Barrett News Media To Gather The Industry in Nashville in September 2023

Jimmy Powers, Raj Sharan, Matt Berger and John Goforth Added to 2023 BSM Summit Lineup Light Steel Keel

BSM’s Black Friday SALE on BSM Summit Tickets is Underway!

Mina Kimes, Bruce Gilbert, Mitch Rosen, and Stacey Kauffman Join the 2023 BSM Summit

Barrett Media is Making Changes To Better Serve Our Sports and News Media Readers

Anatomy of An Analyst: Greg Olsen

Anatomy of a Broadcaster: Brian Anderson

Anatomy of an Analyst: Ray Ferraro

Anatomy Of A Broadcaster: Jason Benetti

Anatomy of a Broadcaster: Joe Davis

Barrett Sports Media’s Top 20 Original Sports Podcasts of 2021

Barrett Sports Media’s Top 21 Specialty Selections of 2021

Barrett Sports Media’s Top 20 Mid Market Sports Radio Stations of 2021

Barrett Sports Media’s Top 20 Major Market Sports Radio Stations of 2021

Barrett Sports Media’s Top 20 Major Market Sports Radio Program Directors of 2021

Meet The Market Managers: Vinny DiMarco, Good Karma Brands New York

Meet The Market Manager: Mark Glynn, iHeartMedia Seattle

Meet The Market Managers: Jay Davis, Cumulus Media Oklahoma City

Meet the Market Managers: Steve Wexler, Good Karma Brands Milwaukee

Meet The Market Managers: Michael Spacciapolli, Audacy Pittsburgh

Jason Barrett Podcast: Fred Jacobs, Jacobs Media

Jason Barrett Podcast: Matthew Berry, NBC Sports

Jason Barrett Podcast: Jeff Smulyan, Never Ride a Roller Coaster Upside Down

Jason Barrett Podcast: Damon Bruce, 95.7 The Game

Jason Barrett Podcast: Rich Eisen, NFL Network

Seller to Seller: Cody Welling, Cox Media Group

Seller to Seller: Greg Leader, SiriusXM

Seller to Seller: Adam Shifrin, Westwood One

Seller to Seller: Don Ricker, DR & Associates

Seller to Seller: Larry Rosin, Edison Research

Sports Talkers Podcast: Paul Allen, KFAN

Sports Talkers Podcast: Jay Bilas, ESPN

Sports Talkers Podcast: Tim Brando, FOX Sports

Sports Talkers Podcast: Michael Kay, YES & ESPN

Sports Talkers Podcast: Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk

Dickey Broadcasting To Present Radio Megacast Of Peach Bowl

Laurence Holmes: ‘Adam Amin Was Ready to Fight Grayson Allen’

Jeff Smulyan: ‘What Paul Finebaum Does Works’

John & Hugh Discover Trae Young’s Dad Blocked Them On Twitter

Jerry Recco: Mic’d Up Players, Coaches Future of Sports on TV

This Is SportsCenter Commercials To Return During Orange Bowl

NBA Media Rights Talks Expected To Begin In Summer

Joe Buck: ‘I’m Proud Of Kevin Burkhardt & FOX’

Cowboys Win Leads NFL Christmas Ratings

Tom Brady Says He Can Fire Back At Critics At FOX

PAC-12 Could Sell Injury Info And Data Rights To Sportsbook in Next Media Deal

Oklahoma State Reporter Apologizes After Confrontation With Mike Gundy

Amazon to Launch New Sports App In 2023

Pat McAfee: ‘NFL Should Invest Some TV Profits in the Pro Bowl’

Greg Auman Apologizes After Giovani Bernard Confrontation

So did the controversy boost viewership for GMA3? According to recent figures, the answer is yes, slightly so.

ABC’s midday news program GMA3: What You Need to Know made the news itself in recent weeks, thanks to the off-screen relationship of lead anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes. Their story was first made known by The Daily Mail on Nov. 30. On Dec. 1, The New York Post did not hesitate to go the innuendo route when providing this story a headline. Even more salacious is that each anchor was married to other people at the time of their affair. Robach’s husband was former Melrose Place star Andrew Shue.

