WEBVTT 00:00:16.950 --> 00:00:20.730 Hi and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened, 00:00:21.170 --> 00:00:23.309 the podcast that features folks from all walks 00:00:23.309 --> 00:00:26.609 of life telling us of one childhood experience 00:00:26.609 --> 00:00:29.989 and how that event impacted them as an adult. 00:00:31.250 --> 00:00:33.729 I'm your host, Jay Rehack, and like you, I've 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.810 had my share of childhood experiences, some of 00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:40.729 them good, some of them kind of painful. But 00:00:40.729 --> 00:00:42.570 I like to think that everything that's ever happened 00:00:42.570 --> 00:00:46.170 to me has made me who I am today. Tell me what 00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:49.530 happened is sponsored by Sideline Ink Publishing, 00:00:49.909 --> 00:00:52.189 publishers of quality books, including Susan 00:00:52.189 --> 00:00:55.130 Salazar's classic, One Little Act of Kindness. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:00.420 Tell me what happened is also sponsored by laughsaver 00:01:00.420 --> 00:01:04.659 .com. Visit laughsaver .com and record your laughter. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:08.500 We'll keep it for you now and forever. It's free 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:11.239 and your children and your grandchildren and 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:13.519 your great grandchildren will appreciate it. 00:01:13.540 --> 00:01:22.099 That's laughsaver .com. And by the way, laughsaver 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:26.010 .com will become an app starting June 1st. 2022. 00:01:26.950 --> 00:01:31.189 So check your phones and download the app. All 00:01:31.189 --> 00:01:36.069 right. Today I have as my guest, Tom Avitable. 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:39.870 Tom's an overall great guy, also a great drummer. 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:42.950 He's a bestselling author. He's a book coach 00:01:42.950 --> 00:01:46.090 and he's done 50 years of award -winning writing 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:49.049 and producing. And in his latest venture, he's 00:01:49.049 --> 00:01:53.569 doing voiceover for books. Perhaps most impressively, 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.519 He is the founder of the Online Academy of Creative 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:02.760 Skills. Welcome to the show, Tom. Hey, nice to 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:05.439 be here. Well, it's an honor to have you, Tom. 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:08.180 I know you're coming in from New York, somewhere 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:10.580 along the Hudson River, maybe, or is it the other 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:13.319 side? Yeah, we're just on the opposite side of 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:15.840 the great city of New York, looking at all the 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.000 lights in the buildings. All right. Well, when 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.240 I grow up, I want to be you. I want to be a best 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:21.819 -selling author, but I'm going to leave that 00:02:21.819 --> 00:02:25.460 alone for right now. I can help you with the 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:28.159 Academy of my Academy We have a class called 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.400 from writer to author and if it's a very reasonable 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:34.120 It's 15 classes and it'll help you write a more 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:38.340 publishable manuscript. I Like it. I like it. 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:40.800 I was a school teacher for 35 years and I taught 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.500 writing But I think I could probably learn a 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:46.479 lot from you. So we'll talk about that offline, 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.139 but it sounds like a plan God bless you for being 00:02:49.139 --> 00:02:52.490 a teacher. Oh, well, thank you It was a great 00:02:52.490 --> 00:02:56.229 career. Tom, you ready to tell your story? Oh, 00:02:56.310 --> 00:02:59.750 me? Okay. All right. I'm going to get out of 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:02.449 the way, Tom. All right. I'm going to ask you 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:05.669 at the end of it, absolutely one question. And 00:03:05.669 --> 00:03:08.650 that one question is this. How do you think that 00:03:08.650 --> 00:03:11.289 experience, that childhood event has impacted 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:15.150 who you are today? But take it away, Tom. Okay. 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:17.930 Well, thanks for the opportunity. I was born 00:03:17.930 --> 00:03:20.229 in the Bronx and I lived in the kind of apartment 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:22.069 where you had to bang on the pipes to get heat. 00:03:22.330 --> 00:03:25.009 I slept in a snow suit. It didn't get much better 00:03:25.009 --> 00:03:27.729 after that. Never had a real new bike. All my 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:29.689 bikes were put together bikes. All the cars I 00:03:29.689 --> 00:03:31.469 had when I got older were all from the junkyard. 00:03:31.569 --> 00:03:34.689 Never had a new car. But one thing I did have 00:03:34.689 --> 00:03:37.050 was a kind of a curiosity about science, mostly 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:39.330 electronics. So in junior high school, I built 00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:41.879 a computer and in that to shade case. This was 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:44.639 before there was an electronic calculator. And 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:46.520 in that at the Shea case, and I did that because 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:48.460 a man from uncle and from Russia would love and 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:50.099 everything was in at the Shea cases. So I built 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:53.340 this computer. So I quickly found out that if 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:56.080 I cut school, which is I can, you know, statute 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.099 of limitations is now beyond so I can admit this. 