Michael Malvesti is on our cover because he has an enchanting story to tell that will bring a smile to your face and hope to your heart. Michael has held on to a dream to become an actor ever since he saw GOOD WILL HUNTING in 1997. Many years later, just before giving up and thinking about finding that nine to five job, he auditioned at Carolyn Pickman Casting for a role in THE TOWN. He had given up, but a couple of weeks later he got a call to audition. Then he got a call back. Then he discovered he had been cast.
Michael’s headshot
Startled, Michael waited to be called to set. During this little process, Michael’s life would be changed forever. Read our wonderful story to find out just what happened and how it made a gargantuan difference in the life of Michael Malvesti.
All Michael wanted to do was be in one movie. So, he was happy. But the fire of being an actor was relit. Since then, he’s been in several movies: ORDINARY MAN, MOONRISE KINGDOM, THE HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET, HONEST THIEF, I CARE A LOT, WAKE UP LITTLE GIRL, FREE GUY, AND BOSTON STRANGLER. Plus, he has three films in Postproduction: THE HOLDOVER, UNTITLED CORD JEFFERSON FILM and MADAM WEB.
And TV has also been in his corner. He now, of course, he has the role of Benny in HBO MAX’s or maybe it’s just MAX’s Julia, and before, Dexter, City on a Hill, Castle Rock, and Broad Squad.
That’s quite an accomplishment and he has quite a story to tell. That’s why he is on the cover of IMAGINE. Be sure to read his story in this issue of IMAGINE.
Michael gave us our cover photo. The cover design is by IMAGINE’s Design Editor, Monique Walton.
A fifty-year journey encompassing the roots of American music, the upheavals of the civil rights movement, the strength of memory, the enduring power of this foundational music, and a reflection on the treasures of personal experience, both lost and found.
By Ted Reed
When I was moving my Beverly, Massachusetts office two years ago, I uncovered my 16mm black and white film that I made as a film student in 1971. Filmed with my friend Tim Treadway, we traveled from Boston through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana to find and record some of the last living blues legends. My first film, THINKING OUT LOUD, a twenty-minute documentary, was seen at several festivals, and then stored away.
Blues legend Scott Dunbar (1904-1994), from Lake Mary, MS
Fast forward fifty years. After I uncovered my stored film, I was determined to retrace my 1971 journey to see what had changed in the birthplace of the blues. On this journey, while I was looking for the source of the blues in the flatland cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, and the lonely highways that crisscrossed the region, I felt the presence of the spirits of the departed blues artists. I also found a new respect for the cultural value of a musical form that had been all but ignored in the south of a half-century ago. Today, rock fans, from all over the world, raised on music adopted from rural Black communities, were flocking to that wellspring in record numbers. In many states, museums and historic markers had sprung up to guide a steadily growing caravan of international tourists. Venues from roadside Juke Joints to newly constructed concert halls offered musicians, both veterans and young performers, places to perform almost every night of the week.
My fifty-year journey led to the compilation of then and now in my award-winning documentary film, THE BLUES TRAIL REVISITED. A ninety-minute film, created for digital and theatrical release, features exclusive performances with some of America’s true blues legends, old and new. It explores how the blues has changed in the last fifty years, its impact on American culture, popular music, and the economy of the American south.
Recent accolades for my film include one by the renowned Joyce Kulhawik, previously the arts and entertainment anchor for CBS affiliate WBZ-TV News in Boston, another by Roger Stolle, owner of Cat Head Promotions which runs the annual Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and also Paul Benjamin, who manages several Blues Festivals throughout the US.
Blues legend Sleepy John Estes (1900-1977), from Brownsville, TN
“The film puts you in the passenger seat right next to the filmmaker rounding the bend on a fifty-year old odyssey: to excavate the last living blues legends and his own youthful filmmaking past. Reed once again rattles back through time and the deep south, brushing the dust off the towns, tunes, and sweat-soaked juke joints where the blues bloomed– and still do. The movie is a sweet sad song of praise for those unsung, who wove their troubles and dreams into the original fabric of American music.”
