Foley Fails This Time

Tom Foley

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy is now the incumbent in a possible rematch with Greenwich businessman and GOP challenger Tom Foley.   Polls have indicated a virtual dead heat between the two.   Governor Malloy now has a record that many state residents see as fair game for criticism.   Tom Foley should be able to use his outsider status and Malloy's less than stellar approval ratings to his advantage.     It didn't work that way for him this week in eastern Connecticut.    

Foley saw the impending closure and 140 job losses at Fusion Paperboard in Sprague as a perfect media photo opportunity, but his attempt to point the finger of blame at Malloy administration policies was met with loud opposition by State Senator and Sprague first selectman Cathy Osten and several Fusion Paperboard employees.   Foley, clearly taken aback by the reaction, went on to blame local politicians as well.   Osten had her facts ready, and it was clear that state and local government had been on top of the situation and market forces had been the main reason for the announced plant closure.   Workers there backed her up.   The paper board business is changing and company owners have a right to make this regrettable decision, but charges of corporate greed may also be fair since the plant was still profitable.    When I discussed his impromptu twenty minute debate as I filled in for Stu Bryer on WICH AM 1310, I couldn't find one caller who felt Tom Foley prevailed with his talking points.   He'll have to do better if he wants to be the next governor.   Any more days like this may even cost him his party's primary, not to mention the gubernatorial race.

Radio Prime Time

It's been this way for decades.   "Morning drive" remains radio's prime time slot for most radio stations and their respective formats.   I remember a time when local TV stations and even most FM stations considered early morning shows such a throwaway that they sometimes barely bothered to sign on.   Now, radio tries to hold its own against a slew of local TV stations that vie for attention as early as 4:00 AM.    Who are these viewers?    At least radio reporters and entertainers only have to sound the part, but what special breed of media people get all dressed up in front of cameras at 4:00 in what's still the middle of the night?    Wasn't radio prime time early enough kicking off at 5:30?   Go back to bed!   

Morning radio can be an absolute blast even when sleep deprivation hits and I'm running on pure adrenaline.   Experience a string of sleepless nights like I have this week and it gets really old.   I'm genuinely excited to fill in on various morning radio shows, including this time around on WILI.   By day three of my insomniac state, those weird sports names get harder to spit out.  Wayne Norman has been the morning guy there for over 43 years.   How on Earth does he do it?    How did I do it for as much as four years at a clip?   During the summer, my "day guy" (as Jerry Seinfeld put it) really ends up paying for what my "night guy" fails to do right.  Honestly, I'm not taking caffeine in the evening or going out partying late.   Someone please tell my brain to stop racing at 10:00 PM!

Our Internal Border Dispute

Fence between Nogales, AZ & Nogales, Mexico

When I visited the Arizona side of the divided town of Nogales fifteen years ago, the long ugly wall on the Mexican border stood in stark contrast to the images like the Statue of Liberty that has welcomed immigrants for decades or our peaceful border with Canada.   The situation has only gotten uglier since the Mexican government's disastrous war on drug lords has seen massive corruption in what has basically become a "narco state" as America's drug habit fuels demand and our guns find their way into the hands of powerful drug cartels.   Millions of undocumented Mexicans who mostly come to make a better living have repeatedly risked everything to sneak into the U.S. to do jobs many Americans refuse to do.  Ask Alabama how well the crops got picked when they shut out Mexican workers a short while ago.

Now the face of the border crisis has changed.   Over 50,000 children fleeing horrible gang violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are exploited by human traffickers as they make the trek across Mexico and give themselves up to the U.S. Border Patrol.   What do we get from do-nothing Congressional Republicans and GOP presidential hopefuls only concerned with their political base back home?    We get outrageous temper tantrums and lawsuits by Rep. John Boehner against the President as immigration reform arrives dead on arrival in the House of Representatives.    Two years ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry felt the sting of other right wingers when he went for a more moderate approach to education for undocumented children; Now he's towing their line.   A few weeks ago, former Connecticut 2nd District Congressman Rob Simmons ratcheted up his new-found harsh conservative rhetoric by saying on WICH that our border is not secure.   Does he think we should deal with desperate Central American kids through the barrel of a gun?   Does he deny that President Obama has greatly increased border patrol agents and become known as the "deporter in chief"?    Does he dispute the record of inaction on immigration by Congress?

I'll grant you that an appearance by Obama at the border would be good optics for his administration.   A photo op might appease critics, but I doubt it would take the place of action that includes more pressure on Central American regimes.

A Bittersweet Anniversary

Today marked forty years since I first did a radio show.    I nervously covered the 4-8:30pm shift on 1220 WKBK/Keene, NH... a 1000-watt local AM in a college town.   Today I marked the anniversary by filling in 6-10am on 1400 WILI/Willimantic, CT... another 1000-watt local AM in a college town.  The celebration - or absolute amazement I'm still on the air - was somewhat muted.  News arrived that the entire air staff was let go at the legendary WDRC-FM/Hartford.   This shocker came on the day 57-year owner Buckley turned control of WDRC AM & FM to Connoisseur Media based downstate.  I know these longtime WDRC people.   While I've been the target of termination plenty of times since 1974, this corporate housecleaning shook the broadcasting community in Connecticut.    I grew up on WDRC.   I worked at WDRC longer than anywhere else in my extensive radio past.   Baby Boomers have had a special connection to "Hartford's Big D" since 1960.   While the music may not change much, the air product will be a cloned corporate presentation similar to the new owner's B103/Long Island.   Will they get away with it?   Probably, but folks in the know around here realize that this was the day the Big D died.