February 7, 2025 • 35 mins
On this episode of Backyard Oasis, Dennis Lee sits down with Dave Madsen to discuss his life in broadcasting, and what he's been up to since (semi) retiring in 2019.
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Hosted by Dennis Lee
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Produced by Alex Audette in the Teaching and Learning Innovation Center's Multimedia Studios at Greenfield Community College
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Welcome to Backyard Oasis, a podcast designed by and for older adults living in the beautiful
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Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and produced in the tech studios at Greenfield
Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Backyard Oasis reaches out to older adults who seek knowledge to help them live more
thoughtfully, healthily and happily, who hope to inspire others with their ideas and who
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serve their communities in the interest of the greater good.
Hi, this is Dennis Lee.
I'm calling this episode of Backyard Oasis, Behind the Scenes with a TV Anchor.
Ah, my guest today is Dave Madsen.
Dave's been part of the Western Mass Media since 1970.
(00:53):
He started at WHMP in Northampton.
He moved to do some other radio in the area and then ended up on the tube to Channel 22
and eventually to 40.
It's really amazing that he could stay in his hometown, the home area is really terrific.
He claims he retired by the way.
They had a whole big thing.
(01:15):
He retired from Channel 40.
That's what he said.
But he still shows up on Channel 40 and you hear his voice all the time.
Dave, really, really nice to see you.
Good to see you, Dennis.
Yeah, somebody tell me I've got the strangest retirement.
Yeah, well, they made a big deal out of it as they well should have.
I mean, you're part of the community and it was a big deal when you retired, but I'm thrilled
(01:38):
for you that you're staying busy.
So you started on radio.
I want to talk a little bit about this.
So you started on radio at WHMP, which I also ended up at one point.
We know a lot of the same people.
We never worked together.
We never actually worked for a company that paid us together.
I think the only thing we ever did was in East Hampton, Massachusetts, there was a fireworks
(02:00):
on July 4th and we emcee that.
The Qanus.
Yeah, I was in the Qanus for years.
But we never worked together, but we know everybody that I know you know, I think, or
just about.
That is, it's a small world.
Yeah, a small world.
So I want to know how you started on TV and I'm interested about the fact that whether
or not somebody said to you, you know, Dave, you should be on TV or somehow you just thought
(02:25):
that I can do this.
How'd that come about?
Well, I was when I was at HMP.
This is this is in the mid 70s now.
I had been married for about a year.
We happened into a house and I needed extra money.
So I applied for a part time job in the audio booth and running camera channel 22.
(02:50):
And this is just I think this is a spring of 75 and they hired me.
And for that summer and probably for the next four years on and off, I worked with them
and I did the chalices out salvation on the Sunday morning mass that they do and they've
done for years, the newscast, voiceovers and all that kind of stuff.
(03:13):
But over the course of that time, I got to to meet a bunch of people because back then
it was it was locally owned.
It was owned by Bill Putnam.
And so I mean, it was all local.
And in 79, they had an opening for an anchor guy left and went to Hawaii of all places.
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And I knew it.
And I watched it.
And I had applied for a reporter's job there earlier on, but I didn't get it.
So it was like, you know, I was very happy at HMP.
I was doing the morning program.
It was just everybody that we're all friends.
I mean, we're like we're like my second family.
And we should mention because both of us worked there.
(03:56):
We both, Dave and I, I think one of the reasons that I always have enjoyed knowing Dave and
I think it's probably back to him to me and me to him.
We both really believe in community stuff.
We liked it.
It wasn't just an ego thing being out.
We liked being in the community and feeling a part of something.
That was, you know, that was always part of my growing up with my mom and dad.
(04:19):
They were always involved in the community.
And I got to HMP, you know, Joe Fennessey and Tommy Hennessey and the DeRose family.
Another, you know, working for local owners again.
Yeah, it just it it it's still that is and it just it was it was it was part of it.
I didn't do it because it was part of my job.
I did it because I liked it.
Same with you.
We like doing it.
(04:39):
Yeah.
And you know, I remember when I first was at HMP, I think the guys at the time thought
I was doing it because of ego or something.
Yeah.
And I said to one of the guys who I liked, I said, just so you know, I'm doing it because
just like you just said, I enjoy being out there.
You like people.
And if I and if I'm going to live here, I don't want to just get in the car after I
(05:01):
do a shift and go home, I want to be a part in the community way.
And you feel the same way.
And that's why I think we kind of relate to each other when it comes to that anyway.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, it's it to me, it's one of those things that I look at if any success that
I've had, I think maybe 25% of it is because of what I did on the air.
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The other 75% is what I did in the community.
Because it people see you in a different light and they go, well, he's involved in this.
And you know, and maybe we'll watch.
And but that wasn't the reason why I did it.
And so anyhow, I was working with this guy, Tommy Lamarche.
Tommy was going to BU and he would come in and direct on the weekends.
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And by 1979, Tommy was the station manager.
So out of the blue in August of 79, I got a phone call from him.
He says, you know, we've got an anchor opening here.
I said, you said, Bill Peppen and I think you can do this.
He says, so come down and audition.
So I went down and I auditioned the next day.
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And I was I used to wear contact lenses and but I working mornings, it's like I couldn't
put them in.
So I was wearing glasses, but then I realized, well, I got to start wearing contact lenses
again.
So I went down, I've got some contact lenses.
And I auditioned with John Quill.
And yeah, I gotta tell you something.
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It was I was nervous, but I was comfortable.
And I'd watched John and it just so happened that Hurricane David was turning in the Gulf
of Mexico.
So it gave me something to kind of play off of.
And so I did the audition.
I thought it went well.
They didn't say anything to me.
And next day I get a call from Tommy Lamarche.
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She said, hey, let's meet for dinner.
So I said to my wife, Linda, I said, well, either he's going to offer me the job or because
we're friends, he's going to let me down easy.
Right.
And they offered me the job.
And I was thinking it was making $10,000 a year at HMP.
Barely scraping by.
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They offered me $16,000.
I thought, oh my God, we are just, we got it made.
And so I took the job.
One of the hardest things for me to do was to go to Joe and Charlie and Peter and tell
them I was leaving.
I started there when I was 19.
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And I got married while I was there.
All my friends were there.
My son was born while I was there.
It was a huge part of my life.
But the nice part is after I took the job at 22, I was still doing some stuff for HMP.
Well, I think they probably were happy for you.
They were sorry to have you go.
But obviously you're moving up the ladder or at least trying something new.
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So they probably were knowing Charlie, I think he would say, well, good for Dave.
He did.
He's out the door.
But he did.
You know, how, do you have any memories of the first newscast you did on the air?
I was going to ask that question, but I remember the first music I played on the air on the
radio was Love and Spoonful.
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Summer in the city.
My hand was shaking to start the turntable.
I was terrified after the news ended.
This was in New Hampshire.
You want to explain what a turntable is?
Oh, yeah, that's right.
What's a turntable, right?
It goes around and you put record.
That's right.
45s.
Those are small.
We do have to explain.
Alex, do you know what a 45 is?
Well, Alex is smart.
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He's better than the rest of us.
But so you know what that is.
But I was terrified.
But I remember shaking and starting Love and Spoonful.
I wondered if you remembered the very first day you were on the air as a TV anchorman.
