…and perks to be named later
-- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/17/2000
For some, it's a gold watch or a Tiffany pen. For WRGB(TV) Albany, N.Y., anchor Liz Bishop's 25 years at the station, it was a $2,500 lunch with the living symbol of CBS' glory days.
WRGB-TV News Director Joe Coscia won lunch with the most trusted man in America at an auction at a Radio and Television News Directors Foundation last year, intending to give it as a gift after Bishop re-upped with the CBS affiliate. "This was my way of putting the frosting on a nice contract deal," Coscia said.
"Most baby boomers like me grew up with Walter Cronkite," said the veteran newswoman, who has kept a framed poster of Cronkite over her desk for 15 years. She credited him with "making us appreciate and understand and sometimes just get through some of the most cataclysmic events of our time." Lunch with Walter-who picked up the tab-at New York's 21 Club "was a little unreal. At first, it didn't seem possible. But he was very gracious and charming.and shared a lot of stories and experiences."
Before boarding the train home, she called Coscia at the station "to tell him how exciting it was. It was an incredibly generous gift."
Contact Dan Trigoboff at (301) 260-0923, e-mail dtrig@erols.com or fax (202) 463-3742.