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:02.080 I used to cut school and go downtown with the 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:04.319 at the Shea case. And I go into these big office 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:06.620 buildings like Union Carbide or Chase Bank or 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:08.960 like that and press all the buttons on the elevator. 00:04:09.519 --> 00:04:12.439 And at every door when it opened, I'd sniff. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:14.439 And what I was sniffing for was computer tape. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:16.480 Because in those days, computers use these big 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:19.220 reels of tape to record the data. So one day 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:21.199 I'm down in the RCA building, because hey, they 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.439 make computers. And I go in and I meet my first 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:26.459 challenge of my young life, elevator operators. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.720 Can't push all the buttons. So I get on an elevator 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:31.199 with my head to shake case. I was kind of big 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:32.860 for my age. Nobody really questioned me. This 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:35.920 is well before security. So I'm in there with 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.720 all these grownups and the door opens on five 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:42.819 and I smell it. So I get out and I walk around. 00:04:42.980 --> 00:04:45.139 And normally what I'm looking for is a glass 00:04:45.139 --> 00:04:48.279 window, raised floors, computer cabinets, IBM, 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:50.680 Honeywell, data control, something like that. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:52.699 And it's usually a very pristine environment. 00:04:52.740 --> 00:04:54.920 And there's always a door that says, you know, 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:57.899 authorized personnel only, which I violate freely 00:04:57.899 --> 00:04:59.759 because I'm just a kid with an aftershave case. 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:02.670 Anyway, I'm walking around and all of a sudden 00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:05.029 I see gigantic tape machine. It's really big. 00:05:05.370 --> 00:05:07.329 Wow, it's bigger than a Honeywell. I mean, Honeywell 00:05:07.329 --> 00:05:08.990 had three quarter inch tape and this thing looks 00:05:08.990 --> 00:05:11.189 got two inch tape like almost. And then I look 00:05:11.189 --> 00:05:14.069 and I realized that Frank Gorshin, who played 00:05:14.069 --> 00:05:16.730 the Riddler on Batman, is on a little monitor 00:05:16.730 --> 00:05:18.569 off to the right of this giant machine and standing 00:05:18.569 --> 00:05:21.269 next to him is Dean Martin. And they're in shirt 00:05:21.269 --> 00:05:23.209 sleeves smoking a cigarette and Dean Martin's 00:05:23.209 --> 00:05:24.910 wearing glasses. And you never see that. And 00:05:24.910 --> 00:05:27.230 I realized suddenly, because I'm from an Italian 00:05:27.230 --> 00:05:29.899 American family, And if you don't watch the Dean 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:32.819 Martin show every week, it's almost a blasphemy. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.540 That last night, Dean said, oh, next week our 00:05:35.540 --> 00:05:38.819 guest will be Frank Gorshin. So I quickly realized 00:05:38.819 --> 00:05:41.399 that what I was watching at 1130 in the morning 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:44.800 was the shooting of the Dean Martin show being 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.899 fed from the West Coast to the New York offices 00:05:47.899 --> 00:05:50.959 of NBC. At that moment, some guy tapped me on 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.420 the shoulder and said, what are you doing here? 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.839 And the quickest I ever thought in my life. With 00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:58.980 the computer, I had what we call sequential access. 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:01.939 It was a tape machine that rolled at high speed, 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:03.759 then found the data, and then played back the 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.500 data. And I quickly said to the guy, well, I'm 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:08.600 here to sell you something. Tell me what? I said, 00:06:08.699 --> 00:06:09.639 I'm going to sell you a machine that you can 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.139 put all your news stories on one tape and play 00:06:12.139 --> 00:06:14.060 them back in any order you want. He said, we 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:16.259 don't need that. I said, oh, OK, now I'm just 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:18.740 looking to get out of there because I'm being 00:06:18.740 --> 00:06:20.620 caught. He says, come on, I'll show you. And 00:06:20.620 --> 00:06:22.860 he takes me to this all glass studio on the fifth 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:25.060 floor. We walked through the door and there is 00:06:25.060 --> 00:06:27.740 all these tape machines. And he picks up something 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:30.319 which later is actually called a cartridge or 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.360 a Fidelity Pack cartridge. It was an independent 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:34.860 little like an old eight track. And they would 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:36.920 put one story on each eight track and throw it 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:38.379 in, hit the button and instantly start. I went, 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:40.220 oh, that's really great. That's random access. 