I am lots more proud than many peacocks of my management skills as well as filled with joy to learn about one of my hires.
My wide simile alludes to the NBC peacock, with its colorful tail that can be expanded like a fan, which has long symbolized vanity and pride. Both Natalie and I worked there, but at different times. I worked there as a news producer back in the days of Brokaw, Gumball, Pauley, Chung, and Norville.
You see, I had the good fortune to identify a brilliant diamond in the tough when Natalie Leticia Morales came knocking at my door as I was building a 24-hour news channel in NYC and in need of talent with a capital T.
From News 12, she went to work local news in Hartford, CT, then NBC, where she graced TODAY then Access Hollywood, The Talk and now here's a quote for a proud Paramount Topper.
Natalie “Natalie is one of the best in the business and a welcome addition to CBS News,” said Neeraj Khemlani, co-president of CBS’ news and stations unit, in a prepared statement. “She has excelled at the highest levels — from network morning shows to long-form storytelling — and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have her on our team. She will be doing stories for ’48 Hours’, ‘CBS Mornings,’ ‘CBS Sunday Morning’, and others. She knows how to get to the heart of a tough story with compassion and grace.”
After being trained at News 12 The Bronx, I gave the trilingual bright star her first job as an anchorwoman. The audience loved her from the get-go.
News 12 The Bronx is no longer a baby, but a good-looking adult and so is Natalie, who is now 50. However, since my talented team and I lovingly gave birth to you 25 years ago, I'll always and forever remember it as one of my many beautiful cable and broadcast babes.
Years later, I was proud to be chosen as founding station manager to build and launch News 12 The Bronx in June 1988, after being hired by the company founder and owner, Chuck Dolan.
I lived in here previously while working for NBC http://www.nbcnews.com/ as a writer and award-winning producer as well as news director, later on for WNJU-TV 47, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNJU, but I moved to City Island, The Bronx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Island,_Bronx from the west coast, where I had been working for KVEA-TV 52, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVEA.
Following many intense months of nearly non-stop work, News 12 became the sixth channel of the News 12 Networks and currently reaches about 300,000 cable television households in The Bronx.
I built this 24-hour cable news channel inside what used to be an abandoned roller-skating ring, located in the Soundview area. I then hired the best staff I was able to recruit and trained them in the very same South Bronx neighborhood, where Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor enjoyed her early years.
The only staff member left from the original founding group that I hired at News 12 The Bronx: http://bronx.news12.com/ is Operations Manager Brian Webb, https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=26637770&authType=name&authToken=JGfO&goback=
News 12 The Bronx was the first television news organization in the area to adopt the utilization of http://www.parkervision.com/ robotic cameras, digital video servers http://www.capitalnetworks.com/ and an environmentally friendly fleet of Hybrid electric vehicles which make up their news-gathering mobile units and reduce air pollution.
I hired everyone at the same salary, a low five figures but I am sure most are earning high sixes now, so... KUDO$
How was the crossover transition from #TheTalk's @nmoralestv to acting on #YR? We caught up with the host during her stint on @YandR_CBS playing an investigative reporter. https://twitter.com/TVInsider/status/1559909386251804673?s=20&t=rhPbXhG…