9/14 Hour 3

Guest hosts Joe Lomonaco, Gary Smith and Don Alhart talks about media and celebrity, local media importance, and going into the community.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don Elhart, Gary Smith, and Joe Lomonaco, right now on
NewsRadio WAM 1180. It is a fantastic day for a
radio program. We haven't said that yet, so I suppose
it is a Lonsbury show. We have to get that
in here. Yes, Joe Lomonaco here with Don Elhart and
Gary Smith, and we are just having a wonderful time
sharing stories, and this is exactly why I was looking

(00:20):
forward to coming back to do this.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's been a while for me since I've been back
in a live setting.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
You remember.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, it is.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
You wobble on the bike, but eventually you do wind
up going into a straight line. Hey, one of the
things that I wanted to bring up, of course, in
the 8 o'clock hour, I was congratulating some of our colleagues,
Janet Lomax and Richard McCullough, who received the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Rochester Association.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Of Black Journalists over the weekend. So congratulations to both
of them.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I did want to bring up another one of our
colleagues that– and if you're not following John Kuchko Digital
on Facebook, why are you not? If you want beauty
in your feed every day, multiple times a day, but
also to follow along with John's journey. John has been
battling brain cancer and has been very upfront and open

(01:10):
about his– his journey, to his credit, that he's doing that.
He's going through treatments and he's going to be donating.
He does these calendars every year. He's going to be
donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of
his calendars this year to a specific part of the
cancer treatment unit in Wilmot Cancer Center where they actually

(01:32):
did brain mapping from him when they were doing the surgery.
I'm paraphrasing here, but John wound up losing the ability
to really speak the way he was normally used to.
He had a 30-plus year career as a sportscaster and
as a news anchor, so that they've done remarkable work
to try to preserve that for him. And go on

(01:57):
his Facebook page if you want to follow along the journey,
but we just wanted to pass along our best to John. And,
you know, that's another one of those things, Don. It
reminds me of Bill Peterson's journey and how being... upfront
and open about that with the community. I suppose there's
good and bad to that, where you can't always be

(02:17):
as private as you would need to or like to be,
but you want to still let people know what's going.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
On with you. And I think part of it is
you want to help people in the future who may
be going through something like that. I think that's very
much a part of what John's trying to do. And
strong family support. I can remember, you know, Sharla... was
Sharla Stevens. You may remember Chuck Stevens, who was on
the air at WHEC Channel 10 years ago. So Sharla

(02:46):
and John met in the newsroom at Channel 13. Oh, man.
And we watched that romance develop. And, of course, they're
two beautiful daughters. But I think John feels compelled to say,
whatever I'm going through, if I can share this experience
and make it more meaningful tolerable for someone in the future.

(03:08):
If they know I've gone through this, if they know
what I have faced, then they can face it too.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
And maybe it goes back to what we were talking
about a little bit earlier about how you feel a
part of this community. And maybe, I don't know if
it's an obligation that you feel, but you feel that
maybe you, you, you want to let others in and
you've got an extended family, finger quotes and that even
if you're not going to speak to them on a
day-to-day basis, they are still going to wonder, and they're

(03:35):
going to want to know what's happening with you. So
you can control how that information gets out and be
just upfront about it so that it doesn't take anybody
by surprise. That does lead me to a topic of
conversation that I wanted to get to about media as celebrity.
One of the things that impressed me and intrigued me
about this industry was that the people who were on

(03:57):
the air that I listened to or that I saw
on television were larger than life, even though they're.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Just in your community.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
But for a young person like myself, that's as far
as my worldview went. I'm wondering, though, if there was
ever a balancing act, Gary, that you had to do.
You've been on the air for so long. You did
radio in a number of places. You've done some television.
You worked in– account management, so you were building relationships

(04:24):
on the sales side in part of your career, balancing
that professional life. Like, say you're out with your family,
and then somebody hears you talk, and they want to
come up to you, and they want to have that conversation.
Was there ever a time that you had to balance that,
and how did you navigate that?