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:42.860 And all of a sudden I look and I see Chet Huntley. 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:47.160 Now Chet Huntley. was the anchor of the NBC News 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:49.060 at the time, their evening news, like Walter 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.339 Cronkite, Chet Huntley, Harry Reisner, those 00:06:51.339 --> 00:06:53.939 guys. So I see Chet Huntley and the same thing. 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:57.079 He's like in a t -shirt and he's cigarette smoking 00:06:57.079 --> 00:06:59.660 and he's got glasses on and all this stuff. And 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:01.180 I'm shocked because you never see these people 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:03.199 like this on TV. And all of a sudden, somebody 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.439 throws his finger at him and he goes, NBC Monitor 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:09.740 News, New York, Chet Huntley reporting. I'm sorry, 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:13.920 it was NBC News on the Hour, Chet Huntley reporting. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:16.779 And I'm by George Drop. The guy looks at me and 00:07:16.779 --> 00:07:18.160 says, you're hungry? And I said, sure. He says, 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:20.939 come on, let's go to lunch. I'm like, huh? So 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:22.759 we walked down to this room where he works, which 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:24.519 was the newsroom with all the teletype machines, 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:26.759 chunka, chunka, chunka, chunka, chunka. He tells 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:28.600 me to sit in a chair. I sit in a chair for a 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:31.199 minute. And all of a sudden he goes away and 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.079 there's ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:34.519 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:36.139 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:36.139 --> 00:07:36.459 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:36.680 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:37.240 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:40.939 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:42.500 ding, ding All of a sudden the room goes into 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:44.639 pandemonium and someone not much older than me 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:46.339 hands me a piece of paper and says quick take 00:07:46.339 --> 00:07:50.899 that to hourlies. And I'm like. OK, so I ran 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:53.259 out in the hall. I got this piece of paper in 00:07:53.259 --> 00:07:56.519 my hand and it's like hourlies NBC News on the 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.360 hour. It's worth a shot. So I run down the hall 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:01.660 and I see the glass doors and I opened the door 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:03.839 and I there's a guy sitting at a desk and I hand 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:07.100 him the piece of paper bald headed guy who later 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:10.079 became herb. and he looked at the piece of paper 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.399 and he said, great, bring me the first lead. 00:08:13.819 --> 00:08:17.860 And I walked out and I'm back out in the hall 00:08:17.860 --> 00:08:20.220 now and where the heck was the room the guy brought 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:22.240 me to? And all of a sudden I listen and I hear 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.740 the chunk, the chunk, the chunk, the teletype 00:08:24.740 --> 00:08:27.360 machines and I go back and I'm in the room now 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.420 and I'm looking and there was this blue machine, 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:33.480 which was a UPIA wire. And that's the machine 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:35.820 I saw the guy ripped the paper from. So I look 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:38.139 and those teletype machines in those days had 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:40.799 a piece of glass in front and the typewriter 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:42.820 mechanism or the teletype mechanism was going 00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:46.980 35 characters per minute. And what it was typing 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:51.740 out was one STLD, one STLD first lead. Okay, 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:56.220 so I'm reading it. And what it says is Mexico 00:08:56.220 --> 00:09:00.769 City. a Boeing 737 Air Mexico airliner crashed 00:09:00.769 --> 00:09:04.090 upon takeoff on this rainy capital city runway. 00:09:04.970 --> 00:09:08.549 It was a plane crash. And what I had in my hand 00:09:08.549 --> 00:09:12.009 was the bulletin for the plane crash. And what 00:09:12.009 --> 00:09:14.570 I did was I brought it to the radio studio so 00:09:14.570 --> 00:09:17.570 that Chet Huntley could do the big thing in news, 00:09:17.830 --> 00:09:20.830 which is just hand it in, plane crash, Mexico 00:09:20.830 --> 00:09:25.259 City. Now, NBC wants everyone to stay tuned for 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:27.679 more information on the plane crash and chet 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.179 having done this before says so stay tuned to 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:33.940 this nbc station for more on the mexican plane 00:09:33.940 --> 00:09:37.320 crash and that gets them all excited cut back 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:40.460 to the room i'm standing there and lazlo comes 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:42.480 over while i'm reading