Budd McEntee is an old-school newsman. For years, he had a portrait of Walter Cronkite on the wall of his corner office at WAGA. He was passionate about being first with important stories. He loved breaking news, which he believed had a crowd-pleasing quality for the audience. He was devoted to overturning rocks and exposing [...]
Archive for September, 2010
27 Sep
Either / or
About a month ago, a man named Joeff Davis rang my cell phone. He identified himself as a photographer with Creative Loafing. “I need to photograph you for our upcoming ‘Best Of’ issue,” said Davis, whose first name is pronounced “johf.” “Does this mean I’m going to be the ‘best of’ something?” I asked. “Can’t [...]
19 Sep
Written on the wind
WXIA reporter Marc Pickard will retire Friday, concluding a 34 year career as one of the premier storytellers in Atlanta TV news. I asked longtime WXIA reporter Jon Shirek to write a few words marking the occasion, excerpted below. By Jon Shirek For news to remain “news,” we will always need journalists to dig up [...]
13 Sep
Age before beauty
From left: Alan Hand started at CBS in Atlanta in 1981, then switched to WSB; John Spink started at the AJC in 1984; Doug Richards started at WAGA in 1986, then upgraded to WXIA; Richard Crabbe started at WXIA in 1980; Bruce Mason started at WXIA in 1982; Dave Darling started at WSB in 1981. [...]
7 Sep
Neighborhood newspaper
“It’s extremely popular,” said the store clerk whom I’d encountered by chance while visiting Oconee County week before last. “Some people call it ‘the family album.’” She was referring to, of all things, a newspaper. Given the state of newspapers these days, her analysis of the new local tabloid was intriguing. So was the content, [...]
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