An old friend wrote…
I’m a lucky man. I’m still dear friends with the guys I met when I was a child. We all grew up together in Boardman, Ohio, the southern suburb of scenic Youngstown. Oh how I miss the smoke stacks of Youngstown Sheet & Tube belching a black canopy into the atmosphere and into my young lungs. Sweet Youngstown. Home of my birth.
Anyway… we’re scattered around the country now and we don’t see one another often enough but when you’re this close the distance doesn’t seem to matter. We’re stuck with one another. I’m grateful for that.
One of them, Dave Elder, lives in Columbus, Ohio. We e-mail each other probably every week or so. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. When we do, it’s like we’re continuing a conversation we started on our bowling team at age 11.
The other day Dave wrote and told me he could feel my animosity toward WCNC as I wrote about who owns Carolina Traveler. I think he was being subtle. And he didn’t mean it as a compliment. I haven’t talked much about my frustration with WCNC in my last year there because, well, I really don’t see the point in babbling about that stuff. A person can get stuck in the “I deserved better” crap. I have news for you… everyone deserves better. Save for maybe those self proclaimed geniuses on Wall Street who tanked our economy. They deserve a couple years (and a couple “boyfriends”) in prison.
So, yes, I’m a disappointed. I really wanted to buy CT from WCNC but that’s never going to happen. The kicker is I’m a little angry at me too. I new all along the show didn’t belong to me. Perhaps if I had put up a bigger fight when we conceived CT I could have been a part-owner and had a bigger say in what happens to it as the years passed.
But here’s the plot twist; I’m also deeply grateful to WCNC for having the courage to even try something like Carolina Traveler. You can count the TV stations on one foot that would even entertain that project. So maybe it’s a love-hate relationship. Or maybe a like-don’t like relationship. Love and hate are way too strong for this.
Bottom line? I had an amazing 11 years at CNC. It didn’t end the way I had imagined. But honestly, nothing in my life has ended the way I imagined.
So now I’m in Roanoke, Virginia, on a new adventure… and waiting for another surprise ending… MR
I did not grow up with you Mike and I do not know Mike the way Dave knows you, but I did not read animosity in your words. I read the frustration of a creative person who worked tirelessly to create something that is and always will be timeless. I also read the desire for those creative stories to be shared again and again, just as they were intended to be when created. I read the words of a person who wants those CT stories to be shared because they exemplify the people and places that make the Carolina region unlike any other in the world.
I have learned over my many years of observation that many people in positions of authority derive some twisted pleasure in suppressing or hiding objects that surpass the boundaries expected. We all know the CT videos are there. We all know the people who choose not allow them to be shown or sold. But I bet these all knowing, thinking they are smarter than the consumer folks, don’t know how many folks like myself have tuned out the station and will continue to do so.
AND now for the GOOD NEWS,, you have from CNC;;; Anna and lump. Need I say anymore?!?
Just for the record, I emailed WCNC to ask about the possibility of a Carolina Traveler DVD set being available for purchase. I have not heard back from them… yet. I still have hope. And if I do get an answer from WCNC, I will share.
Poland (Ohio) here…well, I live in Columbus (Go Bucks!) now but born & raised in Poland. I met you in Charlotte actually.
Between moving from Charlotte and settling in Columbus currently, I lived in Colorado for a few years and studied Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). One of the key principles of Ikebana is “once you finish an arrangement, it is not yours any longer”, this practice is all about attachment and not taking things personally. Once you’ve arranged the flowers you let it go, you release it as an offering. This principle struck me as a tool for you to maybe release some of the frustration surrounding the CT episodes. You created them and offered them to everyone who watched or who heard of them through friends of friends…sure, you poured your heart & soul into them but looking at the situation, you can’t take WCNC’s response as something personal towards you. Hopefully one day things will get resolved for both you and them but having no expectations may be be a greater reward for you at this point.
OR, maybe create a Facebook page, “WCNC should give Carolina Travelers to the Carolina Traveler”? Hey, it worked for Betty White. : )
Take care…sounds like you’re doing wonderful!
A couple of thoughts….
First, does your friend know you call him old? :)
Second, it’s obvious that you’re hurt/disappointed over the loss of something (CT) that was very important to you. Anger is a secondary emotion (insert psycho babble explanation here). Honestly, if you weren’t, I don’t think any of us would be here. It’s because CT was important to you that you have followers even now, a year after it ended.
I can definitely relate to the concept of being angry with oneself because you became attached to something you knew with your head wasn’t yours or wouldn’t last. I get that, oh man do I get that. But, again, it’s because you invested yourself in it that we’re all here, and that you’re remembered fondly around the Carolinas. How many other news anchors/reporters would go hang out with the ordinary people and tell their stories? And not just tell the story, but to genuinely care about the people behind the stories. My guess is you still hear from a lot of the people you featured.
Finally, I happen to think it’s pretty cool that even though you’re hurt and angered over the loss and the way it ended, you can still give credit where it’s due and not completely trash WCNC. No doubt bad decisions were made, but I for one appreciate that you’re choosing not to be all bitter all the time.
Um, yeah, I guess I had a lot of thoughts… I’m going to shut up now, but I’m glad you and Anna created Smellville for us and that you still share your hearts/thoughts/people with us.
Another victim of the smokestacks,
-Mel
I like Kristina’s response, and you are our Betty White, circle the wagons, I actually like the FB Group idea. It didn’t come off as bitter to me but I don’t know you,however bitterness is never anyone’s best feature, we love your natural, innocent, essence. Kept that. You of all people who has done so much with so little should understand this, get back to your heart. ( Yes we had a beer at lunch today) lol..U2 put it best “Walk Away,Walk Away, Walk Away, Walk Away…I Will Follow”
I thought of this post when WCNC just used some of the story you did on the Spanish Mustangs with a story about the new State Horse of SC. Its a Spanish Mustang and they showed a short clip of that story.