Follow-up To NERW Piece On W221CH

[Sid Schweiger]

>>(How long did that strike last?) Sounds like train-wreck TV.<<

Actually, I thought Zenker was pretty good.  He had the pipes and obviously had some on-camera experience.  He was no Cronkite, but he couldn't reasonably have been expected to be THAT good.

The strike lasted 13 days, and its main issue was over staff announcer contracts at the network O&O's in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.  Among its more amusing features were Howard Cosell walking a picket line, even though he was both management (director of ABC Radio Sports) and air talent, and Rick Sklar, the legendary program manager of WABC Radio, doing the news in his NYC-heavy accent and producing promos for the station with the theme "the Strike-Bound Sound of WABC," with various managers and engineers filling in for the striking air talent.

>>Are network shops open nowadays? If they are open shops and anchors still are members, would you see an anchor/executive producer strike? I'd think they'd have to be non-union, since so much is at stake ratings-wise, but I confess to knowing nothing about network operations.<<

AFAIK the shops at the "big three" of years past are still closed shops.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040