The LuLac Edition #1135, Mar. 30th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: STEVE CORBETT MAKING A POINT TO THIS BLOGGER, AND THE PCN LOGO.

PCN AIRS GUBERNATORIAL FORUM

Six gubernatorial candidates will converge of the campus of Harrisburg Area Community College for a forum to discuss making state government more accountable and transparent. LIVE coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31, followed by a special LIVE PCN Call-In program on Election 2010. Gubernatorial Candidates forum, co-sponsored by the Committee of Seventy, Common Cause, Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) and the PA League of Women Voters Expected to attend: Democratic candidates - Joe Hoeffel, Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner and Anthony Williams along with Republican candidates - Tom Corbett and Sam Rohrer. Moderated by John Baer, political columnist, Philadelphia Daily News, LIVE coverage begins at 7:00 p.m.
Re-airs Thursday, April 1 at 9:00 a.m. PCN will host a LIVE Call-In about Election 2010 following the conclusion of the forum. Viewers can join in the discussion by dialing toll-free at 1-877-PA6-5001. Scheduled guests will include Ray Zaborney of State Street Strategies and Mark Singel of The Winter Group. For more information about this program as well as a list of channel designations, visit pcntv.com. PCN is a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization created and supported by cable television companies. PCN receives no state or federal funding. Network programming is distributed on more than 150 cable systems in Pennsylvania serving more than 10 million Pennsylvanians in 3.3 million homes.

COMCAST DROPS PCN

I understand Comcast Cable has dropped PCN from its rotation. This is pretty bad since PCN focuses in on statewide issues and programming. If you live in the Comcast service area and don’t get PCN, here’s a link to complain.
http://www.onlinecomcast.com/customer-service.aspx. Call the installation number, it’ll torq them off.

CORBETT NUMBER 1

Steve Corbett won an AP Award for the number 1 Talk Program in this size market. Here’s a reprint of his column from the WILK website. Pay special attention to the Larry and Bernie portion of it.
Nursing a glass of cheap red wine, I shared a banquet table at the Holiday Inn in Grantville Saturday night with Sue Henry, Nancy Kman and others. Representing WILK News Radio at the Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association awards dinner, my colleagues and I had a chance to have a drink and a laugh and a few words about what we do every day and why we do it.We do a lot, but mostly we talk. And we urge you to talk, to find your voice and use it.WILK received seven awards Saturday night - six second places and one first.I received a first place plaque that the AP presented for the best news talk show in the state. Nancy picked up a second place for “The Morning News with Nancy and Kevin,” the show she co-hosts with Kevin Lynn.Had the judges permitted us to enter three shows, I believe Sue Henry would have received an award for her talk show as well, as she did last year.Acknowledgement for success feels good. But, like I said this morning when I spoke with Nancy on the air, without listeners and talkers, no rewards would have been forthcoming. Without people like you, nobody would need people like us.More people like to listen than talk, especially to breaking news or commentary about the mostly local and regional events that shape their lives – talk they will not hear anywhere else. But I like it best when the people respond. I like it best when the people call and talk. That’s when I feel the true power of the people. That’s when we’re at our peak. That’s when news talk tells the world that what we have to say matters.Our numbers and ratings at WILK prove that people are listening. But I argue that the official ratings don’t even come close to the true numbers of listeners reflected. I believe that countless uncounted people listen every day on our AM and FM signals. I simply base my impression on the increasing number of people who talk to me on the street, in supermarkets and wherever else I go. My motto, “You better listen!” has become a battle cry that’s been picked up by men, women and even children throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. For that I am very proud.My most recent highpoint came a few weeks ago when a woman pushing a sleeping 11-week-old stopped me by the vegetable aisle in a Wilkes-Barre supermarket and asked if I would pose with “Raymond.” I lovingly put my arm around his plastic seat, whispered “You better listen” to the infant and smiled for the camera.Weeks before that, in a nearby aisle, a young brother and sister asked for my autograph. The children and I talked about the importance of expressing yourself. We talked about telling the truth and shared a few moments as friends.A few weeks later, two other children stopped me to shake hands. We, too, talked briefly about the importance of talking with each other. Meeting new people and learning and sharing are helpful at any age, I said. The kids enthusiastically agreed.At one point Saturday night, the voice of Larry from Berwick echoed in my mind. He had called “Corbett” last Wednesday to rail against “queers” and oppose gay marriage. I had asked Larry why he would use such a hurtful term about so many people he didn’t know.Larry was in no mood to negotiate.On Thursday, Bernie from Wilkes-Barre called the show to say that he had heard Larry and felt bad because Larry’s slur made him relive being taunted when he was young by people who also didn’t know him but called him “queer” anyway. Bernie is a good man, a concerned citizen with a caring heart and a sense of humor. But despite his strength, I sensed his voice crack briefly as he relived the moments of his youth when strangers lashed out and hurt him deeply.On Friday, Larry was back on the air. He, too, had heard Bernie and wanted to say he was sorry. Life’s a struggle for Larry, too, and he didn’t want people to think he was a bad person. Larry said that he used to be fun and that people would have liked going out with him before his legs and feet gave out and he had to sit home alone all day with his thoughts and frustrations that made him want to explode.Larry said he felt better after he apologized.I hoped that Bernie did, too.WILK news talk radio made all these encounters possible. And, these are the moments that mean as much to me as any moment in my decades-long career in journalism.Thank you for talking.Thank you for listening.Thank you for being there.