by Bill Evans
“I told them thank you and I’d have to get back to them. That was the end of it.” Roberts didn’t tell her that he let Barry know he was interested in talking about this possibility.
“You know you’re under contract until December 31? Did they make you an offer?”
“Not really. We didn’t talk particulars. I think he just wanted to gauge my interest.” Phil didn’t want to tip his hand regarding the dollars that were discussed.
“And what’s your interest level?”
“I told him that until I knew what we were talking about in terms, it would be hard for me to know how interested I might be,” Phil said.
“Did he talk to you about terms?”
“He casually mentioned a number in the ballpark.” Roberts sensed his boss’s dissatisfaction and that boosted his confidence. He didn’t wait for her to ask the obvious question. “Barry told me over six figures plus bonuses.”
Miller didn’t say anything. She sat there looking at her anchor wondering how she would ever get her general manager to match the CBS offer. Miller knew the answer. The general manager would ask her how she could afford to pay that kind of number when her anchor hadn’t delivered the ratings. The ownership had expected some rating improvement the last time they negotiated with Roberts.
It’s a fair question, she thought, and as much as she would like to keep him, she wasn’t sure she could justify the number without jeopardizing her own job as news director. Her strategy would be to delay doing anything. Her best play was to drag this out and hope CBS wanted the position filled so quickly they would move on to their second choice.
After several minutes passed, she finally responded. “That’s a good number. When do you have to let them know?” she asked her anchor.
“I told them I needed to talk to you first. I have a little bit of time, but they do want an answer,” Roberts said.
Sharon Miller knew there was an offer on the table. She knew Roberts had a hard time discussing this.
“Okay, Phil. Let me see what I can do. It may take me some time.”
“I’m good with that. Just know this isn’t anything but a good offer for me. If you want me to stay, the company needs to step up.” He got up out of the chair and walked to the closed door. “Sharon, I’d like to stay. We both came here to do something special. I’d like to finish that goal with you.”
“Let me see what I can do. I’ll get back to you as soon as I know something.”
Roberts left her office and Miller sat there in quiet for several more minutes before calling her general manager. His response was as expected. She called Roberts at his desk and asked him to come to her office.
“Phil, come on in.” Roberts took a seat. “Phil, I spoke to Don Tippins about your contract. He wanted me to convey to you how important you are to this station and our newsroom.”
“That’s very nice. Did he put the station’s pocketbook behind his words?” Roberts joked. “So where are we, Sharon?”
“Phil, I want you to stay. Everyone wants you to stay.”
“And Sharon, I want to stay. But you have to help me make that decision by making me an offer that really tells me you want me to stay.”
“We’re prepared to offer you a 5 percent increase per year, with a new three-year contract. We also want to make you executive editor of the news. This will give you a title that you’ll be able to use from here on out in your career.”
“I don’t care about any title. I want to know this station values my contributions and pays me what I deserve.”
“Phil, in fairness, this contract will put you in the top three of the highest paid anchors in the market. Your ratings still have us as number two in the market. Don and corporate feel this is a very good offer.”
“Sharon, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. This really is much lower than I thought the station would offer. I told you what CBS was offering me. What do you want me to do with this offer?”
“Honestly, I want you to accept the offer and stay here at ABC. Stay here with me and let’s finish what we started.”
“If that offer is the best offer you have, then I can’t.” Phil got up out of his chair and looked Sharon right in the eyes. “This is very disappointing.”
“Phil, wait a minute. If you don’t accept our offer, then you’re done here.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re through as of right now. If you’re telling me that you are not going to accept our offer, then your last day on the air was last night. I will have the business office box up your desk area and we’ll get it to you.”
“Sharon, I’m still under contract. Did you forget that small detail?”
“No, I didn’t forget. Your contract will be honored until the end of the year. You just don’t have to come into work. You will be paid through the end of the year. Understand that you cannot work anywhere else until your contract has been fulfilled.”
“Sharon, are you serious? You’re not going to let me on the air? You’re going to pay me not to work?”
“Extremely serious, Phil. If you walk out that door without agreeing to a new contract with us, then you are done as of right now. You can simply go home. We would rather pay you not to be on the air for the next two months and a week than to have you on the air, promoting your presence, just so you can go across the street to CBS. It’s up to you. I want you to stay, but you need to agree to a new contract today.”
Not believing what he heard, Phil shook his head and walked out the door.
***
Barry Burke was busy at CBS planning out his “sweep pieces.” These were the stories the newsroom would create for major rating periods. They were usually along the sensational side. Stations would often sit on reporting important community stories in non-sweep months, if it was possible, just so they could do the story for a ratings month. No one would admit this because that would be against their “journalistic integrity.” Those two words made Barry laugh. It wasn’t that the words lost their importance to him. It was more that they were thrown around carelessly, and usually by people in the newsroom who hadn’t earned the right to be called news people.
