Leslie Wilcox Blogs

Two Reasons to Love Re-Runs

     Answer: Part One and Part Two of Bob Sevey's interview on Long Story Short. We're getting plenty of requests to re-air Bob's recollections and observations on broadcast news and living with cancer.

     Part 2, which first aired Tuesday on PBS Hawaii, will be repeated at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. The shows will also be available on Oceanic cable channel 110, News on Demand.

     Here's a sample of the mail coming in, this from a well-known working journalist in Honolulu: "Second Sevey segment just as good as the first. You are fulfulling the promise made to the public when the 24-hour TV news cycle was invented that it would lead to deeper coverage into issues of the day. Instead it's gotten worse--24-hour coverage of O.J., dead blondes and L.A. car chases. Hope they re-air the Sevey piece soon."

       Okay. More showings. PBS Hawaii will hana hou the Sevey Long Story Short shows on Christmas Day and on New Year's Day at 7:30 p.m. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

   

Drawing the Line and Walking Away

    Would you quit a secure, well-paying job because your employer isn't treating customers with respect, isn't maintaining high professional standards? Is there a line you won't cross even if your employer makes it mandatory?

     There's a lot of self-searching around water coolers in the wake of former top Hawaii news anchor Bob Sevey's revelation, on Long Story Short, that he resigned 21 years ago because of corporate interference with quality newsgathering and presentation. (Part 2 of his two-part interview aired last night on PBS Hawaii and repeats Sunday at 2:30 p.m.)

      The discussions take place in newsrooms as well as other places of business, government and education.

      And at least one viewer says hearing about Sevey's decision helped spur his own. "Sometimes in life you find just the right moment of confirmation, and you gave it to me," he said.

      Another viewer said, "I need to figure out where to draw the line when my boss tells me to do something I think is wrong.  Listening to Bob Sevey, I'm going to sit down and think hard about this."

      Yet another:  "It was inspirational to know that he has no regrets. "

      A single mother writes:  "Would I, could I, be that brave? Not with young children to support. I'd shut up and take the money. However, I would know in my heart that my reasons had to do with family as my highest priority."

      And then there's the viewer who comments, "Nobody died because the TV station reported stupid news.  If viewers sit there and watch stupid news, then they deserve it. Bob Sevey didn't help the situation by leaving. The station kept doing what they were doing. So what's the point of giving up a great salary?"

      The point is, Bob Sevey opted out of a trend that continues to this day--and not just in the news business.  Cutting staff for higher profits,  smoke-and-mirror offerings, style over substance.   

       Long retired from broadcast news, Bob can still hold an audience.  On Long Story Short,  he simply talked, without commercial interruption. No bells or whistles.  It was a conversation about drawing the line and walking away.  And it made for a TV show that was compelling because of its content.  Content. Imagine that.

 

Got a Game Plan?

      It's 3:14 p.m., less than an hour before kick-off of the UH-Boise State football game. Like many other people across the state, our PBS Hawaii staffers are wearing green and strenuously re-arranging their schedules or taking vacation time to be able to sit in front of a big TV screen with pupu at 4 pm!

     It's amazing and wonderful to see how the football Warriors have united the entire state in their quest to succeed, in their execution of excellence. We are seeing the power of leadership, knowledge, discipline, persistence and teamwork.

     Wouldn't it be even more amazing and wonderful if we could unite as a state to execute with excellence in public education? We at PBS Hawaii have statewide airwaves we could employ to make a difference. Other non-profits, businesses, and individual citizens have rich skills and resources they can bring to bear on this tough challenge.

      However, we lack a game plan.  And we need leadership to galvanize and organize the community.

       We all know that our public school system needs the support of the community to give keiki a better education and prepare them for the workforce. There are groups generously investing time and effort. But the obstacles are complex and nobody's suggesting how to harness the power of the entire community to help effectively.

      Anybody got a workable idea to engage Hawaii and commit a wide range of resources to a challenge far more formidable than going up against Boise State in football?

     I hope it's only the plan we lack. I hope it's not the will to act.

     When I watch our UH team in action, using their might and their wits, fighting the odds, I see an emblem of what our community can do for public education.

      Go Warriors!

Leona the Lion--the Local Connection

    The "wind beneath the wings" of one of the hottest characters on PBS Kids programming is a former Honolulu kid who went on to higher education on the East Coast and a career as a master puppeteer.

      Pam Arciero happens to have been my classmate at Kalani High. I knew she was interested in drama but didn't know just how interested--and how talented! Today she holds a place in the top tier of puppeteers nationally.