the first lead and he 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:43.820 said what are you doing and i said i'm waiting 00:09:43.820 --> 00:09:47.440 for the first lead and he went huh And the guy 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.700 who handed me this paper went, where'd you bring 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:51.600 the paper? Where'd you bring the paper? And I, 00:09:51.740 --> 00:09:53.220 you know, maybe he thought it was floating in 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:55.840 the toilet somewhere. And I said, glass doors 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:59.139 at the end of the hall, bald headed guy. And 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:01.700 the guy who was taking me to lunch goes, sit. 00:10:02.899 --> 00:10:06.759 And yelled at me. And now I'm 14 years old. So 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:09.500 my bottom lip is starting to quiver. My father 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:12.889 is going to beat the crap out of me. because 00:10:12.889 --> 00:10:15.429 I cut school to do this. And I'm sitting there 00:10:15.429 --> 00:10:17.210 and I'm waiting for the cops and I'm shaking 00:10:17.210 --> 00:10:20.029 like a leaf. And finally all the pandemonium 00:10:20.029 --> 00:10:22.950 dies down and the guy sits next to me and he 00:10:22.950 --> 00:10:25.909 says, all right, I'm docking him a day's pay 00:10:25.909 --> 00:10:28.610 and I'm paying you, you wanna work here? And 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:32.090 I went, sure. So I started working at NBC News 00:10:32.090 --> 00:10:35.629 at 14 years old. Now how could that happen? Well, 00:10:36.149 --> 00:10:39.299 it seems like in the newsroom, everybody, that 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:43.179 was around me was 15, 16, 17, and they were the 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:47.559 sons and daughters of RCA, NBC, and subsidiary 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:50.899 companies' kids. This was nepotism on a grand 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:54.419 scale. And I looked like one of those kids. So 00:10:54.419 --> 00:10:58.120 I started working weekends. I was paid $37 .50 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.759 out of the news manager's dinner budget, $37 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:06.720 .50 a shift. So as things moved along as I was 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.620 14 and a half as a vetted employee, I was working 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:12.460 two shifts on Saturday and two shifts on Sunday. 00:11:12.919 --> 00:11:16.259 And in those shifts, I made 3750 a shift. So 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:20.100 I was bringing home 150 bucks. My dad was a teamster 00:11:20.100 --> 00:11:24.039 driving a truck, loading stone out and all the 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:26.379 elements breaking his fingers breaking his back. 00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:30.879 He made 145 a week. And my parents just were 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:33.899 in awe because we lived in this stupid walk up 00:11:33.899 --> 00:11:36.960 apartment, you know. So I gave all my money to 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:40.840 my parents and I continued in school. And the 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:43.639 worldly perspective of being at NBC News and 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:45.980 being in that room, that as soon as anything 00:11:45.980 --> 00:11:48.740 happened in the world, it was at my fingertips, 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.980 literally, gave me not only a perspective on 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:55.419 the world and people, but I also worked with 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.360 people who were much, much older than me. And 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:02.200 it matured me in a very accelerated way. which 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:03.960 served me very well for the rest of my life. 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:08.019 So it was a real experience. But the couple of 00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:10.759 moments that I just point out was I worked on 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:14.809 the Apollo missions. OK, I slept in the lunar 00:12:14.809 --> 00:12:17.850 rover because I'm in Studio 8H, which later would 00:12:17.850 --> 00:12:20.570 become the studio set and then live shot in. 00:12:20.789 --> 00:12:22.809 They had a big moonscape all set up and they 00:12:22.809 --> 00:12:25.669 had the command capsule. And, you know, Douglas 00:12:25.669 --> 00:12:27.590 Sprinkly would be in there with the with the 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:29.309 guys throwing switches. What are they doing right 00:12:29.309 --> 00:12:30.990 now? Well, right now there's fire in the retro 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:33.129 rockets. He throws switches. But they also had 00:12:33.129 --> 00:12:35.549 that little car that went around the moon with 00:12:35.549 --> 00:12:39.149 the driver. I slept in that one night and a security 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:40.809 guard comes in around two in the morning. What 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:43.500 are you doing? And so, you know, I worked overnight 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:45.759 and I didn't want to go home. You can't sleep 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:49.039 here. So I went into the control room and I set 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.059 up three chairs and I slept in the eight inch 00:12:51.059 --> 00:12:53.500 control room. But I had a lot of great stuff 00:12:53.500 --> 00:12:56.320 and I even have home in the old days. They didn't 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:58.659 have electronic ways to put type on the screen. 00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:02.120 So they used a card with white type on black. 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:05.000 And I have one card that says live from the moon, 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:07.980 which is what everybody saw on the bottom of 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:11.159 the screen as Armstrong was walking. And I also 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:15.529 have. live from Wapakoneta, Ohio, which is where 00:13:15.529 --> 00:13:19.009 his mom was. They had a camera in there and her 00:13:19.009 --> 00:13:21.190 reaction when her son walked on the moon and 00:13:21.190 --> 00:13:24.009 it was live from Wapakoneta, Ohio. So I have 00:13:24.009 --> 00:13:26.490 those kinds of things. And also at NBC in those 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:28.809 days, that's one of all the game shows, Concentration, 00:13:28.850 --> 00:13:32.250 Jeopardy, Sale of the Century. He said, she said, 00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:34.049 these are all game shows that came out of 30 00:13:34.049 --> 00:13:37.549 Rock. So I was totally like, you know, in a play. 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:40.169 Plus it was the Carson show. We had the Johnny 00:13:40.169 --> 00:13:42.629 Carson show. And I met a lot of great stars. 00:13:43.149 --> 00:13:46.629 I met Chuck Connors. I met Eric Clapton. I met 00:13:46.629 --> 00:13:50.070 Bob Hope. It was a wonderful way to grow up. 00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:54.110 And I quit NBC when I was 18 years old after 00:13:54.110 --> 00:13:59.990 the 72 election. And that's a longer story. But 00:13:59.990 --> 00:14:02.769 I'll give you the quick, I think we have about 00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:04.389 a minute left. I'll give you the quick thing. 00:14:04.409 --> 00:14:08.909 I was assigned to the UPI -A wire in Studio 5B, 00:14:08.970 --> 00:14:12.220 which was the radio studio. And the UPI -A wire 00:14:12.220 --> 00:14:14.519 on election night was running on the election 00:14:14.519 --> 00:14:17.899 news. So various results of congressional and 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:20.639 senatorial and gubernatorial races were coming 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.179 up on the UPI plus the presidential race. But 00:14:23.179 --> 00:14:25.399 there was a new machine right next to me. It 00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:28.399 was called the Camden line. And the Camden line 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:31.580 was a direct line to the computers, RCA computers 00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:34.100 in Camden, New Jersey. And they were doing something 00:14:34.100 --> 00:14:36.659 nobody had ever heard of before. It was 1972. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:38.940 They were going to do a computer projection. 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:41.240 They were taking all this data and putting it 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:43.240 into a computer, and they were gonna try and 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:47.600 predict who won. So in my orientation that night, 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:50.840 I was told, this is what you do. When the UPIA 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:53.259 wire goes off, you rip the copy, which is what 00:14:53.259 --> 00:14:55.840 we did, we ripped copy, and you hand it to this 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:58.659 gentleman, Bill Fitzgerald, who had been in the 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:01.299 news business since the spark gap. Bill must've 00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:04.440 been 80 years old, but he was good, and he was 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:07.200 a good news writer. And then the piece of paper 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:09.639 goes to Bill. Bill then gives the piece of paper 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:12.799 to the Russ Tornabin, who was the producer. Russ 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.139 judges it for its news value, hands it back to 00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:17.299 another writer. The writer writes it, hands it 00:15:17.299 --> 00:15:20.179 back to Russ. Russ OKs it, puts it in the script. 00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:22.200 And then Peter Hackes. I don't know if anybody 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:25.000 remembers Peter Hackes, but he was the anchor 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.500 on NBC News. Chet Huntley, David Brinkler, upstairs 00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:34.049 in 8H. hosting the television and I was in 5B 00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:38.169 and Peter Hackes was the voice of NBC News on 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:39.730 election night. And then you would switch to 00:15:39.730 --> 00:15:42.269 various desks with other like John Palmer and 00:15:42.269 --> 00:15:45.110 people like that. But anyway, so that's my job. 00:15:45.309 --> 00:15:46.450 And I said, what's this? And they said, well, 00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:48.809 that's the Camden line. If that goes off, OK, 00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:50.629 all you got to do is bring it right to Russ. 00:15:51.309 --> 00:15:54.250 I'm like, OK. So we're running, we're running, 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.049 everything's going great. And at 820, we're doing 00:15:57.049 --> 00:16:00.559 a break, the 820 break. And the broadcast always 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:03.460 ends with Peter Hackes going, so for Insurance 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:06.500 Company of North America, this has been election 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:09.820 night coverage of NBC News, Election Night 72. 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:13.080 Stay tuned to this NBC station for more as Election 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:15.460 Night 72. And he does this whole wrap out. And 00:16:15.460 --> 00:16:18.879 then they play a jingle. And the jingle was INA, 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.259 Insurance Company of North America, right? He's 00:16:22.259 --> 00:16:24.159 wrapping it up. And all of a sudden, the Camden 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:28.870 line goes off. And I see it go off. It's the 00:16:28.870 --> 00:16:31.450 first time it's done anything all night. And 00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:34.909 I rip it. And I look. Tornabin is up and off 00:16:34.909 --> 00:16:37.330 the seat. Bill Fitzgerald's not there because 00:16:37.330 --> 00:16:39.970 it's the end of the broadcast. So I grab the 00:16:39.970 --> 00:16:43.470 piece of paper and I run to Peter Hackes' desk. 00:16:43.889 --> 00:16:46.470 And I knocked over a garbage can. Wait, it was 00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:49.610 a little waste paper basket. And I slam this 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:52.350 piece of paper down on Peter Hackes' desk. Now, 00:16:52.350 --> 00:16:54.330 Peter Hackes is what we've called an old rip 00:16:54.330 --> 00:16:57.480 and read man. And rip and read means you sight 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:00.220 read the news as it's handed to you. So anything 00:17:00.220 --> 00:17:02.220 I give him, he reads with great authority. So 00:17:02.220 --> 00:17:04.059 had I handed him the grocery list, that would 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:07.180 have been this just in one quart of milk, half 00:17:07.180 --> 00:17:09.039 a pound of ham, quarter pound of cheese anywhere 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.440 to read it like that. So I slapped this thing 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:13.279 down in front of him. He picks it up and he says, 00:17:13.619 --> 00:17:15.339 now here's the thing. See, I didn't know what 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:18.279 it said, really. It could have said NBC News 00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:20.180 is about to predict. It could have said, hey, 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:21.839 we don't know. Maybe in a little while we might 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:23.460 predict. It could have been, hey, we're just 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:26.200 testing the line. But I was pretty sure it said 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:30.799 what he said. This just in NBC News projects 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:34.279 Nixon the winner with 52 % of the and then he 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:37.640 realizes what he said. And he goes again, this 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:41.619 just in NBC News predicts Nixon and I see Russ 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:45.140 Tornaman. They produce us sit back in his chair. 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:47.940 Now his little secret about NBC. If you remember, 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.670 let me do that again. or something like that. 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:55.430 You remember the chimes of NBC. That was more 00:17:55.430 --> 00:17:57.829 than just music. That told the network to drop. 00:17:58.710 --> 00:18:00.650 So when you heard the chimes out of New York 00:18:00.650 --> 00:18:03.829 or Chicago or any of our O &Os, and you heard 00:18:03.829 --> 00:18:06.450 the chimes, that meant local stations drop the 00:18:06.450 --> 00:18:10.470 network and go back to local programming. So 00:18:10.470 --> 00:18:13.710 the poor engineer, it was a glass key on the 00:18:13.710 --> 00:18:15.829 console that you turn and it ran the chimes. 00:18:16.210 --> 00:18:17.890 And I see the guy reaching for the key through 00:18:17.890 --> 00:18:20.049 the glass and Russ Thorderman smacks his hand 00:18:20.049 --> 00:18:24.000 away. And the guy's like, what? And Peter Hackes 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.599 again says, you know, once again, NBC News has, 00:18:27.059 --> 00:18:29.339 well, if you're in a news business, it's being 00:18:29.339 --> 00:18:33.640 first with everything. So by the 840 break, ABC 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:36.920 and CBS had jumped on board, but we were first 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:40.700 that night. So anyway, Hackes goes like this, 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:44.960 the tournament. And it's dead quiet, dead quiet. 00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:47.299 And all of a sudden you hear footsteps like in 00:18:47.299 --> 00:18:50.329 a movie and it's Russ Tornabin walks in. What 00:18:50.329 --> 00:18:52.509 happened? And Peter's, I don't know, somebody 00:18:52.509 --> 00:18:56.309 puts it on my desk. And Bill Fitzgerald is standing 00:18:56.309 --> 00:18:59.390 there. And my boss suddenly shows up, the guy 00:18:59.390 --> 00:19:02.730 who hired me, and he says, go up to TV now. So 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:06.549 I sneak out the back and I go up to 8H. And I 00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:11.190 go to 8H and I know one of the cameramen. So 00:19:11.190 --> 00:19:12.970 I say, hey, how you doing? He said, hey, stand 00:19:12.970 --> 00:19:15.069 here. Now we had these things on the floor that 00:19:15.069 --> 00:19:17.670 had fishtail knobs. And I don't know if you remember 00:19:17.670 --> 00:19:19.539 the way they used to cover it, but It looked 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:21.460 like a destination sign of the subway station 00:19:21.460 --> 00:19:23.960 or a train station. And you adjust the numbers 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:25.779 and the numbers would change on the big board 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:29.299 that was on TV. And every every desk assistant 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:31.779 had a board like I had Illinois governor race. 00:19:31.900 --> 00:19:34.220 And I'm turning knobs for numbers and stuff based 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:36.240 on a piece of paper. And he says, right, Tom, 00:19:36.579 --> 00:19:40.359 wave. So I turn and I wave and I was on national 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:42.539 TV that night. My aunt Sophie saw me in Florida. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.660 Call my mother. I saw Tommy on TV. Anyway, that 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:48.079 was my election night the next day. And this 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:50.980 is the end of the story. The next day there was 00:19:50.980 --> 00:19:52.779 a manager's report which I used to help print 00:19:52.779 --> 00:19:54.640 out during the weekend but not during the week 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:57.720 and it said NBC News was number one again on 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:01.220 election night in a grand tradition as Bill Fitzgerald 00:20:01.220 --> 00:20:04.559 and they give the entire credit to Bill for having 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:07.339 done this because they looked and found out I 00:20:07.339 --> 00:20:10.380 was underaged and I was being paid by petty cash 00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:13.539 and technically I was nobody's kid so they fired 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:17.980 me the next day for not being a vice president's 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:21.220 son. Two days later, I was hired back as I had 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:23.460 been hired back the last three times they fired 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:26.319 me for not belonging to anybody, not being blood. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.079 Anyway, that's my story that that took me from 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:35.720 14 to 17. I love that story. It's like sort of 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:38.140 like a childhood dream, I guess, of a young people 00:20:38.140 --> 00:20:41.599 to be able to be able to walk into a TV studio 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.359 or radio studio and somehow stumble into a job 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.599 and then do a good job. And, you know, sort of. 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:50.559 Obviously, you've had a career as a consequence, 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:53.380 right? Well, yeah. Actually, the best part about 00:20:53.380 --> 00:20:56.839 being at NBC was in college, there was a journalism 00:20:56.839 --> 00:21:00.140 class. I was a freshman and I saw the journalism 00:21:00.140 --> 00:21:02.460 class and it was an honors class, which means 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:04.700 you have to be almost a graduate or postgraduate 00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:07.440 class. I walked in, I sat down and the guy said, 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:08.920 what are you doing here? You know, you have to 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:11.480 have journalism 101, journalism 102. I said, 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.480 I worked at NBC News for four years. He said, 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:17.410 sit. So I sat. And he was the, his name is Adrian 00:21:17.410 --> 00:21:20.049 Meppen. He was the executive producer of CBS 00:21:20.049 --> 00:21:22.789 News. And I had logged in the morning before 00:21:22.789 --> 00:21:25.109 I went to school. I used to work the overnight 00:21:25.109 --> 00:21:27.230 shift and then go to school in the morning. I'd 00:21:27.230 --> 00:21:29.109 get up at five o 'clock and I'd do the Today 00:21:29.109 --> 00:21:31.630 Show. And then at seven o 'clock, the Today Show 00:21:31.630 --> 00:21:34.450 would go on the air and I would log the CBS and 00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:37.029 ABC morning news. I'd write what they covered. 00:21:37.470 --> 00:21:39.589 I'd type it up. It would go on what we call the 00:21:39.589 --> 00:21:42.440 Twix. And by the time I got to home room, in 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:45.519 high school, my report was in 1 ,000 bureaus 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:50.500 around the world. So when I told him that, he 00:21:50.500 --> 00:21:53.559 made me sit. And at the end of my freshman year, 00:21:53.619 --> 00:21:56.680 he offered me a job at CBS as a line producer, 00:21:57.220 --> 00:21:59.700 making, in those days, what would be the equivalent 00:21:59.700 --> 00:22:02.680 of $100 ,000 today, right out of college. I didn't 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:04.920 take the job because I was in a band, and I went 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:06.460 across the country in a band, but that's a whole 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:10.170 other story. That's fantastic. Well, listen, 00:22:10.410 --> 00:22:13.950 I'm almost out of time. So how do you think that 00:22:13.950 --> 00:22:15.869 childhood experience impacted who you are today? 00:22:15.970 --> 00:22:18.490 I understand that you want to become a drummer 00:22:18.490 --> 00:22:22.029 and do some other things, but you also wrote 00:22:22.029 --> 00:22:24.509 quite a bit. So you think that impacted you as 00:22:24.509 --> 00:22:27.190 a writer or just as human being? Tell me real 00:22:27.190 --> 00:22:29.450 fast what you think, how you think that childhood 00:22:29.450 --> 00:22:32.380 experience impacted who you are today. Well, 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:34.480 that childhood experience killed my childhood 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.059 and made me immediately a young adult, if not 00:22:37.059 --> 00:22:40.019 mature. So I was used to working with older people. 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:43.150 So I had no problem. matriculating through life 00:22:43.150 --> 00:22:44.849 and anything I wanted to do. What I wound up 00:22:44.849 --> 00:22:47.049 doing was being a creative director in an advertising 00:22:47.049 --> 00:22:49.789 agency for 40 years, which also meant that I 00:22:49.789 --> 00:22:51.430 got to write, direct, and produce commercials. 