Joyce Kulhawik, Arts & Entertainment Critic
Blues legend Furry Lewis (1893-1981), from Memphis, TN
“A story of blues friends, fans and follow through, Ted Reed’s remarkable BLUES TRAIL REVISITED spans 50 years—tying together past Southern blues traditions with those of the present day and perhaps even the future.”
Roger Stolle, Cat Head Promotions
“The memories that this film brought back were outstanding and made me want to go back and discover some of the places that I missed…This movie will also make anyone that is not into the Blues or Mississippi change their mind.”
Paul Benjamin, North Atlantic Blues Festival
Grammy-nominated Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, as a teenager, from Clarksdale, MS
In 2019, using concert footage originally intended for THE BLUES TRAIL REVISITED, I released the award-winning documentary film JUKE JOINT FESTIVAL REVISITED during the virtual Juke Joint Festival event in Clarksdale, Mississippi. My primary goal was to help drive donations to the Blues Foundation COVID-19 fund, and the Mississippi Blues Benevolent Fund that supports Blues musicians.
Just over a year ago, I partnered with Visit Clarksdale and The Blues Foundation to launch a biweekly podcast, The Blues Trail Revisited podcast, available for download at https://bluestrailrevisited.podbean.com/.
I continue to host screenings to sold out venues such as The Balboa in San Francisco, California and The Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Ted Reed showcasing his recently won Telly Awards Photo courtesy of Roger Ward
(Pub:) Grammy and Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker Ted Reed has been producing, directing, writing, and shooting films and television since the 1970s, creating documentaries, commercials, animated features, and broadcast and streaming series. His storytelling expertise has led to award-winning shows about gender equality, the future of communications technology, immigration, national parks, West Indian music, space tourism, assisted suicide, Jewish innovators, and handgun violence. He is the recipient of multiple awards.
During his career he partnered with the MIT team who pioneered internet streaming video technology, produced New England’s first local all-digital TV broadcast, and pioneered the use of interactive video for large business meetings.
Ted has taught and lectured at Harvard University, Tufts University, Boston University, Endicott College and the Boston Film and Video Foundation. He has brought filmmaking courses to elementary schools, community groups and retirement homes, and continues to run film, photography, and music workshops at his office in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
We are thrilled that the Woods Hole Film Festival is back for its 31st year! Here are a few highlights to check out in addition to a lineup that includes more than 50 films including short films as well as features.
AFTER ANTARCTICA screening at the Museum of Science on July 21
On the Third Thursday of every month this summer, join the Museum of Science and the Woods Hole Film Festival in the Mugar Omni Theater for a lineup of independent film screenings amplifying inspiring and vital stories of climate change from some of today’s most visionary documentary filmmakers.
Films are screening in theaters and online (July 30th – August 6th) Tickets can be purchased on each film’s event page. (please note: Miles From Nowhere, The Butterfly in the Sky, Fashion Reimagined & Bonnie Blue: James Cotton’s Life in the Blues will not screen virtually)
Can’t be there in Person? Don’t worry! Virtual passes are available!
The All Films Pass gives you VIRTUAL ACCESS ONLY to all the feature films, short films and short film programs in the 31st Annual Woods Hole Film Festival from Saturday, July 30 through Saturday, August 6, 2022
You probably know his face, now let us introduce you to actor, producer and Food Network darling #FrankieImbergamo. Perhaps best known for his roles DJ Stan Da Man), Chappaquiddick, and Vault, Frankie has also created a name for himself as a famous celeb chef from Boston’s Italian district, a Food Network Emeril LIVE top winner, and cookbook author. He joins us and shares some of his favorite recipes, in addition to his story growing up an Italian kid in the hood, and how his culture influenced him and his work. He’ll share about his close friendship with .#AdamSandler, and working with #JeffBridges, #SandraBullock, and the much-missed #BettyWhite.
The Museum of Broadcast Technology is a tenplus year-old non-profit Museum for the technical tools of the Broadcasting and Media industry. It is located in downtown Woonsocket, Rhode Island, with subsidiary restoration facilities in Foxborough, Middleton and Brookline.
The primary objectives of the Museum are the preservation, restoration and education with regard to the technical tools and instruments used for media production and broadcasting.