Yeah.
I was rehearsed.
I had worked at HMP and in 22 doing run-throughs for three weeks.
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So I was working the morning shift and then I was going in and working until 11 o'clock.
So I left HMP on the 14th of September on our fourth wedding anniversary, fifth wedding
anniversary.
I started at 22 Monday the 17th.
And I was on the air with, there were two anchors.
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There was myself and a guy named Norm Peters.
And the schedule that Putnam had was we worked three days on, three days off because he always
wanted to have a main anchor.
And he tried to get NBC to do the same thing.
And they looked at him and said, what are you, nuts?
But it worked really well.
So I anchored that first night with Norm.
And everything went well.
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You remember the first story?
I don't.
The first few stories?
I don't remember.
Because I was so worked up with just all the lights and everything else.
And I do remember I went and I bought a beige suit from Sears.
You still wear it.
From the Johnny Carson collection.
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And so it comes to the end of the newscast and Norm turned to me and he said, hey, they
want me to introduce you and tell people about you.
And they said, what's your last name again?
I said, it's Madsen.
Dave Madsen.
So he said, and tonight we'd like to introduce our new anchor, Dave Marsden.
So that was my introduction.
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And it taught me at that point, well, I think I always felt this way is never take myself
seriously.
Take what I do seriously, but never take myself seriously.
And that was my introduction.
Well, you're not like Ted Baxter.
I mean, that's the, that's the stereotype of an anchor man.
Pretty wise.
Well, Norm kind of was.
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But a good guy.
And I mean a real veteran, but it was just, and I never said anything to him.
It's like, well, what's the point of correcting him?
I figured if at worst I'd have to change my name to Marsden.
That's a great, that's a great story.
Now I know that there's so much more to being a TV anchor than the half hour that people
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see.
I thought we would kind of sneak around the corner over your shoulder in the studio.
Can I tell you one story from HMP?
Oh, sure.
Go ahead.
My first year, I was working a Saturday shift, two to seven.
That was how I got hired.
And Joe Fennessey had done basketball, high school basketball and UMass basketball.
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And so he asked me and he lost the guy who did the color with him.
He says, mean you anything about high school basketball?
And I said, yeah, sure.
I didn't know a whole heck of a lot about high school basketball, but all I knew was
it paid $10 a game.
So I'm a year out, about a year and a half out of East Hampton High School, Dennis.
And so I go with Joe to cover an East Hampton High School basketball game.
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And I think I'm Mr. Big Shot.
So I walk in, I got my little suitcase with the gear and we walk in there and I run into
the assistant principal.
This is the kind of mark I made on East Hampton High School.
And I said, hi, Mr. Naumann.
What's how are you?
I said, Bob, it's so good to see you.
And just blew up my bubble.
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I thought, Mr. Big Shot coming back to school with my little suitcase.
Oh, well, but you survived.
But you survived.
I survived.
I survived.
Let's talk a little bit about what your day normal day, not now you're doing other stuff,
doing some part time things in your retirement.
I put that in quotes.
I believe that.
So give us an idea so the average person probably sees you for half hour, but has no idea what
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you have to do.
So give us what would be an average day in the life of a TV anchorman.
All right.
Well, it changed a lot through the years with ownership changes.
So this is when Meredith bought us and they own Channel 3 in Springfield.
So when they came over to us in 2014 to 1300 Liberty Street, we had CBS, ABC and Fox.
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They were doing a four o'clock news and they were doing a six o'clock.
The original plan was to split it up and keep them separate.
But then they decided to go under the title of Western Mass News.
So we were broadcasting our 10 o'clock news on Fox, the morning news, and then the evening
news we were doing a four o'clock.
So I would, I'd get in 1.32 o'clock for what I was paid for an eight hour shift.
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Right.
And just to, I was a stickler for going over scripts and writing a lot of my own stuff.
I did, I never wanted to go on the air.
My biggest fear was to go on the air and read cold.
I lived up to that fear every now and then.
But you know, you're working with a lot of young reporters and young writers and you
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know, in many instances, the writing isn't exactly, and I would change it to my style.
So I would go through every script.
So you didn't write the whole script, they gave you the, they wrote the script.
Yeah, I wrote a lot of the, like the reporters would go out and they would do their stories.
And they wrote those.
But I would write some of the stuff in between.
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And so I would do that until quarter four.
And then we'd take promos and things like that for the news.
Then we'd go on live at four on CBS three.
And it's now, it's the four o'clock is now on ABC 40.
So do that, then we do the show, the five o'clock on ABC 40, and then we do the six
o'clock on ABC and CBS.
So you're doing the same newscast over and over?
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The four and the five were, because they were on different channels.
The six was always different.
Then in between, I grabbed something for dinner and I always, I always, while I was eating
dinner, I was always working and starting on the 11 o'clock.
And again, it was just me anchoring it.
So I was working with a producer and we would tackle the show and we'd go over what we want
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to put in the show.
Because I was also managing editor for a long time.
So kind of overseeing the shows.
And I enjoyed that.
And I produced some of the shows too.
It was funny because I remember the first time I produced a newscast and put the whole
thing together.
I took more pride in that credit than I did the first time I anchored.
Because it was, I enjoyed doing that too.
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It's like, I was never one of those who could just go in here, give me my script and sit
behind the chair.
It's just, I couldn't.
I had to be involved.
And well, obviously something worked, Dave.
It did.
There were, I tell you, Dennis, there were times after I started at 22 because I was having
issues with my eyes and the contact lenses.
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And I wound up, my eyes got infected.
And about three weeks into the job at 22 in 1979, I thought, I have made a huge mistake.
I should have stayed in radio.
But then it settled down.
Because in my first three weeks at 22, the second week or the third week, we had the
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Winsor-Locks tornado.
We had a snowstorm in October.
We had the installation of Pope John Paul II.
But it was all stuff that I was able to do and my radio background helped me with it
because I could ad-lib.
And that, I still love to this day, love radio.
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I attribute everything I have to radio, the skills that I develop, the ad-lib skills
and everything else.
It just, it helped me along the way.
The sad thing now is, is there's really no training ground at Radio for Kids.
No, that's true.
There's no reason, and there's probably a morning show somewhere.
And it used to be you started at night, work your way down to become a drive person.
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But right now, I don't think that's there.
I think it's very sad.
Especially for news, too.
I mean, you look at the days at HMP with Ron Hall with local news, SPR with Sy Becker,
Richard Lavignier at WREB.
All of these real veterans who were, they were old school.
And I look at it, it's like you and me, we were kind of the gap in between them.
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And we had to learn from them.
Dermcaldwell, Keith Silver, those guys.
I was going to ask you later on about some of the people.
And you worked with Jack O'Neill and Ray Herschel, good people, a lot of memories there.
Let's talk a little bit about memories from some of the stories you covered, which you
mentioned a few when you first started, but what are some of the highlights of your career?
(17:45):
Dave Mattson, this is your life.
Well, my first exposure to breaking news was at Windsor-Locks Storm, the tornado.
That was, I can't remember what day of the week it was, but it was in the afternoon about
two o'clock.
And I sat next to Jordan St. John, I remember Jordan.
Yeah, I do know Jordan.
And we lost power, which we always did on Proven Mountain.
