My upcoming launch to NBC 4

When astronauts once dreamed of going to the moon, when they were children they undoubtedly looked up at sky and wondered if they would ever get there. In a similar way, I looked to NBC 4 in Washington and asked the same question. Always having an interest in news and media, always wanting to be in the know and on the scene in the Nation’s Capital, I always wanted to work for Channel 4. Beginning next week I will set foot on the moon.

In my role of writing for the station’s website, NBCWashington.com, and working on the Assignment Desk for News 4, a dream of mine will become reality, furthering a burgeoning journalism career that began when I was still in high school. While I got my start in video and TV, many know I also was given the opportunity to become a news reporter at News & Messenger in Prince William, Virginia. I covered my hometown, and through my insight and experience was able to connect to stories in ways others couldn’t. Thankfully, someone at Channel 4 took notice and decided they wanted to me come work there.

When John F. Kennedy made his case to go to the moon, uttering the words “we choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard...,” it set the tone that forced the space program within 10 years to break the bounds of earth for a journey to another world. My journey, thus far, has taken a decade. Through trials and tribulations, joyful gains and heart-breaking loss – some of which I brought on myself, and the others, like most, happened unexpectedly. But it was the tough moments and hard times that made me push on, to never let go of the dream and to never forget where I came from. I owe many for helping me along this journey still in transit. They are the ones I can’t forget when I finally arrive at my destination. 

The rocket is now on the launch pad the countdown clock is ticking. I hope you will come along with me during my adventure at NBC 4. I’ll be working to bring you all the news alongside many of the same faces in the business that I have long admired. But as usual I’ll bring my own style and my own newsgathering tools, especially Twitter and Facebook, so you and we can keep the conversation going. This is one takeoff I sure don’t want to miss.

Hanging up the daily reporter's hat

It’s time for a change.


Beginning Sept. 20, I’ll hang up my News & Messenger reporter hat for a job developing websites and producing video for businesses.

I am very excited about my new endeavor, and it will be a new and welcomed challenge for me much different from chasing the news each day.

For the past four years I have worked at the offices of News & Messenger, starting when it was still the Manassas Journal Messenger. I worked in the advertising department, helping businesses market themselves to the community they served.

From there I took an unusual turn, accepting a smaller paycheck and following my passion back into the news business - where I had started in TV many years before - to a weekly paper in Stafford County affiliated with News & Messenger, the Stafford County Sun.

It was there, and after my transition to the Potomac News in Woodbridge, that I quickly learned how to paint a picture with words, and how to ask specific questions to tell the story – unlike my days in TV where we often asked “how does this make you feel?”

While at News & Messenger, I have been privileged to cover so many different people who care about the community in which they live and serve.

That community is the same place that I call home.

During my time at News & Messenger, I've written bad stories, good ones, stories that you think and ones that made you want to help others during a time when so many people these days need some kind of help.

I’ve also been honored to work with some of the most passionate people in the business, all dedicated to not only getting the news of the day but looking for the local angle of each story, explaining why and how the story affects the reader.
More than a learning experience, it has been an adventure that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I’ll be around from time to time, keeping a presence on the Web, writing about what matters to our community and featuring the voices that make it whole.

I’m a journalist at heart, and there will always be a story to tell.

Don’t threaten reporters, don’t trust all bloggers

If you want to pitch a story to a reporter don’t threaten to call the police on his photographer.

A staff photographer from my paper this morning shot a photo of a woman standing on a pubic sidewalk protesting a Manassas, Va. abortion clinic. She happened to be standing and praying next to the only pro-choice counter protester at the rally when the photo was shot.

She apparently was embarrassed when she

realized the photo could put her at odds with her pro-life companions, and then told a rally organizer what happened. He quickly approached us and threatened to call police if we used the photo.

A local blogger the day before posted a story about the upcoming protest, detailing a counter protest to be staged by Planned Parenthood, an organization that supports a woman’s right to choose. Planned Parenthood never showed up.

A call to their national office in Washington confirmed there was no such counter protest planned today in Manassas.

The one counter protester said “I’m sick and tired of these people walking around outside of this clinic and I wish they would just go home.” He was a nearby resident and did not identify himself with a pro-choice group.

While the sight of about 60 protesters lining the sidewalk near the clinic was impressive, drivers who regularly pass that spot throughout the week are often treated to protesters holding signs. And because there was only one man countering their effort Saturday, there was little if any story.

My photographer and I were in the process of the leaving when the rally organizer made the threat. I explained to him our paper would not run a story about his protest, thus the photo would not be used.

The man acquiesced and then urged us to write a story anyway. I declined and wished him good day.

Two lessons to take away from this experience: Hang out along the roadside if you don’t want people to see or possibly snap a photo of you.

Secondly, don’t trust every blogger. It’s hard to hold them accountable for the inaccuracies they write.

The stylish secretary speaks

One of the best shows on television is coming back for its third season this month and many in its cult following, including myself, are anxiously awaiting the return of hero ad man Don Draper.

Mad Men, the freakishly stylish drama about ad executives working on Madison Avenue in the 1960’s – a time when newsprint was king and television was still finding its place - returns to AMC on August 23. I think it will be just in time for True Blood to end its second season on HBO.

I was reading an interview forwarded to me from a good friend of mine on Twitter, between a writer for Esquire magazine and Christina Hendricks, the 34-year-old actress who plays seductive office secretary Joan Halloway on the show, and she said she and her husband watch the show and then have sex at the end of each episode.

My girlfriend and I don’t read articles that I have written that day and then retreat to the sheets. Perhaps I need to sell ads again. Maybe it’s because I’m just not as sexy as Christina Hendricks.

And the winner is?

Rocky is that classic film shot on a shoestring budget that brought us such famous lines as Stallone’s “Adrian” and Burgess Meredith’s “He’s a bum!” I watched it for the first time on Thursday.

