They are just bits of paper, yellow, blue, white. But they can turn you from an outsider to an insider, ushering you past the gatekeepers and the barriers and into the main event. If you don't have
media credentials,
you're just another lousy spectator standing out in the cold. My collection of credentials goes back to my first days in radio news and almost up until today. They are a memory of days gone by, and events it has been my privilege to view from close up. Check out a few of my favorites below:
NH Press Credential 1974
As a Dartmouth freshman, I went to work as a news reporter for the college radio station, WDCR, in the fall of 1974. Soon afterward I obtained my New Hampshire press ID.
I was green,
I was clueless, and boy did I think I was something special! Armed with a tape recorder and confidence built almost entirely on ignorance, I was determined to become the next Edward R. Murrow.
Presidential Motorcade 1975
On a brilliant autumn day, President Gerald Ford came to New Hampshire to campaign for the GOP Senate candidate, and incidentally, kick off his own campaign in the upcoming presidential primary. It was the first time I ever saw a president in person, and the only time I found myself on
the working end of a Secret Service agent!
Awaiting the President's arrival in Dublin, I stepped over a crowd barrier to interview Yankee Almanac publisher Judson Hale, who was preparing to make a presentation to President Ford. No one seemed to notice until the motorcade was moments away. Suddenly a Secret Service agent came up on each side of me, hands went under each elbow, and as if by magic I was whisked 30 feet to the other side of the barrier. One of the smoothest moves I ever saw.
NH Primary 1976
Covering the NH Presidential Primary in 1976, I met everyone who ran for president. I shook hands with Jimmy Carter, gazed into his blue eyes, and questioned him about zero based budgeting. ("Rick, that's a good queestion."); I sat in a sedan at 6 AM on a frigid February morning with Indiana Senator Birch Bayh, three Secret Service agents, and a shotgun strapped to the floor;
I called Ronald Reagan the afternoon of the primary, and had my call returned personally by the candidate,
though unfortunately I wasn't there to take it! Most of all, I experienced the adrenaline rush of covering part of a presidential election, a thrill I've never really gotten over.
Democratic National Convention 1976
I wrangled credentials to the Democratic and Republican Convention from curmudgeonly Mike Michaelson at the Senate Radio-TV gallery and then had the nerve to ask the Dartmouth President John Kemeny to help finance the trip. He generously agreed, and with Mark Tomizawa and two other Dartmouth student reporters I headed off to the Democratic convention at Madison Square Garden in NY. We wowed the big-time news media by sending scripts back to the college radio station via modemÉat the awesome speed of 150 baud. I met Richard Daley and Averell Hariman. I conducted a late night interview with David Brinkley in which he said I asked him
the stupidest
question he ever heard of
On another evening I stood watching a Tom Brokaw floor interview long enough that my dad saw me on TV and took a picture. My quasi- media career was on the rise!
Republican National Convention 1976
At the GOP convention, we saw Ronald Reagan lose by a hair, but marked him down as someone to watch for the future. A procedural motion provided the key battleground, and President Ford won the nomination because he won the vote on Resolution 16 C. We made
tasteless jokes about Bob Dole,
interviewed Nelson Rockefeller on the floor of Kemper Arenax, and sweltered in 110-degree heat. I thought it was heaven. The night Ford beat Reagan in the floor fight over Resolution 16 C (and seemingly ended Reagan's political career) was one of the most exciting of my life.
Presidential Inauguration
It was only fitting that after covering the campaign down to the bitter end, I was able to get my hands on press credentials to the Inaugural. Even better Mark Tomizawa, Kevin Koloff, Bob Baum and I got tickets to the inaugural balls. I took a young lady I met the day before.
Note: a ticket to an
inaugural ball is a great pick-up tool.
The polka we twirled that night to the FIfth Dimension wasn't the only fancy stepping I did on the trip, because this was the weekend of the infamous "dancing on the car incident" that will undoubtedly prevent me from ever running for president. My lips, however, are sealed.
WJOB Radio-1978
My first full time job in radio was at WJOB in Hammond Indiana, a gritty industrial town sandwiched between Gary Indiana and Chicago Illinois. My job was to cover everything that happened in Merriville, Schererville, Dyer, and St. John. Unfortunately that wasn't much. After two months on this gig I became the only person in the history of broadcasting to be
fired for working too much
and NOT asking to be paid for it. Cross my heart and hope to die! Soon after I got a job a WLTH in Gary, better known at the time as the murder capitol of the US. Boy were my parents pleased.
White House-1979
OK, this isn't a press credential, but I couldn't resist. While at WLTH, I finagled an invitation to a "Local Media News Conference" at the White House. Along with about 25 other local reporters from around the country, I spent two days getting
pedantic
briefings from people who considered themselves to be extremely important,
such as National Security adviser Zbignew Brezhinski. The whole thing was capped off with a 30-minute presidential news conference with the President in the cabinet room. President Carter was both gracious and loquacious, but you know, I don't think he remembered me!
Senate Radio-TV Gallery 1979
I had moved to Chicago and was producing the Dave Baum show for WIND radio when we took a two-day trip to Washington to produce a live remote. My chief memory of this trip is the moment that the august talk show host made his grand entrance in DC. Having arrived early, I was chatting with a friend, John Bussey (now Deputy Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal) in the suite at the hotel. Dave strode in, reached up to his head, peeled off his toupee , which made the appropriate sucking sound, and
threw the rug on the rug
(much to John's astonishment), before spitting out these immortal words: "What a dump." Suffice to say that John quickly took off while I got on the phone to look for better lodgings.
World Series 83
I attended numerous sports events while I worked as a sports producer for WLS-TV in Chicago, the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the All-Star game among others. At the Baltimore-Philadelphia World Series I was acting as a field producer for then Chicago White Sox manager Tony LaRussa, who attended the games and provided commentary afterward for the late news. Watching games with Tony was uncanny, since he could almost invariably
predict what would happen two pitches ahead.
After the games, tensions were high as various stations competed for narrow satellite windows. As Tony exceeded his time limit while waxing eloquent on Game 5, a producer from a Baltimore station threatened to pull the plug. Our shouting escalated, and I readied to physically restrain him in order to let Tony complete his thoughts. But he wrapped it up in the nick of time. Later Tony told me he was watching the argument out of the corner of his eye, and was ready to join me in a fist fight if need be. That's what friends are for!
New Hampshire Primary 1988
So may credentials, so little time. I chose to end this exhibit 14 years after it begins, back in New Hampshire, which I was covering as a producer for Channel 7 in Boston. This was the last of so many political campaigns I coveredÉfrom sheriffÕs races to presidential primaries. I would leave the news business later that year. I had the flu and a 100 degree fever much of the week leading up to the primary, but I didn't want to go home for a second.
The most enduring memory I take from this particular campaign is
a George Bush visit to a truck stop,
just showing he was a regular guy. The VP took a trailer truck out for a casual spin in the parking lot--with a secret service car in front and behind. Meantime the national news media detoured through the gift shop and cleared it out of hats. When Bush stopped to talk to the media a few minutes later, he found himself talking to a sea of "Shit Happens" caps. The man who wanted to be the "education president" could barely keep from laughing out loud.
What a long strange trip its been.