Notable Neighbors GRAND VIEW’S DAVID GROSS IS on a MUSICAL MISSION by Peter D

Sunday JULY22, 2012 WWW.LOHUD.COM Puzzles insidex B

Croton’s Joe Gesue helps map out NBC’s coverage of the London Games

f Olympic trivia were a medal event, Croton-on-Hudson’s Joe Gesue would bring home gold every time. I Then again, Gesue’s job depends on his expert knowledge of the world’s biggest sporting event. As executive editor of NBC Sports and Olympics, he oversees the editorial content for the network’s Olympics programs: In other words, during this year’s Summer Games, Gesue is the one in charge of 99 writers, researchers and statisticians who gather and analyze the millions of facts that viewers will hear about during the 5,500 hours of coverage that NBC plans to run across all of its television and online platforms. That means London will be the most-covered Olympics in history. By comparison, Gesue’s first telecast — Atlanta in 1996 — aired 171 hours of events. London will be his eighth Olympics, and long before that flam- ing torch enters the stadium on Friday, Ge- sue and his team will have data on every American athlete at their fingertips, as well as details about all of the top international participants and each Olympic sport, no matter how obscure (yes, even badminton). “There’s much more information we have to provide because we’re now covering everything,” says Gesue (pronounced Jesh-you). “So you have to be ready for everything.” Not to mention, he adds, “You have an event that covers 204 countries this time, al- most 11,000 athletes…and there’s 302 events. No human could possibly know everything about all of that going in. So the job of the research team, the editorial team, is to gather and synthesize as much information as possible so we can anticipate what we think is going to happen — and be ready for the surprises.” So if there’s an upset in wrestling — like at 2000’s Sydney Games when American Joe Gesue, the executive editor for NBC Olympics & Sports, points out some of the venues for the 2012 Olympics in London, from his office in Stamford, Conn. MARK VERGARI/THE JOURNAL NEWS See GESUE, Page 4B

Notable Neighbors GRAND VIEW’S DAVID GROSS IS ON A MUSICAL MISSION By Peter D. Kramer sa.org), a nonprofit with an ambitious goal: to bring mu- [email protected] sic education to “50 Schools, 10,000 Students, 5 Years.” Ten elementary schools in each of New York City’s Bass player David Gross knows what some people boroughs will be chosen to receive 20 weeks of music think when he starts talking passionately about music instruction — four periods per day, one day per week. education in the schools. This fall, it will be first-graders learning to play fluto- Do-gooder. phones, a basic instrument. Next year, when they move “But I know how important the arts are,” he says. to second grade, the program will move up with them, “Music saved my life as a child.” and they’ll learn to play the recorder. In third grade, It was a refuge from what he calls a dysfunctional more recorder. In fourth grade, keyboards. In fifth, home environment. chorus. “I could go into my room and either play or listen to The goal, Gross says, is to collect data each year to music,” he says. “This whole thing comes from my quantify music’s impact on student development — be- heart and my experience.” havior, cooperation, listening skills, test scores — as For years, his for-profit company, 144 Music and compared to those who don’t have it. Arts, based in his Grand View home, has been placing Gross is the nonprofit’s executive director. Valley musicians, dancers and actors in the New York City Cottage’s Staub — a music producer and mixer for Grand View’s David Gross and his company, 144 Music and schools as artists in residence, filling a gap left by bud- groups including Everlast, Beastie Boys and Michael Arts, places musicians, dancers and actors in the New York get cuts. By his count, 200 schools have outsourced pro- Stipe —is its chief creative officer. City schools as artists in residence, filling a gap left by grams to his firm. “Jamey and I play off each other perfectly,” Gross budget cuts. Two hundred schools have outsourced This fall, he and business partner, Jamey Staub, plan programs to his firm. CARUCHA L. MEUSE/ THE JOURNAL NEWS to launch Music and Arts USA (www.musicandartsu- See GROSS, Page 2B

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LIVING HERE Broadway producer Barbara Darwall Collins BOOKS shows off her charming Chestnut Ridge farm- Linda Fairstein’s “Night Watch” was inspired house, Section G. by case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 3B. 4B Sunday, July 22, 2012 R SUNDAY LIFE The Journal News lohud.com GESUE: Croton resident ready for anything at 2012 Games

