future.<br />
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For the short term, we'll again have to carry the Chapter 11 stigma on our collective backs. But while the corporate experts do their thing to steer us out of that fiscal condition, we in Kingston will stick to the business at hand, which is to be the area's finest digital information source for readers and advertisers, our daily efforts culminating in a vital, complete print newspaper. <br />
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Ira Fusfeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01752335084669853021noreply@blogger.com