I told youse there was controversy a-brewing!...here's my take:
Hopefully, the next one will live on S.I.!!! Really, I personally had nothing against the dude they fired. BUT-his choices sucked. The direction he took the channel sucked. What he did to the staff's morale sucked. His tech guy sucked bigtime.
Many have said to me: "Ed,put in for the position"...no way. Although I would surely turn the channel around and increase status, new productions and viewership...I would just be a "figure-head" director, being the puppet of the board's whims. Which answers to the B.P.'s union-busting whims...
The best man for the job is the guy, Luke, whom they fired last year.
It cracks me up when I hear things from the head of the board like:
"we want to encourage less ego-driven programs"....honey, open you eyes-look at MNN's schedule. We are merely a microcosm (and a very small one-at that) of the manhattan network.
Well, at least we
did get mentioned in the advance article sunday-"...
industrialTELEVISION-which has been criticized for explicit violence & nudity."...after reading that what would YOU want to check out?.....
coment: What the hell are the politics over there? Not to belittle it, but it is a public access channel. I would think it would be a creative, fun atmosphere but over the years I've been reading bits in the paper (especially Letters to the Editor) and it sounds like the place is suckhole where power corrupts and a select few lord over a fiefdom. Can you try breaking down what the power struggle is? I'm just curious now....it started about 5 years ago-
The old director was pushed out by the board. But first, a little background on the CTV board...in order to get on the board, you must have political brown-nosing skills, a relationship with Jimmy (molinaro) and wealth. Lawyers, priests, politicians, doctors, etc....All members are in "Jimmy's pocket." He forced the channel to hire a new producer whose only function is to shoot Jimmy's events. (and at a higher pay scale than regular CTV employees) He has called the program director and had opponent's show's pulled. He (and the board) are fighting tooth & nail the unionization of the channel's staff. (...of course, then they would have to pay real wages!)...racking up legal fees that are depleting the channel's budget. Hence, the union inflatable rat in front of borough hall last week.
The fired director of CTV (Tibor-a NJ resident!) was very unpopular from day one. Draconian rules were put into effect. The staff bailed one by one, the number of new producers/productions dropped, and general ill-will reinged at the station. Even long-time producers stopped going there.
Funny, how the reason he was let go was his refusal to get bids from other companies for maintenence & equipment-purchase contracts. I smelled this two years ago while arguing with "jerry", the tech dude appointed by Tibor. I believe he was from the same country (serbia) as the director. The tech dude installed wrong equipment configurations, refused to replace broken equipment, refused to use other sources for purchasing, and even bragged about taking home 3 VCRs from the station. (these professional decks cost about 6 to 10 thousand each)...let me stop - I feel chest pains coming on...
BUT....I think the problem lies not in whomever is appointed director for the channel, but with the BP & board itself. In manhattan, the board members include filmmakers, video artists, media teachers, and other artistic types. On CTV's board there are none. (what do you expect a politician and priest to think of industrialTELEVISION?)
