I hope you are healthy and safe. Thanks to the hundreds of KVOA viewers who sent well wishes on my recent retirement. Thank you to readers of my new book, Confessions of an Investigative Reporter, for the overwhelming response and wonderful reviews. Here is an excerpt:

“I sat next to a serial killer. A berserk gypsy swung a baseball bat at my head. I was caught in the middle of a full-scale brawl at a public meeting. I was shoved and spit on by sleazy salesmen. I was arrested for trespassing on the property of a moving company I investigated after receiving dozens of complaints about its business practices.

I did numerous reports on people later sent to prison. Among them were two online con artists, a dirty detective, a mom who gave her baby away, and a big-time college basketball coach. Following my series about dogs and cats dying in airplane cargo holds, President Clinton signed a law making air travel safer for pets. Dozens of my stories on homeowners scammed by unlicensed contractors prompted viewers to donate time and money to fix the problems. Those stories drove some scammers out of business.

All of this drama—and so much more—occurred while I was a television news reporter from 1977 to 2020. I worked at seven stations in six cities: Utica, New York, from 1977 to 1979; two stations in Richmond, Virginia, from 1979 to 1981; Cleveland, Ohio, 1981 to 1983; New York City, 1983 to 2003; Tampa, Florida from 2005 to 2009; and Tucson, Arizona from 2013 to two weeks ago, when I retired.

Nearly half my career was at one station in the New York market. I covered four mayors, four trials of mob boss John Gotti, and the tribulations of countless more law-abiding folks. I covered 9/11 from Ground Zero and did at least a half dozen interviews with a real estate developer who, in 2016, became America’s president.

Although I won some awards and lasted twenty years in the biggest market in the country, I did not have the best on-camera presence. I had a nasally voice, a New York accent, and a weight problem during my last twenty-five years on TV. But I worked hard and was consistent over a long run.

My job was to inform viewers by exposing bad actors or practices. That was my goal when deciding to be a reporter while a junior in high school. TV journalism would also allow me to make a decent living while loving what I do and hopefully helping others. I would become a survivor in a competitive business driven by ratings and strong personalities.

I saw solid reporters get fired simply because new bosses wanted reporters they worked with previously. I saw reporters quit before they reached age fifty due to burnout or job frustrations. They wanted less stressful jobs with better hours. During my run, I told approximately 10,000 stories. But there were hundreds more I couldn’t tell.

Some weren’t politically correct enough for management. Others were deemed inappropriate. Many stories weren’t told simply due to the time constraints of local news. And once, I was ordered to lie on TV.

Many of those gems that were spiked now have a home in these pages.”