The Intern

Some people refuse to take “no” for an answer.

Some people see only possibilities, and potential results.

Along the way they encounter doubters, teasers, and haters. They get talked about, scorned, and vilified… but they become immune to the roar of the crowd. The reward is great, and so is the risk, but they can see what’s waiting at the finish line, and run, sometimes recklessly, toward it. I worked with such a person at Channel 6. He wasn’t my boss, or one of my paid colleagues. He was an intern.




I was the weekend producer -- a thankless job, if there ever was one. In terms of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I was everybody in the WJM newsroom except for Ted Baxter and Gordy The Weatherman. It felt like I had a million things to do, every day, with very little help. We had no night reporter. We had no night assignment editor. We didn’t even have anyone to help the three of us in the newsroom (yes, just three of us!) answer phones from irate viewers, wondering why their favorite contestant on Star Search didn’t win, or some other similar drivel. We needed help… badly… and management’s solution was to have interns work the night assignment desk. Usually they had no training. Some had no skills. It was a nightmare.

But then… he showed up: a know-it-all kid with an obnoxious streak. The kind of kid that was probably a bully-magnet for most of his life.

But this wasn’t school. It was the real world, and a real assignment desk in a major market newsroom. The Intern walked into our party like he was walking into a yacht. He had no clue about our limitations as a shoestring operation, and he didn’t care to hear it.





When President Ronald Reagan took an interest in 7-year-old transplant patient Ronnie DeSillers, who then moved to the top of the organ transplant list (not once, not twice, but three times), DeSillers became a national cause célèbre. After the boy died and his mother, Maria, was accused of misusing the funds meant for her son, every station in town was hot on her trail.

We asked The Intern to try to get some kind of statement from Maria DeSillers. Not good enough for him! Before we knew it, he had set up a live satellite interview (utilizing our sister station in Pittsburgh), for Beverly Counts Rodrigues to conduct on The Ten O’Clock News. An EXCLUSIVE live interview.

Management was gob-smacked.

Other times there were exclusives, such as a civil disturbance in Naranja Lakes that the police really didn’t feel like talking about. We had it, and nobody else did. The Intern again. There was some exclusive involving Panamanian President Eric Delvalle, the details of which I can’t remember nearly 24 years later. And the time a former Apollo astronaut who’d passed through town changed his plans… at The Intern’s insistence… so we could talk to him live on the air, instead of settling for a vacuous soundbite from questions fed to him by a cameraman. Our paid assignment editors didn’t always have that good a success rate!

Believe it or not, there was a downside to this. All interns leave after a matter of months. Management was now convinced that we didn’t need to hire any weekend assignment desk help. They used this as proof that interns were good enough to man the desk, even though most just didn’t have the know-how. Most wound up having to ask me, or Beverly, what to do, and of course that wasn’t their fault. He spoiled them. And in a way, he spoiled us too.

The intern’s name was Jeff Liebman, and after his time at Channel 6, he moved on to a real job at WTVJ Channel 4 (which didn’t last long, but it was a foot in the door). He is now the news operations manager at WDIV-TV in Detroit, overseeing a newsroom that includes former WCIX reporter/producer Rod Meloni.

The entrance of CBS into the picture in 1989 would bring more staffing, and much higher expectations. But the network infusion would not signal the first time someone came in believing that he or she could make a difference… and instead of just demanding a better newscast, actually took initiative to personally make it better.

While he came to Channel 6 to learn, along the way he taught us a lesson.

It’s been a long and winding road for Liebman. I can bet you he still doesn’t take “no” for an answer.

Twist Of Fate In '88

(Note: All TV news blooper reels contain profanity, so you might want to wait until the kids and the boss are out of the room to click the arrow.)







This was the end of the innocence.

The 1988 news blooper reel (above) would be shown at the WCIX Christmas party, just three weeks shy of one of the biggest changes in Miami TV news history. CBS was about to take over, transforming our humble newsroom from an independent operation to a network-owned news machine. The bar was being raised like a drawbridge over the Miami River, meaning lots of new faces coming in… and lots of old friends saying Sayonara.

In some ways, this is a bittersweet 8 1/2 minutes of tape. I think it’s hilarious, but I also feel a little sadness for the Mike Bradleys and Jennifer Rehms that were soon forced to look for work elsewhere. THEE Ten O’Clock News was about to become just a memory, as new producers Brian Jones and Zahir Sachedina, and new reporters such as Al Sunshine, ushered in our brand new evening newscasts, with the prime time show (produced by Caryn Brooks) moving to 11PM. Soon Ten O’Clock would belong to WSVN, which was losing its NBC affiliation… and still developing its future flash and trash philosophy. Did I say things were changing? In the words of David Bowie, turn and face the strange!