The display collection is housed in a former bank building in Woonsocket. The collection spans from the mid-1940s to current day, and is predominantly a varied array of Broadcast TV cameras and professional videotape recorders. There is also a 1940-era radio station control room under construction. The main focus for the first decade has been the careful and meticulous restoration of vintage cameras and obsolete format video recorders. There are over fifty different broadcast cameras and fifty various videotape recorders.
Several of the early 1956-era Quadruplex 2” tape recorders have been restored to operational status and have been used to recover rare analog format programming content, migrating it to the newer digital video formats. That effort has been expanded to include the industrial small format 1/2” open-reel and cassette formats, for which there are a dozen different incompatible formats.
The Museum is currently open by appointment only, as we are on a limited staffing arrangement. We have hosted several technical meetings with the SMPTE and other technical groups where afternoon or evening seminars have been held, some of a celebratory nature related to a New England TV broadcast station’s 60th or 70th anniversary.
We have been honored to host distinguished pioneers in the technical and production fields of broadcasting, some staying over for a week or more to personally engage on some unique restoration efforts with vintage cameras and video recorders.
It has been exciting and inspirational for the Museum volunteers to have world-class engineering professionals come and share their technical skills and experiences in the broadcasting community over the last half-century or longer.
Many of these visitor guests come for a day or so and often bring rare items of the older technology in the form of spare parts, technical manuals and in some cases, complete cameras or VTR assemblies needed for full restoration of one we are working on.
We have been marvelously gifted in the last ten years with some wonderful visiting benefactors providing rare technology items and inspirational war stories on their use in actual broadcast situations. The real-life stories have been fabulous.
Quite expectedly, with the recent increase in digital motion picture production and episodic TV series, the awareness of our collections has brought numerous requests to use these vintage cameras, control room gear, microphones and related studio items as props on current films.
Over the years, the Museum has provided authentic equipment items as props for several motion pictures: THE QUIZ SHOW, MALCOLM X, ISN’T SHE GREAT, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, CHAPPAQUIDDICK and many episodic TV series programs.
Most recently, the Museum was invited to provide working props for several productions underway at the Broadway Stages complex in New York. Authentic camera systems from the mid-1960s were requested for film projects for Netflix namely The Get Down and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
And for Motion picture Films: YOU ARE MY FRIEND, with Tom Hanks portraying Fred Rogers, ROMEO, THE JOKE and THE LOUDEST VOICE recently completed for Showtime.
The Museum has a broad collection of period cameras and related peripherals and is excited about extending its display services to the Film/TV Community here in the Northeast, to assist in any special studio prop needs that might require period-correct items for a particular year.
We have far-reaching contacts and vintage equipment suppliers plus the right local people and talents to pull it all together in a package. “We Do Old Stuff Right!”
MBT Contact Persons are: Paul R. Beck, Museum Curator and President paulbeck46@aol.com and Thomas R. Sprague, OTO (Old Technology Officer) and Chief Engineer at National Boston trs@nationalboston.com
John Stimpson, writer, producer, director, editor and more seen everywhere now.
We just never know what subject or story John Stimpson will be taking up next. He crosses genres from the dark to the light with engaging stories that he makes right here in Massachusetts. Currently he is one of our most prolific filmmakers pushing out movies about once a year. Movies that get picked up and that get seen.
GHOST LIGHT, John Stimpson’s haunted comedy about a misfit Shakespearean troupe who unleashes the notorious curse of Macbeth, premiered at the LA Film Festival September 22nd. The film is repped by CAA and the filmmakers have high hopes for a good sale coming out of the premiere.
Written and produced by Stimpson and veteran producer, Geoffrey Taylor under the Worcester based H9 Films shingle, the film was shot last fall in Groton and Concord. “It’s a Massachusetts film through and through,” said Stimpson. The story takes place in the Berkshires, and had a crew entirely based out of New England. Key collaborators included Director of Photography Terrence
Hayes, Production Designer Chad Detwiller, Costume Designer Joanna Murphy, UPM Luke Ramsey and composer Ed Grenga.
The film stars Roger Bart (THE PRODUCERS, A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS), Tom Riley (Da Vinci’s Demons, Dark Heart), Shannyn Sossamon (SLEEPY HOLLOW, A KNIGHT’S TALE), Danielle Campbell (THE
ORIGINALS, FAMOUS IN LOVE), Scott Adsit (30 Rock, BIG HERO 6), Carol Kan (UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT, TAXI), and Cary Elwes (THE PRINCESS BRIDE, ROBIN HOOD MEN IN TIGHTS). GHOST LIGHT is the first film Elwes and Carol Kane have appeared in together since THE PRINCESS BRIDE.
