Monday, February 25, 2008

Former WYOU reporter John Nugent gets a job in South Carolina

From the News Blues Web site: "WCIV-4-ABC in Charleston, SC (Market #100), has hired John Nugent as sports director. Nugent, you may recall, worked at Gannett's WTSP-10-CBS in Tampa (Market #12), until several DUI convictions led to his contract not being renewed. His new boss at WCIV is News Director Jim Church, who originally hired Nugent in Tampa in 2001."

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't Jim Church a former 22 News Director from back in the WDAU days? Did the two work together then?

I always liked Nugent on-air. Hope his problems are behind him.

Anonymous said...

Long ago, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and my brother and I were still in college, we worked at a local supermarket where Nugent frequently shopped. He seemed a little big arrogant but that probably had to do with my brother always calling him "Ted Nugent."

Anyway, didn't he have a few DUIs while at 22? I seem to recall an incident involving the South Ab cops. Anyone remember this?

I hope his trouble is behind him, too.

Anonymous said...

I dont think it was a couple. I think it was just one.

Bill Mecca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bill Mecca said...

Diversified Communictions "fired" Larry Stirewalt(one of the best ND the station ever had) as News Director and brought Jim Church up from their Gainesville Florida station. Church brought in Nugent from the same place, WCJB if memory serves.

They also brought the same news set, built on site, that debuted with the First News program (see on youtube).

last I heard Jim Church was an Ops Mgr in DC (washington that is) which I think suits him best. He was always more into the tech than the journalism.

Diversified Communications owned a station in Myrtle Beach/Florence. I wouldn't be surprised if Garry Ritchie is GM there.... same players different field. Can;'t seem to find it on the stations website.

man I wish there were an edit function sometimes my brain is too fast for my fingers.

www.billmecca.com

Anonymous said...

Nuge was involved in an incident in his then hometown of Clark Summit...After a night of drinking, he drove home...got pulled over by the local cops...and preceeded to hide in some local wooded area...the cops found him and charged him with a bunch of stuff...I think he eventually paid a fine and was put on probation...

I remember that WNEP went to Nugent's house to harass him about it (This happened right after Jim Renick had his problems at NEP).

You stay classy 16!

Bill Mecca said...

Remember the Friday Night Sports Tie?

Anonymous said...

Didn't he do some kind of sports challenge too?

Bill Mecca said...

Yes!! I forgot about that one. John was very into "participatory journalism." I rremember we had a charity basketball team as well, I think I still have the jersey somewhere, unless my son has confiscated it. LOL I remember one game in particular in Dallas against WBRE, where I took Rich Noonon on a fast break. I would love to find video of that!!

alas, those days are over, that was a young man's game.

John had a bunch of the ties made into a sportjacket as well.

Anonymous said...

Bill:

The station in MB is no longer owned by Diversified Communictions, they sold a couple of years ago. However there still is a WYOU connection to WPDE, including Billy Huggins, GM and Lee Camp in Sales.

John was one of the best sports people in this market, made a mistake, but still was a pro on the air.

Anonymous said...

Jim was the ND at 22 who hired John. He is also the guy who put out a memo about taking care of station cars...only to drive under a bridge and tear off the sat dish from a truck....

Anonymous said...

Jim and John: hetero life partners?

Bill Mecca said...

I spoke with John today.

Jim and I had our disagreements, but he knows a good sportscaster when he sees one.

As for Spacelink. If memory serves there was a malfunction in the dish unit and it elevated while the truck was in motion under the bridge up near Tunkhannock. Something that should have been impossible, save for the malfunction of the unit.

Spacelink was quite a tool for the station. Those who were never inside may not realize it had a complete edit bay, and a switcher and was used as a remote production truck as well for the U of S basketball games.

I remember when we first got it, I was on a story and Bill Longworth from BRE commented to me " That's quite a tool" I winked at him and said, "Well, thank you."

4:14 the name Lee Camp is familiar. Did Diversified get out of broadcasting altogether?

Anonymous said...

Stirewalt a great ND?

Hardly.

If we was, he wouldn't be selling nuts and bolts at the hardware store in South Wilkes-Barre.

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:22PM, You think a tv anchor running from police isn't news? I disagree. You think going to the (alleged) perps house is harrassment? Disagree again. With or without the Renick affair, it's what reporters do as part of putting together a story.

