William O'shaughnessy New Rochelle Business Week 2008
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WWHITNEYMEDIA O/.}-- 233 l008 DC r -, p 2: Ib DAVID O'SHAUGHNESSY Senior Vice President, Administration Hon. Kevin Martin September 24, 2008 Chairman Federal Communications Commission FILED!ACCEPTED 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 OCT 152008 Federal Communications Commission Dear Mr. Chairman: Office 01 the Secretary You have expressed an interest in "coaxing" broadcasters back toward "localism." We're all for the concept ... but we're hopeful this commendable notion can be accomplished without burdening broadcasters with a lot of redundant paperwork. On this subject, I thought you and your associates might be interested in a talk my father, William O'Shaughnessy, gave just last week before a business group here in New Rochelle, our City of License in Westchester County, outside New York City. As I read - and heard - it, I wondered how much more local a broadcaster can get. While it is undeniably true that many/most radio stations have fallen to absentee owners and speculators (my dad likes to say they are run by "market managers" who operate out of airport lounges with Palm Pilots and Blackberries reporting to corporate masters a whole continent away) there are still abroad in the land some very worthy locally-owned and locally-operated independent community stations like WVOX and WVIP. I'm also sending a copy of a very unique promotional piece called "Our Ratings Book" which further makes the case that some stations need little encouragement to reach your commendable goal. Yours, No. of Copies roo'd._Q~._.._ V~ List ABCDE David O'Shaughnessy Whitney Media [email protected] ;rrWVOXI: Broadcasting First Amendment Advocacy Publishing 046" '" Communication Strategies Government Relations One Broadcast Forum' New Rochelle' New York 10801 • Phone: 914-636-1460' Fax: 914-636-2900' Web: wvox.com WI-IITN YJ'v1EDIA WILLIAM O'SHAUGHNESSY President &. Editorial Director "The Future is Here ... Behold the Future!" Remarks of William O'Shaughnessy New Rochelle Business Week 2008 The Avalon East New Rochelle, NY September 15, 2008 Hon. Nita Low.ID/:: This is a real honor for me. Never before in the twenty years I have been your congressperson have I been asked to be the "warm-up band" for the great Bill O'Shaughnessy. I have to tell you it's an impossible task because Bill O'Shaughnessy is New Rochelle. He has been involved in New Rochelle, loving New Rochelle, committed to New Rochelle ... for as long as I can remember. So I did want to thank him for all he has done to create such excitement. It also takes a team to do all this and I'm glad to see that most of city hall and all the business leaders are here to hear Bill O'Shaughnessy's keynote remarks. He is my friend ... --7 "Business Week 2008" cont'd John Spicer: (President & CEO, Sound Shore Medical Center) Being in New Rocheile for twenty years '" it is very exciting for me too. It is a positive reflection on the city to see all of you here today. I've been given the responsibility of introducing someone who really doesn't need an introduction. When I first came to New Rochelle from NYU Medical Center ... any number of people told me: "John ... if you want to have half a chance when you get IJp there ... you better get to know Bill O'Shaughnessy and you better like him l " And in the iast 20 years, Bill has taken me - and the medical centel' - under his wing and heiped guide us through so many different issues and through his willingness to give us his time - and in some cases, if we can get his knock-out wife Nancy engaged - even his money - to keep the hospital moving forward. He has done all this and so much more for the city. All of you know that Bill plays a variety of different roles in our community. For the City of New Rochelie itself - he has watched carefully and encouraged growth and development. He's not afraid to comment on how he sees us moving. In many ways, he serves as the "conscience of the community." He certainly is its historian, with his elegant prose and his books, because he can bring you back to how we got to where we are. But most importantly, Bill is this city's cheerleader. He gives us the confidence, which I think this whole country needs right now. He gives us the confidence that we have the wherewithal and the potential to move forward directly ... that we can develop into one of the key cities in the New York metropolitan area. We are seeing that happen right now. But through all the good times and the bad ... Bill has served as the cheerleader for this town. He has been out there pushing development and teiling people we have one of the most beautiful shorelines in the region ... that we have a downtown that has a lot of potential and a disparate, multi cultural suburban community and school district second to none. He has been saying that for more than twenty years and now I think we're right about there, where he always said we should be and where we deserve to be. It is my pleasure to introduce New Rochelle's historian ... cheerleader ... and one of the best creative minds in the area: Bill O'Shaughnessy! -~ .. 