NEPA negativity, revisited
Al Zobel was right.
That statement alone is bound to ruffle many feathers among the television reporters in this area. But when Zobel spoke about the pervasiveness of negativity in northeast Pennsylvania, he was right.
I should know; I have to review all the submitted comments to decide which ones get posted and rejected. In those comments, people usually point fingers at each other for the misfortunes of their station, their jobs, their personal lives, etc. So what's being done about it?
You know, besides posting here?
Probably nothing. Part of it is because every company that owns a television station is concerned about making money, not pleasing their employees. The other part of it is because people here are more apt to bitch and moan amongst themselves. Hell, around here, there are STILL people who whine about past events and people who have long since left NEPA!
Your job is what you make of it. If you spend your way whining, you're not going to like your job. But if you try to make your job better, then hey, coming into work won't be as bad. Maybe others will see what you're doing, and follow your lead!
Remember, you chose to work at your station. You can always choose to leave (and take some office supplies with you) if you don't like the way things are going.
You know, I should submit this to Soapbox 16!
(I'd like to amend my initial statement. Al Zobel wasn't right. Television people outside NEPA complain just as bad. A former reporter shared a tale with me about their current station, where people still complain about being understaffed, even though the place has more resources than you can shake a stick at. Can't win 'em all.)
That statement alone is bound to ruffle many feathers among the television reporters in this area. But when Zobel spoke about the pervasiveness of negativity in northeast Pennsylvania, he was right.
I should know; I have to review all the submitted comments to decide which ones get posted and rejected. In those comments, people usually point fingers at each other for the misfortunes of their station, their jobs, their personal lives, etc. So what's being done about it?
You know, besides posting here?
Probably nothing. Part of it is because every company that owns a television station is concerned about making money, not pleasing their employees. The other part of it is because people here are more apt to bitch and moan amongst themselves. Hell, around here, there are STILL people who whine about past events and people who have long since left NEPA!
Your job is what you make of it. If you spend your way whining, you're not going to like your job. But if you try to make your job better, then hey, coming into work won't be as bad. Maybe others will see what you're doing, and follow your lead!
Remember, you chose to work at your station. You can always choose to leave (and take some office supplies with you) if you don't like the way things are going.
You know, I should submit this to Soapbox 16!
(I'd like to amend my initial statement. Al Zobel wasn't right. Television people outside NEPA complain just as bad. A former reporter shared a tale with me about their current station, where people still complain about being understaffed, even though the place has more resources than you can shake a stick at. Can't win 'em all.)
posted by Howard Beale at 9:22 PM
39 Comments:
Howard, life is what YOU make it! No one has a bed of roses, but if you approach life with a good attitude it won't always be thorns, either. I refuse to let bad attitudes or hard work get me down. I look at it this way: they own my time while I'm on the job. Whatever they tell me to do, I do, even if I think it could be done better, if they don't agree with my opinion. If it won't bother me 5 years from now, why should I let it bother me now? I have lots of stress but I really don't let it bother me. Trust me, this attitude will save you some ulcers and a ton of aggravation. Complain if you want, but it's better to deal with what you have to and leave it behind when you go out the door after your shift. Works for me!
Howard, I have never been a fan of this blog, but that has to be the best post you've ever done. Well thought and well-written. And very true! If you don't like your job, get out and stow the pissing and moaning!
I work in education and I'll put our whiners up against your whiners anytime, especially around "Conference Night".
Great analysis, Beale. Finally...you can see the light!
Maybe some of the whiners will realize that and...oh, I don't know...get on with their lives.
I doubt it, though. It's easier to have a demon to blame like Zobel than actually take responsibility for ineptitude.
The Tryant, Ron Giordan
Hey Howard,
Question for you: Are you from this area? Because I need to have facts straight before I say what I am about to say.
I am from the area, work in the area. It drives me absolutley crazy when folks from out of the area COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW NEGATIVE THIS AREA IS!!!! If you don't like it here, leave and don't look back! (Ron Goirdon) You all found jobs here or got your break in TV here, but you complain about this area. Did you all ever think YOU are the source of negativity?