(18:08):
But I mean, a huge storm rolled in.
That's an agwamma.
That's an agwamma on the mountain.
So I walked to the back of the building in the studio there, and they had two barn doors.
And there is water cascading into the studio, like you wouldn't believe.
So then we find out, we're starting to get, Jordan had a little portable radio, we listened
(18:29):
to TIC in Hartford about the storm that went through Windsor-Locks and the Quantic, and
it actually came up to Feeding Hills.
And so that night we did, we were on live, and on the studio floor was like three inches
of water.
So there was that one, the 95 tornado in Great Barrington, and then of course the one in
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2011 in Springfield.
Not one, I think I'm most proud of what we did then.
We were on the air for about six hours straight.
And that was my first taste of the impact of social media and how we use social media.
What year was that?
It was 2011.
June 1, 2011.
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And people were texting us, this is this here, and this is there.
We use them as field reporters.
Tell us what happened.
What, you know, do you have any damage?
What have you seen?
And your ability to ad-lib and do that is vital in that situation and to make people
(19:35):
comfortable enough so they can tell you what they saw and do it easily.
And to keep a sense of calm too, because there were so many rumblings of, okay, they saw
the tornado here and they saw a tornado there, and people were afraid.
And that always bothered me afterwards too that it's part of our job is not to alarm.
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And that there were all of a sudden, there's all these tornado watches and everything else.
And I remember, we never had those here, ever.
And so all of a sudden, you know, but obviously things were changing.
But that, 1985, the shooting deaths of Alan Borghardt, Michael Scavina in Springfield.
(20:20):
Police, right?
Police, John Denapoli in Holyoke in 1999.
Those had a real impact.
The Worcester firefighters.
The first time I ever broke down on the air, Dennis, was I was doing the funeral for the
Worcester firefighters who died in that warehouse building.
It was early in December.
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And so we're doing the funeral.
And I'm doing a narration along the way.
And all of a sudden, it hit me how those firefighters left their houses that Friday, you know, said,
goodbye to their kids, said goodbye to their spouses, went to work, I'll see you tonight.
And they never came home.
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And it just all of a sudden hit me.
And it's like, I could feel myself starting to go.
And I just let it go.
And a lot of people wouldn't do that.
And I remember people saying to me afterwards, it's like, you know what?
You showed your human.
It's like, well, how can you do that and not have it affect you?
But I mean, it was stories like that.
And, you know, and I got to do different things.
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You know, when I was at 22, we did a week of news in Hawaii.
To this day, I still don't know why we did.
I saw the last shuttle launch was at 9-11 for the 10th anniversary.
To be able to do things like that, a Democratic National Convention I went to.
Just things I never were able to do in real, in normal life.
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Yeah.
Well, you have a lot of memories.
And that's, that's, I read something.
Ask me what I did yesterday.
I won't be able to tell.
I understand.
I understand completely.
You know, you're, you're really incredibly lucky, but you earned it by being in your
home area.
A lot of us in the business, I was from Connecticut, but I had to travel a lot of different places.
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I ended up in Springfield, I ended up in Northampton, but you're in your home area,
which I think is just wonderful to be able to say you did that.
I've been, I have lucky.
And you know, Ray and I talk about this a lot.
Ray Herschel.
Because Ray's, it was the same thing with Ray.
Ray was born and raised in Chikabee.
And early on, I mean, you know, Ray probably more than me could have gotten a job at a
(22:32):
bigger market if he wanted to.
But we both decided that once we got married and, and our stories about meeting our wives
and everything else are pretty much the same thing.
Ray met Maureen through Maureen's sister at the TV station.
And within five or six months, we were, so are six to nine months, we were married.
I was there in the building at HYNN, I was there.
(22:56):
I remember that courtship, I know who you're talking about.
And it's funny, you should mention it.
But you know, so, I mean, so our career paths were very similar.
And so he, and we used to say, it's like, you know what, it became more than just us.
That there's so many people who put their job before their family.
And in many instances, having to be there at different times, yes, we had to do that.
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But as a whole decided that, you know, we're not going to drag our kids all over the place
that were comfortable, were in our homes.
I think a lot of it is being with people who I grew up with and went to school with, it
kept me grounded.
It's like, if I thought I was starting to be Mr. TV, I'd get a good kick in the ass
and that would be the end of that.
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You know, and I think it helped me.
I really do.
One of the areas I want to mention, which I've always been fascinated about, and I'm
guessing you would think the same thing, the media, whether it's radio or TV, the fact
is, and I have like a few examples here, people don't know you.
(24:02):
Most people, okay, you had people that you went to school with, friends, but they watch
you.
You don't know who's watching you on a Tuesday night or a Sunday morning or whenever it was.
Same thing when I was on the radio.
You just did your job.
You weren't thinking about the numbers of people.
You were trying to please your boss and just go in and get through the day and have it
(24:23):
work right.
But you really have an effect on people and you were kind enough to ask me to be on your
podcast.
Okay, so I want to tell you, I want to relate it to you rather than say, I'm just talking
about me.
I've had two people since that podcast.
I got a call one day, came home about 5.30 at night.
(24:44):
The phone rang.
This guy says, hi, this is so-and-so.
We worked together at WSPR.
Hadn't talked to him since 1978.
He saw, he was living in Connecticut.
I lost track of him.
We were friends.
He watched your podcast with me.
(25:04):
He contacted me.
We now are back in contact and it's wonderful.
That would never have happened if I didn't do your podcast.
And secondly, another one.
Just last week, a week before, email.
The guy said, did you work in New Hampshire?
(25:25):
Did you do that?
Are you Dennis Lee?
And I said, yeah, I wrote him back.
I said, how'd you find me?
He said, oh, I happen to see something on YouTube, Western Mass and Dave Madsen.
I said, that's incredible.
I mean, two people that I, because of your podcast, you and I were just talking like
(25:46):
we are now very relaxed and just know each other.
We're doing it by Zoom because it was COVID.
But I mean, isn't that wonderful that the magic of that?
Well, it's podcasts, we talked about this before.
They're the new radio.
And where you can do an extended conversation.
I did one with Gary Puckett of Gary Puckett, the union.
I met him at the Big E.
(26:07):
Always liked his music.
Yeah.
And I met him at the Big E and he, I got his email address because he wanted a copy of
the show that we did.
So we kept in contact.
It's like, I'm talking, I'm friends with Gary Puckett.
And so I had him do the podcast.
So and we did video part of it.
(26:27):
And I looked at it.
The thing had 20,000 views.
And it's like, whoa, it's his fan base.
You know, who just follow him.
But I, you know, I think you talk about when we did Reddit news and everything.
I think you and I are very similar to the fact that I never thought of myself as addressing
thousands of people.
(26:48):
I always focused on one person.
You're 100%.
That's, that's.
I try to picture somebody, a relative, a friend that I was talking to.
Yep.
That's, we both come from that school.
And I think that's a key to success.
I really do.
It's like, it drives me crazy.
Hi, good evening, everyone.
It's like, no, you're in my living room.
You're talking to me.
(27:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have one other thing that's complimentary to you.
I was in the diner in Florence, Massachusetts, Miss Flo's diner.
Waitress was working there.
She's a school teacher, but she was working part time for the summer.