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Rulon Gardner beat Russian Alexander Karelin, who hadn’t lost a match in 13 years — Gesue’s staff will have the winner’s biographical bullet points to the on-air host within seconds. They’ll know exactly who’s who at the opening cere- mony: During the Beijing procession in 2008, American viewers were told about the small boy waving the Chi- nese flag — a 9-year-old named Lin Hao who rescued two classmates when his school collapsed during the Joe Gesue, devastating Sichuan earthquake — because one of Ge- from sue’s researchers read about the child’s Olympic invita- Croton-on tion in a Chinese newspaper just days before the Games Hudson, is began. the And during these Games, the first amputee runner, executive Oscar Pistorius, a South African known as the “Blade editor for Runner,” is expected to compete, so NBC has an inter- NBC view with him ready to run, due to the diligence of a Olympics & Gesue staffer, who began talking to Pistorius’ manager Sports, and more than a year ago on the hunch that he’d make it to in charge of London. all the “We want to make sure (the audience) has something editorial to cheer for, someone to root for, and that’s not just nec- content for essarily an American athlete,” says Gesue. “There the 2012 could be a great story from somewhere around the Olympics in world that we want you to pay attention to.” London. Indeed, Gesue is far more than a human storage cab- MARK inet of Olympic minutiae — although his instant recall VERGARI/THE of Games history is impressive. (Did you know that if JOURNAL NEWS sprinter Kirani James wins a medal, it will be the first for Grenada?) But at heart, Gesue is a skilled storyteller — he’s been awarded nine Emmy Awards and a Peabody — JOE GESUE’S OLYMPIC NUMBERS and he’s an integral member of what he calls the “NBC army” that puts together each Olympic broadcast. Average hours of sleep Gesue gets each night Gesue helped lay the groundwork for this summer’s 5 during the Games. games years ago. Led by manager Lee Ann Gschwind, his group’s researchers traveled the world, talking to Number of times he’s visited London in the last athletes, coaches, family members and reporters from 7 15 months. other nations, compiling information in a digital data- base that runs tens of thousands of pages and can be Number of Olympics he’s covered, including five called up at a moment’s notice. That groundwork also 8 Summer Games (London, Beijing, Athens, Sydney enables those researchers to make recommendations and Atlanta) and three Winter Games (Vancouver, on which sports stars to profile, and they’re the ones Salt Lake City and Torino). who start to build relationships with athletes that could prove useful to NBC down the road. Number of staffers Gesue oversees during And when you sit down to watch host Mary Carillo’s 99 the Games, including researchers, show segment about Stonehenge on the summer solstice — as writers and statisticians in London and New York. part of her collection of features on the Olympic host country — it was Gesue’s staff who did the advance Number of countries competing in this work. They scouted locations and found interview sub- 204 year’s Olympics. jects, too, for a long-form documentary scheduled to air near the end of the Games about World War II’s Battle Number of medal events at the London of Britain. 302 Games. “It’s a constant feedback loop,” says Gesue, who works closely with the broadcast’s senior producers, di- Hours of Olympics coverage provid- rectors and hosts. “What’s happening? What do we 5,500 ed across all of NBC’s television and think is going to happen? Who’s hot? Who do we think is online platforms. going to get hot? And we try to put all that together to make a plan.” Pages of background information On this day, Gesue is in his office at NBC Sports 7,000 that Gesue’s staff will distribute to headquarters in Stamford, Conn., by 8 a.m., and he’s other NBC employees in London. bright-eyed and energetic, even though he flew in the Veteran broadcaster Bob Costas returns as the primetime night before from the Olympic swim trials in Omaha, host for NBC’s Olympics coverage. He relies greatly on Number of international athletes Neb. It’s only a 48-hour stopover though: He’s in town Executive Editor Joe Gesue of Croton-on-Hudson, whose 11,000 taking part in the Games. long enough to celebrate his 41st birthday and spend the team of researchers provide information about the Games’ Fourth of July holiday with his wife, Katie, and their many sports and athletes. BEN COHEN/NBC three children, before heading to London. Once the Games begin later this week, Gesue’s focus will be mainly on NBC’s primetime show, so he’ll be im- won in the Summer Olympics?,’ and he gives me a num- producer of the Golf Channel; and Peter Diamond, sen- mersed in swimming, gymnastics, track and field and ber off the top of his head, and there’s five minutes be- ior vice president of Olympics programming. more for up to 20 hours a day: “Some of that is probably fore I go on the air? I go with that because I know he Gesue clearly recalls his very first solo assignment self-imposed, though,” he admits. wouldn’t say it if he wasn’t sure of it.” as a 22-year-old — covering the World Cycling Champi- He’ll also be working to ensure that his squad is both But just as important, Costas says he relies on Gesue onships in Sicily — years before cell phones and the In- “proactive and reactive” when watching competitions for his journalistic perspective. When he huddles with ternet were standard tools. unfold live. (Most members of the group are freelan- colleagues about how to present an upcoming segment, “You get there and where’s the venue? I don’t know. cers, hired specifically for the Games to supplement Costas says, “I’ll value Joe’s opinion. Do you think this is Where’s the hotel? I don’t know. You have those mo- Gesue’s 10 full-time NBC staffers.) About 40 research- agood question? Is that a good question? Should I throw ments of panic, like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe they ers in London and New York view video feeds of an this in with Phelps now, or should I wait until he wins asked me to do this, because I have no idea what I’m event —sometimes two or three at the same time — and three more races?” doing,’” he laughs. “But you figure it out and it’s the edu- email nuggets of information about each match to writ- Raised in Croton and an alumnus of John F. Kennedy cation of a lifetime.” ers, statisticians, producers and announcers located at Catholic High School in Somers, Gesue has spent nearly Today, he leaves the field reporting to his staff, but various Olympic venues. his entire career at NBC Sports, rising through the he still maintains a youthful enthusiasm about the job. Then Gesue says they’ll brace themselves for the in- ranks after having been hired as an Olympic research- “A lot of times people say, ‘Oh, it’s work,’ but I can’t evitable volley of questions: “Is this the first time this er less than a year after graduating from Princeton think of something better I’d want to be doing,” he says. has happened in this country? When was the last time? University in 1993. (In between, he spent nine months Still, you might expect Gesue to take an extra-long What’s the story with this third place finisher who we as a sportswriter for The Journal News.) vacation — relaxing on a white sand beach, perhaps? — weren’t anticipating? How do you pronounce that The research position at NBC Sports is considered once the Games end on Aug. 12. Instead, he’ll remain in name?” one of the industry’s best entry-level jobs, one that has England for another week with his family: “I’ll be the Veteran broadcaster Bob Costas, who returns as produced a long line of high-level broadcast execu- tour guide.” Then it’s right back to the States to start NBC’s primetime Olympics host for the ninth time, tives. Former researchers include: Dick Ebersol, for- prepping for the Sept. 5 launch of “Football Night in calls Gesue’s team “indispensable.” And as for Gesue mer chairman of NBC Sports; Jeff Zucker, former America,” which he also co-produces. himself, Costas has complete faith in his encyclopedic president and CEO of NBCUniversal; Molly Solomon, And besides, the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Rus- knowledge: “If I say, ‘How many medals has Austria NBC Olympics coordinating producer and executive sia? It’s only 18 months away.

