Boston Globe / Living / Arts / As GM, her job is to pump up sports talk and hard rock

[Sean Smyth]

Tony writes:
<< She explained to me exactly what Donna has written below - that she
writes on an occasional, freelance basis and not full-time. This is no
excuse for inaccuracy but it might give some people some understanding
as to why she may miss call letters or something. I believe that I did
suggest that she subscribe to the list so she would know what was going
on but I don't think she did. Being a newspaper editor, it is very
important to be accurate - whether you know the topic discussed or not -
but she does try and is a good writer otherwise. >>

I'm surprised to hear this coming from, of all people, you Tony. There
is no excuse for Clea screwing up a frequency. Unlike the medical
industry, which has a lot of jargon that might take years to explain to
the average person, you can simply flip on your radio and realize you're
on the wrong spot on the dial! And the fact she's a stringer shouldn't
warrant any excuse, either. Having been a news reporter at daily and
weekly newspapers I covered a myriad of beats at once and always asked
the extra question to make sure we had the right info.

That being said, I also agree that being a part-timer hampers the radio
coverage somewhat. But Dean Johnson is not a full-time media reporter;
he also covers other forms of entertainment (he's a reviewer as well).
Yet he seems to do a manageable job of covering the beat.