#nbcboston

When people ask, I always tell them I was born and raised in Holyoke. I did most of my ‘growing up’ at Fort Irwin, but I spent some of the best years of my professional life at a little place called New England Cable News. In 2004, a job running a satellite truck for that cable network moved me from California back home to New England. And the next almost 10 years were amazing.

Whether I was riding a blizzard on the Cape, running around in the grit of urban breaking news, or eventually managing the operation from an office in Newton, I loved the place with all my heart. I still do. You see, New England Cable News was a crazy idea that literally started with no money, lots of dreams, and a crew of crazily motivated people. Some of those crazily motivated people still work there today. Seriously. The place is special.

I get it; everyone thinks their station is special. I worked at WGGB and WTEN too, and while they were special places, they weren’t like NECN. NECN was literally bringing a knife to a gun fight every single day. And once in a while we even won a round or two.

NECN was, back in the day, a scrappy upstart puppy in the midst of a pack of hungry full-grown dogs, but thanks to the vision of the people who started it, and the incredible tenacity of the people who have had the privilege of working there; it not only survived, but thrived.

When Comcast came to town back in 2009 and bought out the Hearst share of the company, I stood in the newsroom with a lot of nervous colleagues and waited to see what the future held. Would this be the financial savior, or the heavy-handed ruin? In truth it was former. The upstart puppy finally had some food in its dish, and it grew strong enough to muscle its way in to the big pack, and do some of the things we only dreamed of having the resources to do in the ‘old days.’

It was under the Comcast regime that I was promoted to manage the technical operations of the organization. To this day, it’s the best opportunity I’ve ever had. I loved it. I poured my heart and soul in to it, as did so many of the people who used to, and continue to work there.  

Ted Kennedy passed away, major shootings, fires, flooding, a tornado in Springfield, and we all fought like dogs to cover it. Presidential elections, major conventions, sports teams winning championships – it went on and on. After the Bruins victory parade I remember putting my head on my desk and just falling asleep. That’s how it was; you put it all in to the work.

I won’t start calling out names, but the station is home to some of the best anchors, reporters, weather people, photographers, engineers, and technicians in the world. Its home to a hell of a lot of good people.

So today it looks as though NBC has affirmed its commitment to using the scrappy little upstart to launch its 12th owned and operated news station. Honestly it is David becoming Goliath.

I intend these thoughts as no slight to the folks at WHDH-TV who are now entering what I assume is a miserable period of uncertainty about the future of their own station. They work their tails off and they do a great job, and I’m sure their futures will be bright too. But the richness of the moment for the folks at NBC Boston is pretty special.