Look for director Jim Lawrence, Bryan Glazer, Jim Dyer, Barbara Sloan, R.J. Heim, Dave Game, Jennifer Rehm, Beverly Counts Rodrigues, Solon Gray’s nose, John Turchin, Ed Berliner, Ken Ober (MTV), Mike “OK” Bradley, Ralph Murciano, and John Deutzman on here. You’ll also see memorable cameos from Dade County Commissioner Beverly Phillips and former Immigration & Nationalization Service honcho Perry Rivkind.

A few notes about this tape:


1) Jim Lawrence is goofing on the fact that we were being forced to call the show “THEEE” Ten O’Clock News, as though it was something biblical. All pray to the mighty teleprompter!

2) Reporter Bryan Glazer wasn’t just having a bad day. He tended to lose his cool quite often, though usually not to this extent.

3) There is a mix of live TV, and behind-the-scenes bloopers on here. Obviously, Jim Dyer’s “quack sweep” and Ed Berliner mooning John Turchin, never made it to air.

4) The idea to have our interns do the watusi came from a record I’d just purchased at a Goodwill store (for a dime). After looking at the label for New Interns Watusi, I thought it would be fun to have the NEWS interns watusi. I recognize Pam Suchman, but can’t recall any of the other names. These were some of the best interns we ever had – and good sports, too. (Some past Channel 6 interns included future success stories Steve Boyer, Jeffrey Liebman, and Shannon High-Bassalik.)



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5) MTV’s Remote Control seemed just made for our blooper reel – especially considering all the Channel 6 references, and the fact that the host was named Ober!

6) Note to Jennifer Rehm: it’s not spelled Boyo!

7) Thanks for showing me your… umm… cat, Jennifer!

8) The tape of Beverly Phillips trying to walk a straight line became a newsroom classic that year. Phillips, a Metro-Dade Commissioner, had been stopped by police on suspicion of driving under the influence. Brian Wilson’s “Walking The Line” provided the perfect soundtrack.

9) Mike Bradley is not a bimbo, he’s a weatherman!

10) Dave Game combing his hair, live on the air, might have seemed funny on a blooper reel… but at the time it was a major deal for everyone involved with that newscast (myself included). News director Larry Wallenstein’s memo is a reminder that behind every blooper is a mistake that affected hours and hours of hard work by dozens of people. Hey, there are no do-overs in live TV. Might as well laugh at ourselves!



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11) Perry Rivkind of the INS was the coolest bureaucrat in South Florida. Here he’s encouraging us to vote “yes” on bringing in a union to represent certain segments of the news and engineering departments. In the end, we said no to IBEW Local 349, but until that happened, management was really running scared.

12) Lyn-rid Skyn-rid? That dog won’t hunt. That bird ain’t free.


This would be the last news blooper reel that I would produce or co-produce. After moving to the special projects unit, I (temporarily) had less contact with the daily newscast grind, and handed the blooper mantle to others. But it was lots of fun to handle that portion of our skit reels for six years (with help from Mike Medrano, R.J. Heim, Bill Retherford, and many others). Still to come: the 1986 and 1987 news blooper reels. I don’t seem to have 1984, so if anyone can help with that one, I’d really appreciate it.

See you later on THEEE Say Six! blog.

And Then There's Rue...

1980: Producer Don Adams had a lot of rules to follow, while timing out The Ten O’Clock News, but one rule was etched in stone. One rule could not be broken under any circumstances: the show must end on time. It could not run long, not even by two seconds. Not even when Liberty City was burning during the riots of May 1980! Rules were rules, after all.

There was a reason for this. The Ten O’Clock News, which was an hour long in those days, was a low-rated show. The program that followed it, reruns of Maude, brought in better numbers -- and as a result, was a more valuable property. Even though we put our blood, sweat, and tears into our nightly newscast, management put more stock in the syndicated rerun, since… well, to put it bluntly… they could charge more for commercials. And that, in a nutshell, is what it was all about to them.

I thought of this on Thursday, after hearing of the death of Maude co-star Rue McClanahan. Long before she found greater fame on The Golden Girls, McClanahan did her thing opposite Bea Arthur in the Norman Lear comedy. I may have resented Maude during those nightly news days, but I watched the show during its original run, and thought McClanahan, in particular, was a standout. One day I decided to write to her, and let her know that she had a fan in Miami.