NEPA is no more negative or less negative than any other place I've worked. And yes, I have worked in other markets. I just love when out-of-towners come here and start to pontificate about what is wrong and how we natives should act differently. OH, PLEASE STAY AND TELL US ALL HOW WE SHOULD LIVE OUR LIVES DIFFERENTLY...GIVE US THE WISDOM YOU ALL HAVE!!!!
I worked for Zobel and four out of five people who worked for him will tell you he is a condescending (sp?) moron. The best day in this market was when he hopped in his F-10 and left. HE WAS WALKING, TALKING NEGATIVITY!!! But he is out of my sight and out of mind.
You out-of-towners should take the advice you dish out to the folks who were born and raised here: If you don't like it leave. If your that good at what you do, go to another market.
That way NEPA will be less NEGATIVE!!!!
So, Howard...
We're all whiners, and obviously the high rate of cancer in our area stems from our negativity. Life sucks, then you die.
But, don't you know that the overwhelming majority of opinions you hear are the negative ones. Anyone who's ever answered the phones at their station knows this. People are moved to take pen (or phone) in hand, or go to a keyboard only when they wish to voice a complaint. Apparently pleasure isn't a strong enough emotion to share with others. That's why I don't understand 'NEP running a poll to determine the ticker situation. But what do I know? I'm just from around here.
Seems to me that the shitstorm doesn't hit the fan until ol' Ron makes his presence felt. Sure, there are alot of posts for and against any given subject. But the heat really gets turned up when Ron comes to town.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for him. He's in a better place, and he's Mr Positive. His ego is, by far, larger than I ever thought possible. And it was big back in the day when I knew him.
So then, why the hostillity (NOT negativity, not from Ron)toward this area he left in the dust years ago? Why does he even care enough to check in on us, only to shit all over eneryone? What a winner! Beware "The Tyrant". The only people who delight in being perceived as dicks, ARE dicks.
Seriously tho' Ronnie babe, love ya. But ditch the vitriol and the broad brushstrokes. It's become a one trick pony, and I know your imagination can do better than that.
BTW, my life IS what I make of it...and that's ok!
I actually left NEPA for a larger market in the south. People actually bitch and moan more here then they ever did in NEPA. It is the same bitching too, just the location has changed. Low pay, understaffed, no resources, management doesn't care, etc...
While you choose to work at the station, it does NOT mean you can always leave. CONTRACTS! Sure, you can quit the biz. But some don't want to do that.
Sometimes it is impossile to make your job better, as was my case, when you are surrounded by so many idiots and such a poor company who cares less. So you put your head down and wait for the agony to end.
Also, while companies are all about making money that doesn't mean they all don't care about their employees. A lot of places pay for the agrivation, the news part comes for free.
Howard... If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Homerun Suzie!
I've worked for Nexstar and for WNEP--so I can speak with some authority about attitudes in area TV stations. I've also worked in other markets, larger and smaller.
I don't know if it's something in the drinking water, but you'll just have to take my word for it that media people here are far more pessimistic and catty than anywhere else.
The folks at 16 don't post here much, which shows they've developed a "What You Say Here Stays Here" attituude. Good for them. But trust me, the back-stabbing going on under the blue roof is amazing. You'd think that would be one of the few stations in Amerca where people count their blessings. It's not--people at 'NEP count bodies, not blessings.
To me, teamwork is when you root for your co-workers and work to help them be successful: you know, one for all and all for one.
In our local media people take secret delight in the misfortunes of others and see co-workers as competition. Friends? In this market friends are for suckers.
What can be done about it? Damned if I know. It's a tradition that goes back farther than backyard weather. It's a fact of life.
But trust me, the negativity here IS a fact.
"you come on here publicly and call Zobel a demon?"
Actually, you need to re-read what was written. He never called Zobel a demon...he said it's easier for people to have a demon to blame, like Zobel.
IE, people turned Zobel into a demon because it's easier to blame others for their problems....just like Howard is saying.
But...having lived there and lived in 8 other towns in the east, west, south and midwest, NEPA is by far the most negative. Why? Because there's nothing to look forward to there, and no one is attempting make it any better whatsoever.
