Cleveland Regional Chapter Serving Bloomington, Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Indiana; Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Lima, Mansfield, Toledo, Youngstown, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania President's Message Greeting & Salutations Fellow NATAS Members, est wishes for the New Year, and if you haven't already done so -- be sure to renew your membership Btoday on-line or via the mail. I hope you entered the Emmy® Awards be- fore last Saturday's deadline so you will have a chance for your work to be recognized for excellence. What a year it was in the broadcast business. Never before have we seen such an explosion of technology and innovation in one year’s time. With that said, I urge you to click on the link to the national website to hear about all the excitement generated over the addition of a new category for broadband and other digi- tal content and programming created for distribution via alterna- tive media. This is a pivotal time in the broadcast industry and the Emmy® committee and board are giving careful consideration to additional new categories for next year that will embrace the Winter 2006 Winter ever changing paradigm. This year the board of governors and officers have put in place some challenging initiatives as an ongoing effort to give you more for your NATAS membership and additional resources to benefit you in your career. First off, the date for the Emmy® Awards Gala is September 9th at LaCentre in Westlake, Ohio, just minutes from downtown. The venue is spectacular and this prom- ises to be a night to remember. In addition, the activities commit- tee has a great line-up of events scheduled throughout the year. You will be seeing announcements about these in the near fu- ture. Last, but certainly not least, a concentrated effort has been initiated to establish liaisons at all the member organizations throughout the chapter. Look for the “Emmy® Road Show” com- ing to your market with a chance to meet some of your fellow peers and gain some valuable insight into the Emmy® process and future plans of the chapter. As always, your feedback and input is deeply appreciated. If you have a desire to be part of the chapter’s activities, there are many committees which would welcome your involvement. Again, Best Wishes for the New Year and good luck as you continue to strive for excellence in news, programming, and pro- motions. I can’t wait to see what this year brings us! Welcome From Your Editor ere we go again! Your friendly Cleveland Regional Chapter of NATAS is launching another transfor- mational effort behind what some wags might think Hwill be just another newsletter picking up where the old NATAS News faded to black. But I have a different concept for a more frequent, timely and dynamic interac- tive publication that will reflect the broader scope of our three state region. I’m new at being a newsletter editor (well, I did edit a church Bud Ford bulletin years ago and I have a faint memory of editing wire ser- Newsletter Editor vice copy in the old rip and read news days). That's why I’ll need lots of help from those of you interested in reporting what’s hap- pening in all our markets. You can help make this a more vital newsletter by making a one-shot contribution, or offering to be an ongoing reporter of the television scene in your market, or for just your station, production company or school. Your comments, criticisms, suggestions and opinions will be heartily welcomed. Just send up a flare by phone: 216-767-0331 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Oh, and if you're looking for a volunteer editor’s job, don’t hesitate to make us an offer we can’t refuse. As the chapter’s PR/Website Chair, I’m Newsletter Editor de facto, but only by default. I’d like that to be Editor “pro-tem” if somebody will step up and take on the responsibility. We’re listening. 45/49 Hosts Big Guy From Big Easy hat Big Guy is Stephen Tyler — a native New Orleanian and Hurricane Katrina evacuee. When not fleeing Category 5 hurricanes, he’s a producer and the Director of Project Development at WYES in New Orleans, the twelfth oldest PBS T station in America – a station that’s entertained, informed and educated viewers since 1957. WYES is located in the hardest hit Lakeview section of New Orleans, and so the story of Stephen’s odyssey from Big Easy to Northeast Ohio is a fascinating one. Tyler, his wife and three children evacuated New Orleans late in the afternoon on Sunday, August 28th, about twelve hours before Katrina hit. The Tyler family managed to make the sixty miles to Hammond, Louisiana, where for a week they shared a house with four other families without electricity or hot water. They were rescued by Stephen’s sister-in-law who invited them to come up to Munroe Falls, Ohio, to stay at her home. The Tylers have been there ever since, and the kids – 13, 10 & 5 — are enrolled in the Stow/ Munroe Falls schools. Fortunately, Tyler has remained employed by WYES even though the station had to lay off about 21 of the 51 who were on staff when Katrina destroyed the station. This was made possible through the generosity of Trina Cutter and the great staff of WNEO and WEAO in Kent, who opened their hearts and their facility to Stephen by providing office space for him to continue his work for WYES through the wonders of cell phones and the internet The ground floor offices and studios of WYES were submerged under six feet of water and only the second floor edit suites and master control went unscathed. Some recent master tapes and raw footage were destroyed, but many of the older shows had been transferred to DVD and survived up- stairs. The entire first floor has to be gutted, and station officials are meeting with architects to decide on a rebuilding plan. More- over, Katrina trashed one of their 53-foot mobile units, but the second truck survived and is bringing in much-needed revenue covering NBA New Orleans Hornets and Southeastern Confer- ence Football and Basketball games. The station broadcast a feed from WLPB in Baton Rouge for a couple of months after getting the transmitter up and running again, and finally got their own signal back on the air just two weeks ago. Stephen thinks he may be the only employee working for the station who is not in New Orleans. Randall Feldman, Presi- dent and General Manager of WYES, was headquartered at the PBS station in Houston, TX until recently. Currently, the sta- tion is working out of rented offices from a TV production com- pany in suburban Metairie. Stephen has learned that his fellow staffers are working sporadic hours in very cramped conditions. A capital campaign to build a new facility on the Campus of the University of New Orleans has been put on hold for now, and the station will be rebuilt with funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Treasury at its current site on the cam- pus of Delgado Community College. Stephen Tyler is seen here with Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) in front of the White House following a “Rebuild Levees, Rebuild Lives” rally for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast that was held in Decem- ber, 2005. After graduating from Tulane University in 1977, Tyler was an in- dependent producer and filmmaker. He was he boom operator on Steven Soderbergh’s debut feature “Sex, Lies and Videotape.” In 1994, Tyler, still a freelancer, worked with the late television broadcasting legend Brandon Tartikoff who became his friend and mentor. Brandon was living in New Orleans at the time, caring for a daughter who was recuperating from a serious accident. Tyler and Tartikoff developed a pilot for a proposed weekly series titled “Under New Manage- ment,” to be produced at WYES for PBS. Ultimately, the series was not picked up, but Stephen fondly remembers Brandon’s genius that was matched only by his magnificent generosity. Stephen Tyler is best known for his documentary “He Must Have Something,” about former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy. After using WYES as his de facto home base as an independent producer for some fifteen years, Tyler joined the staff in January, 2002. Like most folks at PBS stations, he wears many hats. For a couple of years he was the contract services producer for YES Productions, a “for profit” arm of the station. He directed and edited the last eight signature documentaries under the umbrella title “… That Was.” The most recent, entitled “The Nightlife That Was,” won the New Orleans Press Club’s award for Best Documentary. Last year, Tyler concentrated on project development, with an em- phasis on creating and finding funding for national programs. Currently in development are documentaries on Billy Graham, The Big Brothers/ Big Sisters program, a new series with Chef Paul Prudhomme, a personal investment show entitled “Money Matrix” and a proposed series on knowing your legal rights. Stephen thinks the later series will be the shows you’ll need to see so you don’t end up on “Cops!” Stephen Tyler’s long term employment with WYES will be directly related to the success of the projects he’s developing, so he’ll welcome any hot national underwriting leads – feel free to send those leads to him at your earliest convenience.