-
10 Questions with ... Eben Brown
May 27, 2008
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
NAME:Eben BrownTITLE:Asst. Dir. of Operations/Anchor/Reporter/JanitorCOMPANY:Metro NetworksMARKET:Tampa-St.Petersburg/SarasotaBORN:Queens, NYRAISED:Mahopac, NYWEBSITE:ebenbrown.com
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
WABC-AM/New York 1997 (Intern)
WRVO-FM/Syracuse 1997-1998 (Announcer/Board Op)
WLIR-AM/Spring Valley, NY 1998-2000 (News Anchor/News Director)
WHTZ-FM/New York 2001 (Producer/Phone Screener)
CBS Radio News/New York 2002-2004 (Desk Assistant)
Metro Networks/Orlando 2004-2005 (Anchor)
WFLF-AM/Orlando 2004-2005 (Anchor/Reporter)
WFLA-AM/Tampa-St. Petersburg 2005-2007 (Reporter/Anchor)
I've also appeared as a guest reporter on cable TV news on programs like Nancy Grace, Glenn Beck, and Catherine Crier.
1. How did you get your start in radio? Why radio?
It's a typical story. I fell in love with the medium as a child. I used to pretend to be an announcer. I even fashioned myself a tinker-toy microphone and scotch-taped an oak tag mic flag on the front side. I tried a few times to find a "real career" But I was too interested and intrigued by it to ignore it. Now, I work in different media but radio is still my favorite. I think nothing has the potential to be as intimate and personal to the media consumer than radio. It's why I continue to stay in radio as opposed to making a full-on jump to television.
2. About what are you most passionate these days?
Professionally: Traffic. I'm managing a staff of traffic reports and producers. It's a new thing for me and while I never gave traffic reporting much thought before. I'm learning it is an extension of news reporting. It's the fastest changing news a radio station can broadcast to its listeners. Coincidentally, it's one of the best testing services radio stations provide. Traffic reporting doesn't have to be bland. it can be powerful and useful if a good storyteller is doing it.
Personally: I'll be getting married in a year and we're beginning to plan the wedding. I think that will take up plenty of time and the lady and I will have a great time putting together a celebration to remember.
3. What makes a great news story? What makes a good talk topic? Are they the same thing?
It's a very basic concept for me. I still subscribe to the "man bites dog" theory of news, I also try to use my brain to filter out things that people just don't care about. And when I say "don't care" I mean those little items that really aren't stories - but end up as filler on newscasts because they're easy to find and easy to rewrite. When deciding what should make it in, I ask: "Does it affect somebody's health or wallet? Does it affect their kids? Does it disgust them? Does it make them feel warm and fuzzy? Does it add to their knowledge? Does it make them dumb for having listened?"
At the same time, I'm not the type of journalist who ignores world news simply because it doesn't affect the daily lives of Americans. I don't buy into the dumbing down strategy of radio news employed these days; ignoring stories of politics, economics, war and peace in other nations on the other side of the planet. I think they have a place in a newscast and I think listeners to commercial radio still want it. It's not just the NPR crowd that wants to hear something beyond an eight-second soundbite of the President and a recap of "American Idol" from the previous night.
The same rules apply for talk topics. Those questions I ask myself about potential news stories help me judge whether or not something should be talked about on a show. Sometimes politics is boring, and on such days I ignore it and fine something more relatable to the day. Politics should only be talked about it if it's interesting. Politics ceases to be interesting to me when it's full of "Bush Good, Hillary Bad" or "Hillary Good, Bush Bad."
I love good, compelling, funny and different talk radio. I grew up listening to it, but I don't hear much out there these days. When I'm doing talk, I try to be more than a Bush or Hillary Basher. Only recently have I started doing talk again and it seems like a good time. Program Directors seem to be moving away from the polarized, cookie-cutter brands of talk. and I have fun being a part of it.
4. Who are your inspirations, mentors, and influences?
I grew up listening to New York City talk radio - so I thank/blame the likes of Jay Diamond & Bob Grant. I've also had the good fortune to find friends in their managers and coaches. and folks like Denise McIntee and Valerie Geller have been there for me since I was a kid intern at WABC.
