John and I met about 12 years ago when we were paired together at the Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Classic in Greenville, North Carolina. Needless to say, I forced John to “spill the stories.” And there are plenty that are funny and poignant. John and his wife Ann are two of the most enjoyable dinner guests we’ve ever had.

John has always been kind and open to me with his knowledge and experiences.  He recently shared with me — and some of you — his personal thoughts on Tim Russert after Tim’s death last year.

John is always instrumental in helping young TV news folk make the grade. He became a professor at Duke and Brigham Young over the past few years since his retirement. In fact, he is still in contact with a couple of students he mentored at Duke who are now in local TV news.

We caught up with John and Ann in Tucson at the Ara Parseghian Celebrity Golf Event. And no surprise to me, John is working on a couple of new projects.

One that is in the works is with North Carolina Public Television that will explore the history of Beach Music in the Carolinas and how it evolved through racism and other factors of last century. I told him when the show is finished to get me the links to post here. 

I can’t wait to hear the reaction from John’s overseas colleagues when they hear him discussing at length shagging.  Like some of you right now who have not lived in the South, John will not be talking about the kind of shagging popularized by Mike Meyers in the Austin Powers movies.  The shag, down South anyway, is a dance.

But John has also produced and narrated a video for the Durham Nativity School in Durham, North Carolina. You can see it here. Once you get to the page, scroll down to the photo of the boys with drums.

 Doug Bradford was a former TV journalist at KLAS-TV-8. He actually moved from news just before I came to Las Vegas, so I only knew Doug for his work on the PR side. But he was one of the well-respected ones here and nationally. He is one of the top government Public Relations Specialists.  

 He was the former Director of Communications for both the City of Las Vegas and Clark County. While working in those two government positions, Doug created programs that are still in use today. His “Media Guidelines for High-Profile Criminal Cases” has been adopted by the Nevada Judicial Court System.

 I’ve seen the whole program. It’s extensive and deep. For any municipality that needs to update its court or just governmental procedures, it would be well-worth reading this.  Here’s his website.

 In addition, Doug used his news skills to become a successful real estate agent here in Las Vegas, having sold more than $3 million in property in his first three years in business. He’s now at Realty One.

Life on the “streets” aint all that bad. I say just take the aggressiveness that you learned in TV news and apply it in whichever field you choose.

Nice article, and some great thoughts there, John.

My website and my radio show will become my versions of Gorilla Journalism. It’s nice not being under the constant shadow of management telling you what to say and when to say it. Certainly, the “security” of TV was nice, but that is all relative. The business has never really been secure on a personal level and that always kept people motivated. Nothing wrong with that, we all knew that was the nature of the biz. What is happening now is nuts. We have been giving viewers reasons to turn away from us for years, now with the economy and the sinking ratings, the face of journalism will change forever.

“Protect yourself at all times”. That’s usually the last thing a boxing refaree says to the boxers as they get set for the opening bell. Use that motto in TV news. Always have a plan B. Management is inconsistant and usually reward their favorites, over the most successful. They also tend to live by the idea that “power is more important than success”. If you are willing to bow to every whim, you may do well, but you give up a lot. For many of us, the longer you’re in the business the tougher it is to be submissive to management. After a while the Kool-aid doesn’t taste so good, expecially at stations with a long history of failure.

TV News will find it very hard to downsize fast enough to survive as we know it, in this tough economy. Dinosaur? Perhaps it’s too early to use that word, but the internet is getting more attention because it is immediate, grass roots, user friendly and it CONNECTS WITH VIEWERS, on a level that TV news can only hope for. TV news has never been “real”. Very few anchors can look “real” while reading a teleprompter and the phrasing and attitude of TV news is still so old and stale that there is an automatic barrier between the anchor and the viewer. On the rare times that that barrier is removed, look for management to step in and take action because they have now lost control of content, and they certainly cannot trust a little ol’ anchor to know what he/she’s doing. I know why my kids don’t watch TV news, nothing about it is real and it does not come close to connecting with them.

I’ve rambled, but learn to enjoy life on the streets, and don’t look back. But, if you do want to get back into the biz, think FREELANCE. That is the present at many stations and will probably be the wave of the future. Pay me to read, connect, and have fun. Don’t need the bennies, don’t need the 401k plan….but I will be real. Protect yourselves at all times!

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 30, 2009) – Deep Throat in the movie version of “All The President’s Men” told Woodward and Bernstein, “Follow the money.” Ironically, the real Deep Throat – Mark Felt – never said that. The line was written by screenwriter William Goldman.

Despite the line being Hollywood fiction, it still made sense to me – especially when covering politics or crime. Money, as we heard in the musical Cabaret, makes the world go round.

As a result, I was always drawn to financial and consumer news.

That’s one of the reasons in February I studied and passed the Nevada Insurance License test. It’s only been a month since I received my license, so I’m in the process of working with some investment and insurance companies. This post will show you my plan. See if it’s something like that might work for you.

The first thing you should do is call one of the insurance schools in your area. I used Kaplan and was very pleased. I took the five-day course. On that Friday, I passed the Kaplan required test and then the next day, a Saturday, I passed the state test.

It wasn’t easy. It required some studying and plenty of concentration in the classes. Fortunately, I had plenty of experience with insurance.

But it wasn’t difficult either. What made it easy for me was to dedicate a whole week to the course and completing all the requirements.

Any questions, just respond in the comment section here or at JohnDalyInsurance.

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 30, 2009) – Why not? Think of all those folks losing their jobs in newspapers, radio, and television.

The economy is changing and so is the media. Old line newspapers are either closing or collapsing into websites – even though they haven’t figured out how to monetize that part of their business. And TV stations are jettisoning reporters and anchors like they were dead weight on a sinking ship.

Because of technology, we are getting our news and information in very different ways. The major news organizations – and many journalists – have not heeded those warnings. In fact, those clarion calls seemed further away until the economic crisis hit leading to a massive drop in ad revenues.

Sadly, there are many talented people sitting on the sidelines. These are folks who know how to write, research, and communicate in many ways with a wide audience – something many businesses would love to do.

More importantly, news folks work on tight deadlines. They have to deliver everyday or once an hour. That was the trouble I had in business was the long lag time. It got you antsy. For employers hiring news folks, it’s a welcome surprise to see someone who knows how to work constantly and efficiently. They know how to get it done now.

So, why not create a website that might offer help, encouragement, and direction to journalists who are either out of jobs or wanting to change careers. I did it and so have many others.

You’ll hear from people I know.

Ron Futrell, my sports guy at KTNV, is now a marketing consultant for an investment firm while also the creator of a great website called LocalsLoveVegas.

Doug Bradford, a former TV journalist at KLAS-TV, is one of the top PR specialists in the country. His business models are still in use by many departments in Clark County, Nevada. In addition, Doug is a successful real estate agent.

Another post-news success story is another good friend Michael Geeser, also from KTNV and KLAS. “Geese” is the chief spokesperson and lobbyists for AAA of Nevada and Northern California. In addition, he has a successful production company called Poppy Productions.

Besides hearing from folks like that, I will show you some good business opportunities. For instance, I have a column on getting into the insurance business and also starting your own internet studio. I also have information on a new e-commerce technology – the reverse auction.

I need your input. So, if you’re out of a job in the news business and you need some help or you just want to vent, feel free. If you’re out of the news business and you have some advice, offer it as well. If you’re in the business and you still like it, we want to hear from you also.

To post a column here, write to me at info@johndaly.tv