The film also stars several local actors including, Caroline Portu, Alex Portenko, Liliane Klein, Zele Avradopoulos, Ken Cheeseman, Maureen Keiller and Mary Callanan. Julie Arvedon Knowlton of Slate Casting handled the local casting.
GHOST LIGHT centers around the crazy superstitions of the theatre,” said Stimpson. When a disgruntled understudy (Tom Riley) throws caution to the wind and deliberately utters the forbidden name of the “Scottish Play” on stage the curse of the Bard’s witches begins to reveal itself and the production falls further and further into chaos. “We may have been tempting fate ourselves,” Stimpson explains. “Carol Kane was very concerned that we were in fact saying the name of the play repeatedly during our shooting. I convinced her that our set was actually a converted barn and not a theatre which made us immune to the curse.” Kane plays, Madeline Styne the troupe’s Grande Dame. “She is an absolute treasure and a comic genius. What a joy she was to work with,” commented Stimpson.
Roger Bart and Stimpson go way back. They sang in a bar on Martha’s Vineyard together when they were in college. Bart won a Tony award for his portrayal of Snoopy in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and is
also known for singing the role of Hercules in the 1997 Disney fi lm. “I reached out to Roger first. I thought he’d be wonderful in the role of Henry Asquith, the long suffering director of Shakespeare on Wheels,” said Stimpson. “I knew back in the 80’s at the Seafood Shanty in Edgartown that Roger had something special. It’s been so fun to follow his career from afar and now to finally have the chance to work together.”
Stimpson and co-writer and producer GeoffTaylor began the process of bringing GHOST LIGHT to the screen over two years ago. Talking about projects at a Red Sox game, Stimpson pitched the idea for GHOST LIGHT to Taylor and the partnership was launched. Taylor who produced many projects with Paul Mazursky including DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS and MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON, moved back from Los Angeles to Concord, MA to raise his family in 2011.
Post production on the film was all done locally as well. Stimpson cut the film in his Worcester office, special effects (of which there are many) were done by Sandbox VFX in Pittsfield, Chris Anderson mixed at The Outpost at WGBH and Rob Bessette color timed the fi lm at Finish. “What a great
collaboration it was,” says Stimpson. “And a great example of a local project born and bred here in Massachusetts and made possible by the Mass Film Tax Credit.”
Congratulations to John and the GHOST LIGHT team (cast and crew) for the film’s acceptance at the LA Film Festival. And, just added before we go to press at the Woodstock Film Festivals where tickets are
on sale.
Now we’ll be waiting to fi nd out what will John Stimpson, a valued and treasured Massachusetts filmmaker, be producing next.
For more information visit www.h9films and www.ghostlightmovie.com. See the GHOST LIGHT trailer below.
Our cover story this month looks at how Dennis Serpone became an executive producer for the film SWEENEY KILLING SWEENEY and how that experience caused the film bug to bite. He discovered it took his whole life to discover what he does best. And that’s working with productions to raise money for them.
I hope you enjoy reading about his journey and how meeting certain people who served as stepping stones over a substantial period of time created this new opportunity. He discovered a lot of things about himself and he loved meeting the actors and comedians in SKS movie.
Now he is looking for more opportunities to exercise his new found skills. Our cover photo was captured by Carolyn Ross Photography in the picturesque lobby of The Charles Hotel in Harvard
Square. The cover design is by IMAGINE’s Design Editor Monique Walton.
Six Outstanding Broadcasters Selected for Silver Circle Induction at The 21st Annual Silver Circle Awards Gala on November 21, 2013
The Silver Circle Awards is Sponsored by Subaru of New England
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Boston/New England Chapter is delighted to announce this year’s Silver Circle inductees honoring six broadcast legends with more than 25 years of distinguished service to broadcasting and the community: Byron Barnett (7NEWS; Boston, MA), Denise D’Ascenzo (WSFB-TV; Hartford, CT), Jerry Franklin (Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc ; Hartford, CT), John D. Methia (WLNE; Providence, RI), Joe Mozdiez (WCVB; Boston, MA), and Fritz Wetherbee (WMUR; Manchester, NH). For photography, please contact David Burt at 617-635-3112.
