In the meantime

Tim Russert, 1950 - 2008

Last Father's Day, my family gave me a copy of Tim Russert's book "Wisdom of our Fathers."  The book, a sequel to his 2001 bestseller "Big Russ and Me," is an incredibly touching book, and it has a great story behind it.  Russert's first book told about growing up in South Buffalo under the guiding hand of his father.  One reviewer wrote, "Most adult men have a difficult time embracing their fathers.  Russert spends 22 chapters hugging his in this book."

Almost as soon as "Big Russ and Me" hit the shelves, Russert began getting wonderful letters from people about the relationship they had with their fathers.  Some were funny, some were heartbreaking.  Some told of wonderfully close relationships, others told of waiting too late to make things right, and having to live with the regrets for the rest of their lives. Russert read them all, and realized this was a story that needed to be told.  Out of those letters came "Wisdom of Our Fathers."

Tim Russert passed away suddenly yesterday while recording voice-overs for tomorrow's edition of Meet the Press, the iconic Sunday news show that he hosted for 17 years, longer than any other host in the history of the program.  It is ironic, in an incredibly sad way that Tim Russert died two days before Father's Day, since he is known by millions for writing two bestselling books celebrating fathers and fatherhood.

Fatherhood wasn't something Russert wrote about in the abstract.  He was a dedicated son to Big Russ who now survives him, but he was also a doting father to his son Luke, Tim and Maureen's only child.  They say that off camera he was constantly talking about his family.  Tim, Maureen and Luke just took a trip to Italy to celebrate Luke's graduation from Boston College.  Maureen and Luke were still there when the news came that Tim had died.

On Meet the Press recently, Terry McAuliff - Hillary Clinton's resident lunatic - made a moronic remark about how Big Russ must be smiling down from heaven.  Russert patiently informed McAuliff that Big Russ is still very much alive. Just last weekend, Russert was back in Buffalo to move big Russ into a home.

I had a chance to meet Russert once in the late 1980s, not long after he became NBC's Washington Bureau Chief.  He and ABC's Jeff Greenfield were on a panel discussion.  Both of them seemed to be regular guys who didn't take themselves too seriously, and they certainly weren't prima donnas like many in the news business were.

Tim Russert was, by all accounts, one of the genuinely good guys.  He was secure in his own skin and comfortable with his abilities, so he was never threatened by someone else's advancement in the news business.  His closest friends were his competitors, so when he passed yesterday, there were people on every network - cable and broadcast - who were choking back tears as they reported the news of Russert's passing. The list of people who got their start or their first job in broadcast journalism from Russert reads like a who's who of today's news reporters.  As host of Meet the Press, he reached out beyond the circle of Beltway elites to bring in talented journalists to the weekly panel. 

In a move that must have made blue bloods at the Washington Post gag, Russert added David Brody, senior correspondent for CBN news to the panel.  Brody handled himself well and proved Russert's instincts right yet again.  It's hard to imagine who will succeed Russert in the host's chair for Meet the Press.

Tim Russert was a giant in the field of broadcast journalism, yet he never allowed his success or his love of politics and the news business to overshadow his family or his faith.  He never forgot who he was and where he came from.  He was and always would be was the kid from South Buffalo, a diehard Bills fan, Maureen's devoted husband and Luke's doting dad.  And Big Russ' loving and appreciative son.

Music City USA Under a Blanket of White

NASHVILLE - We arrived here last night for the National Religious Broadcasters Convention which begins Sunday at the Gaylord Opryland, and we apparently brought the snow with us.  The whiteout conditions we experienced yesterday in Kentucky arrived here in full force around 7:00 pm as we were walking down Broadway.  We stopped off in Ernest Tubb's record store and then made our way down to Big River for dinner.  By the time we left 90 minutes or so later, the snowstorm was so intense there was lightning accompanying it.

Nashvillians are about as adept as Atlantans are at handling snow, which is to say they stink at it.  The streets were empty except for a occasional car or truck you would see sliding toward you.  (We were in an Audi equipped with Quattro, which gets high marks from me for keeping us between the white lines, at least those you could see.)  I-40 was closed in both directions because of a nine car pile up, so we had to make our way back to the hotel on secondary roads which were rapidly becoming difficult to navigate.

We got back to the hotel in one piece, although we did have to dodge one Dodge truck (hence the name, I suppose) that was coming down the hill sideways toward us.  Bubba don't do snow apparently, and Bubba also don't understand that it takes BOTH four wheel drive AND common sense to drive safely in heavy snow.

The NRB Convention should be interesting.  At it's core, the NRB represents and exists for mostly traditional TV and Radio broadcasters.  That means we are a new media company at an old media event.  Multicast is sharing a booth with Adobe.  Our partnership with them has been mutually beneficial to both companies in the deployment of live Flash. Adobe has embraced Vidego because it combines ease of use with powerful CDN delivery of video content.

One of the rewarding things for me about working for Multicast has been to see some of the church media market be on the leading edge of new media technology.  We've noticed the NRB folks have been a little slow to embrace new media, but that is somewhat understandable since they are so heavily invested in more traditional broadcast technologies.

It will be interesting to see the blend of new vs. old media at this year's convention.

This n' That About This n' That...