So one day she said, what are you doing these days?
And I just said, just in passing, oh, I'm having lunch.
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Who are we going?
Who are we going to have lunch with?
Oh, I'm having lunch with Dave Madsen.
Oh, I love him.
He's my hero.
I love him.
And she goes on for like two minutes.
No, but I mean, the point is she doesn't know you.
She's never met you, but you made a connection with her.
I said, have you ever met Dave?
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She said, I saw him once in Costco, but I didn't go up to him.
I didn't want to bother him.
I said, well, if you meet Dave, he's just a guy like everybody else's and you'll like
him.
I guarantee you.
She said, well, I'll keep that in mind if I see him in Costco.
I hope, you know, because to me, that's the ultimate compliment.
Well, I thought it was wonderful.
When someone comes up.
I mean, I thought it was wonderful.
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You don't know her.
No.
And you touched her and you made a difference in her life.
And isn't that something?
Well, because you do go through spells.
It's like, is anybody listening?
Is anybody watching?
And then something like that happens and then you realize you do.
And when I got through, the number of people I heard from was I was over absolutely overwhelmed
(28:31):
because you just don't, sometimes you just don't think it's like, all right, you know,
I'm, you know, I'm doing this and it's, but it does.
And, you know, it taught me a lesson is never take that for granted.
Right.
Ever.
Well, so in other words, you were at 22 for how many years?
From 79 to 91.
So about little under 12.
(28:52):
And then at 40.
Well I went to Friendly's restaurants and notice it's been downhill for Friendly's ever
since.
Because you left.
I'm sure that's the reason.
Yeah.
Well, I left 22 in June 1991 to take a job because I, my kids were young enough and I
was never home and I thought, well, I'll try this.
(29:13):
And Dennis, I got there and they really had nothing for me to do.
And it got to the point where every, every day about two o'clock, they would bring ice
cream out that hadn't been hard packed.
So my game of the day was, ooh, what flavor today?
And so my cholesterol went up when I was, but are you telling me that Dave Mattson really
(29:35):
was a food tester?
Is that what we're getting to?
Pretty much.
Yeah.
That's what it came down to.
Scoop here, scoop here folks with the ice cream, scoop here.
Dave Mattson was a food tester.
I was a food tester.
But what I found, it was a good lesson for me because I had walked away from the only
thing I was ever really comfortable doing.
It was the only thing I ever wanted to do.
(29:55):
I mean, because I remember from, because I, growing up, I listened to Hyn, Bud Stone,
Phil D, all those guys.
And I knew I wanted to be in broadcasting and radio in particular.
And so from the time I was like eight years old, but there were really no outlets for
us back then.
It's like, you know, and so I, you know, when, when I finally got to UMass, I started doing
(30:20):
stuff with MUA and WFCR.
I always tell the story and I told this to this guy directly.
His name is Art Cohen.
And Art was the news director at FCR at the time.
This is in 19, early 1970.
And so I was volunteering.
And I did a few things there and about two weeks in, he says to me, you know, I really
(30:42):
think you should find another line of work.
I was devastated.
So, but I, I dug my heels in and I stayed in.
So about five or six years ago, Jacob Wycoff, who did weather for us, was doing some freelance
stuff down at Channel Four.
He ran into Art Cohen.
Art said, oh yeah, I remember Dave.
(31:05):
But I said to Jacob, I said the next time you see him, remind him that he told me I
should find another line of work.
And what's this guy doing?
He's probably, he's, well, he's a WBZ doing radio, radio news.
And RV is very good news, man.
And he, he wrote back to me and he said, I am so sorry.
He said, I was in a bad way.
I said, well, I ignored you.
So it worked out okay.
(31:26):
That's, that's a great story.
Isn't it?
But that is a great story.
You know, let's, let's talk about what you're doing now.
I was kidding you a little bit because you are officially retired.
You're not an anchor man anymore, but you're doing stuff.
Yeah.
I, well, when, when, when I got through, it was always, we were always going to do something.
(31:48):
And so initially it was going to be a podcast.
And we did that for about a year.
I started, it was supposed to start in October of 2019, but I was going away and then we had
a family tragedy in November.
And so we put things off until the beginning of 2020.
We started doing this right around the time COVID started.
(32:11):
So I was doing some, we were doing it from our MGM studio.
So I did that and I was doing radio newscasts for three stations every day and I recorded
it home and send it into them.
I still do that.
But about a year into it, they decided, you know what, let's, let's shift this to doing
a Sunday morning program.
This is going on, we're going on four years now.
(32:34):
This week, I think we're taping our 183rd show where we talk with politicians, newsmakers.
I, I like it cause it keeps me involved.
I go in one day a week for a couple of hours.
I do a lot of research.
I've had senators Warren and Markey, Governor Healy, all our congressmen, local senators
(32:58):
and reps and just people who are doing different things.
And I like it.
It's just, it's, it's, it's the perfect thing for me right now.
I couldn't do the Monday through Friday stuff again.
It's just, it, it's a stamina thing.
I think more than anything else.
Well, I'm, I'm glad you decided to join us today, come up to Greenfield cause you drove
(33:22):
up from East Hampton, which is not a long drive, but it's a drive.
So I appreciate that.
It's always great to see you.
We rented to each other a couple of weeks ago because your granddaughter was playing
basketball for East Hampton.
That's the other part of what we're doing now.
So, which is, well, I don't know which is more important, probably the basketball.
Yes.
(33:43):
You know, I'm making up for things.
My son played basketball for Hampshire regional for years and they won a Western master's
championship.
He's coaching now, right?
He's coaching suburban and I think he's, hopefully he wants to coach high school too.
It's, God, we're having, we're fun with the other parents and, and it's like they welcome
us these, you know, and it's different too because part of our life now is a big part
(34:05):
of our life is helping our son with, with the, he lost his wife and helping with our
grandkids.
So we're there every morning and it's out of all I've done, Dennis, it's the best job
ever.
Terrific.
I have one final question.
Do you miss having to put makeup on every day and worry how your hair looks?
(34:25):
I don't miss it because I put it on every day.
You wait a minute.
He does have makeup on.
I can see that.
It's pant, folks, it's pancake number two.
No, it's, it's Bondo because I have to fill in the cracks.
Look it up.
Oh, Dave Madsen.
I really thank you for joining us for the podcast.
(34:47):
Dave thanks for having me on.
But it's, it's just nice to know you and whenever I run into you, I enjoy and we just talk at
the basketball game, I think your wife must have been calling your name from the bleachers
because we've talked for 20 minutes.
You get a soul.
You get a soul radio people together and that's it.
Oh my goodness.
So glad you made the journey, Dave.
Thank you for having me on.
(35:08):
Thanks for being with us on backyard oasis.
This concludes today's podcast.
We're always looking for new ideas, so feel free to reach out to Judy Raper, associate
dean of community engagement at Greenfield Community College at 413-775-1819.
(35:29):
If you have an idea, you'd love to share special thanks to the creators of backyard oasis,
Denise Schwartz, Chad Fuller, Dennis Lee and Christine Copeland.
Have a great day.