These New England television pioneers will be honored for their lasting contributions to the industry at a gala celebration on Thursday, November 21 at Seaport Boston Hotel-Lighthouse Ballroom, One Seaport Lane, Boston, MA with a reception and dinner at 6PM and the Awards Ceremony at 7:30PM. For tickets, email Jill Jones at natasne@aol.com or call 617-283-6314.
Silver Circle members are honored for making an enduring contribution to the vitality of the television industry. The Silver Circle honors television professionals who have performed distinguished service within the industry for more than 25 years respectively.
The Silver Circle Awards will once again be sponsored by Subaru of New England. The Boston/New England Chapter of NATAS is very grateful to Ernie Boch, Jr., who has generously supported both the Silver Circle Awards and the Emmy Awards for many years.
THE 21st SILVER CIRCLE AWARD HONORS:
Photo Credit: WHDH-TV
BYRON BARNETT:
Byron Barnett joined 7NEWS in 1983. From crime stories to human interest features to political campaigns, Byron has covered a wide range of major stories of local, national and international interest. Byron, on many occasions, has been reporting on the scene as history unfolded.
Among the blockbuster stories Byron has covered for 7NEWS: the riots in Lawrence Massachusetts in 1984, the release of American hostages from a hijacked TWA flight in Lebanon in 1985, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that killed New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe and six other astronauts in 1986, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and death penalty trial of bomber Timothy McVeigh, and every presidential campaign since Regan/Mondale in 1984, including the historic campaigns of the nation’s first African American President Barack Obama.
In addition to covering hard hitting news stories, Byron has been the host of the long running public affairs show Urban Update. As host, Byron has delved into issues and controversies affecting the Boston area and interviewed countless news makers and political figures.
Byron got his start at KSTP TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul, working as the Minneapolis City Hall reporter and broke numerous stories in city and county government.
The Emmy-award winning reporter has won many other awards including a Sigma Delta Chi award, the National Association of Black Journalists’ Region One Journalist Of The Year award, YMCA Black Achievers award and several Community Service awards.
Byron graduated from of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis where he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism. He was born and raised in Minneapolis. He currently lives in the Boston area with his wife and three children.
Guest presenter: Jonathan Hall
Photo credit: Eyewitness News 3
DENISE D’ASCENZO:
Denise D’Ascenzo is a seven-time Emmy award winning broadcast journalist who has also earned distinction as the longest serving news anchor at a single television station in Connecticut. You will find her weekdays on Channel 3, anchoring the 5:00 PM, 5:30 PM and 6:00 PM newscasts.
Denise came to WFSB-TV in 1986 and through the years has been a steady and reassuring presence on the anchor desk, covering all the major local and national news stories of the day. She has also traveled to provide special coverage of such events as 1988 Republican National Convention, the U.S. visit of Pope John Paul the II, the crash of United flight 232 and the arrest of the Washington, DC sniper. In addition to local and national political leaders, Denise has also interviewed celebrities, such as Paul Newman, Bob Hope, Tony Bennett and Oprah Winfrey.
Denise also has a passion for health and medical reporting. She is the host of an Emmy award-winning prime time program, “Advancing Medicine”, and has taken viewers inside the operating room at Hartford Hospital to observe breakthrough surgeries and cutting edge treatments.
In addition to six Emmys, including an Emmy for Best Anchor, Denise’s reporting has also been honored with seven Associated Press awards and a prestigious national Gabriel Award. She has also been recognized for her work with a number of charities including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Mary’s Place and the Channel 3 Kids Camp. In May of 2013, Denise was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Quinnipiac University.
Marriage brought Denise to Connecticut from Cleveland, Ohio where she anchored the top rated 6:00 and 11:00 newscasts at WJKW-TV. Before Cleveland, she worked in St. Louis as a reporter and talk show host at KSDK-TV. But she launched her career in Syracuse, New York, doing the nightly weather forecast while she finished her senior year at Syracuse University and was hired full time as a reporter and weathercaster upon graduating.
