Saturday, May 21, 2011

Old Farts Club




I recently got together with a few good folks with who I share a common history of Phoenix television news from the “good old days”.  So, yes we could all be considered old farts, even though most of us are still working in the media in some form or another.  You didn’t get into TV news in the 70’s for the money, you did it for the adrenaline rush, to be where things were happening, to get the story on the air before the other guy, to drive a marked news car down a sidewalk and think it was perfectly okay or just because it was really cool to be on TV.  You did it because you loved it.  This little group witnessed a lot of history, saw Arizona's capitol change from a cow town controlled by the Phoenix 40 to what it is today.  And we tell stories, a lot of stories, mostly on each other, most punctuated with profanity and plenty of laughter, so there are lots of stories.  Yes, Bruce your name did come up a time or two. The majority of them we have all heard before, but the stories in themselves aren’t the reason we get together.  It’s to spend a little time with a small band of brothers and sisters who shared a unique and powerful experience in our lives, to be able to remember, yeah, we did that, we saw that and we lived to tell about it and we know it will always connect us. It was an experience that someone who wasn’t in that particular media circle will never fully understand.  To the people sitting at the next table, and I pity them, I’m sure we sounded like a bunch of old fogies just recalling our glory days, but they were very glorious days indeed.  I can’t wait until we have the next unofficial meeting of the Old Farts Club - Phoenix TV Chapter.

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