Speaker 4 (04:39):
Well, it doesn't happen as much to someone who's on
the radio. I have had people come up and say,
I recognize your voice.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
I know who you are.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
And that's, you know, it's kind of neat.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
For people on television like Don, I think it happens
a great deal more because they see you and, oh,
I know who you are.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah. Well, that's the difference between, like, I know you
and I know of you. And the two of them,
I think, kind of got conflated a little bit sometimes.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
I think so. It felt kind of nice if someone
came up to you and said, I recognize your voice.
I really enjoy listening to you.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
That's nice. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
It never got to the point that I can remember
where it was uncomfortable or unwanted.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
That's what amazes me more in retirement. I mentioned the
Costco and Wegmans. More people recognize me. I never thought
of my voice because I was on television. People would
recognize me and come up to me. I never thought
of anyone recognizing my voice. And now it's more the voice.
I'll be in line at Wegmans and say something to

(05:51):
my wife and people will turn. And I think that's
their chance to put two and two together. I was
at Costco a week or two ago. A little girl
came up out of nowhere with her camera phone and said,
can I have a picture with you? You look important.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
You have a gravitas when you walk into the room.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
So I'm immediately looking around because I figured her parents
have got to be there. Somebody did. Go over and
take a picture with him. We'll explain later why. And
that's all she could think of to say was– but
the voice, I just– I never thought about it. But
people now where they may be– they may look and say, boy,
that guy looks like an older version of what I
saw on television.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
I wonder if it's him, but then they hear you
and they go, oh, I guess it is.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
Your ratings at Costco are.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I threw the roof, as a matter of fact.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
By the way, Costco is not a financial supporter of NewsRadio,
WAM 1180, or IR Radio.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
We just have to get that out there. But yeah,
it's the media as celebrity.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
And in this town, because people have spent so much
time here, and you look at You know, Gary, you had,
you know, before you finally did call it quits was
about 50 years or so, you know.

Speaker 6 (07:01):
All day.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Don, you had about 58 here. I've had I'm on
year 30, boy, three for me.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
It's hard to believe that.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
But then you see other of our colleagues like Bob
Lonsbury here has been on the year with us. He's
just a little less than me. He started just a
few months after I did as a full time basis.
um tony inventino and scott spasano and brother wheeze there's
a lot of people and even on the tv side
you and doug and jenny and rebecca leclerc and janet

(07:34):
and all those people wanda miller and those people that
that came before and and spent a lot of time
here that doesn't go away i don't think that's celebrity
status i don't think at least for certain people maybe
it It softens a bit or there's fewer people, but
it's still there and it still continues even after.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
And I think in this community, people embrace you as family. Yeah.
There is a celebrity status, but I think the community
here kind of feels they know you and that you're
their next door neighbor. And so when people come up
to you, it's never really an imposition because you want
to be gracious because they– They just feel, hey, I

(08:11):
feel like you're my next door neighbor. I feel like
I already know you. And that's what makes it very special.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
And it kind of takes care of all of the introductions.
It's like, you're not a stranger that I'm meeting. Even
if I've never met you at all, you're still not
a stranger. And it is a one-sided relationship, to be sure.
In many instances, it's a one-sided. But I think maybe
because that's the reason they're coming to you, it kind
of helps soften the edge of that relationship where I'm
not going to be I don't want to stand off.

(08:40):
I want to thank you, and I want to show
you by investing just a little bit of time back
because that in and of itself is the one of
the greatest currencies that any of us have to give
is time that we spend in– interpersonally with people, whether
it's in front of a large group or whether it's
just one-on-one person and you're in the bulk section buying
paper towels, whatever it is you are. We've got more

(09:02):
stories to share, and they're going to be just like this,
and we hope that you will stick around while we
do it. I'm Joel DeMonaco, in for Bob Lonsberry, with
Don Elhart and Gary Smith on NewsRadio WAM 1180.