Denise was born in Washington, DC and grew up in suburban Rockville, Maryland. She was the first person to receive a scholarship from the American Newspaper Women’s Club to attend a summer journalism program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Denise and her husband, Wayne have a daughter, Kathryn who is 16.
Guest Presenter: Dennis House
Photo credit: Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network
JERRY FRANKLIN:
Jerry Franklin, the president and chief executive officer of Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc. (CPBI), has over 29 years of experience in mass media and the broadcasting industry. Jerry was appointed to his current position at the Hartford-based broadcasting company in 1985. His responsibilities include overseeing the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (CPBN), the state’s only locally owned media organization producing television, radio, print, and Internet content over a variety of media channels for distribution to Connecticut’s wide-ranging and diverse communities. Production studios and corporate offices are headquartered in Hartford, with an additional radio studio based in New Haven.
CPBN broadcasts three digital television channels (Connecticut Public Television/CPTV; CPTV4U; CPTV Sports,) and five radio stations (Connecticut Public Radio/WNPR). CPTV and WNPR, in particular, serve the entire state of Connecticut as well as areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York – reaching an estimated 450,000 television viewers and 260,000* radio listeners each week. In addition, CPBN includes a for-profit production company, MediaVision; a publishing partnership with Connecticut Magazine; and a national satellite uplink service.
Under Jerry’s leadership, CPTV has won two National Daytime Emmy Awards, 84 Regional Emmy Awards, 369 Regional Emmy Award nominations, seven CINE Golden Eagle Awards and one Gracie Allen Award. WNPR has earned two George Foster Peabody Awards, five Ohio State Awards, two Gracie Allen Awards, and more than 60 Associated Press Awards, including eight Mark Twain Awards for Overall Station Excellence.
Prior to joining Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc., Jerry served as general manager of WGBY-TV for the WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts.
Guest Presenter: Dean Orton
JOHN D. METHIA:
John Methia has been a valued member of the broadcasting community since 1979. His love of broadcasting began while in high school when he volunteered to operate a camera for his father’s cable access program at Whaling City Cable in New Bedford. His camera work caught the attention of the management at Whaling City who offered him a part-time job.
In 1981, John was hired by WTEV (later changed to WLNE) as a cameraman moving up the ladder 30 years later to become the second in command at the station. A leader and mentor to many, there isn’t a job at the station that John is not able to tackle.
John has been involved with many productions over the years but the one he is most proud of was his production of the historic visit of Mother Theresa to New Bedford. He produced and directed the program which was simulcast on all three network affiliates.
Shortly after coming to WLNE, John took the helm to produce and direct the longest-running program on WLNE, the television mass from the Dioceses of Fall River, (started in 1963) a staple for southern New England shut-ins. He produces and directs these programs for weekly playback. In addition, he also spends Christmas Eve and Easter producing special holiday programming.
John has produced and directed the MDA telethon for the past 19 years as well as the stations coverage of the Bristol 4th of July parade, the nation’s longest running 4th of July celebration.
John’s leadership took WLNE to the next level when the station began broadcasting in HD. No job is too big or too small for John. Last winter during the blizzard, he swept out the satellite dishes with a broom, brushing off the snow to keep the network signal (the station now has heaters on the new dishes). He is the first to pick up a cable, move a light, build a graphic, switch in master control whatever it takes to keep the station running smoothly.
A compassionate man, John is a champion to many causes. After losing his nephew in an accident involving a driver texting and driving last year, John has produced videos and created events to expose the dangers of texting and driving.
His passion for the industry and drive to move forward as technology changes the landscape makes him a true pioneer.
Guest Presenter: Judy Shoemaker
JOE MOZDIEZ:
Joe Mozdiez started his broadcast career in 1971 as radio host and reporter for WVLC, “The Voice of the Lower Cape”, in Orleans, Mass. At WVLC he hosted various music shows, news reports and covered town meetings across Cape Cod. In 1974 Joe worked as a part-time host announcer for Charles River Broadcasting, WCRB, New England’s classical music station at that time.
