Eulogy for a Television Station

I've had the desire to put these thoughts down into written form for a long time now, so forgive me if this post goes on and on and doesn't contain much entertainment value.  It's just something I want to try and get off my chest once and for all, since it's still a very sore subject and one of the worst moments of my life.

At 7am, six years ago today, ABC-25 WJXX-TV in Jacksonville ended its final news broadcast.  The sale of the station to a local rival news organization had been completed, and dozens of loyal, hard-working employees were now out of a job... including me.

That might sound somewhat odd to you... the fact that you can sell your television station to a company that owns another station in the same town.  And, before 1999, it had in fact been against the rules to do so.  But for whatever reason, for a very brief moment the FCC lost their minds and decided that yes, it would be perfectly fine for one company to own two network-affiliated news organizations in the same market.  Duopoly is what they called it.  Bullshit was what we called it. Of course, a year or so after the sale, the FCC came to their senses and reversed their rule... again preventing such a ridiculous deal from taking place.

The temporary new rule was something absurd like "You can't own two of the top four stations in a market, but feel free to own as many of the bottom rated stations as you please".  We were number five, if I recall correctly.  In one of many cruel twists of fate, had another week or two gone by before the sale proposal, the latest ratings book had us at number four (thanks to our stellar hurricane coverage) and Gannett could not have made the purchase.  Sure we probably would have just been sold to another company, but the station would have survived as a separate entity and most of us more than likely would have retained our jobs.

The station now essentially exists as nothing more than a computer program, run out of a box in master control at WTLV-TV 12 which simulcasts their news on both stations.

I came to ABC-25 about a month into its existence.  I'd just separated from my wife, ending 3+ years of pure hell, and had essentially been handed a clean slate. It was surprisingly easy to get hired there... I believe I was actually doing work in the news department before even filling out the job application.  Denirogator got me in the door, so I'm either forever in his debt for the greatest gig of my life, or I hope he burns in hell for the nightmarish outcome and subsequent pain.

With apologies to my current position (which I do adore, don't get me wrong), I don't think I'll ever find another job that I love as much as I loved working at ABC-25.  I literally wanted to be there all the time.  I came in whenever they asked me to.  I volunteered for overtime on a regular basis.  It was so much fun there that I never minded all those hours, and believe me, it was a LOT of hours.  Part of it was the joy of being free from my previous situation, but part of it was also just the sheer enjoyment of the work.  It's very rare that you find a career in your lifetime that you're good at AND enjoy.  This was it.  This was the job.  This was going to be my career.  After a few years of being stuck in a fog about my future, I'd found a direction in life.  And it was taken from me.

I worked in what we called the feed room, and it was my job to monitor and record the daily incoming news feeds, tune in satellite and microwave transmissions, and to playback the tapes used for the evening newscasts.  I enjoyed that, while essentially consisting of the same task each day, my job always posed new challenges.  The mechanics of it were always the same, but the whole "find a way to make it happen" aspect was quite appealing.  Also, there was always so much going on that every day was a completely new experience.  Chaos is fun to watch when you're not directly involved in it in any way.  And nearly everyone there was a blast to be around, both at work and socially.

Truth be told, it wasn't too surprising that the station had been sold off less than three years into the "five year plan" we'd been sold on by upper management.  It's very difficult to open up a brand new local television station in a market that really didn't need one.  Plus, when your transmitter is so far away from the city's population that huge areas of town couldn't even pick up your signal via a simple antenna, you're not going to be embraced much by the community.

We were equipped to be the first "all digital" television station in the country.  While that sounds neat on paper and is a fun little trivia nugget, it didn't work so well practically.  We were using brand new technology that hadn't been proven, and when coupled with people who didn't know exactly how it all worked, it was the proverbial recipe for disaster.  And boy, did we have disasters. The hours and hours of outtakes I have on tape (which I used to help edit into the holiday "blooper reels") are proof of that.

The thing is though... we tried hard.  It was management that ultimately did us in.  A lot of dedicated, talented people came through those doors at one point or another, and all of them did fantastic work.  Just because things would go wrong for technical reasons didn't mean that the people involved in the mishaps were lousy at their jobs. 

And I'll say this right now, our station's lead anchor Bruce Hamilton could ad-lib about ANYTHING for as long as you needed him to in order to cover some sort of malfunction, and it was SEAMLESS.  CNN's Larry King once said, "If you look up 'professional' in the dictionary you'll see a photo of Mr. Bruce Hamilton."

