night day& April 26 - May 2, 2012
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Good show 27
Worcester’s News Channel Reunites Taylor Nunez
Imagine being young, in your 20s, on the cusp of earning a bachelor’s degree, and each day walking into a news station. Try to ponder an opportunity where you try and learn new tasks, but doing so on air in front of an entire community. Think of the all the fun of working in an environment where every event, whether a massive milestone or a tiny step forward, is celebrated with Friday afternoon cocktail party in a conference room. To most college graduates, this scenario seems like a dream too good to come true. For the former members of WSMW TV-27 staff, this was their reality. This week the staff members came together to recall their golden days before they gather for a reunion on April 28 at Bucca di Beppo in Shrewsbury. WSMW originally came to life by State Mutual Insurance of Worcester and in its hay day, was the biggest television studio in the Northeast residing on 127 Beverly Rd. From 1970 until its last big layoff in June of 1984, WSMW TV-27 provided a newscast centered on the city of Worcester. These were the times before the explosion of cable television when subscribers had to pay a monthly fee in addition to a special antenna and box to receive the channel. Before WSMW, those in Worcester and central Mass. had to tune into newscasts from Boston or Providence, typically only hearing of Worcester if a disaster occurred. According to Bob Valinski, former photographer for the station, Worcester was up and coming and needed a newscast they could relate to. “Worcester was an exciting place in the early 1980s with the opening of the Centrum, the rebuilding of Mechanics Hall, First Night Worcester was started… Worcester had found its identity!” TV-27 televised most of the Celtics home games and even Holy Cross football. Worcester residents drove around the city proudly boasting the station’s slogan, “Good Show 27.”
The closing of TV-27 not only affected the Worcester area and those who turned to the station regularly, but those who worked there as well. Valinski was out of town on vacation the day the staff was notified the station was closing. Valinski describes his reaction, “My fears were what to do next with my life. I loved covering news and Worcester was my home. It was the only TV station in town, so there weren’t any other options.” Valinski admits that TV-27 had a major impact on his life, both professionally and personally – after the layoff, he moved away from his family and friends from college to continue his career. However, the insight that working at TV-27 gave him, has never left. “The opportunity at 27 did open my eyes as to how important it is for a city to have a TV identity, and I think it affects how residents view their own city since they only see the good events around the Boston area on the news.” Valinski coworker, Giana Bijou, was one of the first female engineers and was the first woman at WSMW. Bijou began working at TV-27 as a switcher in a master control, learning video tape and how to register camera during the second shift after earning an FCC 1st Class license from TV-27 alumni Pete Fasciano. Bijou pays homage to chief engineer of the station and the man that hired her, Jerry Gerrits. “He was so kind and really cared about the station and crew. He was very concerned that I would hear some bad language now and again and warned me not to be too shocked if I heard some cussing,” Bijou reminisced. Bijou became a team member her coworkers could rely on, and during the blizzard in ’78, Bijou hiked in thighdeep snow to deliver sandwiches to stranded staff members. For female engineers today, Bijou was a trailblazer, setting the bar for how women in engineering would be perceived and treated in the future. “I was an anomaly, but most of the men were very cordial and helpful and several
took me under their wing,” recalls Bijou. In addition to talents Valinski and Bijou, Chuck Fountain and Tom Saupe are two other staff members that contributed to TV-27 that went on to inspiring careers. Fountain, TV-27’s nightly news sportscaster from 1973 to 1979, became a reporter for ABC Sports in addition to doing freelance work as a newspaper and magazine journalist in New York. Today, Fountain is the published author of “Another Man’s Poison” (a biography of George Frazier, a Boston columnist and jazz critic) and a professor at Northeastern University. Saupe began his job at TV-27 after his wife was cast in a community theater production with a staff member, Tom Matzell. Starting as an unpaid member of the crew, Saupe was hired as a camera man one morning when a crew member was a no-show and ended up in the Creative Services Department writing and directing commercials for more than 10 years. After the station’s closing, Saupe taught at a local college before working at Alternatives, the nonprofit where he is currently employed. Among those journeying to the reunion will be Steve Cohn, currently WHDH’s engineer, as well as TV-27’s former sports anchor Dave Ogara. Baystate Parent’s creative director Paula Ethier will join the bunch as she also once served as Art Director for the station. As the WSMW TV-27’s gang comes together again, the city of Worcester can look back on its own memories of what once was its very own station.
APRIL 26, 2012 • WORCESTERMAG.COM
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