Remembering Susan Farmer

Susan Farmer was one of the few people I’ve known who could simultaneously project a sense of shrewdness, great wit, and understanding.  She was attractive, bright, and articulate.  She was tenacious…and she had a wonderful sense of humor.

Susan was a public broadcasting colleague.  From the late 1980’s until 2004, she was president of WSBE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island.  She died one month ago – on Monday, September 16, following a long battle with cancer.  She was 71.

Like many who knew her, my initial and abiding reaction to the news of her death was one of loss – even though it’s been years since I talked or corresponded with Susan.  So I’m left to revel in the memories of some good times we shared over the years.  From a Corporation for Public Broadcasting leadership workshop where we first got to know each another – to the many years we worked together within OSBE, the Organization of State Broadcast Executives.

OSBE is comprised of public broadcasting executives from some 25 states that are each served by a statewide network of public broadcasting outlets.  Many are in the wide open spaces, like Wyoming, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Oklahoma.  But a single station, WSBE-TV in Providence, dominates the entire – if diminutive – state.   And so it was at OSBE that I got to know Susan.

Did I say she was shrewd?  Witty?  Articulate?

Absolutely.  But most of the memories I carry of Susan are of a dedicated professional with a mischievous smile and an infectious sense of humor. 

A pair of scissors and Jack McBride’s necktie were key ingredients for a bit of legendary laughter at several of our OSBE meetings.  And I still chuckle when I recall one starlit night in Virginia when Susan and I, along with Rod Bates and a small cadre of other OSBE golfers, rushed to finish our game before dark….unsuccessfully.  

Our laughter in the darkness left little possibility of ever actually hearing where our golf shots were landing.  We couldn’t see.  But we could laugh…..and we did.

Susan Farmer was passionate about her work.   Rhode Islanders identify her as the one person who saved Rhode Island public television in the early 1990’s when funding for the network had been yanked.

She was a joy to know and work with.  I think you’ll understand why, if you take a few moments to sort through portions of this online tribute to Susan Farmer:  If You Knew Susie.

Some of her colleagues shared their thoughts and memories of Susan in the following excerpt from the WSBE-TV program A Lively Experiment (below), which Susan had created many years ago.   It's a fitting tribute to a classy lady.

Disappointing Interview

After watching the Bill Moyers interview with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright tonight on PBS, I was reminded what a real gentleman Bill Moyers is. He is gracious to a fault in person and on the air.

Reverend Wright, you’ll remember, is the black minister whose “damning” of America from the pulpit several weeks ago caught media attention, particularly because Wright is the pastor of Senator Barak Obama’s home church in Chicago.

The hour-long interview on Bill Moyers Journal demonstrated what we all should have known anyway, that Reverend Wright – like all of us – is more complex than can be reflected in a 30-second sound bite.

Nonetheless, I was sorely disappointed tonight by the lack of incisive questioning from Bill Moyers. Not so much over Wright’s “damning” of America statement, but his vitriolic statements about an unfeeling America that has killed innocent people in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

That innocents died – on both sides in these wars – is undeniable. That our troops, our government, and our nation did so as a matter of policy and with no feeling is blatantly untrue. Why did Bill Moyers not challenge Reverend Wright on this point?

Reverend Wright’s snipped comment about God “damning” America made national news, and Senator Obama promptly distanced himself from his old pastor. How, Moyers asked, did Reverend Wright feel about that?

In fresh candor, Reverend Wright acknowledged that Senator Obama is “a politician” and must say to his audience what is necessary; and as a pastor, he (Reverend Wright) must say to his audience what is necessary. Wright speaks at the National Press Club next week. I think I smell a book in the writing.

How unfortunate that Bill Moyers did not do what HIS audience expected: ask insightful questions and challenge the guest. Instead, it was kind of a “good ol’ pastors discussion down at the seminary.” Giving Reverend Wright 60 minutes to paint his own portrait on C-SPAN would have been equally revealing.

Bill Moyers has done some great interviews. This was not one of them.

Tomek anchors at OETA

(Originally posted June 21, 2007)

I was pleasantly surprised this week to see that long-time friend George Tomek has signed on to do some work with the Oklahoma ETV network (OETA). A veteran television anchorman with WKY-TV (now KFOR) in Oklahoma City, I first knew George when he and I served together in the Naval Reserve back in the 1970s. I was a new Lieutenant (jg) and George was our unit Executive Officer.

Those were special years, and our small group (Office of Information 411) drilled together for several years, including a variety of "Special Active Duty for Training" assignments. Folks like Jack Raskopf, Gean Atkinson, Greg Slavonic, Bill Hickman, and Ed Klecka, were a talented group of Naval officers who came from a variety of backgrounds. I had been teaching and managing the public radio station at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, but later went to work at OETA as Assistant Director and then Manager of KOED-TV/Channel 11 in Tulsa. In the 1980s, George and I served together in OI-1018 in Kansas City. Of course, all my old colleagues at OETA are retired, dead or working elsewhere. But it was good to see the photo of George's smiling face in OETA web photos. It brought back fond memories of a great group of shipmates -- and of some good years at OETA.