      She gives life and verve to Leona the lion on PBS' Between the Lions, a fun, appealing keiki show based on sound academics. PBS has stats showing how well the show prepares tots for school. Leona loves to pounce and stalk (usually this involves harassing her brother) and she gets excited about exploring new places and new ideas.

       Pam, who lives in Connecticut, frequently returns to the islands to visit her family.  She dropped by PBS Hawaii one day with a puppet she created, a boy in a straw hat who breaks into Japanese folksongs. She is so good at crafting a puppet's personality and engaging your interest that you almost find yourself talking to the puppet!

       You know another character that Pam inhabits: Grungetta, of Muppets fame. She's Oscar's girlfriend.

       Pam, who believes entertainment is a great venue for education, hopes one day to create a puppet program that teaches Hawaiian words and values.

       Between the Lions airs on our regular PBS Hawaii channel, and subscribers to Oceanic Time Warner Cable may see the show on PBS Kids, channel 443.

      

      

Bob Sevey Show Re-run and Transcript

     The coconut wireless has many Hawaii ex-pats emailing us to see if they can view last night's Long Story Short interview with former longtime respected Hawaii news anchor Bob Sevey.

      In the show, Bob discloses that his retirement in 1986 was actually a resignation. He'd just signed a new five-year contract but realized he couldn't put up with corporate news consultants' intrusion in his newsroom, pressing formulaic changes on a highly rated newscast. They kept insisting on fixin' what wasn't broke.

      The "last straw" was a rather innocuous fire at Goo's Golden Tire Shop, with anchor Sevey refusing to lead to a third pointless live shot. Later he was told he was no longer the final authority on what went on the air.

       Bob's a consummate storyteller, and on Long Story Short, he brings  you into the newsroom to experience what happened, in recalling the chain of events that made him end his broadcast news career.

       Sorry, we don't yet have video on demand on our PBS Hawaii website. (For cable subscribers who live in Hawaii, our local programs are available on VOD on Oceanic Time Warner Cable).

        You're welcome to read the show transcript on our website at pbshawaii.org, Long Story Short section.

        The Long Story Short interview re-runs on PBS Hawaii at 2:30 p.m. Sunday--and next week Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 7:30 p.m., we'll air part two of the interview.  Repeat is at 2:30 p.m. the following Sunday.

Melveen's Many Voices

     Celebrating my husband's birthday, my family went to Chai's Island Bistro for dinner, where Melveen Leed was entertaining.

      Melveen, looking sleek, sophisticated and ageless, was singing jazz classics with nuanced phrasing.

      When I told my grown children I'd seen her crack up audiences with hilarious off-the-cuff jokes in pidgin English, they looked at me like, poor mom, she gets confused. When I told them she was once known as the tita of Molokai, singing country music, they knew I'd lost my marbles. Then my husband Jeff commented he enjoys Melveen's contemporary Hawaiian renditions, and the "kids" figured we were both hallucinating. Melveen was singing jazz as if she were born to it.

     The fact is, Melveen has done all of these genres and more--and she's about to remind everybody in Hawaii that there's ANOTHER one she's good at.

    Melveen Leed will be featured in a fresh edition of our weekly show, NA MELE: TRADITIONS IN HAWAIIAN SONG, singing traditional Hawaiian music. It airs Monday night, Nov. 19, at 7:30 pm.

     "People forget traditional Hawaiian music is what I cut my teeth on; this is part of who I am," Melveen says.

      We don't forget, Melveen. Imua!

"Captain" Bob Sevey

     I had compelling personal reasons as well as sound professional reasons to travel to the Pacific Northwest to interview retired Hawaii newsman Bob Sevey for PBS Hawaii's newest weekly show Long Story Short.

 You can see the interview, in two parts, this coming Tuesday, Nov. 20th, and the following Tuesday, the 27th, at 7:30 p.m. Nearly 80, Bob remains a masterful communicator and he shared marvelous perspective--with some surprises.    

       Bob Sevey is the man whom all of Hawaii knew and respected in his 20-year run as reigning news anchor--a huge presence in a time without cable TV or internet to fragment the audience.

       He's also the reason I got into broadcasting. And he stuck with me in TV news, giving me more positions of responsibility.

       Bob was Hawaii's Walter Cronkite. When he called to offer me a job in television news more than 30 years ago, I felt like looking behind me to see if folks were standing around, ready to laugh at the practical joke.

      I was a young newspaper reporter, with no experience in broadcasting. Bob was an icon who had the credibility and the means to hire the best professionals for his hands-down, most-watched TV news in Hawaii. Many of my TV-savvy news colleagues had applied for the job Bob was offering me.