Speaker 6 (09:11):
September 11, 25 years ago, will go down in our
history as a day.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
25 years ago to remember.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Never forget news radio wham 1180 all fans welcome at
any of the seven rochester area bill gray's tap rooms sundays.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Stories here which is exactly what we like to do.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
When we all get together uh that is one of
the things that we do every christmas time uh we
get all of our media brothers and sisters back together
and we just sit in a room and you will
never get a word in edgewise because pretty much we
are all By the way, I would also like to
let you know that of the three of us, I
was the first to take the bathroom break, so I

(09:52):
lost that one as well. You know, we've had a
conversation sort of tangentially about community service. And here's something
that I've been sort of thinking about. And I'm going
to start with Gary on this question here is what
the industry in media was to a community. And here's

(10:15):
what I mean. I did some research about this radio
station for its 100th anniversary. And one of the things
that I discovered is what the initial focus of broadcast
radio was and what people like Frank and Ed and
George Eastman were going to do with their stations. And
they were going to be community servants. That is what
their intention was. And we're going to put programming on

(10:35):
that benefits and raises up the community. That's what we
want to do. I think over time that focus has changed.
But I'm wondering, at the time that you got in,
was there still a notion that if I'm going to
go and do this job, certainly there might be a
benefit to it that I'm going to be maybe a
local celebrity, finger quotes, or I'm going to be the

(10:57):
center of attention. But at the end of the day,
what I'm doing is for the benefit of people beyond me.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's for the town that I serve.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Was that part of what it felt like to belong
to this family of people that do this thing for
a living.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
I think it did feel that way, particularly early on.
As you said, I think it's changed quite a bit.
But the localness of radio and television, particularly back a
little further, was very important. And I think you felt

(11:35):
it when you were on the air. You knew that
People in the community were listening. They wanted to know.
information that you might have had, things that you could
talk about. It was important, and it felt like it
was important.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
That you had a certain level of responsibility, maybe. Not
just to putting on a good show, but you had
a certain responsibility to, if I'm going to put on
a show, it has to be of something that is
of value to the people that are going to be
joining me as I put on that show.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, there was a lot of that feeling, particularly the
first 20 or 30 years that I was in the business.
I think radio particularly, and Don can speak to the
TV end of it, has changed quite a bit, obviously,
over the years. And I don't think there's the opportunity

(12:35):
to be as.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Local as radio. There once was. Don, pick it up. Yeah,
I worked at Channel 13 for 58 years, but people
don't realize I probably worked for 12 or 13 owners. Yeah.
And when people say, what was one of the best?
I said, you know, there was a period of time
when the station, first time down the air, it had
no owner. There were 13 applicants for it. And so

(12:57):
they jointly ran the station until the license could be awarded.
When it was finally awarded to, I think it was
Flower City Broadcasting, It was a company owned by the
Wilmots and the Whaley's. One had a brewery. One had
a building construction and malls. Neither one of them needed
this station to make money. So the result was tremendous

(13:20):
community involvement. And that's why we did the show out
of Marketplace Mall. That kind of combined the. The ability
of Wilmarite to build a mall and build a TV
studio right in there. And part of it, too, and
not to take away from it, but part of it, too,
was the obligation to keep that local license. Yes. You
had to have a certain number of public service announcements.

(13:40):
You had to have a certain amount of religious programming.
And it was documented every year. So I think it
was kind of a two-way street. But I think what
really emerged, if it was local ownership and you had
local people involved, then those local organizations were your source
for community involvement.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
And the idea of what constitutes news, what constitutes a
good program, may have been thought of a little bit differently.
I mean, I can remember being a snot-nosed 20-something-year-old and
listening to, you know, like, What do you mean Wham
did a farm report?

Speaker 2 (14:16):
What do you mean we did this?

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Boy, that just doesn't seem like that would be interesting
to listen to. But for a population and for a
very dedicated part of the population, that was crucial information.
And it was crucial information that had to be there
for them to do their jobs. And I'm hoping that
there's still some aspect of service and there's still some
aspect of think, wham, did a farm report.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
What do you mean we did this?