You want to know how to live differently? Stop bitching about other people making life hard! That's a start.
Get your ass in gear and take responsibility.
Oh...and, I know Ron very well...when you respond to him, it feeds him...that's why he comes back. Ignore him and he might leave. Probably not, but, it's a start. He thinks he won because all of you get so worked up over what he says!
I grew up in NEPA, worked here, even worked for Zobal. You know what I liked zobal. yes he was an idiot some times, but he treated me good. I left the area am in philly now, and it was not appearant to me how negative NEPA is until I left. like i said I grew up here, so I thought it was the way everyone is....but it is not! sure we have our complainers here, but most people are happy, and content. the station i work for has the same problems that ch 50 had/has, I think everyone station in the country has the same problems. but their is really so much more negativity in nepa than elsewhere.
I was up in the area visiting last week, people i ran into and used to work with, people i was friends with then, act like they resent me now. like they are jelous of me. why?
and I still can't spell!! LOL
former nexstar victim ron did not come on here publicly....he posted anonymous just like you!
A couple of Ron facts...
1)He hated WBRE and Zobel so much that he walked away from both to take a job with the local Make-A-Wish Chapter.
2)Deleste was up for renewal. She wanted a bag of money. No way in hell she'd get it from Nexstar. Zobel dug in his heels, so did Deleste. Her contract expired, she no longer had a job. For a while, she tended bar in W-B. That is verifiable. Best I know, to this day she still does not work in television. As an aside; Deleste was replaced by Stout, despite the fact that Zobel had promised the job to Bozinski.
3)Somehow Ron decided going back to work for Zobel made sense. How he ever came to that conclusion is mystifying. And that move alone erased any trace of respect that Giordan had among people in this market.
So, what we have here is a guy whose wife got hosed big by a news director who he hated to begin with...then he goes and works for this guy again.
Draw your own conclusions...
I generally dislike the negativity this blog tends to breed. However, this is a good one. I work with a fair amount of people (non-contracted) who bitch and moan about what a shitty place they work in. Door works both ways. It can let you out as easily as it let you in.
And Ron....I think you need a good chyron op...it's spelled T-y-r-a-n-t (j/k)
Don't forget that a name attached to a message does not really mean anything as it could always be a forgery. It may have been from Ron, but just take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I think it would be a good policy to just never use names on here at all.
Instead of Zobel, why not just use "Old Newsdirector?"
To 5:57 PM poster: "The folks at 16 don't post here much.:"
PU-LEAZE!!
Yes, they do...they read here and they resond. Don't be so niave to think they have the "what you say here, stays here attitude."
Those over-inflated egos on Montage Mt. Road need to be fed by more than just the Nielson ratings.
"You want to know how to live differently? Stop bitching about other people making life hard! That's a start.
Get your ass in gear and take responsibility."
AMEN!!!!!!!!! Never truer words ever typed.
A couple of Ron Lies
"1)He hated WBRE and Zobel so much that he walked away from both to take a job with the local Make-A-Wish Chapter."
Lie #1 - he left because he hated some of the people he worked with.
"2)Deleste was up for renewal. She wanted a bag of money. No way in hell she'd get it from Nexstar. Zobel dug in his heels, so did Deleste. Her contract expired, she no longer had a job. For a while, she tended bar in W-B. That is verifiable. Best I know, to this day she still does not work in television. As an aside; Deleste was replaced by Stout, despite the fact that Zobel had promised the job to Bozinski. "
Lie #2 - Job was never promised to Bozinski. Deleste is working in TV now...what a horrible journalist you are. It's pretty easy to find out where she works in television.
"3)Somehow Ron decided going back to work for Zobel made sense. How he ever came to that conclusion is mystifying. And that move alone erased any trace of respect that Giordan had among people in this market."
The fact here is that Ron did go and work for Zobel. Since I still keep in touch, I know that it was because Zobel went back to Wisconsin and Ron never wanted to leave Wisconsin in the first place. Now that he's back, he says life is great.