Ok, so King didn't say that.  But he should have.

We'd been informed of our impending doom on November 16th, 1999, but things didn't actually come to an end until March of 2000.  Imagine being told that you're fired but not being told what your last day is.  It's like being on death row in a way.  You know what's coming, you just don't know exactly when.

We were eventually told that the sale would be completed on March 15th. Being the wacky, motley crew that we were, we began a secret on-air countdown to our demise.  For example, when there were 16 days left we played Ringo Starr's "You're Sixteen" going in and out of commercials.  When there were 12 days left we "accidentally" showed a tower camera shot of Channel 12, the station that purchased us.  We'd spell out "HELP US" in thumbtacks on someone's cubicle wall, making sure it could be seen on camera during the news but would be obscure enough that it couldn't be seen by people in the newsroom wandering by.  We found ways to amuse ourselves.  We had to.

Of course, the 15th came and went and we were still on the air.  By that point, our moods had all turned to "Just end already!"  Each delay became more and more infuriating.  We just wanted our payouts so we could move on with our lives.

I've always regretted that I was so personally involved with the sale of the station, because had I had the foresight, I should have picked up a video camera and made a documentary about how it was affecting everyone there.  I mean, sure I was crushed, but I was just some schmuck in an apartment who made a decent wage pushing buttons and editing funny videos together.  People much more important than me had invested their entire lives into the idea of this new startup station.  They'd moved their families here, established ties to the community, and became a part of the city.  And I know that happens anytime an anchor or reporter moves to a new city, but in this case, they essentially all had to find new jobs and new homes all at once.  I wish I'd documented their stories.

Also, so many truly bizarre incidents happened during that time... things that seem unbelievable when you try and tell them to someone.  Getting fired is one thing.  But getting fired and then still working there for another four months is another beast altogether.  Weird, wild things went down, and I wish I'd been smart enough to document them on tape.

One clear memory of those shenanigans was when our main boss (or assistant boss at the time... our main boss resigned at some point during the chaos) held a staff meeting in the newsroom and concluded it by bringing out a trash bag filled with crumbled up dollar bills, which he then threw up in the air.  Now, I'll give the guy credit for trying to boost the morale of those of us who were going to be out on our ass in a few days, but having us crawl around on the floor for whatever we could grab somehow seemed even more insulting than the sale itself.  Surprisingly, only two of us (myself and one of our producers) immediately left the area disgusted with what was playing out in front of our eyes.  Everyone else crawled around for whatever scraps of cash they could get their hands on.

I can also remember one particular show towards the end where, moments before going on the air, we had no director.  This was unlike him, and come to find out, he was in the news director's office getting screamed at for no good reason.  Many of us believed that management had been secretly instructed to try and get as many of us to quit before the sale was completed, as it would have been less severance pay that would have had to have been paid out.  He hung in there though and got the cash payout in the end.

Now I'm not a drinker, but the only time I've ever been drunk was at the staff Christmas party in 1999.  At this party the booze was being paid for by the company, so I figured what better time to find out what kind of drunk I am?  If I got belligerent I could tell off the bosses in some dramatic fashion and it would have been a fun time for all.  Turns out I'm a happy drunk though, as you can see in the ABC25 photo gallery.  Anytime you see me with a big, stupid grin on my face and either pointing at people or giving a thumbs up, chances are I'm drunk off my ass.  That party would have made a sweet segment in the documentary.

Then there was when our anchor was actually escorted out of the building before going on the air for what turned out to be our final night.  I never got the full story behind that, but knowing him, he was going to say something about the sale on the air, something that management had strictly forbidden.  I guess either they didn't trust him, or he just told them flat out that he was going to say something about it.  And to cause as much chaos as possible, this of course happened mere moments before going on the air.

Oddly enough, our anchors on the final broadcast DID mention the sale and that it was our last show.  To the best of my knowledge this was completely against the wishes of management, even though the anchors were hinting at it for the entire broadcast.  Here's that speech, in it's entirely.

After the show ended, we had a meeting in the newsroom where the news director called us all together and handed out our checks.  Little speeches were made, and then nearly all of us BOLTED for the doors to hit the banks and then the bars.  Other stations were outside to film this mad dash, which was odd to watch later that evening.  People in town weren't entirely familiar with the whole transaction, and watching the news that night they were told that a television station had been sold and everyone had been essentially fired.  Then you saw video of us gleefully sprinting out of the building.  I'm sure it gave the impression that we were overjoyed to be out of there.  In a way we were, simply because there was no hope for any of us and every day there just got more and more depressing.  But I'll wager that any of us would have preferred to still be employed.