So did the controversy boost viewership for GMA3? According to recent figures, the answer is yes, slightly so.

The Thursday Dec. 1 edition delivered 1.81 million total viewers, based on data from Nielsen Media Research. This was a bit above what GMA3 has drawn in the days and weeks prior, as seen below:

Nov.14-18, 2022: 1,580 million (Nov. 17: 1,497 million; Nov. 18: 1,544 million)

GMA3’s Friday Dec. 2 show drew an also above-average 1.71 million. To kick off that edition, Holmes made a subtle reference to all the tabloid fodder saying “It’s too bad it’s Friday. It’s been a great week… I just want this one to keep going and going and going.”

Shortly thereafter, ABC News suspended the two anchors. Gio Benitez and Stephanie Ramos filled in on Monday Dec 5, which then posted 1.68 million. For the week of Dec. 5-9, GMA3 averaged 1.65 million, relatively similar to the 1.68 million-average of its previous week (Nov. 28-Dec. 2 with Robach and Holmes).

The huge caveat to all these numbers is they are relatively steady from its year-ago levels. For the Monday thru Wednesday period of Thanksgiving week in 2021 (Nov. 22-24, 2021), GMA3 averaged 1.64 million viewers — a figure the program reached sans any controversy, of course. The surrounding weeks back then had hovered around the 1.50-1.55 million range per day (Nov. 15-19, 2021; Nov. 29-Dec. 2, 2021 and Dec. 6-10, 2021).

Nonetheless, in this ongoing current trend of steep year-to-year declines in linear TV viewing, performing on-par can be deemed as a significant positive.

As of Dec. 28, Robach and Holmes still remained suspended from GMA3.

Meanwhile, the ratings news was also positive for GMA3 competitor NBC News Daily. While the midday program, recently installed following the departure of longtime soap opera Days of Our Lives, averaged 1.28 million viewers for Dec. 12-16 (trailing GMA3 in total audience), it also delivered 338,000 within the key 25-54 demographic — NBC News Daily’s highest-to-date weekly 25-54 performance, plus it topped ABC’s GMA3 in the demo for the first time.

Cable news averages for December 12-18, 2022:

Total Day (Dec. 12-18 @ 6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)

Prime Time (Dec. 12-17 @ 8-11 p.m.; Dec. 18 @ 7-11 p.m.)

Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top programs of other outlets with their respective associated ranks) in total viewers:

1 1. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 12/13/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.331 million viewers

2. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 12/12/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.295 million viewers

3. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 12/15/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.253 million viewers

4. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 12/14/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.048 million viewers

5. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 12/14/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.045 million viewers

6. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 12/13/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.984 million viewers

7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 12/15/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.970 million viewers

8. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 12/12/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.949 million viewers

9. The Five (FOXNC, Fri. 12/16/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.946 million viewers

10. Jesse Watters Primetime (FOXNC, Mon. 12/12/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.938 million viewers

28. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Mon. 12/12/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.031 million viewers

166. The Lead With Jake Tapper (CNN, Wed. 12/14/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.804 million viewers

352. Kudlow (FBN, Wed. 12/14/2022 4:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.404 million viewers

408. Forensic Files “Time Will Tell” (HLN, late Sat. 12/17/2022 1:00 AM, 30 min.) 0.311 million viewers

424. Shark Tank “Shark Tank 1206” (CNBC, Wed. 12/14/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.279 million viewers

452. Highway Thru Hell “(1009) Redline Warriors” (TWC, Sun. 12/18/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.244 million viewers

662. Newsnation: Rush Hour (NWSN, Mon. 12/12/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.162 million viewers

Top 10 cable news programs (and the top  programs of other outlets with their respective associated ranks) among adults 25-54:

1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 12/13/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.452 million adults 25-54

2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 12/14/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.424 million adults 25-54

3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 12/12/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.415 million adults 25-54

4. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 12/12/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.408 million adults 25-54

5. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 12/13/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.379 million adults 25-54

6. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 12/14/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.373 million adults 25-54

7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 12/15/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.339 million adults 25-54

8. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 12/15/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.335 million adults 25-54

9. Gutfeld! (FOXNC, Tue. 12/13/2022 11:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.335 million adults 25-54

10. Jesse Watters Primetime (FOXNC, Mon. 12/12/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.334 million adults 25-54

61. Erin Burnett Outfront (CNN, Tue. 12/13/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.183 million adults 25-54

64. Deadline: White House “Biden Signs Respect For Marriage Act 4-420” (MSNBC, Tue. 12/13/2022 4:00 PM, 120 min.) 0.179 million adults 25-54

164. Forensic Files “Time Will Tell” (HLN, late Sat. 12/17/2022 1:00 AM, 30 min.) 0.118 million adults 25-54

208. Shark Tank “Shark Tank 1206” (CNBC, Wed. 12/14/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.103 million adults 25-54

429. Heavy Rescue: 401 “(305) Only Getting Worse” (TWC, Sat. 12/17/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.056 million adults 25-54

576. Banfield (NWSN, Thu. 12/15/2022 10:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.041 million adults 25-54

623. Varney & Company (FBN, Thu. 12/15/2022 10:00 AM, 60 min.) 0.037 million adults 25-54

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research

Douglas Pucci is a Bronx native and NYU graduate analyzing news television ratings for Barrett News Media. He did an internship at VH1’s “Pop Up Video” in 1997. After college, Pucci went on to design, build and maintain websites for various non-profit organizations in his hometown of New York City. He has worked alongside media industry observer Marc Berman for over a decade reporting on all things television, first at Cross MediaWorks from 2011-15 then at Programming Insider since 2016. Pucci also contributed to the sports website Awful Announcing. Read more: https://programminginsider.com/author/douglas/

Dave Glover Thought He’d Last 6 Months at KMOX, Still Going Strong in Year 22

Rick Dayton Left Sports for News and Hasn’t Looked Back

Was George Santos Lying or Exaggerating?

Dave Glover Thought He’d Last 6 Months at KMOX, Still Going Strong in Year 22

Languishing Market Sectors Look Ahead to 2023

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There are countless examples in the recent past that I mention only to illuminate the fact that even when somebody lies, we don’t always say so because nobody is really sure anymore.

Even during a sleepy holiday week there’s something to keep us all watching, reading, or listening. Obviously, the countless thousands who never got to where they were going because of snow, ice or Southwest Airlines will say those stories alone should have kept our attention. Yet, the emerging story of Congressman-Elect George Santos raises more than a handful of points, questions and moral quandaries in what we may at a minimum call an act of untruthfulness.

Here in the case of Mr. Santos of New York, a man seemingly admitting to embellishing his resume, misrepresenting his education and work experience, and even going as far as to falsify at least parts of his actual ethnicity and religious faith.

Hard not to call someone a liar in this case.

There are challenges though in calling someone a liar, even if they publicly attest to being just that. News outlets often like to call people names without actually calling people names. They prefer to have somebody else do it and then be afforded the ability to quote or attribute said labels to the third party.

The problem furthers when Mr. Santos seems to qualify, even justify his actions by inferring that “everybody does it”.

Is that true and if it is, where is the line drawn and then how are we, in the news media supposed to cover and characterize it?

This is not a rhetorical question. I’m really not sure anymore.

There no longer seems to be much secrecy or clandestine detail in the still unravelling story of George Santos, we will just have to watch it all and tell it all as it happens.

It’s almost a gaslighting type of scenario because we begin to question the real definition of “lying”.

(I’m not copying and pasting the definition here so go look it up yourself. And while you’re at it, try researching “embellishment”, “misrepresenting”, “misleading”, and “perjury”.)

But, there are countless examples in the recent past that I mention only to illuminate the fact that even when somebody lies, we don’t always say so because nobody is really sure anymore.

Let us look at former NBC News anchor Brian Williams: Was saying he had been in a helicopter shot down by enemy fire in Iraq a lie or was it an exaggeration?

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): How does one define her then-claims of Native-American heritage?

Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones: Was he lying about, spreading falsehoods or making untrue claims about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School?

