WBZ Florida

[Scott Fybush]

At 06:17 PM 1/15/2004 -0500, Pete Ferrand wrote:

>I don't see it as an ethics issue so much as an issue of trust and
>allegiance. Due to LaPierre's long history with his listeners, there was
>an expectation of what he was doing and where he was. If that is broken,
>it just gives the listener the image that the station and LaPierre and
>radio in general just doesn't give a damn. And that will be reciprocated
>by the listener.

But the question then becomes, where do you draw the line? In all my years 
at WBZ, I don't ever recall Elliot Abrams mentioning on the air that he's 
in State College and not in Allston when he gives the weather for "here" - 
and there's certainly enough banter (at least during Elliot's live 
segments) between him and the anchors to give at least a plausible 
impression that he's in the studio. Should that be disclosed?

Or what of the Sinclair News Central operation, where every night at 10 I 
can watch a newscast that alternates between segments done here in 
Rochester and segments anchored out of Hunt Valley, Maryland? I happen to 
know that the weather comes from Hunt Valley, and it's far more insulting 
to me to see a forecaster who's literally never been to Rochester tell me 
how cold it is "here" (minus 4, windchill to the minus twenties, and WOW 
was it a cold walk from the parking garage to the Sabres-Bruins game in 
Buffalo tonight - but at least the B's won) than it is to hear Gary 
LaPierre, native of Shelburne Falls and longtime resident of Reading, doing 
an occasional newscast from his vacation place in Florida.

I'm probably overly sensitive about this not only because I worked with and 
have the highest respect for Gary, but also because I was one of the many 
"behind the scenes" support people who do the grunt work that helps Gary 
and his anchor colleagues sound as good as they do on the air. Even if 
Gary's in St. Augustine, there are a dozen other people who are very much 
"live and local" at Soldiers Field Road at an ungodly early hour of the 
morning making sure that he - and the listeners - get exactly what they 
expect and deserve from the morning news. (Which is, I'd add, emphatically 
NOT true of an operation like News Central, where part of the cost-cutting 
involved getting rid of the only Rochester-based newspeople with any local 
experience at all, leaving behind only the thinnest skeleton crew of 
barely-out-of-college kids with little to no grasp of the community they 
cover.)

The question that I suspect Peter Casey asked himself in deciding whether 
or not to have Gary announce his whereabouts on the air is "why does it 
matter"? If I'm an average listener, I wonder if it wouldn't be MORE 
distracting to hear "I'm Gary LaPierre in St. Augustine, Florida...it's 3 
degrees in Boston, and Elliot Abrams says it's going up to 7 today..." than 
to not have Gary's whereabouts mentioned. To those who feel it's a vital 
fact to have mentioned: where in the broadcast do you disclose that, and how?

s