As for the rest...he really doesn't care if people in NEPA respect him or not...as evidence by his posts here.
"So, what we have here is a guy whose wife got hosed big by a news director who he hated to begin with...then he goes and works for this guy again.
Draw your own conclusions... "
Some people can think all they want about his wife getting hosed by Zobel. Even if it's true, his wife also made the decision to move back to Wisconsin and let her husband work for Zobel. Why? Because it's TV folks. You don't burn bridges in this business. And now, both are doing well doing what they love. SO what does it matter.
It seems to me Ron is right. He comes here, pushes buttons and watches all of you jump all over yourselves to come back and attack him...while he laughs!!! HE'S AN ATTENTION WHORE AND YOU FEED HIM!!!
And it always proves he is right.
8:31PM—
Thanks for the “facts.” How about a couple of corrections?
—Charlotte never demanded or expected “a bag of money.” Zobel refused to negotiate ANY raise, and she quit rather than re-sign for no additional pay.
—Charlotte is anchoring at an excellent station, but would be upset if I said more.
—It wasn’t just Kathy Bozinski. Zobel also told Stacey Weaver she was going to be Deleste’s replacement before he offered the job to Lyndall Stout. Who was his real first choice? We’ll never know.
—I could never figure out why Ron decided to work for Al again. “Stockholm Syndrome”?
—I am NOT Ron Giordan.
I think it's Ron, because he's also notorious for shitting on people on message boards. He's been doing it for years under several different aliases on Medialine, among other forums, including this one.
Big Al and Nexstar are the reasons that people at Channels 50 are as negative as they are.
To 8:31
Not too hard to find out what Charlotte Deleste is doing.
http://www.channel3000.com/editorials/10680816/detail.html
How can any of us that read this blog not think there is negativity in NEPA? Just look how EVER blog topic gets hijacked. Here's a test. Go through all the subject titles and then see how many posts to that topic deal exclusively with the subject of the title. I can't find a single one that doesn't go off on some tangent personally attacking somebody who isn't the subject of the topic. Example: The Scott Stuccio thread had 32 posts. Less than 1/4 of the posts deal with Scott or WYOU weather. Heck, by the 4th post Sweeney is mentioned and not far after that people that ARE NO LONGER WORKING IN THIS MARKET are also mentioned. Another example look at the topic about Mindi being the new morning anchor at 16. How far in to the thread does someone get off the subject of her anchoring ability and start talking about the ticker and Nexstar? Howard, I think you need to create a permanent post called "Complain about Nexstar." This way the topics you post about can stay on point and not get flooded with other posts that have NOTHING AT ALL WHAT SO EVER to do with the main topic except for how that author of the comment doesn't like channel 50.
"It wasn’t just Kathy Bozinski. Zobel also told Stacey Weaver she was going to be Deleste’s replacement before he offered the job to Lyndall Stout. Who was his real first choice? We’ll never know."
Stacey would have been great. Easy on the eyes too!
For those of you playing along at home, the new Webster's Unabridged Dictionary is out. If you look up the word "winner" you'll find this:
"...pushes buttons and watches all of you jump all over yourselves to come back and attack him...while he laughs!!! HE'S AN ATTENTION WHORE AND YOU FEED HIM!!!
And it always proves he is right."
But that's just me, being negative.
Example: The Scott Stuccio thread had 32 posts. Less than 1/4 of the posts deal with Scott or WYOU weather
What that tells me is pretty simple; those who cared to discuss it did just that. Sorry that they don't number in the hundreds, but that's not the point.
8:05 PM is Zobel. Bet on it, count on it. There are at least two dead giveaways in that post. Anyone else spot them?
Amen, 9:39.
"NEPA negativity" has been discussed at least 28 times before this post and a good percentage of it is negative. Do any of you also see the same pattern?
NEPA, I love you. You'll always be my hometown, but I just can't call you home anymore.
Stop living in the past. It's really hard, I know. But you can move on and move forward. I have faith in you!
Travel a bit and get to know the world surrounding you. Let your opinions change about those you interact with, both at home and abroad. You'll like the feeling you get when you do.