Speaker 1 (14:43):
Boy, that just doesn't seem like that would be interesting
to listen to. But for a population and for a
very dedicated part of the population, that was crucial information.
And it was crucial information that had to be there
for them to do their jobs. And I'm hoping that
there's still some aspect of service and there's still some
aspect of thinking that this is, sure, I'm fortunate to

(15:05):
have this career, but I have an obligation and I
have something to do. give back to the community as
part of the deal that I have in order to
be able to sit behind this microphone. And we're going
to talk a little bit more about that because it's
an interesting thing to get into, plus a whole lot more.
We've got Don Alhart and Gary Smith here with us,
and we're going to be talking up until noon here

(15:26):
as we take the reins for NewsRadio WAM 1180's Bob Lonsbury.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
Thanks for giving us the time.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
I'm Joel DeMonaco. We'll be back after the news on
NewsRadio WAM 1180.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
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Speaker 2 (15:38):
Day after day.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
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Speaker 3 (16:30):
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Speaker 6 (16:36):
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Speaker 3 (17:35):
When it comes to supplements two things matter most.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Hanging talking telling stories this is what we do um
hearing from some of our colleagues on the facebook page
today so hello to everybody's out there we'll say hey
to fits out there rock vox We'll say hey to
Terry Clifford, who's out there as well.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
My parade buddy.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, your parade buddy.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
I missed it for a couple of years.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
That brings up an interesting point. We were talking about
how this industry has had a service component to it.
And I hope it's still there as much as it
was when you guys first got into it and when
I got into it. It certainly was one of the
things that I... got the opportunity to do as a
result of having this gig was to be able to

(18:21):
get involved with a number of different organizations throughout this
community because they needed an emcee, or in my case,
they needed an auctioneer. That's kind of a niche that
I fell into where getting people to be generous became.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
A What do you call yourself?

Speaker 2 (18:38):
A generosity facilitator.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
I'm going to put the opportunity in front of you
to be generous, and then I'm going to help steer
you to be more generous than you thought.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
And he does.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
Again, it's an act.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
So, Gary, did you find that as a result of
what you were doing here, that opportunities to give back
to the community started to come to you? And that
maybe you got just as much fulfillment out of some
of those opportunities as you did doing the actual job
in the first place?

Speaker 3 (19:12):
I think so.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Particularly back in the earlier years of my career, when...
donkeys were pulling all the freight around.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Barges on the Erie Canal.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
There were a lot of opportunities that came. And you
didn't really think about the fact that, well, I should
do this because it's good. You did it because it
was there. And and you just thought yeah I should
do this but not because I have to.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah it's a question of this is a new thing
that has come to me as a result of it's
an unintended consequence of what I've done and I find
that that over the years that I've been able to
be associated with organizations like, you know, for me, some
of my favorites, Genesee Country Village and Museum, and we're
going to celebrate their 50th birthday coming up this coming

(20:17):
weekend at their annual fundraiser.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
I love those folks out there.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
The Rochester Broadway Theater League, I'm going to be 20
years in with their high school musical theater program this year.
The Hochstein School is another great place, like Advent House
that Don and I have done for every year. That
you start to see the impact that you can have
beyond sitting behind a microphone. And certainly telling important stories,

(20:41):
engaging a community in dialogue that is important, entertaining is important.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
But that other part of it is.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
I think that is a bigger part to me now
in my career that is still ongoing than what I
did sitting in a studio for over 25 years.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
More so now, in some respects, there's a sense of
being benevolent. But I always remember Bill Peterson and I saying,
you get viewers one at a time, you lose them
one at a time. And when you go out into
the community, inevitably people are They're excited to meet you,
but they get to see you as a normal person.

(21:21):
They've seen you or heard you on the radio, and
they've kind of created this image. And most often people say,
you're down to earth. It's like they're surprised.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
It's like, wow, he's not nearly as arrogant as I
thought he would be.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
It was a two-way street. And I think now more
in retirement because there's no career to benefit from it.
I feel more of a sense of giving. But I
have to admit, when we were working, it was a
two-way street. We were able to help, but we were
also able to enhance our careers by being out there
and being with the viewers that would say, hey, I've

(21:57):
never watched you before, but I think I might start
watching you because I've enjoyed your company tonight.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
You can wind up getting a great benefit to that,
more so than the product that you're putting out every
day to.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Show that you don't just talk to us.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
You will actually be with us and be there, kind
of get your hands dirty, as it were. Do you
find now that you've stepped away, both of you, that–
Do you want to keep going? I know, Don, you
still do, and you're still out there and doing that stuff. Gary,
do you still have the opportunities there? Do they still come?
Do you still want to be active in that way?

