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From Frank Clynes, Jul 10, 2015
Vance wanted more than anything else, to hire a world class anchorman, to lead WTEV to the Promised Land. He enlisted head hunters to find the Prophet of the Airwaves, but to no avail. One night just before showtime, Truman became very ill and could not go on. As the Red Sox know from experience, you always have a relief pitcher warming up in the bull pen. We had none. Suddenly Mann Reed appeared in the newsroom, grabbed Truman's scripts and headed for the studio. The general sales manager was going to anchor the 6 PM news. Everyone pushed for position at the big window overlooking Studio A. No one at WTEV-6 had ever seen a train wreck before. This was something they could tell their grandchildren. In the age before teleprompters, news presenters had to have photographic memories. Absorb the first paragraph, then look straight into the lens and deliver it without pause or hesitation. Tough enough when you wrote it yourself, but damn near impossible when reading other people's scripts. Mann Reed delivered a flawless and yea, a brillant performance. He was the equal of Cronkite or Harry Reasoner that night. He couldn't hear it through the sound proof glass, but everyone in the newsroom applauded and cheered. The next morning I was in Vance's office. I told him the winning anchorman he was looking for, was just down the corridor in the sales managers office. Vance said I wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. But he couldn't offer Mann the job because it would represent a substantial cut in pay for him. Choosing sales over traffic was a smart move on your part. There is no money in traffic or news, or anywhere else in tv. The French have a saying. You don't need a pig to tell you where the truffles are. |
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