Ken Foote's Radio/TV Files: Stations Don't Shut Down For Bad Weather

As I write this blog, I was thinking about the wintry weather that we had a taste of last night. That made me think of the time I had to move into a TV station and live there for a couple of days for winter weather!

Just because weather gets bad doesn't mean that a TV or radio station shuts down. In fact, when the weather gets rough, radio and TV stations are at their best!

In 1979, I was a production assistant for WGHP-TV, the ABC station serving High Point, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I was fresh out of the University Of Texas At Austin. High Point is the furniture capital of the world with over 200 furniture manufacturers and two big annual furniture markets that attract people from all over the world. Greensboro is a thriving city of over 270,000 people with an economy built on textiles, furniture, and tobacco. Winston-Salem is to the east of Greensboro and stakes its heritage as the "Arts City" in the area, attracts a lot of tourism, and is the home of Wake Forest University and the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.  People who live in the area call it "the Triad Area" like we call Dallas/Fort Worth "the Metroplex".

One weekend afternoon, I got a call from Gary Robinson, the station's Program Director, who informed me that the station needed me to pack a bag and plan to stay there for a couple of days. Weather in the area was deteriorating rapidly with ice, sleet, and snow. He told me that the station would be shorthanded since so many employees lived 40-50 miles away and he needed everyone he could get to come in and keep the station running. I lived only 3 miles from work and a half mile or so from the General Manager, Gene Bohi. This was my first job out of college and my dad always said, "if they tell you to sweep the floors, sweep the floors."  So it didn't take me long to tell Gary, "No problem, I will be there!" Enough said!

The station occupied two floors of the Sheraton Hotel High Point, but in reality it was a retirement home. The hotel employed these two really old guys to work the parking booth as we all had to pay our own parking. It was only $10/month back then but since none of us was making a lot at that time, $10 was a lot. Mr. Lloyd and the man we called "Heart Attack" were always chasing us down……"You haven't paid your $10 this month!!"….."Sorry gotta run!". But we always paid!  We had more fun imitating them and laughing about these two old men chasing us down for $10!

Needless to say, I learned more about the operations of a TV station by moving in for those two days. I ran camera, the audio board on newscasts, manned the switchboard, and many other things, including sweeping the floors!  That hotel stunk to high heaven and the heat didn't work well!!  But one thing happened to me six months later: I got promoted to Director of Sales Development and Research.

Today WGHP is FOX8 for the Triad area and my old newscast director, Karen Adams, is now President and General Manager. Karen is one of the rare individuals who started right out of college at WGHP and stayed there throughout their career, and WGHP has been her home for well over 35 years.  She taught me a lot and I will always be eternally grateful for that.

See you next time!