Speaker 4 (22:34):
Yeah, I'm still an active member of the Press Radio
Club and have been since the early 60s. And you
get to see not only people but organizations that the
Press Radio Club has helped.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Over the years.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
And it's fulfilling, number one, and you want to keep
doing it.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
John, same for you. I know that you're still actively
involved in Rotary, and that's just one thing.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
Yeah. And that involvement, tonight I'll be out in Spencerport,
their 50th anniversary of their Rotary Club giving a keynote address.
That involvement, I think, is still important to what we've
been our whole lives. We're used to So when we
have the opportunity to be with a group, to speak
to a group, or just to be part of one

(23:26):
of their projects, it keeps us active. I think we've
needed that. I mean, that's what got us into the
business to begin with, that need to do something, to perform,
to be out there, to be involved. And that continued involvement,
I think, is something that keeps us going in retirement.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yep. I have found that being in front of audiences,
which has happened with more frequency the further into my
career I've gotten, I find that it.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Changed how I do this thing, how I do this job.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
It changed me from feeling and maybe being a bit
more performative and a bit more over-the-top-ish, which I was
definitely guilty of.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Many a program director would tell me that.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
That it kind of changed my style a bit. And
maybe I finally found a way to come into myself
and into my style because I wound up being of
service to others and seeing, you get to see how
they react to you when you're out there.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
One of my favorite stories is because a lot of
times a reporter would start at Channel 13 and say, hey,
do you have any advice? And I would say, yeah,
at that time, go to the mall and sit in
the chair in the mall and watch the people. Why?

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Why?

Speaker 3 (24:36):
I said, because that's whom you're communicating with. That's your audience.
And when you look at them in that light, everyday
people doing everyday chores, when you give your newscast, when
you look in the camera, when you look at the microphone,
that's the audience to keep in your mind.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
And we are so grateful that you are part of
that audience today. That's Don Alhart along with Gary Smith.
I'm Joe Lamonaco in for Bob Lonsberry. And this is
NewsRadio WHAM 1180.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
We'll be back.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
The news of the USA.

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The entire country is watching now.

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Every day.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
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Speaker 2 (25:12):
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Speaker 6 (25:13):
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Speaker 3 (25:14):
Hey, friends.

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Is your company looking for the future work of Lonsbury?
With Gary Smith and Don Elhart on NewsRadio Wham!

Speaker 3 (25:21):
1180.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
We are shooting the breeze, sharing stories, because this is
what we do when we get into a room together. Oh,
by the way, I'd just like to let both of
you know that this is actually the dress rehearsal for
each of your memorial services. So I'd like you to
know the stories that we're going to tell. Make sure
that there's a sign-off when we're done. Gary, again, when
the break happens, we should just keep the thing going

(25:41):
because we wind up telling the good stuff. Tell us
the story about your first gig and how much they
paid you and what it was like to be in
the industry at that time because I think this is interesting.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
Well, It was exciting. Well, sure it was.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
You were on the air, for God's sake.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
We would pay them. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
So my first job was in 1956, my first job
on the air, and I made $ 1 an hour.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
$ 1 an hour. Yes.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
And my take-home pay every week. It was $ 34. 72. I
remember the numbers. Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Oh, man.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
But still, I mean, there's the whole conversation.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Well, the dollar was worth whatever.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
It really didn't matter.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
It's $ 2 today.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
But, again, and I was the same way. It didn't
matter what the amount was. It was the fact that
you had the gig. You can look back at it
now and say, like, how did.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
I ever survive?

Speaker 1 (26:45):
But you were a single person. I mean, you didn't
have a wife and family or anything like that, so
it was okay. And you would just blow it out
on women and drink anyway.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
I would suspect.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Okay, so that's where I started. Don, same question to you,
because I'm curious.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, it was WTKO in Ithaca. I was still in school,
but I was able to get a job, $ 1. 50 an hour.
And the highlight for me was that Don Sopp's Sunoco station...
Let me open a charge account.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Ooh.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Because this is before. There were no MasterCards or visas
back then.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Right?

