Aaron Brown, formerly of CNN, speaks out about changes in TV....

[Radio_Lady]

news personnel in the past five years.

Posted on Tue, Aug. 29, 2006

EMMY PARTY WRAP
Stargazing, August 29
CHRIS CARLSON (AP)



Brown thoughts

Aaron Brown finds it “odd” that none of the major anchors who covered Sept. 11 — ABC’s Peter Jennings, CBS’ Dan Rather, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and Brown himself — is working today.

“I didn’t expect not to be working,” Brown says. “(But) nothing about TV surprises me. Ever. I did it too long.”

Not that Brown needs to work. He’s collecting an estimated $2 million salary for not working until his CNN contract expired June 30.

“I’m not interested in working 15-hour days, 48 weeks a year (again),” he said. He’d like to do a “newsy” five-day-a-week interview show, taped over three or four days. As for where, “there are millions of outlets,” he says. “Maybe a Bravo-like show.”

Posted at this link: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/15382167.htm

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[Critters2]

1. I miss Aaron Brown

Don't think I'll ever be able to get past this feeling that Anderson Cooper screwed him out of his job. I dunno if that's true, but it's what my gut thinks.

[Radio_Lady]

4. Ever see a herd of caribou? The old buck is driven out by a younger buck.

It's the law of nature, and of television, too.

I miss Aaron Brown, too.

[Critters2]

5. Might be true

but I don't have to like it.

[Radio_Lady]

11. Exactly.

[NNadir]

2. So September 11 was about him?

What a surprise.

[Radio_Lady]

6. Please. Your assessment is assinine. He just made the comment

that in the past five years, there was an odd coincidence that so many TV anchors were not around anymore.

Peter Jennings died.

Tom Brokaw retired.

Dan Rather left -- fired or retired.

Aaron Brown was fired.

I think that's about the nature of television news -- not about any one of these people, don't you think?

What he didn't mention is that Anderson Cooper replaced him, Bob Schieffer filled in for Dan for months, but now Katie Couric is moving into the CBS anchor chair, and television will not be the same in the future as it has been in the past.

Get it? Good.

Thank you for listening.

[NNadir]

9. Well, I wouldn't refer to it as "speaking out about September 11."

To my mind, "speaking out about September 11" would involve something about planes or towers or even - this is a bit of a stretch - the media coverage of the event, which, as I recall, was a rather vapid appeal to jingoism.

I'm very sorry, but I don't think listing news anchors and their tenure is about September 11. If I state that all of the news anchors who covered Vietnam are gone, I am not really saying something meaningful about Vietnam.

I come from a time when the news used to be about the event and not the "reporter." Whether, or course, "reporters" are people who appear on television reading teleprompters is, of course, another question.

Do you get my thinking here?

[Radio_Lady]

12. UPDATE: I changed the subject line on the original post.

I just didn't want to put "Brown thoughts..."

Thanks for your comments.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[NNadir]

13. Peace.

;-)

[applegrove]

16. He did some great reporting on Katrina. I think most people on the scene

of a tragedy feel more connected to it than even those of us on the other side of the TV. Especially when you keep doing your job and don't have the time to "take care" of your emotions.

[Haole Girl]

3. *big...deep...sighing*

I miss his calming voice, and gentle demeanor. But, most of all, I miss his depth and many years of experience in journalism.

[Radio_Lady]

8. I agree completely. I hope he finds some appropriate position to

move into. He has a great voice and presence and much knowledge. What is he supposed to do? Get into a rocking chair and wait to die?

We broadcasters like to continue with what we know years after we stop being completely viable in our careers. Back off the business, just like retired lawyers, bank executives, football heroes, and farmers. CNN showed an man in Louisiana over 80 years old working with his electric generator. He and his home survived Katrina, and he's determined to stay in New Orleans, in the family home, until "the Lord calls him."

I'm sick of people saying that people like Mike Wallace and Larry King and other "elder statesmen" of our television community should slink away because they're getting on in years.

This is discrimination, folks. Unless you don't recognize it when it's staring you right in the face. And you know what? If you live long enough, it will curl around your shoulders without you ever noticing.

Thanks for listening.

[WindRavenX]

7. he works 15 hours a day?

That seems insane.

[Radio_Lady]

10. Many workplaces ARE insane these days. I have a son in the

restaurant business who works about 90 hours a week. Divide by 7, and what do you get?

The news is on 24/7 these days. I'm sure that wasn't true when Aaron Brown started in this business. TV stations often signed off the air after their late news broadcast at 11 PM. Don't you think that the pace of everything has quickened?

[WindRavenX]

14. I usually refuse to watch any cable news networks...

...but when I have, I couldn't keep up with the mailnumbing, schizophrenic pace of the news. Graphic and info overload ALL. THE. TIME.

It's insane.

[Radio_Lady]

15. I totally agree. I started in broadcasting in a local live kids TV show

in 1957. It was a relatively new medium then. There were few women at all on the air or in production. (Lots of female secretaries.) I got a lucky break in college. Here I am on my first job, First Mate Ellen assisting Skipper Chuck on "Popeye Playhouse." What a quaint little set! The hole in the background is for our two horse puppets, named "Strawberry" and "Shortcake" --



Well, the pace is fierce today. I'm at the end of fifty-two years of work (now a radio volunteer with an Internet and SAP program once a week) and I certainly couldn't keep up with all of it -- the graphics are amazing, but of all the show graphics that make me dizzy, the opening of "The Colbert Report" is the craziest.

[GalleryGod]

17. There it is ! My Fav "Radio Lady is a Hottie" 8X10 glossy!

:loveya: Thanks, Kiddo !:loveya: