WHY DON'T THEY TALK ABOUT THIS ON CAREER DAY?

SPRING BREAK HAS BEGUN... BUT THIS YEAR'S PARTIERS WILL HAVE TO WATCH HOW MUCH SKIN THEY EXPOSE.
UNDER A NEW ANTI-NUDITY BAN IN EFFECT ALONG DAYTONA BEACH, ONE-FOURTH OF THE BOSOM AND ONE-THIRD OF THE BUTTOCKS MUST BE COVERED.

Certainly it must be someone's job to measure...

HUH?

The TV station that employed one of the owners of the nightclub that burned in Providence, RI killing 98 (or more) people has now hired a PR firm to distance itself from its reporter. Although last week the the reporter/owner and photographer were there "on assignment" now the station says the reporter/owner's shift ended at 6:30pm. "Where he went after that was not (station)'s business," a station spokewoman now says.

Let's forget for a moment about that whole "serve the public interest" thing... or journalistic ethics.. or how absolutely hypocritical it is for a new organization to hire a PR person to lie for them. Just consider this: when was the last time you took a photog and station equipment out on a Friday night to shoot for fun? I'm trying to imagine the conversation:

Reporter: What are you doing tonight?

Photog: No plans.

Reporter: You feel like doing shots?

Photog: Um, sure.. sounds like fun.

Reporter: Great. Grab your camera and meet me at Club BigLie.. we'll shoot some b-roll of people dancing.

Photog: Awesome. I'll grab my station issued tripod as well. It'll be a blast.

Reporter: I know. We should do this every weekend.

TWO COOL LITTLE DUDES

I recently signed up to be a Big Brother. It's something I've been thinking about doing for many years - just always had a reason not to. To make up for lost time, I decided to take on twins. They're 7.

So picture this: they fight over which one gets to carry my cell phone on his belt (eventhough I have two phones) and which one gets to carry the car key in his pocket. Of all the things we do, the things they love most are grocery shopping, helping me wash the car, sweeping the pool and swimming - anything they can do to integrate themselves into my life. They have a cabinet in the kitchen for their "food" (candy and cereal) and a drawer in the guest room for their "clothes" (bathing suits).

Now think about this: They were two out of 112 boys waiting for Big Brothers in this county. One of the reasons I picked them - is the one year anniversary of being placed on the waiting list was quickly approaching. Girls get matched up immediately. There are simply no men volunteers. Maybe they don't know (I didn't) that you can be a big brother for just one hour a week by visiting a child at his school at lunch - or to help him with reading. Maybe women don't know they can be a Big Sister to a boy who needs some attention. I'm told our situation here isn't unique.

I'm starting to think about ways to change that. I'm open to any ideas..

And...

Amid all the far more important things going on in the world - our newsroom begins construction of a new news set this week. In the meantime, we're doing our newscasts from the newsroom. That's dangerous considering the things that often are said and done in a newsroom. My boss has adopted a "God help the first person who I see or hear inappropriately on the air" stance. I give it two days.

All these much needed changes come on the heels (pardon the TV-speak) of recently improved ratings. We're in the middle of weeding out some less than talented "talent" and management has been holding focus groups like crazy. The last ones told them to get rid of the pre-1980s look we debuted in 1995. I hope the most recent ones don't say "ditch the new guy."

This will be the first time this station has had a professional company build a real news set. It should rival what you'd see anywhere. Another step closer to the 21st century.