Speaker 3 (27:15):
No. And as a full-time employee at the time at
the radio station. I had the privilege of charging the iPhone.
Charge it, please. Wow, what a.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Big man you must have felt like to be able
to say, put it on the tab.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah, but at the end of the month. Oh, geez.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah, you got to settle up.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
Oh, gosh. But yeah, when I worked at WROC with Gary,
I was making $ 95 a week as an engineer. Then
I went to Channel 13. to be on the air
for $ 75 a week. Wow. And then they said, we're
going to make you full-time. And you'll get a raise,
and they raised me to $ 94. So you got back

(27:54):
to your engineering stuff. So I was still a dollar
short of what I was as an engineer. But like
we said, we would have paid in the beginning.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
For a while. But here's another interesting question, then. Did
either of you have to have, like, this is my gig,
and I want to be on the air, and I'm
going to do what I need to do. I've got
to pick up a second job or a third job.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Was there only one? Did there only need to be one?

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Well, because I was young and single, there only needed
to be one.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Okay, you could survive.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
I didn't pick up another gig. Okay. I just, by
the time Thursday came around to the following week, I
didn't have any money left.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
You were on fumes waiting for that part. Second job, Don?

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, never, no. As you pointed out, our college careers
and professional careers overlap. I graduated from Ithaca on a Saturday.
Started at Channel 13 on that Monday. And at that point,
it was just, you know, I was home. I was
single and still with mom and dad out in Brighton
and able to do that until I got married. So

(28:58):
it really, you know, didn't really ever, never was a consideration.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
That is so foreign.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
I mean, I did have a Skippy ice cream route
before I went to China. Oh, well, okay. That was
the one thing that WROC saved me for. That summer
after high school, I spent three weeks on the scooter
with a big freezer on the back. You did not.
Going down Lyle Avenue, ringing the bell, and mothers yelling,
turn that off, my kid's taking a nap. And I
made 20% commission on popsicles and ice cream. And thank goodness,

(29:28):
Two or three weeks into that, the chief engineer called
the channel eight and said, we've got a chance for
you to work. And I I gave up the ice
cream route for the, for the TV. Wow.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
The things you left behind. I mean, and that's just interesting.
It just, maybe it was a different, you know, just
a different perspective on what you would do in order
to stay in the industry, you know, for, for my
generation and maybe those before us and certainly those after that,
we knew that we weren't gonna make we weren't gonna
make enough to pay rent here you know you waited

(30:00):
tables or you bartended or you did any other odd
job that you could possibly pick up um but instead
of it being like oh i found a second job
and this is far more interesting than what i do
for the bad money that i'm making that doesn't pay
the rents for some reason we decided you know many
of us that are still doing this today we decided

(30:20):
like you know what i'll i'll I'm a mac and
cheese baby, and I'm going to be a mac and
cheese baby and hot dogs all the way through.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
And there probably is a misconception. I think a lot
of people probably think we've all made much more than
we ever made in broadcasting. And it was never a
job that we pursued for the salary.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
No, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
We did it for a higher purpose, even if it
may not have seemed so at the time. We definitely did.
All right, we've got one more hour to spend.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
We've got more stories to share with Gary Smith and
Don Alhart and talk a little bit more about that
service aspect.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Horror stories. I definitely want to get into some horror
stories that have happened.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
I want to share one as well, and we will
do that coming up in our final hour. I'm Joe
Lamonaco for Bob Lonsbury, and this is NewsRadio WHAM 1180.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
It's not just a word. It's how we play. Throw
right side. It's open.

Speaker 7 (31:10):
He's good.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
All the way into the end zone.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Detailed.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
In the air.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
What a catch.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
And he walks in. Accountable.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
He's in for the touchdown.

Speaker 6 (31:18):
Relentless. Throw to the end zone. Good.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
This Thursday, Syracuse heads to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Coverage begins Thursday night at 630 on NewsRadio.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
WAM 1180.

Speaker 5 (31:32):
Join us at ESL Ballpark on September 22nd for the
third annual Vision Automotive Home Run Derby. DeMar Hamlin will
be signing autographs and cheering.

Speaker 6 (31:39):
On the athletes.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
Free hot dogs and ice cream for the first 1,000 people.
Get your free tickets today at any Vision location.

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