Usually when you write to a celebrity, you’re lucky to get an acknowledgment. Maybe they’ll send you a picture, and maybe they’ll take the time to sign it. Rue McClanahan was one of the rare ones. She not only sent me a signed picture, and a signed dinner theater program, but she wrote me a personalized letter that showed she took the time to read every word I had written. That meant a lot to me, as a teenager back in 1975. It still does.





Click images to view them full size.






McClanahan’s passing won’t get nearly as much ink as other high-profile deaths, such as Gary Coleman or Dennis Hopper. You won’t see many marathons of her work, and in time she’ll become just another footnote. But in our age of plastic celebrities whose only talent is being bombastic or showing off their booty, I thought you’d like to know what Rue McClanahan was like. How she appreciated her fans. It’s a cliché, but it’s true: they don’t make ‘em like her anymore.

On The Record

I love records! Everyone who’s ever met me is well aware of that fact. I can’t remember how to do some of the simplest things, but I can tell you the name of just about any artist that issued vinyl from the mid-60s on (labels and B-sides, too). It’s both a blessing and a curse to be a vinyl junkie – a curse, when it comes time to move, and to transport tens of thousands of records. But it’s a blessing when a recording artist discovers that someone actually has – and enjoys – that piece of music that they were convinced no one on earth has ever heard of, let alone owns a copy of.

So I guess this post was inevitable. Combine nearly two decades in the WCIX/WFOR newsroom, with a lust for records, and you get this selective discography of Channel 6’s greatest (non-)hits. The recording artists at the station ranged from anchors, to weathercasters, to tape editors, to interns. Here are just some of the musical souvenirs that our illustrious employees left behind.






Any look at Channel 6’s recording artists has to start with the one and only Hambone. Future superstar anchorman John Hambrick first started recording in the ‘60s – while based in Ohio. Before striking out on his own, Hambrick recorded this folk-inspired obscurity with two of his brothers. The oddly-named “John Jud Mike” appeared on the Fraternity label, which had several hit records in the 50s and 60s (including “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” by the Casinos, “The All-American Boy” by Bill Parsons (nee Bobby Bare), and “Memphis” by Lonnie Mack). This record, engineered by former Floridian Lee Hazen (whose credits include “The Little Black Egg” by the Nightcrawlers) went nowhere, but undaunted, John Hambrick pressed on, eventually winding up on Terry Knight’s Brown Bag label.






Hambrick’s 1972 LP “Windmill In A Jet Filled Sky”, featured a who’s who of Nashville studio musicians, including Southwest High grad Charlie McCoy and Harold “Pig” Robbins. Knight, whose main claim to fame was managing rock bands such as Grand Funk Railroad and Bloodrock, had high hopes for the album, but it failed to take off, leaving Hambrick to pursue his long career in TV news. Hambrick told us many stories about this LP, and his brushes with some of Nashville’s finest songwriters and artists. If ever there was a natural born storyteller, it was John. An unforgettable character in many ways.






(My personally autographed copy of John's 1972 single. Click images to view them full size.)







I remember when Don Franklin recorded his remake of the “A Deck Of Cards”, the T. Texas Tyler/Wink Martindale hit of several decades earlier. Franklin was a terrific announcer and weatherman, but he wasn’t a singer… which was okay, considering this record falls in the “spoken word” category. Don Franklin was a real class act. It’s a shame so few people seem to remember him, and I’m sure even fewer have any idea that he ever made a record.








Chuck Zink didn’t come to work at Channel 6 until the 1980s, but during his amazing run as Skipper Chuck on WTVJ, he took part in this children’s recording on the Vak label. Music played a big role in the Skipper’s program, though I’m sure few would remember songs such as “I Love Little Kitty” or “Wiggle Nose, The Flop-Eared Bunny”.







Steve Hass started working at WCIX in either 1970 or 1971, and I’m sure there were those that didn’t know about his past. Hass had been the drummer for the Gents Five, a Miami band that recorded a couple of very elusive singles back in 1967. “I started as a projectionist, then ran the video and audio boards,” Hass remembers. “Operated the camera in the studio mostly, and went on to shoot news footage. Those 16mm mags were a bitch to load.” The A-side of the Gents Five’s record was written by group member Dave Tubin, who is better-known to South Floridians as Cosmo Ohms, the long-time sound man at Tobacco Road.






