Tony Stephens is a writer and producer living in New York City. After receiving his M.A. in Journalism, he spent six years in formation to become a catholic priest. He left the Jesuits to write and work in nonprofit communications. He recently married and lives with his wife and Seeing Eye dog in Manhattan.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

It Never Ends





My love for public broadcasting came at an early age, when I was four-years-old, and I received a letter from the newly acquired WTBS-17. The letter read something like this (it's been lost for some time, but burned in my memory):

    Dear Anthony,

    We are sorry that the new WTBS-17 no longer broadcasts your favorite show, Flipper, during our afternoon Fun House. We would hope that you will be please, however, with our new line-up of fun and entertaining programs aired on our station. Our decision to remove Flipper was a difficult one. But we felt that the new line of programs were superior. And we are sure that in time they will become your new favorites. Thanks for your concern, and we hope you enjoy the new CH17, WTBS.

    Sincerely,

    Ted Turner


Of course, that's a rough adaptation of the actual letter received (I think the first letter I ever got, other than birthday cards).
Nevertheless, I loved Flipper, and was never the same after that, becoming bitter and jaded toward the corporate media from that point forward.

On this morning's Page Six of the Post, found here, it was reported that Pulitzer Prize author Robert Butler, a professor at Florida State, had his wife run-off with the multi-billionaire Ted Turner. Professor Butler, in an e-mail to his students and staff, explained the whole separation, siting his wife's abusive grandfather for the split-up. Quite a strech if you ask me. I would have just blaimed the dolphin.

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