Welcome to Backyard Oasis, a podcast designed by and for older adults living in the beautiful
(00:09):
Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and produced in the tech studios at Greenfield
Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Backyard Oasis reaches out to older adults who seek knowledge to help them live more
thoughtfully, healthily and happily, who hope to inspire others with their ideas and who
(00:31):
serve their communities in the interest of the greater good.
Hi, this is Dennis Lee.
I'm calling this episode of Backyard Oasis, Behind the Scenes with a TV Anchor.
Ah, my guest today is Dave Madsen.
Dave's been part of the Western Mass Media since 1970.
(00:53):
He started at WHMP in Northampton.
He moved to do some other radio in the area and then ended up on the tube to Channel 22
and eventually to 40.
It's really amazing that he could stay in his hometown, the home area is really terrific.
He claims he retired by the way.
They had a whole big thing.
(01:15):
He retired from Channel 40.
That's what he said.
But he still shows up on Channel 40 and you hear his voice all the time.
Dave, really, really nice to see you.
Good to see you, Dennis.
Yeah, somebody tell me I've got the strangest retirement.
Yeah, well, they made a big deal out of it as they well should have.
I mean, you're part of the community and it was a big deal when you retired, but I'm thrilled
(01:38):
for you that you're staying busy.
So you started on radio.
I want to talk a little bit about this.
So you started on radio at WHMP, which I also ended up at one point.
We know a lot of the same people.
We never worked together.
We never actually worked for a company that paid us together.
I think the only thing we ever did was in East Hampton, Massachusetts, there was a fireworks
(02:00):
on July 4th and we emcee that.
The Qanus.
Yeah, I was in the Qanus for years.
But we never worked together, but we know everybody that I know you know, I think, or
just about.
That is, it's a small world.
Yeah, a small world.
So I want to know how you started on TV and I'm interested about the fact that whether
or not somebody said to you, you know, Dave, you should be on TV or somehow you just thought
(02:25):
that I can do this.
How'd that come about?
Well, I was when I was at HMP.
This is this is in the mid 70s now.
I had been married for about a year.
We happened into a house and I needed extra money.
So I applied for a part time job in the audio booth and running camera channel 22.
(02:50):
And this is just I think this is a spring of 75 and they hired me.
And for that summer and probably for the next four years on and off, I worked with them
and I did the chalices out salvation on the Sunday morning mass that they do and they've
done for years, the newscast, voiceovers and all that kind of stuff.
(03:13):
But over the course of that time, I got to to meet a bunch of people because back then
it was it was locally owned.
It was owned by Bill Putnam.
And so I mean, it was all local.
And in 79, they had an opening for an anchor guy left and went to Hawaii of all places.
(03:34):
And I knew it.
And I watched it.
And I had applied for a reporter's job there earlier on, but I didn't get it.
So it was like, you know, I was very happy at HMP.
I was doing the morning program.
It was just everybody that we're all friends.
I mean, we're like we're like my second family.
And we should mention because both of us worked there.
(03:56):
We both, Dave and I, I think one of the reasons that I always have enjoyed knowing Dave and
I think it's probably back to him to me and me to him.
We both really believe in community stuff.
We liked it.
It wasn't just an ego thing being out.
We liked being in the community and feeling a part of something.
That was, you know, that was always part of my growing up with my mom and dad.
(04:19):
They were always involved in the community.
And I got to HMP, you know, Joe Fennessey and Tommy Hennessey and the DeRose family.
Another, you know, working for local owners again.
Yeah, it just it it it's still that is and it just it was it was it was part of it.
I didn't do it because it was part of my job.
I did it because I liked it.
Same with you.
We like doing it.
(04:39):
Yeah.
And you know, I remember when I first was at HMP, I think the guys at the time thought
I was doing it because of ego or something.
Yeah.
And I said to one of the guys who I liked, I said, just so you know, I'm doing it because
just like you just said, I enjoy being out there.
You like people.
And if I and if I'm going to live here, I don't want to just get in the car after I
(05:01):
do a shift and go home, I want to be a part in the community way.
And you feel the same way.
And that's why I think we kind of relate to each other when it comes to that anyway.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, it's it to me, it's one of those things that I look at if any success that
I've had, I think maybe 25% of it is because of what I did on the air.
(05:21):
The other 75% is what I did in the community.
Because it people see you in a different light and they go, well, he's involved in this.
And you know, and maybe we'll watch.
And but that wasn't the reason why I did it.
And so anyhow, I was working with this guy, Tommy Lamarche.
Tommy was going to BU and he would come in and direct on the weekends.
(05:42):
And by 1979, Tommy was the station manager.
So out of the blue in August of 79, I got a phone call from him.
He says, you know, we've got an anchor opening here.
I said, you said, Bill Peppen and I think you can do this.
He says, so come down and audition.
So I went down and I auditioned the next day.
(06:03):
And I was I used to wear contact lenses and but I working mornings, it's like I couldn't
put them in.
So I was wearing glasses, but then I realized, well, I got to start wearing contact lenses
again.
So I went down, I've got some contact lenses.
And I auditioned with John Quill.
And yeah, I gotta tell you something.
(06:23):
It was I was nervous, but I was comfortable.
And I'd watched John and it just so happened that Hurricane David was turning in the Gulf
of Mexico.
So it gave me something to kind of play off of.
And so I did the audition.
I thought it went well.
They didn't say anything to me.
And next day I get a call from Tommy Lamarche.
(06:45):
She said, hey, let's meet for dinner.
So I said to my wife, Linda, I said, well, either he's going to offer me the job or because
we're friends, he's going to let me down easy.
Right.
And they offered me the job.
And I was thinking it was making $10,000 a year at HMP.
Barely scraping by.
(07:06):
They offered me $16,000.
I thought, oh my God, we are just, we got it made.
And so I took the job.
One of the hardest things for me to do was to go to Joe and Charlie and Peter and tell
them I was leaving.
I started there when I was 19.
(07:28):
And I got married while I was there.
All my friends were there.
My son was born while I was there.
It was a huge part of my life.
But the nice part is after I took the job at 22, I was still doing some stuff for HMP.
Well, I think they probably were happy for you.
They were sorry to have you go.
But obviously you're moving up the ladder or at least trying something new.
(07:52):
So they probably were knowing Charlie, I think he would say, well, good for Dave.
He did.
He's out the door.
But he did.
You know, how, do you have any memories of the first newscast you did on the air?
I was going to ask that question, but I remember the first music I played on the air on the
radio was Love and Spoonful.
(08:14):
Summer in the city.
My hand was shaking to start the turntable.
I was terrified after the news ended.
This was in New Hampshire.
You want to explain what a turntable is?
Oh, yeah, that's right.
What's a turntable, right?
It goes around and you put record.
That's right.
45s.
Those are small.
We do have to explain.
Alex, do you know what a 45 is?
Well, Alex is smart.
(08:35):
He's better than the rest of us.
But so you know what that is.
But I was terrified.
But I remember shaking and starting Love and Spoonful.
I wondered if you remembered the very first day you were on the air as a TV anchorman.
Yeah.
I was rehearsed.
I had worked at HMP and in 22 doing run-throughs for three weeks.
(08:58):
So I was working the morning shift and then I was going in and working until 11 o'clock.
So I left HMP on the 14th of September on our fourth wedding anniversary, fifth wedding
anniversary.
