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10 Questions with ... Bill Colley
August 12, 2008
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NAME:Bill ColleyTITLE:Talk HostSTATION:WGMDMARKET:Rehoboth Beach, DECOMPANY:Resort BroadcastingBORN:10/10/62 Cuba, NYRAISED:Cuba, NY ("Pa" Ingalls' hometown)
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
TV reporter and News Director. Talk radio host in Syracuse and slower lower Delaware
1. How did you get your start in radio? Why radio? What attracted you to radio after working in TV news?
I got my start in radio in a pole-barn at WJQZ in Wellsville, NY. At least the first time around in 1986. I walked into the lobby to return a listener survey for my dad and the owner was there and he started a conversation and 15 minutes later I had a job. About 5 years ago I came back to radio because I get a physiological thrill from the instant feedback of a talk audience. Hey, I'm approaching 50, and those are no longer easily found. It's so intimate, the idea that you're just sharing thoughts with others, and that many of them are willing to pick up a phone and also share.
2. About what are you most passionate these days?
Several years ago I called Joey Reynolds at his home to tell him I'd encountered a mutual friend while back for Christmas in Western New York. Joey is a wealth of knowledge and he said that we only think we've got influence in talk radio, however. After watching radio's influence in the immigration debate, it's clear we may be seeing some changes. I'm not opposed to alternative energy and hope to eventually clad the house in solar panels, but, for now, we need to use whatever resources we've got to ensure we don't bring down our country before the transition. Why? My daughter will soon be 15. She has so much to offer the world and is wise beyond her years. I don't want her living in a cave and begging for food.
3. How different have you found southern Delaware from Syracuse and upstate New York as regards talk radio and the audience for it?
I actually thought the folks here would be more hidebound. Upstate NY is trending politically to the left with a sense of fatalism. People here are more broadminded than I expected. Especially on matters of race and overall much more optimistic about the future.
4. You've been aggressively local at WGMD; how important is concentrating on local issues and the local angle to national issues for you?
All news and talk are local. Your TV is in your home. The radio is in the home and car. So if you see it on CNN or FOX it's just as local as the fire down the street. Wars are local if your kids are fighting them but I do like the freedom we've got to talk about the local school board and beach erosion. Is the latter related to climate change you hear about globally? Are local test scores evidence we need school choice? It's also ice, as we've done sometimes, to devote an hour to finding the best diner in the area. Or when it comes to potato chips do you prefer Utz or Herr's? (Editor's Note: Utz)
5. As a former TV newsman now watching it from the general audience's perspective, what do you like and dislike about TV news, national and local, today?
Too many stories have too little context. We used to be worried about getting enough video to cover a block of 15 second VOs. The staff would be racing from point A to point B to point C and just gathering video. I do believe there were times when we didn't have the opportunity to set back and ponder how the audience was seeing all of this. Sometimes accusations of bias were thrown our way and it wasn't intended. A producer hears about a shooting and the video isn't back for 11:00 and so a graphic is ordered and when it hits air there is an over the shoulder of a handgun. A viewer telephones and suggests there isn't any indication a handgun was used and accuses us of an attempt to promote controls. I now see the viewer's perspective.
6. Who are your influences, mentors, and inspirations in the business?
John M. Butler, the News Director at KMOX in St. Louis. If you want to know what it means to be a man and a responsible adult, spend 6 years working with John. I did and I learned from him that you tough out the hard times. Kenn Venit, a former TV newsman from New Haven, was a TV talent coach of mine. He had the same no-nonsense approach. These men were as influential in my life as my own father. Lastly, a fellow named Ron Curtis. He was a TV anchor in Syracuse for decades and a class act. He had standards at work and standards at home.
7. Of what are you most proud?
Alaine Marie. She's just entering high school and her teachers marvel at her writing and painting skills. She has always been a good little girl and I marvel at that because I know I wasn't always a great role model.
8. What do you do for fun?
I ride my bicycle. I just took this up a few months ago and mornings it helps settle my mind. And amusement parks. And a lot of football (any level and any league).
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ___________.
...it used to be coffee and then I went cold turkey for a few months. Now I guess it's a good argument with a listener.
10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?
The worst was being talked out of radio jobs in the Adirondacks and Maine when I was very young. What must I have missed?
The best? Stay true to what you believe in (See number 6).
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