He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with the November sweeps. They started in a couple of weeks. Barry knew he couldn’t keep dragging out the double murder unless there was a break in the case. Maybe the toxicology report, once it was released, would have something to report about. What about the rest of the time? It was time for one of his brainstorming sessions with his reporters. Barry set the meeting up to happen in two days.
Barry invited his news talent, news producers, Rick Hansen in promotions, and Rick’s team. He invited Lisa but knew she was probably too busy to participate. Lisa didn’t believe in “sweep pieces.” She believed that if you were going to win in local news you needed to do the stories whenever they happened. Barry and Lisa fought about this every rating period. She felt it irresponsible that a news department would sit on a big news story. Yet she understood the financial value of a hot story during sweeps. Barry would argue that the sweep pieces needed more time, needed a graphics touch, and needed promotion. Lisa wondered aloud, “Why don’t we approach every day like it’s a rating period? Then we would win all the time.”
“We do win all the time,” Barry responded.
David Pedderman from sales would definitely be at the meeting. Sales wouldn’t miss an opportunity to try and get some positive business stories in the mix. Just as important, he wanted to make sure news wasn’t going to do anything that might hurt the advertising climate. That happened earlier in the year when the news department decided to go behind the scenes of restaurant health department grades. David and his sales team lost two restaurant advertisers after the station reported their letter grade on the air. He couldn’t afford for that to happen again. Revenue, no matter how small, was still revenue.
There were a couple of managers in the station Barry would avoid telling about the meeting. In particular, Doug
, the chief engineer, would not be invited. Doug wanted his input heard on every subject. He thought he would be a better news director, a better sales manager, and of course, a better general manager. All everyone else wanted from Doug was his department to fix the equipment and keep it in tip-top shape. Sometimes that was lost on the chief engineer.
The purpose of the news department’s brainstorming sessions was to get ideas on the table and see what could be developed. Five ideas would be perfect. One idea a week, starting with the week before the rating period started. That meant Barry and his team didn’t have much time for their first story.
One story Barry was working on was an old favorite he had used in every market he’d been in: panhandling. There were people panhandling on a daily basis on busy corners and at stop lights. These people would literally stand in the small islands of left-hand turn lanes in order to ask for money from motorists. Barry had always thought this was very dangerous, that someone could easily be struck by a car. That was one part of the story. The real story wasn’t about traffic safety. This story would be about who these people were and why they did this.
On his route to work, he had noticed the same person, day after day, working one intersection. Sometimes the sign he held up said, “WILL WORK FOR FOOD. GOD BLESS.” One sign said, “FAMILY STRANDED. NEED MONEY. PLEASE HELP.” Then he saw a third sign. This one had a hand-drawn American flag. “VETERAN HOMELESS. GOD BLESS.”
Barry wanted to know his story. How much money did someone like this person make? Why did the Santa Barbara police allow this to occur on a daily basis? Station after station, market after market, it always ended the same.
Barry knew there was more than enough to do a two- or three-part series on the topic. Multiple-part stories were nice during sweeps because they could take up a good portion of the week.
Once Barry explained his idea to the group, everyone jumped on board. Barry was eager to hear more ideas. “Let’s move on. Who else has an idea?”
Carlos was quick to jump in. “I’m hearing rumblings about a pyramid scheme starting up and some high-level, local business people are involved. I’d like to look into this and see where it goes.”
Pedderman was cautious about this one. “Before we do anything with this one, let’s make sure it’s a real story first. The last thing we need to do is piss off any of our clients.”
Barry was fully aware of the line between news and sales. When Barry started out, there was so much money coming in no one cared if an advertiser got pissed and pulled off the station. There would be a new account to replace it before the commercials stopped. That wasn’t the case anymore. Pressure was being put on more and more newsrooms. That’s why Barry Burke laughed at those two words, “journalistic integrity.” News and sales revenue was no longer separate but tied together, and that jeopardized the newsroom sometimes. That pissed Barry off.
“Look into it, Carlos, and let me know what you come up with. Let’s first find out if there is anything to this story.” Barry looked around the room. “What else?” he asked.
“What about seeing if we could get inside Oprah’s house? Maybe get an actual sit-down interview with her. She lives here now, so maybe she would be open to it.”
“That would be big if she would do it,” commented Billie, the main anchor. “Do you have anyone you can approach? If you go to her people, they’ll tell you no.”
“I’m actually working on an inside contact,” the intern now on the assignment desk—Barry’s lover—answered.
“That would be terrific if you could pull it off. Go ahead and pursue it and let’s see where it goes.”
The meeting lasted a couple of hours but had to break up so the news team could get their evening shows produced and on the air. Barry was happy with the afternoon’s strategy session. He wondered how long it would take before the first person was at his door. As his thought finished, there was a knock. Barry looked up to see his rookie reporter, John Rankin, standing in the doorway.
“I’d like to do the panhandling story.” John had learned quickly that the way to get ahead in the newsroom was to be aggressive and passionate. You didn’t wait for someone to come to you.
Barry was impressed with the reporter newbie. He liked the aggressiveness that he was displaying. John had done a good job running down some stuff on the Steve and Jesse story.
“John, I’m not sure. It might be too early to turn you out on a story like this. This one is going to take some time and patience to develop. You still don’t have any experience.” Barry was purposely being tough on John.
“I can do this one. I want to do this one. Let me show you I’m ready.”
Those were the words the news director wanted to hear. “Okay, it’s yours. Get Carlos to help you on this one. Use Tommy as your cameraman. They both have the experience and can be a great asset to help you. And besides, it was Carlos’s idea,” Barry reminded John.
John was excited to get the green light but not excited to have to get Carlos involved. He wanted this story all to himself, but he wasn’t going to voice his disappointment with his boss.
“Perfect. Thanks, boss.” John started to run away.
“Hey,” Barry called after his reporter. “I still need you to work on the murder, too. We’re going to need follow-up on and we need to be ready in case anything comes out of the full toxicology report.”
“Yes, sir. I got it covered for you.” John left the doorway and headed back to his desk. Barry was sure he was three inches taller.
Billie walked in, “So, how’d your lunch with Phil go?”
“It was good. Have you talked to him?” Barry was hoping he might have a quick indication as to what Phil might be thinking.
“No, but his sister told me that he has already talked to his news director. That’s a good sign.” Billie thought it would be great if Phil Roberts came over to CBS. They would work well together, she thought.
***
John, Carlos, and Tommy spent a couple of days mapping out their strategy for the panhandling story. They were beginning to think they were on to something. Barry thought that might happen. He had experienced the same thing in other markets. It was time to fill their news director in and get the go-ahead to take the story to the next level.
“Barry, we think it’s time we put a camera on our panhandling subjects.” Carlos was as serious as ever. He always tried to display intensity when it came to his investigative pieces. Everyone thought he took himself way too seriously, but Carlos was growing into a pretty good reporter, so the kidding had backed off.
“Subjects, as in more than one?” Barry asked.
“We have three that we know for sure and possibly as many as five,” John added.
Carlos referred to his notes. “We’ve followed the main guy that you turned us on to. He parks his car a couple of blocks from his intersection. We watched him get out his supplies and then walk over to his spot.”
“Supplies?” Barry asked.
“He’s got his signs, torn clothes, and ragged headband. It looks like it’s all part of his costume,” Carlos said.
“This sounds like the last time I did this story. So what’s the deal with the other people?” Barry asked.
“Not quite sure. We want to put a camera on these people and tail them for a couple of days. Can we get your permission? It might mean some overtime,” Carlos said.
John was not happy that Carlos was commanding the conversation.
“Yeah, let’s do this. I think you’ll be surprised as to what you might turn up. I’ll get the team to cover your daily stories.”
“Thanks, boss.” Carlos, John, and Tommy left the office satisfied that they got what they came for. “Tommy, we need to make sure we do this right and not tip our hand until we’re ready to confront them. We’re going to need to use your car.”
“Why my car? Why not yours?” the chief photographer asked.
“First, because I have a little two-seat sports car and you and the equipment woul
d never fit into it. You, on the other hand, have a van. We can’t use the station cars because of the decals,” Tommy said.
“Okay, but the station is paying for the gas.” Tommy wasn’t really upset. He knew this was part of the deal.
“Use my car. I’m so new that no one knows me.” John was trying so hard to be a part of the reporting team. He wanted to be taken seriously and he wanted Carlos to respect him. Carlos was making that hard.
Barry earmarked the panhandling story to kick off his sweep pieces. They only had a week to put it together.
The reporters and photographer observed their subject standing in traffic for four hours. It was amazing to them how many people not only gave him money but actually went out of their way to give him money.
“We need to write down a few of the license plates of the people giving money so we can go back to them and ask for a reaction once we break this story,” Tommy said.
“That’s a great idea.” Carlos immediately started writing down license plates. John followed Carlos’s lead.
Eleven to one were the high-traffic times on this left turn island. The lunch traffic was heavy due to all the fast food places located after the turn. Another person was back at the location at four and usually worked the island until six thirty or seven. The third person was part of the original guy’s team. There was also a woman involved. She would work the island or the other intersection, depending on where the others were. All four people would meet back at the main guy’s car after each stint of collecting. The investigation turned up evidence that showed the main guy would collect the money from the other three.
The first thing they needed to do was run the plate of the car their subject drove to work. Carlos had a contact at the DMV that would check these things for him. It would cost him a dinner and some good inside gossip. The car came back to a William Spencer with an address that was more than forty-five minutes outside of Santa Barbara.
“That isn’t where this car is headed,” John stated as Carlos shared the information he just got over his cell phone.
“Follow it. Let’s see where it goes,” Carlos said..