In 1975 he worked for CBS radio in Boston, WEEI and later moved to WBZ radio as a production board technician, news-editor and overnight operator for Larry Glick and Robin Young. Joe moved across the hall to WBZ-TV as a summer tech, and was later hired full- time by WBZ as a news-editor and broadcast technician. As a WBZ news-editor Joe edited some of the first “Sports Spotlights” with Bob Lobel and edited numerous breaking news stories with Dan Rea, Andy Hiller, Liz Walker and Jack Williams.
When WCVB announced plans to produce a nightly newsmagazine, Joe decided to leave WBZ and join WCVB in 1981 as a broadcast technician. Joe was chief audio technician for many “Miller’s Court” programs and worked many remotes for WCVB including broadcasts of the Boston Symphony. For most of his 31 years with Boston Broadcasters, Metromedia and finally the Hearst Corporation, Joe edited and later produced, wrote and edited segments for “Chronicle”, WCVB’s highly respected newsmagazine. Joe edited multiple “On the Road” shows with Peter Mehegan and “Main Streets and Backroads” with Mary Richardson, Andria Hall, Liz Brunner, Anthony Everett, Ted Reinstein, Shayna Seymour, J.C. Monahan and Mike Barnicle, as well as many investigative and hard news topics.
Joe’s work brought him recognition in the form of nine New England Emmys, including two for writing, producing and editing; “Over Cape Cod” and “Iceland Adventure”. In 1992 Joe and producer Lorie Conway joined creative forces and in ten days of editing produced “The Incredible Voyage of Bill Pinkney” for WCVB. The program presented the story of the first solo circumnavigation of the world by an African-American. Bill Pinkney’s voyage became a floating lesson in geography, history, courage and determination for thousands of children following his progress by satellite in schools in Chicago and Boston. With narration provided by Bill Cosby the program was awarded the George Foster Peabody award.
Joe retired from WCVB in 2012 and now resides in Holliston, Massachusetts. His wife Meg continues her life as a public school teacher in Wellesley. Joe and Meg have three sons: Carl, Sven, and Lars; and they have three grandchildren.
Guest Presenter: Mary Richardson
FRITZ WETHERBEE:
Fritz Wetherbee embodies New Hampshire television.
Aside from his appearance on TV, he has published five books including his latest, “In Good Company”. The books are collections of stories he has written for WMUR-TV’s “New Hampshire Chronicle”.
“With this latest book I will have published 580 stories about New Hampshire,” Fritz said. “Four more books and I’ll have over a thousand stories.” He calls himself a “proud provincial.” He has, he said, spent almost all his life in the Granite State.
Born in 1936, he grew up in Milford the oldest of five children. Over the years he has worked at everything from tree climbing to being the Creative Director in an ad agency.
“I know the state very well,” he said, “I have met all the Governors from Sherman Adams on, and I’ve read most of the town histories.”
For ten years Fritz was the host of New Hampshire Crossroads on New Hampshire Public Television. For the past eight years he has written and presented a different nightly story on N. H. Chronicle. His segment is called, “Fritz Wetherbee’s New Hampshire”.
“I do historic stuff and funny stuff and personal stories. The only limits I have are that the stories are never to get old. We should be able to repeat any story in ten years and, aside from the car I am driving, no one should know it’s an old piece. And,” he says, “All my stories must be about New Hampshire.”
Fritz lives with his “better half”, Laura in a two-hundred-fourteen-year-old home in Acworth (“The first town in the state,” he says,”…alphabetically.”) On his library shelves are dozens of state books plus five Emmys and a Bobble-Head Doll . He was honored with the bobble-head of himself for throwing out the first pitch at a Fisher Cats Game a couple years back.
The bobble-head is featured on the cover of his latest book along with the bobble-heads of General John Stark, President Franklin Pierce, Daniel Webster and Sarah Josepha Hale. Thus the title of his book, “In Good Company”.
Guest Presenter: Maryann Mroczka
NATAS Boston/New England Chapter is dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television, the fostering of creative leadership in the television industry, and the encouragement of excellence in artistic, educational, cultural and technical progress.
We just never know what subject or story John Stimpson will be taking up next. He crosses genres from the dark to the light with engaging stories that he makes right here in Massachusetts. Currently he is one of our most prolific filmmakers pushing out movies about once a year. Movies that get picked up and that get seen.