I started at 22 Monday the 17th.
And I was on the air with, there were two anchors.
(09:19):
There was myself and a guy named Norm Peters.
And the schedule that Putnam had was we worked three days on, three days off because he always
wanted to have a main anchor.
And he tried to get NBC to do the same thing.
And they looked at him and said, what are you, nuts?
But it worked really well.
So I anchored that first night with Norm.
And everything went well.
(09:41):
You remember the first story?
I don't.
The first few stories?
I don't remember.
Because I was so worked up with just all the lights and everything else.
And I do remember I went and I bought a beige suit from Sears.
You still wear it.
From the Johnny Carson collection.
(10:02):
And so it comes to the end of the newscast and Norm turned to me and he said, hey, they
want me to introduce you and tell people about you.
And they said, what's your last name again?
I said, it's Madsen.
Dave Madsen.
So he said, and tonight we'd like to introduce our new anchor, Dave Marsden.
So that was my introduction.
(10:27):
And it taught me at that point, well, I think I always felt this way is never take myself
seriously.
Take what I do seriously, but never take myself seriously.
And that was my introduction.
Well, you're not like Ted Baxter.
I mean, that's the, that's the stereotype of an anchor man.
Pretty wise.
Well, Norm kind of was.
(10:51):
But a good guy.
And I mean a real veteran, but it was just, and I never said anything to him.
It's like, well, what's the point of correcting him?
I figured if at worst I'd have to change my name to Marsden.
That's a great, that's a great story.
Now I know that there's so much more to being a TV anchor than the half hour that people
(11:13):
see.
I thought we would kind of sneak around the corner over your shoulder in the studio.
Can I tell you one story from HMP?
Oh, sure.
Go ahead.
My first year, I was working a Saturday shift, two to seven.
That was how I got hired.
And Joe Fennessey had done basketball, high school basketball and UMass basketball.
(11:33):
And so he asked me and he lost the guy who did the color with him.
He says, mean you anything about high school basketball?
And I said, yeah, sure.
I didn't know a whole heck of a lot about high school basketball, but all I knew was
it paid $10 a game.
So I'm a year out, about a year and a half out of East Hampton High School, Dennis.
And so I go with Joe to cover an East Hampton High School basketball game.
(11:57):
And I think I'm Mr. Big Shot.
So I walk in, I got my little suitcase with the gear and we walk in there and I run into
the assistant principal.
This is the kind of mark I made on East Hampton High School.
And I said, hi, Mr. Naumann.
What's how are you?
I said, Bob, it's so good to see you.
And just blew up my bubble.
(12:17):
I thought, Mr. Big Shot coming back to school with my little suitcase.
Oh, well, but you survived.
But you survived.
I survived.
I survived.
Let's talk a little bit about what your day normal day, not now you're doing other stuff,
doing some part time things in your retirement.
I put that in quotes.
I believe that.
So give us an idea so the average person probably sees you for half hour, but has no idea what
(12:44):
you have to do.
So give us what would be an average day in the life of a TV anchorman.
All right.
Well, it changed a lot through the years with ownership changes.
So this is when Meredith bought us and they own Channel 3 in Springfield.
So when they came over to us in 2014 to 1300 Liberty Street, we had CBS, ABC and Fox.
(13:06):
They were doing a four o'clock news and they were doing a six o'clock.
The original plan was to split it up and keep them separate.
But then they decided to go under the title of Western Mass News.
So we were broadcasting our 10 o'clock news on Fox, the morning news, and then the evening
news we were doing a four o'clock.
So I would, I'd get in 1.32 o'clock for what I was paid for an eight hour shift.
(13:33):
Right.
And just to, I was a stickler for going over scripts and writing a lot of my own stuff.
I did, I never wanted to go on the air.
My biggest fear was to go on the air and read cold.
I lived up to that fear every now and then.
But you know, you're working with a lot of young reporters and young writers and you
(13:55):
know, in many instances, the writing isn't exactly, and I would change it to my style.
So I would go through every script.
So you didn't write the whole script, they gave you the, they wrote the script.
Yeah, I wrote a lot of the, like the reporters would go out and they would do their stories.
And they wrote those.
But I would write some of the stuff in between.
(14:15):
And so I would do that until quarter four.
And then we'd take promos and things like that for the news.
Then we'd go on live at four on CBS three.
And it's now, it's the four o'clock is now on ABC 40.
So do that, then we do the show, the five o'clock on ABC 40, and then we do the six
o'clock on ABC and CBS.
So you're doing the same newscast over and over?
(14:37):
The four and the five were, because they were on different channels.
The six was always different.
Then in between, I grabbed something for dinner and I always, I always, while I was eating
dinner, I was always working and starting on the 11 o'clock.
And again, it was just me anchoring it.
So I was working with a producer and we would tackle the show and we'd go over what we want
(15:02):
to put in the show.
Because I was also managing editor for a long time.
So kind of overseeing the shows.
And I enjoyed that.
And I produced some of the shows too.
It was funny because I remember the first time I produced a newscast and put the whole
thing together.
I took more pride in that credit than I did the first time I anchored.
Because it was, I enjoyed doing that too.
(15:24):
It's like, I was never one of those who could just go in here, give me my script and sit
behind the chair.
It's just, I couldn't.
I had to be involved.
And well, obviously something worked, Dave.
It did.
There were, I tell you, Dennis, there were times after I started at 22 because I was having
issues with my eyes and the contact lenses.
(15:46):
And I wound up, my eyes got infected.
And about three weeks into the job at 22 in 1979, I thought, I have made a huge mistake.
I should have stayed in radio.
But then it settled down.
Because in my first three weeks at 22, the second week or the third week, we had the
(16:07):
Winsor-Locks tornado.
We had a snowstorm in October.
We had the installation of Pope John Paul II.
But it was all stuff that I was able to do and my radio background helped me with it
because I could ad-lib.
And that, I still love to this day, love radio.
(16:29):
I attribute everything I have to radio, the skills that I develop, the ad-lib skills
and everything else.
It just, it helped me along the way.
The sad thing now is, is there's really no training ground at Radio for Kids.
No, that's true.
There's no reason, and there's probably a morning show somewhere.
And it used to be you started at night, work your way down to become a drive person.
(16:53):
But right now, I don't think that's there.
I think it's very sad.
Especially for news, too.
I mean, you look at the days at HMP with Ron Hall with local news, SPR with Sy Becker,
Richard Lavignier at WREB.
All of these real veterans who were, they were old school.
And I look at it, it's like you and me, we were kind of the gap in between them.
(17:18):
And we had to learn from them.
Dermcaldwell, Keith Silver, those guys.
I was going to ask you later on about some of the people.
And you worked with Jack O'Neill and Ray Herschel, good people, a lot of memories there.
Let's talk a little bit about memories from some of the stories you covered, which you
mentioned a few when you first started, but what are some of the highlights of your career?
(17:45):
Dave Mattson, this is your life.
Well, my first exposure to breaking news was at Windsor-Locks Storm, the tornado.
That was, I can't remember what day of the week it was, but it was in the afternoon about
two o'clock.
And I sat next to Jordan St. John, I remember Jordan.
Yeah, I do know Jordan.
And we lost power, which we always did on Proven Mountain.
