WBZ Florida

[Scott Fybush]

At 03:33 PM 1/18/2004 -0500, Sean Smyth wrote:
>Dan S. writes:
><< WBZ could have prevented this entire brou-ha-ha if, when LaPierre
>started doing it three years ago, the station had quietly announced that
>he would sometimes be working from Florida. At that time, such a
>revelation might have resulted in a discussion of his ability to do the
>job from 1500 miles away, which in turn would have required WBZ to give
>the listeners a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes at the
>station, but I doubt whether it would have caused the same sort of
>discussion we are now enduring. >>
>
>Wasn't that also right about the time Gary stopped anchoring the noon
>news on Channel 4?

Unrelated, to the best of my fuzzy memory. Gary never really wanted to do 
the noon show (choice of phraseology not accidental on my part!), and IIRC 
he was happy to give it up when TV management had another idea about who 
should be anchoring.

To get back to Dan's point, I recognize the validity of his concern about 
the station's credibility. And I agree that Dan's suggestion is exactly the 
way it should have been handled back when GL began doing this on a regular 
basis. (Garrett, although he hasn't weighed in on this topic here, 
suggested to me on the phone the other night that it actually would have 
made a nifty feature story - "look how new technology lets us bring Gary to 
you more weeks out of the year" and all that.) With all due deference to my 
former employers, PR was never a strong suit there.

The real test of whether or not Joe Average Listener cares will come in the 
next ratings book, and my gut tells me that BZ won't suffer any ratings 
damage from all of this. I don't think anyone outside our little 
media-centric circle much cares - not just about a minor credibility lapse 
like this but about much bigger ones like News Central or Jayson Blair. If 
anything, that's what they've probably come to expect from big media in 
this day and age.

s