I went over to the WTAG Morning News website just now. I was curious about what kind of results they were getting in today's web poll question, "Do you regularly read a local blog?"
Naturally, I voted "yes", but mostly I was interested in what results the poll was showing.
When I looked, it was 29% Yes, 65% No, and 6% What's a Blog?
That's actually a higher percentage of Yes votes than I would've guessed.
There was another thing on the webpage that I couldn't help but notice, though...
You can't tell me that that's an up-to-date picture of Jim Polito...
There's just no way!
When I was home during a snow storm one day recently, and I was surfing around on the TV, I stumbled upon the local cable Channel 3 edition of the WTAG Morning News.
Honestly, I was totally shocked!
Jim Polito didn't look anything like that picture!
At any rate, Jim posted a couple of comments recently here, and here. In the first comment he asked, "Where's the love?" In the second one, he clarified that he asked, "Where's the love?" And there was a reference to how "...people fear/hate the pit bull until he bites one of their enemies."
Well, basically, I don't have any sense that the local Hispanic community and their preference for the gypsy cabs constitutes a segment of the population I'd consider "my enemy" just because I drive a taxi. And although I thought that Jim's hanging up on Sam Rosario and Juan Gomez was kinda rude, I guess I also have to admit that they probably deserved it.
After all, who did they think they were talking to?... City Councilors in a hearing?
In the second comment he said, "If you're ever going to grow as a blogger journalist you'll need to learn the necessity of using verbatim quotes."
That's one of those clever "positioning" types of comments, wherein the young fella erroneously places this sixty-one year old blogger within the fold of "journalists", and since he's been a journalist for a long time, he feels that he can hand down this type of condescending advice, placing me into some sort of subservient position...
It's not that I lack respect for anyone in this town who's hosting a top rated radio show, or that I have any slightest intention of belittling him. But young Jimmy Polito is, basically, still somewhat of an adolescent, compared to me... although he does look much older on TV.
12 comments:
Did you just call Jim Polito a journalist? :-)
Seriously, though, I don't get the whole Allen Fletcher hate thing.
As I've said before, Allen Fletcher was bankrolling Worcester Magazine pretty much every year until the year before it sold. He has helped with a lot of positive environmental work in this city and its environs. He could be living in a gated community but chooses to live in an old school in the middle of the city.
Ultimately, though, he's not responsible for what his ancestors did, and he has used the money he inherited from them to both bolster an independent news outlet and to give to charity. And he's a private citizen, which -- to me, at least -- means that he should be held to a slightly different standard than an elected official.
(On an unrelated note, I really liked the picture of you in Worcester Mag, Jeff!)
Nicole: Well, I've heard Polito say that he was a reporter in the past. Of course, now he's a talk show host.
I don't know Allen, and only met him briefly once. Seemed like a decent guy.
But this "inherited money" thing is a bit lopsided. If you want to talk about the Borgatti daughters screwing the pooch with Spag's, then maybe some comparisons can be made...
Kathy said that it was a nice picture. When I first saw it, I thought it was somebody else, though!
think the Borgatti daughters did their share of charity as well
Well, the Borgattis were going to look bad no matter what happened. Either they let their father's business go down the tubes (because that kind of business just isn't happening anymore; Zyla's, a comparable fishing-supplies/toys/Moxie/plants store in New Hampshire, recently closed as well) or they close it and sell the land to a developer or they sell it to Building 19 who does the same.
And it's a totally awesome picture! My husband said this afternoon, "That's a great picture of Jeff -- he should get permission to use it for his blog" -- and I hadn't even given him my opinion of anything yet.
I was thinking of changing my profile picture to one where I'm wearing a hockey goalie's mask...
Gee is that a little bit "phony" of him not update his 15 year old photo? You know his M-O is to invite or will welcome people to come on his show to discuss issues, and then he turns their mic level down so he can spew his opinon over them,like he did do with Rosario and dozens of others, or he also likes to put you on hold, google you, and then put you on the air and try to sand bag you. I'm not sure that qualifies as a journalist no matter where he worked before. What happens in media that brings out such vanity and waste?
just change the station, Blute's not that bad, plus he laughs at his own jokes!
Peter Blute's whiney voice gives me a headache, especially when he's defending torture.
There's been talk lately about Worcester not having a network affiliate TV station here, and the fact that the best "talent" that the radio exec's can put on during morning drive are Jim Polito and Peter Blute. What is interesting to me is that here in the heart of the Commonwealth, in the middle of the bluest of blue states, our local airwaves are filled with right wing pundits. Surely, there has to be more qualified talent out there who can provide engaging, interesting, and most importantly, local stories that Worcester County people are actually interested in. Hank Stolz comes to mind immediately.
What's pathetic is that Politos knee jerk conservative viewpoint is so unoriginal. Never thoughtful, or insightful, if he doesn't comprehend an issue, he simply attacks liberals or Democrats only. A totally one sided parrot of Rush, Beck, and the useless Tea Party. All you have to do is listen to his daily "on this day in history" segment which he pulls form the Globe. It's always peppered with his little tidbits about how some historic figure or celebrity is a "liberal" or "Druggie" followed by his Edward G. Robinson voice saying "Yeah, I know, Yeah". the best description of this is smarmy.
would u conceed that blute is civil to his guests and callers, or you ve heard so little that ypu cant comment
that polito picture cant be 15 years old, hes only 47
I listened to WCRN for several months, because I like Hank Stolz. But when Blute ranted in favor of torture, that's when I stopped listening.
After listening to Polito for a couple of weeks, it was clear that he had a much more Worcester focused, and accurate, traffic report.
Since neither WCUW nor WICN have local news or traffic reports, I don't tune over to either of them until the rush hour's over. But my choice of local station in the car is either one, hands down.
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