There should not always be a flag on the play when we speak the truth in what we call or how we characterize a person so obviously doing their best to deceive people.

I’m not worried about what happens with someone like Mr. Santos, his credibility or lack thereof has no consequence for me. I do wonder however, how a stream of journalists and news professionals over the years have been able to carry on after their credibility has been damaged.

(As always, I refer not to talk show hosts. Remember kids, they are not journalists while wearing that hat.)

If you’re pegged as a liar, owning it or not should make no difference.

Good luck working your way back.

Bill Zito has devoted most of his work efforts to broadcast news since 1999. He made the career switch after serving a dozen years as a police officer on both coasts. Splitting the time between Radio and TV, he’s worked for ABC News and Fox News, News 12 New York , The Weather Channel and KIRO and KOMO in Seattle. He writes, edits and anchors for Audacy’s WTIC-AM in Hartford and lives in New England. You can find him on Twitter @BillZitoNEWS.

“They asked me if I wanted to do a radio show, and I said yes. They asked ‘for free?’ I said ‘f*** yeah’. Here I didn’t have a cent to my name.”

Dave Glover likes comedy. He’s into most genres of comedy and caught Louis C.K.’s act after his botanical trouble.

“It was a whole new kind of dark,” Glover said. “He came to the Funnybone with 100 people in the audience. It was packed. His first joke; ‘I used to play arenas, now I’m playing this shithole.”

Yup. That’s our greenery lover.

“I’m such a nerd. I’ve always been a student of the creative process like Inside the Actors Studio. I love learning about medicine, about law. In standup, it’s all about confidence. You can tell when a person walks onstage whether they are scared or not. When you get on a plane and see the pilot is nervous, you’re naturally going to be a little skeptical about the flight.”

If you have talent, you still have to bust your tail to get ahead. It doesn’t matter if it’s comedy or radio, you have to discover your voice and get it out there. If not, you’ll suck. Sometimes you’ll be lucky enough to find your voice only to find people don’t like it.

After 22 years on KMOX in St. Louis, Glover said he’s most surprised how some comics are not funny off the air. “I don’t have them on anymore for that reason. They may ask me to bring up deer hunting or Christmas as a starting point for them. I’m like, ‘So, are  you looking forward to Christmas?’ or ‘Have you ever gone hunting?’ No more.”

His childhood had some interesting moments.

“I guess you could say I had some trouble when I was young,” Glover said. “I didn’t know it at the time. My dad was a union carpenter and I suppose we were lower middle-class. We had white siding on our house. When you saw a brick house you knew the owner was probably in management. I got whipped just about every day. My parents weren’t monsters, I think it was just that era. They would say, ‘I heard you did this or that.’ Then came the switch. And I had to go outside and pick it. Of course I’d come back with the smallest one I could find. Then they’d pick it. You don’t want that.”

The Glover’s were a humorous family. Glover’s older sister by 14 years is way funnier than her little brother. “I swear she is, I’m not just saying that. My sisters aren’t performers, but they are funny as hell. I’m way more comfortable in front of 500 people than I am in front of five people. We’re not a mean-humor family, just a lot of ballbusting.”

To give you an idea about the warped family humor, Glover said when he was in sixth grade, he walked up to his mom when she was folding clothes.

“She was Miss Polly Purebred,” he said. “I looked at her and asked if she and my father still had sex. I just wanted to shock her. She turned my way with the 1,000 yard stare, like she was in Vietnam. She calmly said her father never had trouble having sex, but he did have trouble making love.”

 Glover did it again. Another day he said, ‘Mom, I heard some kid say ‘eat me.’ What does that mean?’  Even though I fully knew what it meant. Again his mother turned and said, ‘It’s a very sick thing people do, but some people find it very pleasurable.’ I just wanted to get a rise out of her. You couldn’t get ahead of her. She’s too smart, funny, and mean. I’m Scottish, which is worse than Irish.”

Typically, comedy club bookers want Glover to do two shows a night. He doesn’t like telling the same joke twice. It always has to be new.

