Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record
Back when I was in school teachers would always scare me with stories of how my exploits would end up in my permanent record. I believe this is it! – Geoff Fox
I took this shot tonight during the World Series game while things were quiet.
I took this shot tonight during the World Series game while things were quiet. The studio is on the right with the newsroom left.
Actually it’s a 360° pano, meaning the right and left edges actually meet. This panorama was put together on my Samsung Galaxy Sii using the free Photaf app.
To see a larger version please click of the photo.
I shot some more pics of the folks I work with at FoxCT tonight.
Rick Hancock saw the camera and mentioned I’d taken his picture but never posted it. I consider that a compliment. He’s in this bunch.
If you’re technically inclined, I take all these shots with natural light. Obviously parts of the studio are well lit. Much of the rest of the newsroom is what you’d find in a video monitor dominated office setting.
The toughest part is getting the proper white balance. These are now pretty close to natural color. I also adjust the levels to flatter the face and sharpen a little.
There’s a lot of extraneous light in the newsroom courtesy of our dependence on computers and television. We have hundreds of monitors all over the place. We’re watching ourselves. We’re watching everything else. ADD employees find our place relaxing.
My co-workers have been very cooperative. Some of them are happy to have a photo that shows them at work.
Sometimes I’ll take a shot or two of someone, but not post it. That’s my fault, not theirs. Not every shot comes out the way I’d like.
I still don’t know all their names.
This is just another random compilation of whomever was around Thursday evening when I shot these.
This is just another random compilation of whomever was around Thursday evening when I shot these. My co-workers haven’t balked at being shot yet. We’ll see how long thi access lasts.
I took a quick stroll out to the garden tonight. Here’s a 90 second video peek.
I took a quick stroll out to the garden tonight. Here’s a 90 second video peek.
Since I’ve gone to FoxCT I’ve noticed a misconception held by some people who’ve never watched us. They think FoxCT is Fox News.
Since I’ve gone to FoxCT I’ve noticed a misconception held by some people who’ve never watched us. They think FoxCT is Fox News. The people who tell me that do not like Fox News.
I wish you well, but personal principles prevent me from EVER watching Fox News.
A commenter on my blog posted that Saturday. She would probably like us. She’ll give it a try because I’m asking nicely. I can’t get to everyone.
We are associated with FNC, but only in the barest way. They have nothing to do with the way we assign or report news. We do use some items from their straight news reporters like Wendell Goler and Claudia Cowen. These people are down-the-middle reporters. We are also affiliated with CNN and use their reports.
We carry Fox News Sunday. We carry it like we carry The Simpsons and American Idol.
You wont see O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck or Greta on our air.
Fox is owned by News Corp. I work for Tribune Company. We are co-owned, co-located, co-staffed and co-managed with the esteemed Hartford Courant.
I work with people who do a very good job. It’s definitely a step up. Give us a try.
On this day in 1977 it snowed! Some parts of the Northwest Hills got as much as nine inches.
Kudos on this go to my weather partner at FoxCT Rachel Frank and the Hartford Courant which never throws anything away! On this day in 1977 it snowed! Some parts of the Northwest Hills got as much as nine inches. North of Hartford Bradley Airport got an inch and a half.
The good news is May 9 is the latest it’s ever snowed in Connecticut… well, at least as far as we know. Recorded history doesn’t go back far enough to make rash generalizations.
I was living in Philadelphia in May ’77. Had I been living here I would have been suicidal!
It’s pretty over-the-top to see one’s self glaring down at the highway from a fully illuminated billboard.
You want me to be modest about this? I cannot. I apologize. It’s pretty over-the-top to see one’s self glaring down at the highway from a fully illuminated billboard.
As thrilled as I am about this billboard I will NEVER forget the reason FoxCT wanted me was because of all of you. Please, smile with me.
Thanks to “Big Show” Andy Zaremba who went out in the drizzle to shoot this for me.
Last week I was huffing and puffing when I got to my desk. Today just puffing.
This work thing has sliced a pretty large chunk from my pajama time! That in turn has reduced my ability to work out. Helaine and I had been very dedicated, but now we’ve (OK – it’s me who’s responsible) sloughed off a little. That’s why I’m using the stairs at work exclusively.