Jim Hayek is best-remembered for his graphic designs, but his guitar was never too far away. (Jim was the first guy I’d call on, when producing my K-Tel album spoofs for the Christmas reel.) As half of Danny & Desi Doodrop, Jim entertained children on Duck Duck Goose, and entertained the rest of us at parties and during down time. It should come as no surprise that Jim won 4th prize in Creem Magazine’s national songwriter’s contest. That was in 1978, and it resulted in the release of a single the following year, on Hayek’s own Black & White label. As a guy who designed graphics for The Ten O’Clock News, it was sort of an inside joke that Hayek would come up with the band name The News (years before Huey Lewis’ gang). WSHE-FM liked the single, but declined to play it, being on a local label and all. (Boo!) Hayek is still active in music, and plays with a band called On Eleven in Denver.






The Final Say was the name of a project that included WCIX videographer Rafael “Ralph” Murciano. Ralph played drums and piano on the group’s only release, which came out in 1984 on the band’s own TFS label. Who can forget Ralph’s music video, “Morning After Blues”, with Dr. Steve Greenberg? It’s too bad that tune never came out on vinyl!







The Rubber Thongs first appeared on WCIX, when a song they performed at the 1980 John Lennon Tribute in Downtown Miami made it on to one of our newscasts. Years later group leader John Paris would work the assignment desk at our Doral newsroom. John was a great guy who unfortunately became a scapegoat, at a time when management felt they needed one. Like so many that were fired from WCIX/WFOR, Paris landed on his feet, getting a much better job at CNN in Atlanta.






Robert Lyon joined the station a little later, becoming a news videotape editor after the switch to WFOR. But to me, he was Robert Lyon, guitarist of the pop-punk band Caught Inside. WFOR’s Shane McLafferty also joined the band on drums. Caught Inside is still well-remembered in South Florida for their fun, lighthearted songs that capture the late 90s so well.






My good friend Laura Regalado made many friends during her brief time at WCIX/WFOR. She’s still in the business, but living in Maryland now… and playing bass in the band e.joseph & the phantom heart. You might remember Laura (also known as Mia) as part of the band Bionix, during her Channel 6 days. One very talented and beautiful person.








WCIX also had some talented interns, with at least three of them having brief recording careers. In the 60s, Mark Ostrovsky was the lead singer of the Missing Lynx, whose single on the nationally-distributed DynoVoice label is now very collectable. Intern Matt Cooper was part of the trio Dream Time, whose 12” single received quite a bit of airplay on college station WVUM in the early 90s. Matt never made good on his promise to get me a copy of the record, so I don’t have a scan to show you! Hey Matt (or Omar), if you see this, help me fill a hole in my collection!







Another late 80s intern, Jimmy Deal, was a member of local hardcore band FWA, whose self-titled album included the underground hits “Warehouse Party” and “Vanna White”. Well, maybe hits is too strong a word, but those are fun songs that still sound good to my ears.

I’m sure there were other WCIX recording artists, but I can’t think of them at the moment. Any additions, corrections, and vinyl goodies will be gratefully welcomed, as always.

Versatile, A Plus

Tony LaRussa would have been proud. The St. Louis Cardinals manager, with a fetish for versatile athletes who can play multiple positions, surely would have loved the way WCIX stretched, pulled, and jostled its employees. Like LaRussa having his second baseman play the outfield, or a pitcher running out to left field, the old Channel 6 would sometimes let employees try unfamiliar jobs, either enriching or embarrassing themselves in the process.

Where else in the Miami market would a reporter (Jerry Fisher, Rod Meloni) have spent months at a time doubling as a line producer? Where else would a Chyron operator (me) have been allowed to write the Wall Street business reports, paving the way for a future career as a producer? As one who had to prepare the credit rolls that followed the newscasts on Fridays, I had to keep a score card (well, actually a score sheet) to keep track of who did what that given week. Switchers ran audio; audio operators ran tape; tape editors ran the Chyron. “Versatile, a plus” was more than an ad in an adult magazine back in those days. Put me in coach, I’m ready to play!







Keeping track of who did what for the weekly credit roll. Click image to enlarge.


Our versatility didn’t end with the newscasts. We had actors, disc jockeys, musicians, comedians, and comic book artists among our ranks. (Oh yeah, authors, too.) We were one talented bunch, if I do say so myself. Memories of that talent live on in our minds, but some of the old 6’ers left behind tangible souvenirs of their endeavors, in the form of records and, later, CDs. In the next entry, I will look at some of the WCIX alumni that were also recording artists. There will be names you’ll recognize, and others that you won’t, but I think you’ll find that our musical notes were as powerful as our reporter’s notebooks. I bet Tony LaRussa would agree.