No Run Newt

I had this really insightful post 90% completed on why Newt Gingrich should not run for President.  Then yesterday Newt inconveniently took my advice before it was even offered rendering the post about as timely as a discussion on the merits of Windows ME.  For what it's worth, here is the gist of my now-useless argument: Like Jimmy Carter, Newt Gingrich has been much more effective and useful since he left office than he was while in office.  The former speaker has done a great job of reaching across the aisle to get both sides to stop posturing and yelling at each other long enough to think strategically about solutions to our current problems.  It would be a real shame for him to leave that behind to go back to being a partisan political hack.  Plus his negatives are out the wazoo.  Good call, Mr. Speaker.

Millions Flock to Jesus' Defense... Well, OK, Thousands So Far

The good folks at The Miracle Theatre in Pigeon Forge are just not going to take a bad TV actress dissing Jesus sitting down.  (See Kathy Griffin and Jesus) So they purchased a full page USA Today ad ($90,000) in an effort to get one million Christians to sign their "Enough is Enough, Stand Up for Christ" petition.  So far they have 65,000 of their "One Million Voices for Christ."  And from their press release they are pretty proud of that.  Someone needs to explain to these Theatre majors that 65,000 is only 6.5% of 1 million.  That's like expecting 1,000 people for a concert and only 65 show up. 

I find it strange that their petition is not addressed to Kathy Griffin or even "Dear Low Lifes in Hollywood."  It is addressed to the American people and declares that they should not mock the name of Jesus or slander any of His followers.  If you simply must sign the petition and scream "Enough is Enough" at the "American People" click here.  But please don't.

Braves Miss Playoffs Again But Season is Saved By Monumental Mets Meltdown

I am sorely disappointed that the Braves season is over again this year in September, not October.  But my heart was strangely warmed by the record-breaking (worst in MLB history!) crash and burn by the team we affectionately refer to as "Those Scum Sucking Mets."  They were in first place by seven games the second week in September, but they won't be going to the playoffs.  This is just too sweet for words.

Q: Is it true the Mets are leaving New York and moving to the Phillipines?
A: Yes.
Q: What will they be called there?
A: The Manilla Folders!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  I crack me up.

End of An Era

Yesterday was the last Braves game that will be broadcast on TBS.  For the last 30 years, this partnership made the Braves America's Team and turned a laughable, pathetic excuse for a UHF TV station into the first "Superstation" a broadcasting dynasty that also spawned the first 24 hour news channel.

Yes, the geniuses at Turner Broadcasting have opted to go with such laugh-packed winners as "The Bill Engval Show," "House of Payne" and "My Guys" and to turn their backs on the programming that got them where they are.  TBS's motto is "Very Funny" but none of the aforementioned programs are even remotely funny.  Sure, the reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends are funny, but they have already run through all available episodes several times now.  Skip Caray hit the nail on the head when he commented on TBS not asking him to be a part of the postseason announcing crew. "I'm mad at myself for thinking there was any loyalty left in this business. I should have known better."

For what it's worth, I choose to not watch TBS in the future.  No big sacrifice here, their programming reeks.  You guys not only have no loyalty, you have no class.

You should have heeded the words of that great philosopher Jimmy Dean and "danced with the one what brung you."

The way TV was meant to be

When NBC's David Sarnoff broadcast the first television signal from the 1939 World's Fair, he and the other pioneers of this new medium had high hopes that it would be an enormously positive force for mankind. 

In the late 1940s, television became commercially available.  The best and the brightest came to the exciting new medium from the worlds of radio, print journalism and entertainment.  In some respects, the "Golden Age" of television was, in reality, it's peak.  Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, Edward R. Murrow's See it Now, variety shows with Jack Benny and "Uncle Milton," Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, musical offerings from Bernstein and Toscanini.

It didn't take long for the quality to go down the drain.  In 1961, then-FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow gave a now-famous speech decrying the state of television in 1961.  One phrase in particular from the following paragraph of the speech has become a part of the vernacular and will forever be identified with the medium:

When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you — and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

That wasteland has grown exponentially in it's vastness over the last four decades.  Minnow spoke of "your station" because in 1961 there were three networks, but in most markets, there were only one or two viable stations whose signal you could reliably receive.  He could not have imagined television in 2007, with mindless drivel on 100 or more channels!

Every now and then you see something that makes you think, "This is what television should be all about." A moment when television unites us in examining and dealing with an issue that touches all of our lives. One of those moments happened tonight with the premiere of Ted Koppel's documentary Living With Cancer on the Discovery Channel.

For us, as for most people, this is a subject that hits close to home.  In the last ten years, we have lost three central figures in our lives to breast cancer: Fonda's mother Annie, my cousin Gwen, and our dear friend Jean Tutor.  We are not unique.  There isn't a person reading this who has not lost a family member or good friend to this horrible disease. 

Living With Cancer took us on the cancer journey with Lance Armstrong, Elizabeth Edwards, and Koppel's best friend Leroy Sievers.  The bulk of the program focused on Sievers' roller coaster battle with brain, lung and bone cancer.  It followed him through 16 months of treatment and was interspersed with his ongoing commentaries for NPR and his blog.

This program was television at it's absolute best.  It made me laugh and cry.  It made me remember the losing battles Annie, Gwen, and Jean waged with the disease, and the toll that each of those losses has taken on those of us left behind.  Most of all, it made me care.

If you didn't see this program, it will be airing again on the Discovery Channel in the days and weeks ahead.  The Town Hall meeting portion ran long, but the program itself is riveting.  I highly recommend you make it a point to see it.