While it was a good movie filled with some awesome scenes, why did they, in the middle of the second fight between Apollo Creed and Rocky, did they cut to the first fight between the two? That was the fight we never saw because the sequences are not in chronological order in the film.

The first fight between the two was a draw, but what was the outcome of the second fight? The film makers didn’t show us.

Kind of disappointing after the famous, uplifting scene shot on the streets of Philadelphia where a handful of children chase Stallone as if they were looking for their father.

Any Rocky fans out there that can help and with the answer?

The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien

It’s probably safe to say that last night Jimmy Fallon enjoyed his biggest audience since taking over Late Night three months ago.

The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien drew more viewers Monday night than The Late Show with David Letterman and Nightline, combined.

O’Brien proudly took the reins of the half-century-old franchise after Jay Leno admirably bowed out Friday.

The transition had been planned since 2004, and as part of the deal, Leno will get a nightly 10 p.m. show on NBC where he will continue dispensing his topical monologues.

The change also brings some logistical changes for the show.

No longer is the Tonight Show taped at NBC’s Burbank, Ca. studio where Leno worked for 17 years.

And O’Brien is no longer confined to his smaller New York City studio at Rockefeller Plaza. He now sits on an immaculate stage on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot.

When the curtain opened

The change in the venue and in the host was apparent during the first show. A more reserved, less gutsy version of Conan O’Brien appeared on stage.

He chose not to fly in from the audience on a zip line or hang from the rafters, stunts he has been known to do on his former Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

The audience was treated only to a portion of his famed “string dance” before be began his monologue.

But the audience applauded and cheered as if they were welcoming back an old friend - and as they did on his old show - yelled out phrases like “Conan rocks” and “We love you Conan.”

Then, for Leno’s loyal viewers, it was time to get to know Conan O’Brien. The first thing they learned: Conan is no stand up comedian, but rather a smart and witty writer.

Sure O’Brien has nightly zingers the usual pop culture jabs about current events, but O’Brien lacks the comedy club appeal Leno has enjoyed most of his career.

In addition to telling jokes on television, Leno also travels the country touring both small clubs and large venues. He recently held a free two-night show for people who had recently lost their jobs. Those shows, and his blue-collar appeal, make Leno a favorite of the middle American viewer.

Where O’Brien lacked in jokes during his debut night he made up with a series of videos designed sell himself to the 11:30 p.m. crowd.

The show opened with him running across the county, bound for Los Angeles. Another, in an attempt to show O’Brien is never afraid to make himself the butt of the joke, he took a ride in his green 1992 Ford Taurus and toured LA. The same car was used during a sketch on Late Night in 2004.

Then to show that he still had the knack for annoying unsuspecting people and getting tons of laughs in the process, he boarded a Universal Studios tourist tram and took the passengers to a 99-cent store, where he bought small and randomly ridiculous items for them.

The guests came to play

Will Farrell made a grand entrance to the show riding a sedan chariot. The moment and will most likely go down into the annals of late night talk moments – like Bill Murray spray painting David Letterman’s desk with “Dave” and Hugh Grant making a 1995 appearance on The Tonight Show hours after being caught with a prostitute.

Grant’s outlandish appearance, and a redesign of Leno’s set, helped him for the first time reach the number one spot in late night television. He held the spot until he left the show last week.

O’Brien’s musical guest, Pearl Jam, gave the weak performance anyone would expect from a band who’s latest hit is song they wrote during the last decade.

Network execs and show producers are are now learning that musical guests can bring the show down, and even worse, force viewers to tune out. Leno’s new show, which premiers in Sept., will reportedly have musical acts perform during the middle of the show to avoid loosing viewers.

The Tonight Show also beacons a higher caliber of musical guest to the show. Gone are the days when O’Brien could pluck obscure musical groups, like the “Naked Trucker and T-Bones” and “And They Will Know Us From the Trail of the Dead,” and put them on stage expect them to resonate.

The band played on

The Max Weinberg Seven, which has long been considered the best band in late night television, has now been renamed Tonight Show Band.

While drummer Weinberg still serves as the front man, missing Monday night was any interaction between Weinberg and O’Brien. The long stares or awkward silences between the two worked as funny bits on Late Night, but anything other than a quick acknowledgement from O’Brien to the band was missing during the debut.

The return of the sidekick
The relationship forged between O’Brien and his band happened after Late Night’s long time sidekick Andy Richter left the show in 2000. Richter made his return to the show and made his presence known immediately.

His laughter could be heard prominently during many of O’Brien’s jokes; especially the ones Richter seemed to think didn’t get enough response from the crowd.

Richter also stood at a podium for the show, where he now serves as the show’s announcer. He no longer has a place on the couch like he did on Late Night, or like Ed McMahon did when Johnny Carson hosted the Tonight Show.

Ready on the set

O’Brien’s new set is reminiscent of the set Leno debuted on in 1992. It’s stylish, large, colorful, and cold. Watching from home the crowd no longer seems as if they are part of the show, as they were on Leno’s set.

In 1995 Leno redesigned his set to resemble more of a comedy club, where he would come shake hands with audience at the start of each show.

Viewers may never see O’Brien canvass his audience and shake hands with everyone in the front row, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad guy.

From his college days as President of the Harvard Lampoon and later working as a writer on The Simpsons, O’Brien has long showed that his brand of humor is a smart-witted, absurdly funny and that he is likeable kind of guy.

Now he must sell the caring side of Conan to a new batch of viewers – the ones who fell asleep before Late Night comes on at 12:30 p.m., and those who are learning for the first time who the man with the big red hair is.

It’s a mounting task and will not be completed overnight.

The only question: will the masturbating bear make an appearance?