“I was always a dork, always  trying to impress girls,” he said. “When I was 12, I  put on this Cornelius mask, the character from Planet of the Apes. I’d wear it all the time outside. Playing baseball, whatever. I thought it would make the girls like me.”

Glover was a smart kid (Despite the Planet of the Apes thing.) A psychology professor in college once gave him an IQ test.

“I took it and he said, ‘It must not have worked. Let’s do it again.’ So we did. He looked at the second result and said it was the same as the first result. ‘Really high.’ It was my Good Will Hunting moment. From that I got a law-school scholarship.”

He worked for 10 years as a lawyer, he said three of them were happy. It was a big firm that handled the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster of 1989.

“There were 50 single lawyers and we didn’t do much. Needless to say it was a real **** fest. We used to get drunk. I mean Captain Joseph Hazelwood kind of drunk. All we did was look at documents.”

Bored, he and a buddy went to a local Kinkos and created a bogus memo and slipped it into Hazelwood’s file.

“It was some kind of warning saying he shouldn’t be captaining a boat,” Glover said.

It turns out some people higher up discovered the memo and didn’t think it very funny.

“Some bigwig called my boss and said, ‘We need to talk to you about David Glover.’ My boss said, ‘Never heard of him.’ And of course this was such a big firm, he hadn’t. Needless to say I was fired.”

You may be asking yourself how Glover got into radio. I know I was.

Glover was buying advertising for a radio station in St. Louis, mostly for the Steve and DC Morning Show.

“They’d have me on for a segment, ‘Ask the Lawyer’,” Glover explained. “In the bit, I never knew the answer to anything. One day I was walking by a conference room when they were looking for someone to put on the air in an open slot. I think it was Steve from Steve and DC. They asked me if I wanted to do a radio show, and I said yes. They asked ‘for free?’ I said ‘f*** yeah’. Here I didn’t have a cent to my name. I was the first indentured servant in radio. Like a guy that has to work his way over to this country.”

After six months, he was sure he was going to get fired.

“We were doing Springfest and I was about a mile from the campus where we were doing the show,” Glover said. “I was doing a bad David Letterman impression. I was asking people if they knew where Springfest was, even though it was just down the street.”

The program director was listening and asked Glover if he felt he could do that kind of bit every day. Of course, Glover said he could.

A year after that Glover signed a contract.

“I was earning more than the market manager. My show became number one in 2003.”

Glover gets away with a lot of stuff on the air. Things mere mortal hosts would never be able to do. He’s earned enough to quit if he felt like it. But he still loves what he does.

“I came close to going national at one point,” Glover said. “I was friends with Glenn Beck. I did about a thousand hits on CNN. One executive told me he’d never heard anyone like me on the air and he listened for enjoyment.”

He just didn’t know what he’d do with Glover. Didn’t know how he’d package him. ‘I don’t  know if I could sell you in Peoria,’ the executive told Glover. So, they kept paying him more to stay local.

The Dave Glover Show has been driving St. Louis home for over 22 years. Unafraid to discuss virtually any topic, you’ll hear Glover and his crew’s unique perspective on current events, news and politics, and anything and everything in between.

“A big part of radio is doing a live endorsement,” Glover said. “A good host makes between 500-700 a year. I’m doing five to six thousand a year. That’s about 120 live endorsements a week.”

Jim Cryns writes features for Barrett News Media. He has spent time in radio as a reporter for WTMJ, and has served as an author and former writer for the Milwaukee Brewers. To touch base or pick up a copy of his new book: Talk To Me – Profiles on News Talkers and Media Leaders From Top 50 Markets, log on to Amazon or shoot Jim an email at jimcryns3_zhd@indeedemail.com.

At the time Rick Dayton had three kids. A steady paycheck sounded good, so he moved to news. The writing was on the wall and the timing was right.

The name conjures up an image of a television detective; Rick Dayton, NYPD. Maybe Dr. Rick Dayton on a soap opera. If there was a lab in Idaho that cloned cool names, ‘Rick Dayton’ would be the one donating the DNA. For radio or television, the name is a no-brainer. Good evening Chicago, I’m Rick Dayton. And now sports, with Rick Dayton. 

