Hi Mom. Hi Dad.

It’s a hell of a time to be the parent of a college student isn’t it? We’re in the midst of an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression. Next week we’ll be electing a new president and no matter which party wins, it will be historic. Either we will elect the first African-American president or the first woman Vice-President. What a ride we’re on right now.

Perhaps it’s my wish to see it this way but my sense is that your children are very aware of both the economy and the politics. I must say that I don’t remember my generation being this involved when we were college students. In the middle 70’s we were coming out of the “the sixties” and all that represented. Plus, it was very easy to be in the bubble of college. After all, we only had four TV channels, a handful of radio stations and two local newspapers. Remember those days?

Maybe it’s because of the explosion of information available anywhere, anytime. Maybe it’s that their professors are encouraging, cajoling or even forcing them to know current events. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s you Mom and Dad.

You’ve sacrificed to get your kids to get here to Syracuse University so that they could get a college education. Along the way you probably discussed the issues of the day. You modeled the behavior that being informed and taking an active part in this democracy is not only noble, it’s expected. You set up expectations that you’d like to see met. But ultimately, it’s their choice isn’t it? They decide how active and how involved they get. Your kids decide how much effort to put into thinking and doing. And from what I see, so far, they, and in turn you, get an A.

Nice work Mom and Dad, you’re raising decent, hard-working and informed citizens. Now if we could only get them to get enough sleep, clean their rooms and do their laundry and call home more often.

u r xceptshunal

I was AWOL last week, sorry about that. I was on my home from Cleveland where I was a panelist at a conference. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

So I’ve been working here at OTN for a little over fours years. We’ve grown from an initial staff of eight and limited programming to a staff of 18 and a schedule that provides student produced programming to the SU campus 24/7 during the academic year. That’s no small accomplishment. There aren’t many college TV stations that can make that claim. Perhaps, literally, a handful. And it’s not so much an attempt to pat myself on the back as much as it is to trumpet the desire and accomplishment of you, the students. To all who are producing television for OTN and Citrus TV, a big round of applause.

Here are some other programs that deserve a mention.

Citrus TV News – a nightly thirty-minute newscast Monday through Friday.
SUper Sports – Play by play of Syracuse University men’s ad women’s athletics
Woo Hoo Comedy, Zamboni Revolution and Penguins without Pants - everything comedy and everything Syracuse University students.
The Z Morning Zoo – your student campus radio station on OTN
The Mark Zito Show - the only regularly scheduled, live call-in show on a college TV station in the country
Cuse Coverage - a weekly update of campus events and student organizations
Connect – Syracuse University’s weekly magazine show.
Reel Old Movies – Old movies with a comedy twist
Indie Flick Files – award–winning independent films

And last week I learned that the show “On The Bench” from Citrus TV won “Best Overall Sports Show” at the Open Student Television Network Media Fest. Congratulations! There’s more but I’m running out of time. I guess here’s what I wanted to say.

If television was easy to produce well, everyone would be doing it. Is everything we do perfect and of high professional quality? Well, no. But isn’t that why you’re ALL here? Whether it’s the architecture or biology major or the engineering or political science major, you’re all here to learn, make mistakes, grow and test the limits of your abilities. That’s all we’re trying to do here too. We still have some work to do. The OTN website needs a little more attention and we need to do a better job of making the program schedule easier to find.

But I think the students at this university who strive to tell their stories on OTN and Citrus TV are exceptional. I’m proud to be associated with all of you and I appreciate your dedication and hard work. To the viewers, we’ll keep trying to do the best we can to lend a visual voice to your student experience here.

See you next week.

What, me worry?

I’m not sure if the current economic crisis is on your radar so to speak, but it sure is on mine. Hard not to be. It’s not fun to think or talk about.

I’ve been through a few recessions in my life and this one feels much different than the previous ones. Perhaps it’s because I am a lot closer to an age where I might be thinking about retirement or maybe it’s because I have high school age children that are going to be (hopefully) headed to college soon, or maybe it’s because I’ve been able to get back the money I lost in my retirement account over the last few years, only to see it disappear . . . again. Ugh that hurts.

But I am grateful for a few things.

I’m very grateful I have my health. If I lose all of my money and possessions tomorrow I will be able to do something. Dig a ditch, flip a burger, deliver a package, wash a dish, I’ll be able to do something because I’m healthy. I’m also grateful that I had the discipline to have saved some money for an emergency and I haven’t extended our credit. Finally, I am very grateful I have a loving and supportive family.

Both of my parents went through some major crises, the Great Depression and World War II. I heard the stories from both of them. Believe me, this is nothing compared to what they went through. Nothing. Maybe in a future blog I’ll share some of their stories. In the meantime, I’ll be watching my weight, getting some exercise, brushing and flossing and all that other fun stuff so in case I need to go dig a ditch I won’t be winded after 10 minutes.

Time to go and do what I’m paid to do now.

PS- I was sorry to see the Cubbies go. Sorry Alex, maybe next year.

I'm a fan

As a kid growing up I played a lot of baseball and football with my neighborhood friends. It was especially fun to play football in the street in winter because the snow banks offered us the chance to make that fingers extended, feet just inbounds, sideline catch and then drop face first into the snow . . . just like Paul Warfield. I was never a great player in anything but that didn’t matter; just being able to play was enough for me.

And more than that actually, I am a fan. I like to follow my teams and the games, mostly football, baseball and basketball and since I used to play golf I follow that too. Now and then I’ll watch a little hockey and of course the Olympics which is like a sports fan’s all-you-can-eat buffet.

So when I started my television career 30+ years ago I was very excited to work at WCNY-TV in the early 80’s because we covered a lot of high school and college sports. I learned that a) I loved doing sports TV and b) I could get into games for free (and then get paid!) so it seemed like a winning combination to me.

I got a break in January 1982 when ESPN hired me to work a basketball game at St. Bonaventure. I got mileage, perdiem and a day rate. I was in heaven. Twenty-six years later I’ve worked as a director, camera operator and videotape replay for many, many different events and networks. It’s still fun.

So when I came to Syracuse to start the Orange Television Network in 2004, in the back of my mind I wanted to see if I could gather the resources to do sports television. Not an easy thing to do because most sports television happens when big networks roll multi-million dollar remote trucks into arenas and spend a lot of time and money, things I don’t have. But there was one important thing I did have: an enthusiastic and supportive group of students who wanted that experience too. So with the help of a few colleagues and some frugal budgeting, last night marked the first “SUper Sports” production of the fall semester. The staff from Citrus TV produced the UConn/SU women’s volleyball game from Manley Filed House.

And for more on that, go to the OTN Producers blog. See you over there.