kept his nose to the grindstone. They lived just around the corner from us, but we didn’t see that much of them to tell the truth. He worked long hours, and she was always out with her girlfriends or taking some workshop on how to improve your vocabulary or get ahead in the career world or some such thing. One time I remember Angela called her up and she couldn’t talk because she had this wardrobe consultant there, looking over her clothes, to tell her what she should wear. “I just found out I’m a summer, and all my clothes are winters,” she told Angela. “I beg your pardon?” says Angela. She called it getting her colors done. Said it would help her in her career. All I know is, finding out she was a summer cost my son a couple hundred bucks, and that was before she even went out to buy all those new outfits. She told us on television, everything’s got to be perfect. “The camera never lies,” she said. Well I don’t know about that.
CAROL STONE
I DON’T NORMALLY WATCH daytime television of course, but I have to admit I was tuned to “Wheel of Fortune” when Suzanne called to tell us she got the job. I admit it, I think Vanna White is a real sweetheart. Not so much in the brains department, of course—not like Suzanne. But she’s got this presence that practically comes right through the screen and into your living room. Like Suzanne always said about Vanna, “She understands the camera. It’s like she was born on TV.”
“You better be tuned to Channel 37, Mom,” my little girl told me. “Because from now on, that’s my station.”
“You got the job!” I said, and then I started screaming like I’d won the “Wheel of Fortune” myself. Earl was upstairs in his den. To hear me carrying on, he must’ve thought someone had been murdered.
“I knew you’d get it,” I told Susie. “I’ve been thinking positive.” Which was the case. All that morning I was picturing her, sitting at a desk in front of a microphone, reading the news, interviewing celebrities, and so forth. Ever since she was a little girl, basically, I’ve been visualizing that scene. And now it was finally coming true.
I said she’d be needing some new clothes. We’d better make a trip over to the mall. Then her father got on the extension. We were both just so proud of her. Who wouldn’t be?
We asked her when she was due to start. You didn’t want to miss her debut, that was for sure. She explained to us that she wouldn’t be on camera right away. A person had to put in their time, getting orientated. They were planning to start phasing out the guy they had reading the news, but he had seniority. They couldn’t step on too many toes, you know? But it was only a matter of time before our Susie would be the main on-camera talent. Well, as far as her father and I were concerned, she was always the main talent. The rest of the world just took a little longer to recognize that fact, was all.
“At first I may have to do a little filing and typing,” she told us. “But that’s only temporary. I just know that once the station manager sees what I can do, he’s going to give me my big break.”
“Sure you will, honey,” Earl told her. Suzanne could always get a man to do what she wanted. No one knew that any better than her daddy. When Suzanne set her mind on something, she got it.
ED GRANT
O NE THING YOU’VE GOT to understand: This isn’t some NBC affiliate I’m running here. We’re talking local cable, broadcast range forty, fifty miles tops. Your church holding a bake sale? Senior class got a car wash going to raise money for a trip to Washington? We’ll put it on the air. This is the station to watch, if you’re interested in a public service short on how to do the Heimlich maneuver, or you want to know if school’s going to be cancelled on account of snow.
You couldn’t exactly call it a news show, what we produce here. But three times a day we broadcast what we call our community events listing.
CAROL STONE
I DON’T NORMALLY WATCH daytime television of course, but I have to admit I was tuned to “Wheel of Fortune” when Suzanne called to tell us she got the job. I admit it, I think Vanna White is a real sweetheart. Not so much in the brains department, of course—not like Suzanne. But she’s got this presence that practically comes right through the screen and into your living room. Like Suzanne always said about Vanna, “She understands the camera. It’s like she was born on TV.”
“You better be tuned to Channel 37, Mom,” my little girl told me. “Because from now on, that’s my station.”
“You got the job!” I said, and then I started screaming like I’d won the “Wheel of Fortune” myself. Earl was upstairs in his den. To hear me carrying on, he must’ve thought someone had been murdered.
“I knew you’d get it,” I told Susie. “I’ve been thinking positive.” Which was the case. All that morning I was picturing her, sitting at a desk in front of a microphone, reading the news, interviewing celebrities, and so forth. Ever since she was a little girl, basically, I’ve been visualizing that scene. And now it was finally coming true.
I said she’d be needing some new clothes. We’d better make a trip over to the mall. Then her father got on the extension. We were both just so proud of her. Who wouldn’t be?
We asked her when she was due to start. You didn’t want to miss her debut, that was for sure. She explained to us that she wouldn’t be on camera right away. A person had to put in their time, getting orientated. They were planning to start phasing out the guy they had reading the news, but he had seniority. They couldn’t step on too many toes, you know? But it was only a matter of time before our Susie would be the main on-camera talent. Well, as far as her father and I were concerned, she was always the main talent. The rest of the world just took a little longer to recognize that fact, was all.
“At first I may have to do a little filing and typing,” she told us. “But that’s only temporary. I just know that once the station manager sees what I can do, he’s going to give me my big break.”
“Sure you will, honey,” Earl told her. Suzanne could always get a man to do what she wanted. No one knew that any better than her daddy. When Suzanne set her mind on something, she got it.
ED GRANT
O NE THING YOU’VE GOT to understand: This isn’t some NBC affiliate I’m running here. We’re talking local cable, broadcast range forty, fifty miles tops. Your church holding a bake sale? Senior class got a car wash going to raise money for a trip to Washington? We’ll put it on the air. This is the station to watch, if you’re interested in a public service short on how to do the Heimlich maneuver, or you want to know if school’s going to be cancelled on account of snow.
You couldn’t exactly call it a news show, what we produce here. But three times a day we broadcast what we call our community events listing.
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