Jonblog

Who knew anchoring a newscast was a dangerous occupation.

It’s not in the league of deep sea diver or lion tamer, but it does have it’s hazards. Case in point, last night anchoring the 6:00 news, I bent over to untangle a microphone cord from my chair when my shoulder popped out of it’s socket before sports. If you watched closely you could see my left arm hanging limp on the desk while I was introducing Rene. During the four minutes of sports I managed to put my should back in place, but by then it was throbbing. I closed the show quickly at the end and let out a manly whimper and went on my merry way. By the way my shoulder is sore today, but no big deal.

 It reminded me off a time, about ten years ago, when I was anchoring the Morning Show and threw my back out. This time I was reading the prompter and blew by where a coma should have appeared in the script. Realizing I should have paused, I stopped abruptly and there goes the back. An unusual case of whiplash but what are you going to do.

Some anchors have fallen from their chairs, had lights come crashing down near or on them and even tripped coming off the set. Maybe this is a more dangerous job than I thought, or maybe the majority of us are just clumsy.

 JG

Hello,

I was lucky enough to have a six day vacation last week. The longest I have ever taken. If you are like me trying to relax away from work is work in itself. By about vacation midweek I am pretty much in unwind mode. That feeling lasts about 35 seconds and then I start gearing up for work again. I know, I have a problem.

The fact is I love my job. I may complain about a few aspects of it, but I wouldn’t trade it for any other occupation. I still remember coming in for my interview with Sue Bernard two days before Christmas of 1990. I was wearing brown sateen duralux pants I purchased the night before from Ames, a tie I borrowed from my father, and a shirt with a coffee stain on it. Sue must have been thinking what a yahoo. I went to college for print journalism. I wanted to work for a newspaper, but I was willing to give television a try. During the interview Sue asked me if I had any broadcasting experience, to which I quickly replied I was on the Bozo show on WABI-TV when I was five. She laughed, offered me a one day tryout without pay, and hired me half way through that first day.

I miss having Sue around. She taught me many valuable lessons about integrity and being a good person, but most of all she would laugh at my jokes.

Until next time,

JG

Being a newscaster during the holiday season is wonderful. Most night we have stories about neighbors helping neighbors, communities coming together to assist the less fortunate or civic organizations going above and beyond. It amazes me the capacity people have to give of themselves.

I know this is a very short post, but I wanted to thank everyone for the good deeds they do and to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

JG

As many of you know there was a bomb threat at Presque Isle High School yesterday, November 1st.

A threatening note was found. After getting the students out of class and to a secure site it was determined there was no credible threat and the students were let back into school. NewsSource 8 did not report this bomb threat because even though it may be interesting it’s not in the best public interest to publicize the threat. We feel by putting it on the news, it may encourage copycat threats and the person who made the threat in the first place may just want the attention on television.

If the police said the threat was credible or confirmed by multiple sources, if an actual explosive device was found or if students were dismissed for an unusual amount of time we would have reported the incident. Also if the police arrest the person responsible for the threat we will report on that.

There are exceptions to every rule and each event is looked at extensively before we decide whether to include the information in a show or not.

 

JG

Thank goodness a blog isn’t a pet because I have neglected mine for way to long. Even if it was a plant, it would be dead.

I really enjoy blogging, it’s a chance to write opinion and non news content. Maybe the reason I haven’t blogged in a while is how busy everyone has been here at WAGM-TV. We launched our Fox channel on September 12th. Programming an additional 21 hours a day is a chore for traffic and for the master control operators responsible for getting the shows on the air. We are still going through some technical difficulties, but every day the situation improves, thankfully. 

After the World Series on Fox, NewsSource 8 will be starting a 10:00 PM newscast on WAGM Fox 8. This show will be quite different from our 11:00 news, with more weather, less sports and a few more radical ideas. Those ideas may work or may not. Shawn Cunningham will be the primary anchor for the program, but the entire news team will contribute. If you have any ideas for particular segments or content email me at jgulliver@wagmtv.com

By the way the 46th annual Potato Pickers Special wraps up Wednesday Oct. 11th. Many thanks go out to the hosts, Don Flannery, Tim Hobbs, Rene Cloukey and the others. Also the behind the scenes crew of Norma, Katie, Casey, Larry and Henry.

And this final sad note, Meteorologist Samantha Hensell is moving on to a job in Binghamton, New York. Samantha has been an excellent worker and wonderful part of the newsroom for the past two years. We wish her all the best. Look for a new Chief Meteorologist starting Monday October 16th. His name is familiar to television viewers in Eastern and Northern Maine.  More on that later.

 JG