The newsroom/studio complex is on the third floor, but this is not an office building. This is a plant! The presses for the Hartford Courant are underneath my feet. The ceiling in the studio is high enough to hang TV lights. Each floor of stairs looks to be more like a floor and a half… maybe two.
I’ve been up and down twice so far today. That’s two round trips in the blue bricked staircase. Last week I was huffing and puffing when I got to my desk. Today just puffing.
The elevator is very slow anyway!
Here’s a really quick look at where I work. It’s difficult to fully describe, but the studio and newsroom are well integrated. Everything seems to be in the right place.
I brought the camera to work tonight. Here’s a really quick look at where I work. It’s difficult to fully describe, but the studio and newsroom are well integrated. Everything seems to be in the right place.
Will I feel that way in three weeks? Stay tuned.
Times have changed again. Here’s my first science feature from FoxCT.
Thank you Diane Smith! Back in the good old days Diane named me Mr. Science. I enjoyed doing science stories, but as times changed it became something I wasn’t allowed to do.
Times have changed again. Here’s my first science feature from FoxCT.
I tried to prepare, but I didn’t want to be too prepared… too calculating. I didn’t want to be cute-by-design!
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It’s a dark and damp night in Hartford. I am exhausted! It’s not because I worked so hard, but because the anxiety level was so high. Now I can relax a little. The next newscasts should be easier.
The 4:00 O’clock news is a blur. I tried to prepare, but I didn’t want to be too prepared… too calculating. I didn’t want to be cute-by-design!
I looked back at a piece of one aircheck and… it looked like me! Mission accomplished. My parents watched online. They said I looked good, but they’re my parents. Helaine, who can be depended on to tell me when I screw up seemed happy too.
Dan is preparing the maps for the 10:00 O’clock news now. I do plan on saying “Don’t go to sleep yet” at ten and eleven.
Tomorrow starts a more normal schedule with some science reporting at 4:00 and weather at 11:00 PM.
So far so good.
Dan told me I could show up at 3:00 PM Monday. Yeah, fat chance! It’s my first day. I’ll be early.
It was a rainy Sunday night, but I still took the drive up to Hartford to get another look at the weather equipment I’ll be using at FoxCT. The forecast itself will be formulated the same way as before. How I show it is totally different!
Dan Amarante was there tonight working. He helped me get a feel for it. Comfort and ease won’t happen overnight!
It’s been a pretty exciting weekend. Over 5,000 people have shown up on my brand new “Fox on Fox” Facebook page (click the like button on the right hand side of this page to be part of the fun). A new 15 second promo began airing Friday. Today’s Hartford Courant was wrapped with a single sheet which included a half page ad featuring me.
We all have our weaknesses. Mine is print journalism! Seeing this ad in the newspaper is just incredible. I can assure you an ad like this is a first for me.
Monday is my first real working day. Dan told me I could show up at 3:00 PM. Yeah, fat chance! I’ll be early.
I’m very excited.
No one, certainly not me, can predict the future accurately every day without fail. I don’t walk on water!
Early tomorrow afternoon I will get in my car and drive to Hartford. It will be my first day working since January 7th. It will be my first new job since 1984! It’s a new beginning and a new challenge. I’m very excited.
Let me be perfectly clear, the only reason I was seriously considered by FoxCT is you. I know I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. Whatever talent I bring to the table is nice, but they’re after you (in the nicest way).
I hope you’ll come along.
It’s been cool this weekend for Helaine and me to see the new promo playing on-the-air. There’s also a full page ad in today’s Courant and digital billboards along the interstates. How can I not be psyched?
As I’ve watched FoxCT I’ve noticed they have more of a commitment to actually covering news than I’d experienced before. You’ll notice more reporters, more live shots and fewer technical screw-ups.
In the control room a few days ago one of the engineers took pride in bragging about the zero downtime they experience with their live trucks. That might not sound important to you, but my former colleagues who read that sentence will cry.
I know some of you live in the towns directly adjacent to New Haven and wonder how this Hartford based station can compete with your old standby? That will be a decision for you to make–I understand. However, I have read comment-after-comment on Facebook noting how FoxCT has been beating the others on shoreline stories, sometimes scooping Channel 8 in New Haven! Sad, but true.
