Scranton's Parade Day marked my 24th anniversary in TV. It was down the street. Part time. Weekends. Hourly news updates, plus a little assignment editor stuff. It wasn't much, but I was happy to have it.
TV anniversary day reminds me of my first time in front of the camera. I think it was spring of '81 at Marywood's cable TV station. Back in the day, we did four newscasts a week. They weren't very good, but that's not the point. We were there to make mistakes and learn. Believe me, there were plenty of mistakes.
I signed up to do sports for one of the shows. I think it was the Tuesday edition. Awful would be putting it mildly, and I think I lost half of my body weight in sweat. However, you get a crash course in what works and what doesn't. There was no "take two." Being in front of a live mic and a hot camera was great experience.
I paid a visit to the old campus studio back in December. I was struck by how small it was. It seemed cavernous when I was a pup. Size really has nothing to do with it. I've seen some marvelous productions out of small spaces, and some hideous work at state of the art facilities.
I was also disappointed to see the studio looking like a cluttered warehouse rather than a professional work space. Yes, it was between semesters, and I expected a little disorganization.
My TV Marywood sports days were short. I was part time at WARM 590 at the time, and my schedule changed, so I had to give up the sports thing. Additional radio hours, plus a bigger pay check were impossible to refuse. I managed to fulfill my educational requirements by working behind on the scenes on classmates' projects.