back in?

[jaded2]

It was great to see so many people who had left the biz... and finally found happiness (in another thread.) Just curious...anyone leave to do something else, and then return to the news biz... was it difficult to do so, worth it?

[The Mockingbird]

Going back into the business is like getting back with the boyfriend that gives you black eyes when you don't clean the trailer.

[TopRamen]

Originally posted by Mockingbird Peeps:
Going back into the business is like getting back with the boyfriend that gives you black eyes when you don't clean the trailer.Sheesh. They're mobile homes, not trailers. Haven't enough viewers explained that to you by now?

[gdiamante]

Heh heh heh. What a long strange road it's been.

I'm back in. Officially, completely. News Director.

After ELEVEN years out!

It is a really long strange story and if you really want it I'll post it...but...

I've always said TV news must be practiced by those who cannot help themselves. And I'm one of those people.

This is a tiny little station. I'm lucky to have everything working at the same time. I do actually have photographers...but they don't always all have cameras! Still...there is an energy and a spirit here that I haven't seen in so many years.

I don't know how long this ride is going to last. But I do know that for the first time in a very long time, I look forward to getting up and going to work in the morning.

[Sir Dropham Pants]

I'd be interested in reading the whole long story of Ms. Diamante's return to the biz.

[Clubbeat]

Originally posted by gdiamante:
Heh heh heh. What a long strange road it's been.

I'm back in. Officially, completely. News Director.

After ELEVEN years out!

It is a really long strange story and if you really want it I'll post it...but...

I've always said TV news must be practiced by those who cannot help themselves. And I'm one of those people.

This is a tiny little station. I'm lucky to have everything working at the same time. I do actually have photographers...but they don't always all have cameras! Still...there is an energy and a spirit here that I haven't seen in so many years.

I don't know how long this ride is going to last. But I do know that for the first time in a very long time, I look forward to getting up and going to work in the morning.I wrestle with going back...especially since I want to be someone's ND before the Lord calls me home.

My wife thnks I'm nuts. She says I've got a good job, ttraining future journalists, I still get to create news magazine programs and have much more flexibility now than working in a newsroom.

So why am I considering a move back? just simply miss it. It's all that I ever really done (short a stint managing a restuarant and working in retail).

There is something about the buzz of a newsroom...scanners blaring, people working together (most of the time) to crank out a product everyday that you hope at least some people are watching.

Just can't get it out of my blood I guess. (although I will stay put for now until I see an opportunity that looks right)

[The Mockingbird]

Originally posted by TopRamen:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Mockingbird Peeps:
Going back into the business is like getting back with the boyfriend that gives you black eyes when you don't clean the trailer.Sheesh. They're mobile homes, not trailers. Haven't enough viewers explained that to you by now?</font>[/QUOTE]Haha! I know which Assistant News Director You're quoting.

Seriously, though: they're trailers.

[TopRamen]

No, no asst. ND here... just every person who has ever said "It sounded like a freight train" who called the station.

[gdiamante]

Originally posted by Sir Dropham Pants:
I'd be interested in reading the whole long story of Ms. Diamante's return to the biz.:) You asked for it. I left the business in 1996, when my newsroom was shut down one week before the station went into bankruptcy. I'd been acting ND there for the better part of a year, having originally been hired as EP.

(And I'll note here that I'd been in the business as an assignment editor/producer for ten years by that point.)

I did a little bit of freelance producing while I was looking, but didn't find much that wouldn't require another move. I wasn't willing to make my husband move again, so I went to work for a broadcast software company in our area instead.

I was one of their trainers, and got to travel quite a bit. Really, it was the best darned job I ever had (with the best pay), and helped me move into marketing. Unfortunately the dotcom bust put the company into a tailspin, and I wound up leaving to work for a trade show exhibit company.

That job was OK for a while, but didn't offer any benefits. When my husband lost his job after 9/11 (he was one of the Disney casualties), I started looking for a job with benefits.

That brought me to a radio station here in my town. I started in sales (most work for the least pay I've ever done, by the way). And I spent a lot of time talking with the sales manager about how we really needed to do local news instead of the subscription service we were using. But that wasn't the &lt;insert major radio company name here&gt; way.

I eventually became marketing and operations director. Which meant that I was the one who cleaned the kitchen, maintained the van and worked all the weekend van runs.

The radio station sales manager wound up as GM/COO of the local startup TV station. Last fall, the radio station offered me a pay cut to do more work, so I called him and let him know I was looking. He offered me the post of marketing/public affairs director; not really what I wanted (and he knew that quite well) but what he had available and still more money than the radio station was offering.

So I made the jump. And spent a lot of time hanging about the newsroom, which at the time was being run by the CEO.

Last month, the GM and CEO decided the CEO needed to spend his time on CEO stuff...and they moved me over to the ND's office.

It's been quite a ride so far. There's a lot that really hasn't changed; producing and writing are still what they always were...perhaps a bit easier thanks to some of the technology. Today I found myself in the position of writing nearly all of the newscast because we were down two people. I called my husband on the way home from the station, and he asked me, "Did you have fun?"

Oh, yes. Most fun I've had in an AGE.

Like I said, TV news has to be practiced by those of us who cannot help ourselves.

[s'news]

That's a great story!

[Diggin' Bear]

G Unit!

Welcome back to the fold. What a great story - enjoy what you're doing and have a terrific time!

[WalMartNation]

That is a good story, good to hear someone is back in and enjoying it.

[Signature on File]

Things have changed in the last few years....can you shoot, edit, and report? If so you are hired.

[RollTide98]

gdiamante: I'm curious... Where are you now working?

[gdiamante]

Originally posted by RollTide98:
gdiamante: I'm curious... Where are you now working?Check your pms.

[fairskies]

I left for two years and just got back in. I liked having holidays off and so forth, but there was just something that I missed. I think it was the pace of the day. I always found myself looking at my watch in my "corporate" job...and I don't do that in my news job. It's not the perfect life, but it is what it is!