The LuLac Edition #3464, April 8th, 2017
MEDIA MATTERS
The late John Perry (Photo: Carl Abraham WDAU Tribute page)
I first met Perry at King’s College in Wilkes Barre when I was involved in a fundraiser for the visually handicapped at WRKC FM 88.5 in Wilkes Barre. My friend Pat Fadden and I were going to stay on the air for 22 hours raising money for the blind. Someone made WDAU aware of it and that’s how I met John Perry.
Now Perry at the time was a weekday reporter but also anchored the weekend news. I remember Pat and I being interviewed by Perry as well as his ace cameraman Bob Dennis. Perry inquired about us, our efforts and took a tour of the station.
Perry was a frequent visitor to the Coal Street tennis courts taking on partners half his age. Through the years Perry stayed at WDAU, later WYOU and worked behind the scenes in the later stage of his broadcast career. He moved to Florida where he worked as an assistant administrator in a hospital.
Recently he was in a skilled nursing facility where he died at the age of 92. Perry was one of the pioneers of TV broadcasting. On his anchoring duties, he rarely cracked a smile until he either went to break or was signing off.
I remember him as the consummate pro who was part of the media landscape for decades. While people under 45 might not remember him, his death was noted by various local and broadcast outlets mainly because John Perry was a well remembered building block of what broadcast news became here in this corner of the world.
CORBETT”S NEWEST ENDEAVOR
Steve Corbett (Photo: Face book)
Lest you think former WILK Broadcast journalist Steve Corbett was disappearing into that good night, here’s some news. Corbett messaged me on Face book and advised he is shopping a project with an agent to get his book about the 2016 campaign off the ground. Working furiously and putting the final touches on his work entitled “"When Hillary's President" (Confessions of an Outlaw Journalist)” Corbett reports he’s well and still in the fight.
When I heard Corbett was writing a book, I was relieved and here’s why. Since the Election, we’ve had National and International Media coming here and trying to perform an autopsy on why Clinton lost here. Some of the stories carried in that wide ranging media make this region look pretty backward. It’s all well and good to get the opinions of regular folks but I’m thinking this is overkill. How many times do you need to go to a diner jawing with people who speak in fantastical generalities to understand what happened here.
My opinion has been stated many times about why Trump won. It will be refreshing to get Corbett’s thoughts out there because they certainly will be a tad different then what the news outlets of the nation and the world reported. (As an aside, if I’m an investor and want to create jobs around here, after seeing some of these stories, The Lu and The Lac would be the last places I’d want to come).
Anyway, more news as I get it from Steve Corbett on this fascinating effort. I thought you’d be interested.
GOOD BYE VALERIE
Valerie Tysanner (Photo: WBRE TV)
Your blg editor and Valerie on her first day on Pa Live. (Photo: Pa Live)
A fond farewell to WBRE TV’s Valerie Tysanner. Valerie is moving to Texas with her fiancé and I wish her the best. It was a pleasure having Valerie call on me during the political year of 2016 and afterwards. Plus I loved our pre air conversations as we sat on the set waiting to go on during Pa Live.
Valerie had a very good impact on the quality of local news. Her personal life was changed here when she got engaged late last year.
A fellow political junkie, Valerie’s work and presence will be missed. We wish her the very best in the Lone Star State. The IQ of the state just went up 5 points because of her and Tom’s arrival there!
THE VOICE’S NEW LOOK
I have to tell you I pretty much stopped reading a local newspaper about 4 years ago. Once in a while I’d grab a copy of The Citizen’s Voice at Abe’s when I’d visit but most of the news I’d get on line. Mrs. LuLac’s late mother would read the paper cover to cover and even after her death we kept getting it delivered. It was a habit.
The tabloid format was easy to handle and my wife did those word puzzles. I’d take a quick look at the obits, check the baseball standings and grab the Supermarket flyers. But for me that was about it.
Recently Shamrock Communication announced the paper would be a broadsheet. I had seen this coming because for a few years The Sunday Voice was in that format.
There are many people, long time subscribers who don’t like the change. They’ve said so in the newspaper and in other quarters.
The parent company said the change was made to provide greater access from the region for more stories. Yeah, more fillers from the other papers.
Look, I understand newspapers want to maximize content with the least manpower. That’s been going on for years. But please, let’s not wrap this change in the cloak of “we’re giving you more” when it is obvious we’re getting less.
Maybe Shamrock figured if Luzerne County fell for Trump, we’d fall for this.