      I pointed out my shortcomings. Bob listened patiently and simply said he thought I'd do a good job. I eventually stammered out a "no, thank you," giving him the reason that a labor action was looming and I didn't want to cross a picket line as my first step into a new field.

       I thought that was that.

        But a few months later, after the union dispute was settled and the picket lines dispersed, Bob called again.

        This time, I accepted the job. He had more confidence in me than I did.

        For many months as I reported for KGMB News, I thought my original misgivings were proving correct. I delivered my reports in sing-song, my hand shook occasionally as I held a microphone, my hair always found a way to misbehave and become a distraction to viewers.

        I worried that Bob would call me in and say, "You were right, Wilcox. You're not cut out for TV."

        When he didn't, I went to see him. "I'm sorry. I know I look like an idiot but I can't seem to do anything about it," I told him.

        He didn't deny that I looked like an idiot! But he was unconcerned, saying one could pick up television polish and presentation skills. But what he needed most were people  who could go out and dig up a good news story and tell it fairly. And he had no problem with my ability to do that.

        I don't know any television news director today who would be willing to forego television technique for substance.

        Fortunately, along the way, rubbing up against all of the talent in that newsroom, I learned to feel comfortable on TV. I began to write my reports for the ear rather than for the eye. I pictured myself speaking to friends and family and developed a more conversational style of reporting. I became an anchor as well as a field reporter.

      Today I'm at the helm of this television station.

      And it's all because Bob Sevey had the confidence to take a chance on me.

       So--it was a great joy to see him again, living in retirement outside Seattle, and to talk with him about his life journey--the paths he took, the perspectives he gained, the memories he carries.

        And it is a great sadness to hear his personal news. He has inoperable cancer.

        His newsroom nickname was always "Cap" for Captain--because he loved sailing and because he ran our newsroom like a boat in changing conditions that required decisiveness, teamwork and constant care.

        Cap is facing cancer like the captain he is. He's vigilant and he's prepared to make the best choices possible in an unknown sea.

        He's feeling good, better than doctors figured he would. And the chemotherapy hasn't bothered him.

        That bodes well as he scans the horizon. "I'm planning a cruise in January" he says,  "and I'm still buying green bananas!"

        Safe travels, Cap, as you continue to lead by example.

Names, not Numbers

Trim, fit oldtimer Angel Ramos of Kahuku well remembers when he was known to his employer as a number and not a name.

As a plantation worker, one of the sakada who came to Hawaii in the second wave of Filipino labor immigration, he was issued a bango, or metal ID tag with a number on it. For years, he wore the tag around his neck at work and when collecting his pay.

Angel, who retired when the Kahuku Sugar Mill closed in 1971, wore his bango to an afternoon Mirienda party at PBS Hawaii in Manoa over the weekend.

"So much is different; I am enjoying everything," Angel told me.

His bango had become a relic; a distant memory of the days when workers' names seemed too exotic for their employers to recall.

We were celebrating with Filipino community leaders our recent broadcast of a documentary by EMME Inc. It tells the moving story of the first 100 years of Filipinos in Hawaii.

Documentary producer Emme Tomimbang found that Hawaii residents of Filipino and part-Filipino ancestry now comprise up to 25 per cent of the population.

"One day we'll be the biggest (ethnic) group in Hawaii," she says. We're a force to be reckoned with."

Certainly they're people we want at the table at PBS Hawaii, the "people's station" dedicated to telling the stories of Hawaii with fairness and balance.

The growth of the Filipino population is significant and impressive, but it's not the numbers that attract us. It's the interesting stories of struggle and achievements that tell us so much about this place we all call home.

Wanted: New Name for Blog

     I tend to write entries to this blog while taking a break at my desk for good old dark-roasted java. That's why I named the blog "Coffee Break." Type and sip, sip and type.

     However, I'm in the market for a new blog name after being reminded that "Coffee Break" is also the name of the Midweek column penned by conservative columnist and war hero Jerry Coffee. Yep, it works on more levels for him than for me.

      A friend who's a whiz in television and marketing suggests one-word names are snappiest and most memorable. Hence, Sting, Seal Price, Sprint, Guess, etc.

       So--any ideas for me for a new blog name?

It Was Lloyd's Idea

     The first viewer/web user who posted a comment on this blog suggested that our website also include a blog by our chief engineer. Great idea, as questions abound in this digital age. Steve Komori, whose title is VP of Content Delivery, is now blogging away, his new feature called "Digital Dialog." Please feel free to write to Steve. You may click on his blog in the right bottom corner of our home page.

     Thanks, Lloyd!