Red light off, studio dark, now...Substack!

Or should I call it "Unprompted"? Or "Dropping Anchor"? Writing... after TV news.

Here we go!

I am a TV news retiree for nearly a year now, and I know I’ve been making noises about writing in my “new life.” Well, it’s time. (Angela is tired of hearing me talk about it. She is rolling her eyes even as we speak.)

Though I have written quite a few op-ed-style essays and other articles over the years — and maybe I’ll re-publish a few here in the future — this is my first foray into the Substack Universe. Woo-hoo.

I feel anxious and energized, like when I first went on the air at Temple U’s radio station (WRTI-FM) in 1976; when I did my first five minutes on network radio (the AP Radio Network in Washington, 1980); or when I agreed to cut my hair and try contact lenses to anchor on WFMZ-TV (1987 - through July of last year). Or like when I first met Angela on the bus to marching band camp (a long time ago).

This is exciting.

Let me use this first newsletter to tell you where we are (maybe, possibly) heading. The long and short of it: thoughts, long and short. Musings and analysis; ponderings; jottings; items, essay-ish and less-serious-ish.

And stories. And theology.

"Theology? I thought you were a news guy," I can hear someone saying faintly. Well, yes, and yes.

Retirement allows me time to ruminate on things other than news (though I hope to chew on News, too, and the practice of journalism), things I ponder in my off-camera life: Big Questions About Life and Existence, God, joy, church, politics (I’ll be measured and careful), why peanut butter is the perfect food, the teleological significance of homemade chocolate chip cookies, why the Beatles were better than the Stones and the Beach Boys put together, and so on.

After the red light on Camera 3 went out for the last time, I took a few minutes to relax and do nothing. I grew a beard.

I began cancer treatments. (Prostate.)

And now I'm anxious to get back to writing.

I say "get back" because — contrary to the popular belief that TV news requires only makeup, hairspray and a twinkle in the eye — broadcast journalism is built on writing. Words — strung together to carry ideas. That's the nub of it.

And it's short. Here, on this page, I will try to act like I'm writing a TV news script and keep things nice and tight. You can't go long on a particular story and risk people changing the channel.

I see this Substack thingamajig contains options for podcasting and video-posting, which you'd think would be right up my alley. But I'm as unsophisticated technologically as it's possible for a sentient being to be. But, we'll see. Also, I may gradually serialize a book I've been assembling for a few years. More later!

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