LIVERPOOL LEGENDS ON THE WAY
Edd Raineri, host of “The Beatledd Fab Four Hour” on WRKC-FM, in conjunction with LOUISE HARRISON, sister of the late GEORGE HARRISON of THE BEATLES, present:
LIVERPOOL LEGENDS
Friday, MAY 26th, 8 PM
The F.M. Kirby Center
Liverpool Legends are the COMPLETE BEATLES EXPERIENCE! These incredibly talented musicians and actors are handpicked by Louise Harrison, sister of the late George Harrison. This is their first visit to NE PA.The band performs songs spanning the entire career of The Beatles and on through their solo years. With precise attention to every musical detail, along with costume changes, vintage instruments and special effects, Liverpool Legends will make you feel like you are watching the real thing!
Liverpool Legends has performed at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA; Busch Stadium in St. Louis; Carnegie Hall in NYC; and the Cavern Club in Liverpool. They recently performed before a sold-out crowd of over 16,000 at Arena Ciudad de Mexico. Again!
They’ve performed with Denny Laine (Wings); former Beatle, Pete Best, and the Boston Pops. They’ve appeared on The Travel Channel’s “Beatlemania Britain” and headlined at “International Beatles Week” in Liverpool, England.
Also, nationally known comedian/impressionist, Jeff DeHart, will be coming in from NYC and taking the stage as “ED SULLIVAN”. A very good friend of fellow comedian, Bob Saget, Jeff DeHart is hilarious!
Tickets on sale at the Kirby box office; online at kirbycenter.org and charge by phone at 570-826-1100.
posted by David Yonki @ 5:13 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Yonki ... Yonki ... Yonki
First off - Valerie Tysanner. Top notch TV personality. WBRE is losing a very classy and professional news person.
2nd - With the advent of the Broad sheet for the CV, more for the public? Nahh, it's all about saving a buck. The rest of their papers are all broadsheet, so now that the CV follows suit, all they have to do is change one or 2 pages and the whole paper can be delivered to all their other paper districts. Scranton, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre. They are all the same paper with one or two different local pages for each area.
Corbett messaged you on Facebook? How does someone without a Facebook page send a message. Just asking because I got rid of mine, but would love to message friends.
Yonk, I'm sure you didn't miss the irony that in this edition, you tout the talents of Valerie and at the same time display an old ad from Channel 22, a station she appeared on that only featured men in the news department.
Corbett messaged you on Facebook? How does someone without a Facebook page send a message. Just asking because I got rid of mine, but would love to message friends.
IN RESPONSE
Corbett has a personal page.
If you want message friends, just put them in your friends search to pull them up and hit message on the right side of their profile page. You needn't put it on their page.
Yonk, I'm sure you didn't miss the irony that in this edition, you tout the talents of Valerie and at the same time display an old ad from Channel 22, a station she appeared on that only featured men in the news department.
IN RESPONSE
I did not miss the irony, just wanted to give a shout out to Valerie sans history lesson. But when I was pulling that photo, I thought, yep, the times have changed.
For the better.
I was fortunate to be able to keep in touch with John Perry over the years. We were friends for a long time. And, for a while, I was John Perry once a year! The original owners of WDAU TV had an interesting perk for employees. Each year you received a letter during the month of your Birthday which entitled you to a free dinner and show at the old Mount Airy Lodge. John got the letter but never wanted to go. So he'd give his letter to me for my wife and I to enjoy an evening out (in addition to the one I received for my own Birthday in September).Earlier when I was only part time at WDAU and served as New Director of WILK Radio I'd play my audio tapes of various interviews for John so he could get additional information on various stories. I called him from time to time when he moved to Florida and enjoyed a dinner with him a few times when he returned to the area. I spoke with him last on or near his 91st Birthday in 2016. He told me of some health problems that had him feeling down a bit. But we joked and enjoyed the conversation. When I was unable to reach him after several attempts this year I turned to a nephew of his in Wilkes-Barre who told me John's health was very bad and directed me to another nephew who was with him in Florida. He told me John was bedridden and unable to move but promised to read my emails to him. I included well wishes from many area fans and former co-workers and his nephew told me John smiled when he read the emails for him. It was that same nephew who called me on March 31st to tell me of John's passing. He was one of our area's "First generation" of television newspeople. I entered the field at the tail end of that period and was fortunate to be able to learn from several of those "old school journalists." By the way thought you didn't see any women in the particular ad you displayed, there were some great one around and I must remind you WDAU was owned and operated by the Megargee sisters...the only TV station in the nation run by a group of women.
From wyou-tv this is the noon newscene in high-definition tuesday-afternoon august 4,2015.
wyou-tv the morning-newscene weekday's from 4:30am to 7:00am on wyou-tv 22 cbs scranton/wilkes-barre/hazleton/williamsport pa.
Wish we could use a guy like john-perry again on wyou-tv newscene-22 @ 6:00 pm 7:00 pm & 11:00 pm in the year 2020 that will be a fine site.
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