Michael Phelps, left, and WHAT TO WATCH AT THE LONDON Ryan Lochte compete in the OLYMPICS men's 200-meter individual medley final at the U.S. For Croton’s Joe Gesue, executive editor of NBC Sports Olympic swimming trials in and Olympics, part of the job is to help forecast memo- Omaha, Neb. Joe Gesue rable moments long before the Games begin. Here are says the Phelps-Lochte three highly anticipated events that Gesue expects “showdown” will be viewers to be talking about this summer: among the most exciting The Phelps-Lochte face-off. With 16 medals — 14 of moments of the London them gold — phenom Michael Phelps needs just three games. AP more to become the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. And teammate Ryan Lochte, with three gold medals of his own, is the swimmer with the biggest chance of stopping him. The laid-back Floridian beat Phelps at last year’s World Championships, but Phelps won three out of four events against Lochte at the Gesue says track star Yohan recent Olympic swim trials. The ultimate showdown will Blake (bottom left) is an be in London, where Gesue says the question is, “Who’s athlete to watch during the going to rule the pool?” (Swimming coverage begins London Games. After July 28.) pulling a stunning upset and beating world-record The women’s gymnastics team competition. The holder Usain Bolt twice at pressure couldn’t be more intense for the five teenagers Jamaica's Olympic trials, — Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Blake is a contender to Ross and Jordyn Wieber —who make up the latest U.S. seize the gold medal. AP dream team. “The competition from Russia and China will be very tough,” says Gesue, “but they have a chance to become the first American women’s team to win the gold medal since the Magnificent Seven in Atlanta.” (Women’s team final is July 31.) Blake versus Bolt. Jamaica’s Yohan Blake stunned Gabby Douglas (bottom track and field fans when he trounced world-record right) is a key member of holder (and training partner) Usain Bolt not once – but U.S. Olympic women’s twice — at their country’s Olympic trials. But Blake was gymnastics team. Gesue on NBC’s radar before that because Gesue’s team “knew says that the U.S. women he was an up-and-comer.” Could Blake be the one to have a great shot at unseat the World’s Fastest Man in London? (Track and capturing team gold, which field starts Aug. 3.) hasn’t happened since the Want to learn more about the Olympic athletes, or find 1996 Atlanta Games. AP out when a certain event will take place? Check out NBCOlympics.com.