(18:08):
But I mean, a huge storm rolled in.
That's an agwamma.
That's an agwamma on the mountain.
So I walked to the back of the building in the studio there, and they had two barn doors.
And there is water cascading into the studio, like you wouldn't believe.
So then we find out, we're starting to get, Jordan had a little portable radio, we listened
(18:29):
to TIC in Hartford about the storm that went through Windsor-Locks and the Quantic, and
it actually came up to Feeding Hills.
And so that night we did, we were on live, and on the studio floor was like three inches
of water.
So there was that one, the 95 tornado in Great Barrington, and then of course the one in
(18:54):
2011 in Springfield.
Not one, I think I'm most proud of what we did then.
We were on the air for about six hours straight.
And that was my first taste of the impact of social media and how we use social media.
What year was that?
It was 2011.
June 1, 2011.
(19:15):
And people were texting us, this is this here, and this is there.
We use them as field reporters.
Tell us what happened.
What, you know, do you have any damage?
What have you seen?
And your ability to ad-lib and do that is vital in that situation and to make people
(19:35):
comfortable enough so they can tell you what they saw and do it easily.
And to keep a sense of calm too, because there were so many rumblings of, okay, they saw
the tornado here and they saw a tornado there, and people were afraid.
And that always bothered me afterwards too that it's part of our job is not to alarm.
(19:57):
And that there were all of a sudden, there's all these tornado watches and everything else.
And I remember, we never had those here, ever.
And so all of a sudden, you know, but obviously things were changing.
But that, 1985, the shooting deaths of Alan Borghardt, Michael Scavina in Springfield.
(20:20):
Police, right?
Police, John Denapoli in Holyoke in 1999.
Those had a real impact.
The Worcester firefighters.
The first time I ever broke down on the air, Dennis, was I was doing the funeral for the
Worcester firefighters who died in that warehouse building.
It was early in December.
(20:41):
And so we're doing the funeral.
And I'm doing a narration along the way.
And all of a sudden, it hit me how those firefighters left their houses that Friday, you know, said,
goodbye to their kids, said goodbye to their spouses, went to work, I'll see you tonight.
And they never came home.
(21:02):
And it just all of a sudden hit me.
And it's like, I could feel myself starting to go.
And I just let it go.
And a lot of people wouldn't do that.
And I remember people saying to me afterwards, it's like, you know what?
You showed your human.
It's like, well, how can you do that and not have it affect you?
But I mean, it was stories like that.
And, you know, and I got to do different things.
(21:25):
You know, when I was at 22, we did a week of news in Hawaii.
To this day, I still don't know why we did.
I saw the last shuttle launch was at 9-11 for the 10th anniversary.
To be able to do things like that, a Democratic National Convention I went to.
Just things I never were able to do in real, in normal life.
(21:46):
Yeah.
Well, you have a lot of memories.
And that's, that's, I read something.
Ask me what I did yesterday.
I won't be able to tell.
I understand.
I understand completely.
You know, you're, you're really incredibly lucky, but you earned it by being in your
home area.
A lot of us in the business, I was from Connecticut, but I had to travel a lot of different places.
(22:11):
I ended up in Springfield, I ended up in Northampton, but you're in your home area,
which I think is just wonderful to be able to say you did that.
I've been, I have lucky.
And you know, Ray and I talk about this a lot.
Ray Herschel.
Because Ray's, it was the same thing with Ray.
Ray was born and raised in Chikabee.
And early on, I mean, you know, Ray probably more than me could have gotten a job at a
(22:32):
bigger market if he wanted to.
But we both decided that once we got married and, and our stories about meeting our wives
and everything else are pretty much the same thing.
Ray met Maureen through Maureen's sister at the TV station.
And within five or six months, we were, so are six to nine months, we were married.
I was there in the building at HYNN, I was there.
(22:56):
I remember that courtship, I know who you're talking about.
And it's funny, you should mention it.
But you know, so, I mean, so our career paths were very similar.
And so he, and we used to say, it's like, you know what, it became more than just us.
That there's so many people who put their job before their family.
And in many instances, having to be there at different times, yes, we had to do that.
(23:20):
But as a whole decided that, you know, we're not going to drag our kids all over the place
that were comfortable, were in our homes.
I think a lot of it is being with people who I grew up with and went to school with, it
kept me grounded.
It's like, if I thought I was starting to be Mr. TV, I'd get a good kick in the ass
and that would be the end of that.
(23:40):
You know, and I think it helped me.
I really do.
One of the areas I want to mention, which I've always been fascinated about, and I'm
guessing you would think the same thing, the media, whether it's radio or TV, the fact
is, and I have like a few examples here, people don't know you.
(24:02):
Most people, okay, you had people that you went to school with, friends, but they watch
you.
You don't know who's watching you on a Tuesday night or a Sunday morning or whenever it was.
Same thing when I was on the radio.
You just did your job.
You weren't thinking about the numbers of people.
You were trying to please your boss and just go in and get through the day and have it
(24:23):
work right.
But you really have an effect on people and you were kind enough to ask me to be on your
podcast.
Okay, so I want to tell you, I want to relate it to you rather than say, I'm just talking
about me.
I've had two people since that podcast.
I got a call one day, came home about 5.30 at night.
(24:44):
The phone rang.
This guy says, hi, this is so-and-so.
We worked together at WSPR.
Hadn't talked to him since 1978.
He saw, he was living in Connecticut.
I lost track of him.
We were friends.
He watched your podcast with me.
(25:04):
He contacted me.
We now are back in contact and it's wonderful.
That would never have happened if I didn't do your podcast.
And secondly, another one.
Just last week, a week before, email.
The guy said, did you work in New Hampshire?
(25:25):
Did you do that?
Are you Dennis Lee?
And I said, yeah, I wrote him back.
I said, how'd you find me?
He said, oh, I happen to see something on YouTube, Western Mass and Dave Madsen.
I said, that's incredible.
I mean, two people that I, because of your podcast, you and I were just talking like
(25:46):
we are now very relaxed and just know each other.
We're doing it by Zoom because it was COVID.
But I mean, isn't that wonderful that the magic of that?
Well, it's podcasts, we talked about this before.
They're the new radio.
And where you can do an extended conversation.
I did one with Gary Puckett of Gary Puckett, the union.
I met him at the Big E.
(26:07):
Always liked his music.
Yeah.
And I met him at the Big E and he, I got his email address because he wanted a copy of
the show that we did.
So we kept in contact.
It's like, I'm talking, I'm friends with Gary Puckett.
And so I had him do the podcast.
So and we did video part of it.
(26:27):
And I looked at it.
The thing had 20,000 views.
And it's like, whoa, it's his fan base.
You know, who just follow him.
But I, you know, I think you talk about when we did Reddit news and everything.
I think you and I are very similar to the fact that I never thought of myself as addressing
thousands of people.
(26:48):
I always focused on one person.
You're 100%.
That's, that's.
I try to picture somebody, a relative, a friend that I was talking to.
Yep.
That's, we both come from that school.
And I think that's a key to success.
I really do.
It's like, it drives me crazy.
Hi, good evening, everyone.
It's like, no, you're in my living room.
You're talking to me.
(27:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have one other thing that's complimentary to you.