Truth is FoxCT management understands a significant chunk of the folks who might follow me are from the southern half of the state. They don’t want to squander your love.
The first time I walked into the combined Courant/FoxCT newsroom I was apprehensive. That apprehension was gone within a minute! The attitude was positive and the folks I met (some of whom I’d worked with before) had the mojo that comes when you’re winning (and not in the Charlie Sheen sense).
FoxCT’s ratings are up. The buzz around the newsroom centers around expansion, not retrenchment!
I read ALL your comments here on the blog and on Facebook. When there’s a flurry (a blizzard?) of activity I’m sometimes not physically able to answer every one. A number of times I’ve seen you mention forecast errors from others and claim I wouldn’t have blown that one! Maybe… maybe not.
No one, certainly not me, can predict the future accurately every day without fail. I don’t walk on water! I can’t promise 100% accuracy.
Here’s my pledge. I will work my ass off to give you the best forecast I can.
If I am wrong it will never be because I didn’t spend enough time or pay enough attention. I use the best science available, but I’d go back in time and find Miss Cleo and the Psychic Friends Network if that would make me more accurate. I strive to get it right every time without fail. There’s never an advantage in being wrong or hyping something that won’t happen.
Because Rachel Frank has tomorrow off I will be doing the weather at 4:00, 10:00 and 11:00 PM. I’d like very much it if you would join me. If you want to send a message to my old bosses or a thank you to my new bosses this is the way you do it. Everyone will be looking to see what you do.
You are the prize!
Don’t go to sleep yet, Fox on Fox is still to come.
I love my friends back in New Haven, but only now do I see what we were missing.
I’m suffering jet lag without leaving the state! Up very early (for me–not real people) the last two days I’m in some sort of blurry stupor. One more early day to come Friday. I’ll be on with Chaz and AJ on WPLR 99.1 at 8:00 AM then Colin McEnroe on Connecticut Public Radio (www.wnpr.org) at 1:00 PM. I hope the car knows the way home on its own!
I was at work by 10:00 AM to join the celebration of FoxCT receiving three dozen Emmy nominations and to be officially announced as a new hire. Three dozen Emmy nominations at one station is a pretty big deal.
The rest of the next few hours were taken up shooting photos with the weather team and taping pieces of promos which begin airing this weekend.
I want to try and explain the differences between FoxCT and WTNH. The most obvious is size!
With both newspaper (Hartford Courant) and TV station sharing a large newsroom there’s an obvious focus on news gathering. Desks were populated. Folks were on the phone working stories. The assignment desk was buzzing.
The whole place is orders of magnitude bigger than where I’ve been working. In New Haven we had around 100 employees (maybe less by now?). In Hartford there are over 600. There are departments of people the economies of scale wouldn’t allow at the old place. It shows in how the vehicles and equipment are maintained.
I love my friends back in New Haven, but only now do I see what we were missing.
More than anything the attitude is different. At FoxCT people seem to feel they’re working with a viable product and the business can be grown. Back on Elm Street it often felt the main goal was to control the bleeding.
Maybe this sounds like sour grapes? I’m the first to admit I’d still be driving to Elm Street had I been offered continuing employment. On the other hand I wouldn’t have known any of this had I not lucked into this situation.
I wasn’t in the building five minutes when I ran into MaryEllen Fillo. This evening her Java blog proclaims: Geoff Fox Visits Fox CT Newsroom.”
Back when I was gainfully employed I seldom visited other TV stations. Now it’s different. I drove up to Hartford to see some friends at the Courant and FoxCT. It’s a very impressive place!
Both the TV station and newspaper are located in a state-of-the-art building on Broad Street at the edge of downtown. They share a common newsroom which meant lots of busy people. I miss that electricity.
I saw lots of old friends–all smiling.
I wasn’t in the building five minutes when I ran into MaryEllen Fillo. This evening her Java blog proclaims: “Geoff Fox Visits Fox CT Newsroom.”
Guilty as charged! However, as of tonight I have nothing to report… except they misspelled my name.