BTW, not many people know WDAU's first sat truck was better than WNEP's. Another mystery of local tv? Most people probably think Channel 16 was first with SNV, but 22 was also first.

Bill Mecca said...
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Bill Mecca said...

9:03 I stand by my opinion of Larry. I worked for him, you?

"Great" was your word, re-read my comment and please try to be accurate.

Just because someone makes a choice to leave the business or not re-enter it has no bearing at all on their talent.

Anonymous said...

"After a night of drinking, he drove home...got pulled over by the local cops...and preceeded to hide in some local wooded area..."

IIRC, the local wooded area was behind Abington Heights' south campus, which is now Clarks Summit Elementary.

Anonymous said...

DUIs run in the media local bloodstream!

Anonymous said...

Bill,

So you said that Stirewalt was 'one of the best ND's' that 22 ever had.

Best and great are similar terms. Get over yourself.

I did work for Stirewalt. He was ruthless and spent a lot of time belittling people in the newsroom.

I am acutally he's selling stuff at the hardware store. He's not screwing anybody in newsrooms anymore.

I also worked with John Nugent and he was a class act. Pompous? Sure, just a bit. But a great guy.

Anonymous said...

Nugent was much better than that clown Ping. OMG.

Bill Mecca said...

"One of the best ND the station ever had" and "Great ND" are NOT equal statements.

Anonymous said...

Not only did Nuge run from the cops and a DUI stop, but didn't he then take time to lay down in the woods and make a snow angel? Or am I thinking of Rusty Fender? Or a Letterman Stupid Human Trick perhaps? Maybe it was all three.

Anonymous said...

Okay, so I'll put it this way and put the semantics argument to rest.

He was NOT the best ND 22 ever had for the same reasons I listed above.

Anonymous said...

OK, on a scale of one-to-Frank Andrews where did Jim Church fall as ND?

Anonymous said...

"one of the best" and "great" are entirely different terms. The 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays were one of the best teams in their history. Didn't make them great

Anonymous said...

jim church was more of an ops manager than a news director.

Bill Mecca said...

Diversified Communications is down to two stations WABI in Portland Me and WCJB in Gainesville. their website makes no mention of the other stations it onced owned, although WCJB's site does mention Myrtle Beach/Florence. Guess they haven't updated it in a while.

I can't compare Jim to Frank as ND as I never worked with Frank. We had some contact, speaking engagements etc. Nice guy with the gift of gab, trying following him at a panel session. :-)

Anonymous said...

Jesus Christ give it a rest you pack of over the hill washed up bores. Jesus!

Anonymous said...

F-U

these people know the history, have interesting stories, and if you don't like it why the hell are you here in the first place? its a post about a 1980's era sportscaster for Chrissakes.

go choke on some white pizza willya?

Anonymous said...

How does this guy keep getting work?

Anonymous said...

Good question 9:49! Another question: how do useless news directors like Al Zobel keep getting work?

Best of luck to John in his new role in Charleston. He was always good to me, so I have no problems with him at all. No wonder he drinks...this business drives us to be freakin' drunks!

Anonymous said...

12:39--
Is that you, Frank?

Anonymous said...

Nuge, good for you. You are a class act all the way. "How can I be the man when you are the man?" MMMMMMMMMM interesting! Come back for a visit someday and we will hit the "All you can eat Chinese Buffet."

Anonymous said...

I worked with both Nuge and Ping. There were a lot of simularities between both Sports guys. It is called "Personality" which we are now trading for mediochrity. I remember most veiwers I spoke to during Johns tenure at 22 would say they were avid 16 newswatchers, but when it was time to watch local sports, they switched to 22 for Nuge. Too bad there weren't metered households then, the Ratings would have been a lot different than the inflated numbers 16 claims after every book. In this business you look back and if you had the chance to pick your own News Team, I would pick Nuge as my Sports Anchor over anyone in this market today.

Bill Mecca said...

Nugent and JJ Davis both had a ton of personality, glad to see both are still doing what they love.

Anonymous said...

Jim Miller, Joe Zone, John Nugent ... what a mixed-bag trio of local sportcasters they made up back in the day.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled across this thread and enjoyed the read -- I am not at all involved in the industry, .. I grew up in NEPA and played HS Hoops in the early 90's on a great WVC team. NEP, YOU, BRE all gave us great coverage. And guys like Nuge, Miller, Michaels, Coles.. were top notch professionals. NEPA might be a small mkt compared to NYC, LA, