Acknowledgments

Most of the people I should thank are those who helped me learn my profession along the way—producers, editors, directors, and camera, sound, and light artists. If any of you read this, please know I’m grateful.

Specifically for this book, special thanks to a few individuals who helped keep it contemporary: News Directors Angie Kucharski of KCNC-TV, Byron Grandy of KMGH-TV, and Dick Kelsey of KNRC Radio, correspondent Lee Frank of CBS Radio News, Managing Editor Dave Green of KMGH-TV, reporter Cheryl Preheim of KUSA-TV, and producer/reporter Chris Taylor of KWGN-TV and KOA Radio. Also, thanks to Brent Green for invaluable ideas and to technical genius Phil Lauter, who taught me the techniques I needed to scan photos and artwork before publication … and then when I got it all wrong, taught me again.

And the whole idea of the book—how to get started, how to get it done—is thanks to a couple of deans from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado: Steve Jones and Meg Moritz.

As much as anything, I owe a huge dose of gratitude to ABC News, past and present. ABC News past opened the door to a life of learning and adventure, enduring my shortcomings, and encouraging my attributes. ABC News present opened the door to this book, allowing me to use scripts from stories that are, for now and evermore, the property of the network. In the process of evaluating the manuscript for this purpose, Kerry Marash, Vice President of Editorial Quality for ABC News, took the trouble to read the whole thing, for which I owe her a particular note of thanks, for she already has her college degree and probably thought textbooks were only a part of her past. ABC News didn’t have to bestow upon me ownership of my scripts; my compensation came in countless other forms.

Thanks to Molly Taylor and Michael Kish at Allyn and Bacon, who kept me organized and on track, as well as thanks to production editor Won Jang and the especially capable and careful eye of copyeditor Karen McClure. Otherwise, this book might never have reached you, and if it did, without these professionals it might have come with faulty punctuation and on a million random scraps of paper.

And many thanks to the following reviewers for their time and input: Don A. Grady, Elon University; Peter Hunn, Oswego State University; William L. Knowles, The University of Montana; Gary W. Larson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Sam Lovato, University of Southern Colorado; Thomas J. McHugh, Luzerne County Community College; George M. Plasketes, Auburn University; Jeffrey Porche, Sam Houston State University; James E. Reppert, Southern Arkansas University; Keith Swezey, University of Central Oklahoma, Doug Underwood, Central Missouri State University; and A. Randall Wenner, Syracuse University.

Finally, but most importantly, my family’s sometimes involuntary contributions were critical. In their younger years, my sons Jason and Alex grew up with an often-absent dad. And that meant that my wife Carol had to be a single mother. If she hadn’t tolerated my news career—my myopic attitudes, the unpredictable absences, the mortal dangers—I couldn’t have had it as long I did, and collected the experiences that distinguish this book.

I don’t have it any more, which is good for Carol, but also good for me. There’s not a single experience I would trade, but just as surely, I cherish the merit of mid-life change. That is the first lesson in this book. Maybe it ought to be the last.

Greg Dobbs
July 2004
Evergreen, Colorado