00:22:51.950 --> 00:22:53.809 I've done a couple of movies. I've done a lot 00:22:53.809 --> 00:22:56.650 of industrial videos. But it's all from that 00:22:56.650 --> 00:22:59.529 initial confidence that came from dealing with 00:22:59.529 --> 00:23:01.809 some of the most biggest known people in the 00:23:01.809 --> 00:23:04.440 world. and effectively interfacing with them, 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:07.180 not being the kid sitting in the corner, but 00:23:07.180 --> 00:23:10.920 being a vital part of the arrangement, whatever 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:14.380 it was, and people trusting me and giving me 00:23:14.380 --> 00:23:16.740 responsibility and me fulfilling that. And that 00:23:16.740 --> 00:23:20.480 cycle has always served me well. That confidence, 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.740 cockiness, whatever you want to call it, is why 00:23:22.740 --> 00:23:25.200 I'm a director. Why I can walk in and I don't 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.500 care if you're Al Pacino or some kid right out 00:23:28.500 --> 00:23:32.069 of drama class, I can direct you. And I can make 00:23:32.069 --> 00:23:34.809 you feel good about your performance, and more 00:23:34.809 --> 00:23:37.650 importantly, give you all the guidelines you 00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:39.430 need to make a good performance. And that's the 00:23:39.430 --> 00:23:41.049 same thing in authoring. It's what I do as a 00:23:41.049 --> 00:23:44.309 book coach. I direct writers. I direct them through 00:23:44.309 --> 00:23:47.329 their manuscript. And in my class online, I direct 00:23:47.329 --> 00:23:49.190 writers who really want to become authors but 00:23:49.190 --> 00:23:52.069 have somehow been frustrated. I direct them on 00:23:52.069 --> 00:23:55.140 how to write a more publishable manuscript. I 00:23:55.140 --> 00:23:58.759 love it, man. I got to take your class. I've 00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:02.400 been writing books. I've written 27 plays and 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:04.519 14 books, but I think I can learn a lot from 00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:08.400 you. You sound like a master teacher and also, 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:11.700 obviously, I like the idea of being sort of a 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:14.599 master director or... I've always believed in 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:16.660 my heart that people just need encouragement 00:24:16.660 --> 00:24:19.400 and some instruction. Both, you know, you don't 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:21.359 want to make people feel badly about what they 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:22.819 do. You don't make them feel good about it. You 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:25.319 also want to make them realize it can be done, 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:27.339 but it takes effort. You know, and I'm sure there's 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:30.039 more to it than that, but your class probably 00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:33.180 articulates it better than that. But fantastic. 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.460 I loved your story, man. I was, I just loved 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:39.880 it. I don't know. I learned a lot and everything 00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:43.140 you said, because I'm Maybe I'm a little older 00:24:43.140 --> 00:24:46.000 than you, but anyway, I'm familiar with everybody 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.740 you're talking about in the story. And man, that's 00:24:49.740 --> 00:24:52.680 just wild stuff. I love your confidence too. 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:55.680 I love it. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. 00:24:55.700 --> 00:24:58.119 And thanks for the opportunity. Well, thank you 00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:01.359 for coming on the show, Tom, for that fantastic 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:04.680 story, wonderful story, insightful story. I do 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:06.759 want to take his class. I'd also like to thank 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:09.079 my sponsors, Sidelining Publishing, Publishers 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:12.210 of Quality Books, and laughsaver .com. Visit 00:25:12.210 --> 00:25:14.549 LaughSaver .com and record your laughter. We'll 00:25:14.549 --> 00:25:22.029 keep it for you now and forever. Alright, I'm 00:25:22.029 --> 00:25:23.750 going to end this show a little differently. 00:25:24.069 --> 00:25:26.410 I'm going to end this show with one little act 00:25:26.410 --> 00:25:30.430 of kindness by Susan Salazar. So until next time, 00:25:30.849 --> 00:25:33.069 this is Jay Reac asking you all to please stay 00:25:33.069 --> 00:25:43.579 safe out there and try not to hurt anybody. One 00:25:43.579 --> 00:25:49.680 little act of kindness can go a long, long way 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:56.160 Two little acts of kindness can brighten anyone's 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:01.339 day Three little acts of kindness can make a 00:26:01.339 --> 00:26:08.359 beautiful sound Many acts of kindness help the 00:26:08.359 --> 00:26:16.720 world go round One little loving word Can go 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:23.160 a long, long way Two little loving words Can 00:26:23.160 --> 00:26:29.619 brighten anyone's day Three little loving words 00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:36.680 Can make a beautiful sound Many loving words 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:44.779 Help the world go right One little seed zone 00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:52.200 can go a long, long way Two little seed zone 00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:59.099 can brighten anyone's day Three little seed zone 00:26:59.099 --> 00:27:07.039 can make a beautiful sound Many seed zone help 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:14.569 the world go around Three little children's laughter 00:27:14.569 --> 00:27:21.029 can go a long, long way. Two little children's 00:27:21.029 --> 00:27:26.710 laughter can brighten anyone's day. Three little 00:27:26.710 --> 00:27:32.130 children's laughter can make a beautiful sound. 00:27:32.829 --> 00:27:39.109 Many children laughing help the world go round. 00:27:41.230 --> 00:27:48.309 its own. Help the world go round. Many loving 00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:54.990 words help the world go round. And many acts 00:27:54.990 --> 00:27:59.630 of kindness help the world go round.