2 Bro3dcasting First Amendment Advocacy Publishing Communication Strategies Government Relations WYIP One Broadcast Forum' New Rochelle' New Yark 10801 • Phone: 914-636-1460 • Fax: 914-636-2900 • Web: wvox.com "Business Week 2008" cont'd William O'Shaughnessv: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm grateful for your invitation ... and for John Spicer's friendship of so many years. His introductions are getting better. He used to introduce me as a "self-made man ... through marriage!" (laughter) And it's true! (applause) In the moments you've given to me this morning I do want to invoke a little history ... and perhaps do a little reminiscing. I'm not an historian. I'll leave that to Tom Hoctor and Barbara Davis. But -the portfolio you"ve allowed me to carry has enabled me to observe some wonderful and colorful characters who have populated this city over the years. I'll get to that in a moment. I'm certainly glad to be here and away from the harsh, unpleasant news of the day. I've listened to WVOX and WVIP and I've read five newspapers this morning. It's like "Roller Derby Day" on Wall Street. And I don't think anyone knows what the answer is ... except to do what Mrs. Lowey suggested. You do the best you can on your own block, in your own community and in your own neighborhood. You build it up, as Mr. Cuomo instructs us always. You try to make it stronger, better ... even sweeter ... than it was. That's all we can do. That's everything we can do. And I hate to get Biblical at this hour of the morning, but we could even resort to the ancient wisdom and "Love Our Neighbor ..." You know the rest. The image of New Rochelle as a popular and agreeable residential haven has endured over the years burnished by the presence of Norman Rockwell, Lou Gehrig, Whitney Young, James Montgomery Flagg, the big band crooner David Allyn, Hugh Price, Teresa Brewer, Eddie Foy, E.L. Doctorow, Cynthia Ozick, the 50th governor of New York Malcolm Wilson, Frankie Frisch, Katherine and Ken Chenault, and, for awhile, the dazzling Maria Cuomo, now Mrs. Kenneth Cole, Frances Sternhagen, Robert Merrill, Lou Boccardi, Kenneth Raske, Mariano Rivera, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and those endearing characters Laura and Rob Petry played by Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It is also home, one must acknowledge, to that great Shakespearean actor Vincent Pastore who, as you recall, was that memorable figure "Big Pussy" in "The Sopranos." I would call him a "thespian" ... but I don't want any problems. (laughter) 3 Broadcasting First Amendment Advocacy 'Publishing WVIP Communication Strategies Government Relations One Broadcast Forum' New Rochelle' New Yark 10801 • Phone: 914-636-1460 • Fax: 914-636-2900 • Web: wvox.com "Business Week 2008" cont'd So much for the glamorous image this suburban city has enjoyed over the years in the tabloids and among celebrity journalists. You however deal with reality ... with the sinew and heart and soul and pulse of the city. And that's what I'd like to talk about today. They - the civic boosters over the years - used to call this "A City Alive!" Remember that campaign? But it was only a flicker, an empty slogan ... until Mr. Cappelli invested his money and his vision. And there were others - like the Avalon folks. You know of our stations' high regard for shy, modest, retiring Mr. Cappelli, and for his vision and dynamism ... as well as my admiration for him personally. I'm glad to note that the Chamber has always stood in his corner and encouraged this extraordinary developer's Herculean and really, I think, quite noble efforts to re-invigorate our city. I am pleased, and tremendously proud, to have been the permittee with a fiduciary relationship to your community radio stations for almost 40 years and I am glad to be here today high among the clouds with a spectacular view of the entire metropolitan area as you begin Business Week here in our home heath. I surely want to tell you of my admiration for Noam Bramson, the' brilliant, young mayor who serves us so well. Also for our terrific city manager Chuck Strome, my former colleague on the airwaves.