When I made a choice to pursue news, it was the team at the CBS Radio Network that became a second family. Everyone there, from management downward took an interest in this college kid wanting to be a newsperson. and they showed me how to do it correctly - after all they're the ones who wrote the book on it! Now, I'm often called upon to file for the network as a working reporter. It's the best validation I could ever get professionally.
As the career flourished, it was people like Tom Benson at WFLF in Orlando and Sue Treccase & Gabe Hobbs at WFLA in Tampa who gave me the freedom and means to do it my way. And Cigar Dave who reminded me radio was supposed to be fun.
I'm in a management role now. and it isn't something I really thought I'd ever do. I never thought I had the chops or the resume to tell other people how to do their jobs. But my boss, Jackie O'Brien, insisted I had what it takes to teach and motivate people how to do this type of work and so far I'm having a great time.
And I'd like to give a special shout-out to KIRO-AM/Seattle Program Director Rod Arquette, who nudged me into giving talk radio another shot.
5. If you hadn't gone into radio, what do you think you'd be doing right now?
Something that pays fantastically well! This line of work I'm in now makes me very happy, despite the pay not always being the greatest. So, if I had to do something I didn't enjoy as much. I'd hope I'd be getting good bucks for my troubles. Maybe a lawyer? I once even thought about becoming a Rabbi.
6. You've done some talk hosting as well as news; are you interested in doing more talk hosting? What do you like the most about doing a talk show as opposed to handling the news?
I gave up a while ago on the idea of doing talk because it seemed like all that was desired of talk hosts was the Bush/Clinton bashing and I wouldn't have fun doing that. So I stuck with news. And I love doing the news. I've gotten pretty good at being impartial. It became a mission for me. The best acknowledgement of my efforts was when a self-professed conservative and a self-professed liberal both complained that I was too biased against their viewpoints on the very same story.
Aside from that, I have a lot of fun interviewing people. When working as a reporter, you may get a great interview with a newsmaker - but with the local newscast on your station reduced to a minute and a half long, only some choice short cuts will make it on the radio. Doing a talk show give me the freedom to get a subject to open up and really talk about the story their involved in. I don't have to worry about making them say it in eight seconds and they don't have to worry about talking in soundbites.
And when it comes to politics on radio, I just tell people what I think and how I feel. I don't label myself - but as with my news work, everyone affixes the labels they want. I find that people persuaded either to the left or right will agree with me on differing things. so they'll affix their label to me. Sometimes they hate what I have to say so they'll label me the opposite. I just hope the end result is an interesting program that people want to listen to.
7. Of what are you most proud?
I've had some great experiences other younger journalists don't get to have. I covered Hurricane Katrina, I've flown into hurricanes with the Hurricane Hunters, I've been to Iraq. I've been on national radio and television for my work. I've worked very hard and sacrificed plenty to get where I am. As a person who failed out on his first round of college, I am proud to persevere.
8. What do you do for fun?
I am a New Yorker who transplanted himself to the Gulf Coast of Florida. so I will spend as much time as I can on the beach. I love trying new restaurants and seeing shows. I love theme parks (and we've got plenty here in Florida). And I love watching "Law & Order" reruns on cable. I don't watch much TV but I watch plenty of that.
I just try to be a normal person and not a radio guy. The funny thing: That's just more show prep. I really try to see how a non-radio person lives their life so I can better perform for the non-radio person listening to the radio.
I'm also a huge karaoke enthusiast. We've got a group of singers together - some radio folks and some not - lead by WFLA morning man Tedd Webb. While the group performs for charity every now and again, usually we're just at Tedd's house where he's got his own karaoke setup. I'm known for making people endure anything from Barry Manilow to Bret Michaels.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _____________.
...cute little text messages from my girlfriend. They keep me moving.
10. What's the best advice you ever got? The worst?
Worst: Make sure you have something to fall back on if your radio/journalism career doesn't work out.
Best: "Never run in a newsroom!" -- spoken to me by the late Christopher Glenn after I had run in to his studio at CBS during the World News Roundup to deliver fresher copy on a breaking story. In my haste, I knocked over his stack of carts. Thankfully it was the stack of carts already played.
-
-