I was in the diner in Florence, Massachusetts, Miss Flo's diner.
Waitress was working there.
She's a school teacher, but she was working part time for the summer.
So one day she said, what are you doing these days?
And I just said, just in passing, oh, I'm having lunch.
(27:29):
Who are we going?
Who are we going to have lunch with?
Oh, I'm having lunch with Dave Madsen.
Oh, I love him.
He's my hero.
I love him.
And she goes on for like two minutes.
No, but I mean, the point is she doesn't know you.
She's never met you, but you made a connection with her.
I said, have you ever met Dave?
(27:49):
She said, I saw him once in Costco, but I didn't go up to him.
I didn't want to bother him.
I said, well, if you meet Dave, he's just a guy like everybody else's and you'll like
him.
I guarantee you.
She said, well, I'll keep that in mind if I see him in Costco.
I hope, you know, because to me, that's the ultimate compliment.
Well, I thought it was wonderful.
When someone comes up.
I mean, I thought it was wonderful.
(28:09):
You don't know her.
No.
And you touched her and you made a difference in her life.
And isn't that something?
Well, because you do go through spells.
It's like, is anybody listening?
Is anybody watching?
And then something like that happens and then you realize you do.
And when I got through, the number of people I heard from was I was over absolutely overwhelmed
(28:31):
because you just don't, sometimes you just don't think it's like, all right, you know,
I'm, you know, I'm doing this and it's, but it does.
And, you know, it taught me a lesson is never take that for granted.
Right.
Ever.
Well, so in other words, you were at 22 for how many years?
From 79 to 91.
So about little under 12.
(28:52):
And then at 40.
Well I went to Friendly's restaurants and notice it's been downhill for Friendly's ever
since.
Because you left.
I'm sure that's the reason.
Yeah.
Well, I left 22 in June 1991 to take a job because I, my kids were young enough and I
was never home and I thought, well, I'll try this.
(29:13):
And Dennis, I got there and they really had nothing for me to do.
And it got to the point where every, every day about two o'clock, they would bring ice
cream out that hadn't been hard packed.
So my game of the day was, ooh, what flavor today?
And so my cholesterol went up when I was, but are you telling me that Dave Mattson really
(29:35):
was a food tester?
Is that what we're getting to?
Pretty much.
Yeah.
That's what it came down to.
Scoop here, scoop here folks with the ice cream, scoop here.
Dave Mattson was a food tester.
I was a food tester.
But what I found, it was a good lesson for me because I had walked away from the only
thing I was ever really comfortable doing.
It was the only thing I ever wanted to do.
(29:55):
I mean, because I remember from, because I, growing up, I listened to Hyn, Bud Stone,
Phil D, all those guys.
And I knew I wanted to be in broadcasting and radio in particular.
And so from the time I was like eight years old, but there were really no outlets for
us back then.
It's like, you know, and so I, you know, when, when I finally got to UMass, I started doing
(30:20):
stuff with MUA and WFCR.
I always tell the story and I told this to this guy directly.
His name is Art Cohen.
And Art was the news director at FCR at the time.
This is in 19, early 1970.
And so I was volunteering.
And I did a few things there and about two weeks in, he says to me, you know, I really
(30:42):
think you should find another line of work.
I was devastated.
So, but I, I dug my heels in and I stayed in.
So about five or six years ago, Jacob Wycoff, who did weather for us, was doing some freelance
stuff down at Channel Four.
He ran into Art Cohen.
Art said, oh yeah, I remember Dave.
(31:05):
But I said to Jacob, I said the next time you see him, remind him that he told me I
should find another line of work.
And what's this guy doing?
He's probably, he's, well, he's a WBZ doing radio, radio news.
And RV is very good news, man.
And he, he wrote back to me and he said, I am so sorry.
He said, I was in a bad way.
I said, well, I ignored you.
So it worked out okay.
(31:26):
That's, that's a great story.
Isn't it?
But that is a great story.
You know, let's, let's talk about what you're doing now.
I was kidding you a little bit because you are officially retired.
You're not an anchor man anymore, but you're doing stuff.
Yeah.
I, well, when, when, when I got through, it was always, we were always going to do something.
(31:48):
And so initially it was going to be a podcast.
And we did that for about a year.
I started, it was supposed to start in October of 2019, but I was going away and then we had
a family tragedy in November.
And so we put things off until the beginning of 2020.
We started doing this right around the time COVID started.
(32:11):
So I was doing some, we were doing it from our MGM studio.
So I did that and I was doing radio newscasts for three stations every day and I recorded
it home and send it into them.
I still do that.
But about a year into it, they decided, you know what, let's, let's shift this to doing
a Sunday morning program.
This is going on, we're going on four years now.
(32:34):
This week, I think we're taping our 183rd show where we talk with politicians, newsmakers.
I, I like it cause it keeps me involved.
I go in one day a week for a couple of hours.
I do a lot of research.
I've had senators Warren and Markey, Governor Healy, all our congressmen, local senators
(32:58):
and reps and just people who are doing different things.
And I like it.
It's just, it's, it's, it's the perfect thing for me right now.
I couldn't do the Monday through Friday stuff again.
It's just, it, it's a stamina thing.
I think more than anything else.
Well, I'm, I'm glad you decided to join us today, come up to Greenfield cause you drove
(33:22):
up from East Hampton, which is not a long drive, but it's a drive.
So I appreciate that.
It's always great to see you.
We rented to each other a couple of weeks ago because your granddaughter was playing
basketball for East Hampton.
That's the other part of what we're doing now.
So, which is, well, I don't know which is more important, probably the basketball.
Yes.
(33:43):
You know, I'm making up for things.
My son played basketball for Hampshire regional for years and they won a Western master's
championship.
He's coaching now, right?
He's coaching suburban and I think he's, hopefully he wants to coach high school too.
It's, God, we're having, we're fun with the other parents and, and it's like they welcome
us these, you know, and it's different too because part of our life now is a big part
(34:05):
of our life is helping our son with, with the, he lost his wife and helping with our
grandkids.
So we're there every morning and it's out of all I've done, Dennis, it's the best job
ever.
Terrific.
I have one final question.
Do you miss having to put makeup on every day and worry how your hair looks?
(34:25):
I don't miss it because I put it on every day.
You wait a minute.
He does have makeup on.
I can see that.
It's pant, folks, it's pancake number two.
No, it's, it's Bondo because I have to fill in the cracks.
Look it up.
Oh, Dave Madsen.
I really thank you for joining us for the podcast.
(34:47):
Dave thanks for having me on.
But it's, it's just nice to know you and whenever I run into you, I enjoy and we just talk at
the basketball game, I think your wife must have been calling your name from the bleachers
because we've talked for 20 minutes.
You get a soul.
You get a soul radio people together and that's it.
Oh my goodness.
So glad you made the journey, Dave.
Thank you for having me on.
(35:08):
Thanks for being with us on backyard oasis.
This concludes today's podcast.
We're always looking for new ideas, so feel free to reach out to Judy Raper, associate
dean of community engagement at Greenfield Community College at 413-775-1819.
(35:29):
If you have an idea, you'd love to share special thanks to the creators of backyard oasis,
Denise Schwartz, Chad Fuller, Dennis Lee and Christine Copeland.
Have a great day.
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