Trust me.
"For those of you playing along at home, the new Webster's Unabridged Dictionary is out. If you look up the word "winner" you'll find this:
"...pushes buttons and watches all of you jump all over yourselves to come back and attack him...while he laughs!!! HE'S AN ATTENTION WHORE AND YOU FEED HIM!!!
And it always proves he is right."
But that's just me, being negative.
9:13 AM "
Actually...the real winner was getting out of that hell hole.
You nimrods have choices...but chose to stay there and bitch about it all rather than do something about your lives!
Winners do things. Losers stay put and bitch...IE, most NEPA'ers.
"You nimrods have choices...but chose to stay there and bitch about it all rather than do something about your lives!
Winners do things. Losers stay put and bitch...IE, most NEPA'ers.
2:42 PM"
Actually...Ilove it here! I've been up one part of the block and down the next. I've worked with people from a couple corners of the world. While I may have (deperately) wanted to leave this "hell hole" a few decades ago, I love this place and wouldn't trade it for anything.
Don't misunderstand, there's still a list of places to visit, but there's no place like home.
Think about it. What's to bitch about? Shitty local politicians, cronyism? Got that everywhere. Local economy stinks? If you ain't rich, you're one of the millions more "lower" middle class. The area is entertainingly deficient and culturally bankrupt? C'mon! There's more going on now than at any time in the last fifty, sixty years.
If it's work you want to bitch about, remember...there's always work at the Post Office. That shit will straighten you right out.
I'd like to remind 2:42 that not all of us are hunters
It's Amazing that all you folks up there really have nothing else to do, but bitch about a sub-par producer that left your station almost 5 years ago
No, no, no, what is really amazing is that you're "down there" checking on us to see what's going on "up there."
Now that's the sure sign of a real deebee. And you have the stones to accuse us of having nothing better to do?
"It's Amazing that all you folks up there really have nothing else to do, but bitch..."
1:50 PM
Same amount of time and energy you (down there), and others, spend riding ass and pointing out our life threatening shortcomings.
BTW - If no one else will say it, I'll say it...thanks! Thanks from all of us backwoods baboons up here who don't know the meaning of the word "appreciation". Thanks for all your warm and fuzzy clinical insight. Thanks for showing the intellectualy repressed how shining examples of perfection conduct themselves. Thanks just for being you!
No, no, no, what is really amazing is that you're "down there" checking on us to see what's going on "up there."
Now that's the sure sign of a real deebee. And you have the stones to accuse us of having nothing better to do?
8:11 PM
Nope, nothing better to do at all. However since moving "down here" I prob make twice as much as those of you "up there" who have been there for 20 + years. so suck on that Chachi! I can afford to have nothing to do but make fun of folks from NEPA.
"I can afford to have nothing to do but make fun of folks from NEPA."
Maybe you could work real hard and get a raise, then buy yourself an IQ.
Do you have any idea how bad you're making yourself look?
Quit while you're ahead. (Any bets he won't?)
..."since moving "down here" I prob make twice as much as those of you "up there" who have been there for 20 + years. so suck on that Chachi!"
1:32 PM
I'm sure it's not the first time, nor will it be the last, that you've had to go down to get ahead!
Howard,
Howz about instead of revisiting "NEPA negativity", you try other similar topics...
"Negativity from across the globe"
"Former NEPA victims with axes to grind"
"Losers let loose"
"Bitter then, bitter now"
"Over-inflated ego and exaggerated sense of worth is a license to vent"
"NEPA sucks...and I don't even live there"
"Look at me, ma. I got an opinion"
"Did I mention?...NEPA sucks"
My vote for the first post in any category would be our friend below.
"Nope, nothing better to do at all. However since moving "down here" I prob make twice as much as those of you "up there" who have been there for 20 + years. so suck on that Chachi! I can afford to have nothing to do but make fun of folks from NEPA."
1:32 PM
Making twice as much as NEPA'ers still isn't worth bragging about
It was one year ago today, on July 11, that Vince Sweeney was unjustly fired from WBRE.
I hope that comes back to television in the near future.
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