“I applied for a job at a television station in Dayton, Ohio,” Dayton said. “We got to the end of the interview and the guy asked me, ‘Is Dayton your real name?’ I said, ‘No, it’s Cincinnati.’ I didn’t get the job.”

A woman walked up to Dayton in a Dairy Queen and told him he looked just like Rick Dayton. “I said, ‘I am Rick Dayton.’ She didn’t believe me and asked me to pull out my driver’s license. She looked at it and said, ‘That’s your real name?’”

I go to great lengths to write these pieces as snapshots of people’s lives. I don’t want them to be a regurgitation of a resume or a copy of a LinkedIn page. I want to reveal things about people you can’t find in a Google search. But look at what Rick Dayton has done. I’ll see you on the other side.

Rick Dayton; sports director at North Carolina News Network, covered the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, NASCAR, statewide PGA Tour, Senior PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, University of North Carolina, Duke University, NC State University, Wake Forest University, East Carolina University. Dalton did play-by-play for men’s and women’s basketball and baseball for the University of North Carolina, N. C. State, Duke, and East Carolina. He was the syndicated program host and producer of DriveTime: The Golf Radio Show, Winston Cup Today, We’re Talking Sports with Rick Dayton.

These days Monday through Friday 2-6 pm, you can listen to Rick Dayton on KDKA Newsradio. 

Dayton started in radio as a kid when he was 15 years old. It was in Grove City, Pennsylvania, a 5,000-watt daytime station, WEDA. 

“My speech teacher stopped me in the hall and said he thought I’d be good on the radio and invited me down to the station to see how it worked,” Dayton said. “He did a 7-10 shift on Saturday nights. It turns out I started doing that shift. I think largely because he was tired of being away from his family and wanted his Saturday nights back. I did that all through high school.”

Dayton anchored the news at the top of every hour, tore stories off the teletype machine, and wrote and read those stories on the air.

It was something he loved, and Dayton was working for great people and figured he might really do it for a living. He went to The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. The town was known as the home of Rubbermaid and Smucker’s. One of the reasons Dayton chose Wooster was for the radio station it had on campus.  

It was entirely student-run and programmed.

“Because I had three years of commercial radio experience when I walked onto campus, I pretty quickly rose through the ranks. In college I was majoring in speech, running the college radio station, acted as sports director, GM, did some underwriting for the station,” Dayton explained. He probably cleaned the windows too. “There were a couple of commercial stations in Wooster that did college games. I got to know those guys and they were very encouraging to me.”

There came a point in Dayton’s career where he reached a fork in the road. Yogi Berra would have told him to ‘take it.’

“I was doing sports on television,” Dayton began, “ when the GM at WRAL in Raleigh came up to me and asked if television was something I wanted to do for the long term. A career. A life. I told him I did. He said, ‘Rick if you really want to do this, get out of sports and get into news.’ He said everybody wanted to do sports. It was like being in a candy store. Covering all the big games was sexier than news. He said I can’t find good people to do news. If you switch, I guarantee you’ll never have trouble finding a job.”

At the time Dayton had three kids. A steady paycheck sounded good, so he moved to news. The writing was on the wall and the timing was right. He took a position as an anchor at a CBS affiliate in Huntington, West Virginia. He was promoted four times in three years and the main anchor for four years.

In television, you’ve got people writing a lot of your copy. Producers come up with a lot of the content. 

“If I’m on at 4:30 am, there have been people writing that since the night before,” Dayton said. “I’m predominantly reading what they produce. I might rewrite some things to put it in my voice. There’s no script on the radio. You have to learn to formulate your thoughts. In that regard, it’s very different from television.”

Like in film, Dayton said television was a collaborative effort. He learned it’s just as easy to give back as take. 

“When I had a camera person working with me, I didn’t know how to shoot video,” Dayton said. “I’d rely on the talents of the person behind the camera. In editing, I’d ask them what they felt the best shot was they got that day. Since I edited my own stuff, I could put it what I chose. I’d always make sure to get their favorite shot of the day in the package. Whether it was the sun coming up, a person on the bicycle. They loved that. With some reporters, their good stuff never made the package. They grew to learn if they worked with me, their stuff was in. It’s more interesting and people want to work with people who care about what they do.”