I miss the friends I had there tremendously, nearly all of whom have moved away.  The one person I easily miss the most is Melanie, whom I worked with in the feedroom every single day.  Melanie is one of those rare people you make a connection with who seem to share your brain at times... she and I had the exact same sense of humor, always quoting movies and adopting silly accents (which we'd continue for days sometimes).  Being around her made work even more fun than it already was.  She's gone off to bigger and better things in New York City, and has since become the mother of a darling baby girl.  If you ever run into her, ask her to tell the story of when I wouldn't pose for some stupid picture, and was then forced into a vicious headlock as a result.

Those of you who've never worked in television before might have a preconception that the crew and the "talent" rarely interact.  And maybe that's how it is at other stations, but at WJXX, it was a very social atmosphere.  Those of us in the crew regularly socialized with the many of the anchors and reporters, and most of the time we really got along great.  I don't want to go the clichéd route (even though it would allow me to post another photo of sexy Karen Cliche) and say it was like one big family, because it wasn't.  It was like one big group of really good friends.  The atmosphere there was always very social.  You could always talk to anyone at anytime and not be made to feel like you were beneath them.  It made the job that much greater, knowing that there was no elitism going on.

In fact, after the end of the station, those of us who we're still in town continued to meet for lunch or dinner at least once a week.  It started to get a little sad though as each time it would be announced that someone else had moved away to better opportunities, and eventually we disbanded those formal gatherings.  But still, it goes to show how close knit we were as co-workers that we would continue to meet and socialize months after we'd "officially" disbanded.

Sadly I've now lost touch with most of them.  Some have left the business entirely, which is a shame since they were all quite talented.  I'll run into someone around town every so often, but for the most part, they've all moved on.  Matt, Don, Susan, Tom, Bruce, Tara, Ric, Malcolm, Jeff, Dan, Chadley, June, Robb, Jason and others... I still miss hanging out with all you guys and playing UNO and Yahtzee until all hours of the morning, or playing the Sega Dreamcast that we would hook up to the huge sports monitor on the news set, or watching you get yourselves drunk at the local pub.  Good times.

If anyone from the station happens to stumble across this through Google or any other number of ways, I'd love to hear from you.  Feel free to either leave a comment or send me an email.  Share a story, correct me on something, send a photo... anything.

From what I understand, the sale of the station allowed the previous owners to invest in a free internet venture.  Know anyone with free internet access?  Yeah, I didn't think so.

Well, there it is.  My thoughts on the first rebirth of my life's downward spiral.  Told you it wouldn't have much of a point.  I know this happens to everyone and plenty of you reading this right now are probably thinking "So?  Suck it up!  People get fired.  Deal with it."  But at the time it was a big deal for us.  It hurt a lot of people, some of whom continued hurting for quite some time.

In closing though I guess I'd like to give a big "screw you" to Allbritton Communications for selling the station, and also an equally big "screw you" to Gannett for buying it.  Middle finger extended... now. 

But to go out on a classier note... here's a little Bobby Darin for you:

Off comes the make up
Off comes the clown's disguise
The curtain's fallin'
The music softly dies.

But I hope your smilin'
As you're filing out the door
As they say in this biz
That's all there is... there isn't anymore.

We've shared a moment
And as the moment ends
I got a funny feelin'
We're parting now as friends.

Your cheers and laughter will linger after
They've torn down these dusty walls
If I had this to do again
And the evening were new again
I would spend it with you again
But now the curtain falls.

Your cheers and laughter will linger after
They've torn down these dusty walls
People say I was made for this
Nothin' else would I trade for this
And just think I get paid for this...

"Goodnight ladies and gentlemen, and God bless."

ABC-25 Anchors and Reporters - Where Are They Now?
Bruce Hamilton - WJXT Jacksonville, FL
Donna Savarese - KMOV St. Louis, Missouri
Ric Renner - Fox Sports Net Southwest
Brian Albrecht - KHQ Seattle, WA
Barry Brandt - KATV Little Rock, Arkansas
Bob Redell - NBC11 California
Ned Roberts - WTSP Tampa Bay, FL
Kim Chapman - WTVC Chattanooga, TN
Steve Garry - Retired
Keith Kountz - WTNH Connecticut
Robb Harleston - C-SPAN
Stacy Sager - Retired (After writing this up I learned that Stacy wanted to be a stay at home mom after the birth of her third child.  She no longer works at WYFF The Carolina Channel.)
Ted White - WPTV West Palm Beach, FL
Karen Parks - WBFF Baltimore, MD
Brooks Tomlin - KYW Philadelphia, PA
Stacy Ellison - This was all I could find on you Stacy... sorry!

