A Little TV Exposure for the Arts and the FRONT

That's host Bob Grebe, me in the middle and Tom Field on Mornin'^

This morning television gig is truly a parallel universe, as I discovered once again this pre-sunrise. My business partner, Tom Field, and I appeared on WDBJ7's "Mornin'" show today and that meant showing up at 5:15 a.m. Kimberly McBroom, the news anchor gets to work at 4 a.m. in order to write the news, Bob Grebe, the guy who interviewed us, said. We were actually finished for the day (three segments) by 6:45. My wife had just gotten out of bed.

Bob is a young guy--a former sports reporter in Bluefield--who can handle these early hours, getting to bed by 10, but for me ... well, I'll take what I have, thank you. I worked at an afternoon newspaper for several years and had to report to work at 6 a.m., thinking that was early. 5:15 is about six hours earlier than 6 o'clock.

There is an almost surreal feel to looking across the room and seeing a pretty young woman (Ms. McBroom, who is, for my money, the most attractive of the TV newsies in the region) putting on her makeup at 6:30 in the morning, of entering a facility where people are working before the sun comes up and no smell of coffee (there wasn't any in the building, that I could determine), of trying to stay awake without said coffee.

But this show was something Tom and I needed to do in order to promote the Arts Council Perry F. Kendig Awards gig tonight (Tom and I will receive the first Literary Award presented by the council) and to mention the FRONT, as we do every chance we get. Bob asked this a.m. if we had a secret to our success as "literary" people and I really wanted to mention self-promotion at the top of the heap, but, instead, said that what we do isn't literary, but we'll take the recognition (self-promotion at its best).

I did an interview with Gene Marrano for his Public Radio show "Studio Virginia" this past Sunday (for airing Thursday and Sunday evenings, after the awards are presented) for the same reason. If you're going to make a magazine successful, people have to know it exists. Same for the Arts Council.

It's all part of the game. One of the more pleasant parts, I'll say.