His job in television required him to do a lot of writing. If he had an amazing video in front of him in the editing bay, the last thing he wanted to do was screw it up with mediocre writing. 

“Good video forces you to write better and tighter,” Dayton said. “I keep in my mind the story isn’t about me, not what I have to say. It’s about the people I’m talking to. They lived it, not what Rick Dayton thinks.”

Dayton said he may have the microphone and camera, but it’s the people he is talking to that know what has transpired. 

Anchors and reporters tell hundreds of stories on television and radio. Many of them are of a routine variety. Then some stories change how you view your job and profession. 

“I recall so many stories, but there’s one that will always stand out,” Dayton said. “It was the Sago Mine disaster in Sago, West Virginia in 2006.”

There was an explosion at the Sago Mine and it collapsed with 13 men trapped inside. They had been working two days to get them out, drilling down. As more time passed, they were running out of options. 

“We were out there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Dayton explained. “By Thursday night they weren’t even sure they could get to them, even if they did get respirators to them. It didn’t look good and that’s what we reported on the 11 o’clock news.”

At 11:55 pm, CNN broke in and Anderson Cooper said there was news out of Sago. He reported while one of the miners had died, 12 had survived. This news came at the same time mining officials and the state’s governor cautioned against high hopes.

​​“People were dancing in the streets, singing Amazing Grace,” Dayton explained. “Their fathers and sons were alive. Everybody was absolutely ecstatic. We got all of it and went off the air at 1:30 am.”

Like a devastating tornado, the story violently switched directions. 

“I’m back at my desk and I get a phone call,” Dayton said. “It was a woman who told me, ‘They got it all wrong.’ I asked her what she was talking about. She said we got it wrong about the mine. She said her husband worked for mine safety and the media got it wrong. Only one was alive and 12 were dead. I’m in the middle of the newsroom with this sinking feeling.”

At first blush, Dayton thought it was a crackpot calling. Some creep spreading a conspiracy theory for their own pleasure. But he had a feeling in his stomach he couldn’t shake. He picked up the phone and called station personnel still at the mine. 

“I didn’t know this woman but I told our people to go back on the air,” Dayton said. “CNN was still there. What I wanted to know was why all the ambulances were still there. Why hadn’t the miners come out at that point? At 3:15 there was a press conference and we were told there was a horrible mistake. They confirmed exactly what the woman on the phone had told me.” 

To this day when Dayton talks to high school and college students who aspire to be journalists, he uses this tragic story to emphasize accuracy in reporting. 

“You cannot go with whatever everyone else seems to be saying,” Dayton said. “You need to step back and take a further look at the story until you’re certain. The newspapers went with it all over the country. I was there all night and did the morning show from the mine the next day. I’ve never been involved with another story directly that was so powerful, so poignant. We had mistaken information from seemingly authoritative sources. It’s not a good idea to outrace the truth.”

If he hadn’t gone into journalism, Dayton said he’d have been a  college professor. 

“At the same time I love learning something different every day,” he said. “I’m telling stories, informing people, educating people. Sometimes I have no idea which direction we’ll go. A lot of times I’ll hear people say they saw one of my stories and how much they may have enjoyed it. What they don’t see is the interview I did with someone who led to the story they saw. The one that led to that package. Crafted the story. Those are the critical people.”

He’s a naturally curious person who doesn’t like to script his interviews. 

“I won’t tell people what I’m going to ask them about,” Dayton said. “It’s my second question that informs my third question. I will learn more about a person or a situation if I’m asking them questions as anybody else on the street would.”

Jim Cryns writes features for Barrett News Media. He has spent time in radio as a reporter for WTMJ, and has served as an author and former writer for the Milwaukee Brewers. To touch base or pick up a copy of his new book: Talk To Me – Profiles on News Talkers and Media Leaders From Top 50 Markets, log on to Amazon or shoot Jim an email at jimcryns3_zhd@indeedemail.com.

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