(If you're not listed, it's not because I didn't like you.  It's simply because Google couldn't find you!)

Related Links
ABC25 Photo Gallery - If you have pics, send them in!
Making Mergers Work - The Business Journal of Jacksonville (2-11-2000)
WJXX - Wikipedia Entry

Comments

[cadonlyone]

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~ From the television show The Wonder Years

Your words always seem to open a window to who you are... and the journey you have traveled. Never stop writing... it is a gift that this world is blessed to have.

I know you will never forget this part of your life... but maybe one day the first things that will flood your mind will be all the happiness encountered there and the heartbreak it caused will be buried deep.

[denirogator]

Okay, I think I'd like you to choose the "indebted" part rather than the "burn in hell" choice...

Of course, I never got to see that throwing money fiasco....that was for the evening people and not us lowly morning turds.
But I'm quite sure I would have reacted the same way you did. In fact, I'm quite sure I would have been rolling (recording) on the nonsense so that I could be sure that it actually did happen.

There are a lot of memories I could share, maybe I'll sit down and write them out sometime like you have.

[melanie]

aww, i'm touched. truly! i know you think i'm being sarcastic, as that is the nature of our relationship, but i really am! and, i couldn't agree more, about working with you. tho i love me job up here now (fox news radio), i don't think any other job will EVER compare to the good times at abc25. also, i agree w/ 'cadonlyone's comments about your writing, tho you know that already. hah! i just read what i wrote and realized i wrote "me job" - i was NOT trying to sound irish, what with the comment on accents, and it being st.pat's...it was merely a typo - but a funny one, so i left it... unless it was freudian. you're freudian.
tee hee hah!

[dvdguy]

Bruce wrote in to say that all is well at his new home but he does miss the days at WJXX. Also I heard from someone at WYFF who let me know that Stacy Sager has since retired to be a stay at home mom. I've updated the list accordingly.

[denirogator]

Being a morning guy I never got to take part in the after work shenanigans (I had to be at work in a few hours!)

My main memory of Melanie is hearing that she liked my skit in one of the blooper reels. "I like side CG's....they uh, make me happy"

[dvdguy]

Well conversely, we never got to take part in your morning crew's wild 1pm parties. Man I heard they'd go on until 5 or 6 at night!

[melanie]

my favorite skit was the dave feuerman impression..a little lengthy? yes. funny?ABSOLUTELY. i find it odd that he was left out of your memoir. remember our shrine to him when he left? and how we had to take it down, as it was 'unprofessional'? good comedy.
the main thing you missed out on during night crew parties was my inevitably challenging someone in the room to head-stand contests.there are photos of some of these..somewhere.

[dvdguy]

I left a lot of things out, mainly because it was already so long.

I wanted to write about Dave, of course. He was the most entertaining boss ever. I wanted to write about Hope Bartlett, a reporter there and high school classmate of mine who drowned while filming a story, but I didn't know how to work that into things. I wanted to write about how at least two or three marriages were made because of ABC25, but I believe the majority of those ended in divorce and so it wouldn't have really helped the "togetherness" vibe of the piece.

The 36 hour hurricane coverage, the first show, our move from one building to another, Chopper 25, how the clocks on the clock tower never matched each other, how we wanted to buy the building with our severance money and turn it into a nightclub... there's really enough there to write a book on.

A book isn't a bad idea really... hmmmmmm.

[denirogator]

I forgot about the dave impression until you mentioned it....

Though to this day dvdguy still quotes, "transponder dree" to me...

I would have lost a head stand contest...

FYI, I know Vanessa Kraft and Chad Breedlove are married with child...

[dvdguy]

Vanessa and Chad was the one couple I was unsure of. I know for a fact that the other two ended. Although I think one never got out of the engagement phase...

[JeffThePhotog]

WJXX Alumni...you will never be forgotten. Strange how the wounds long since healed seem to hurt a bit today.

[Chris Conroy]

Anyone know where Dave is these days? He was my professor and we worked together in NY.

[Kathy]

This was lovely and touching. I never realized how much you loved that place. You should write a book. You know I'd read it since I always loved reading anything you gave me. You could either write a memoir about this experience or a movie review book to rival Leonard Maltin. Either would work!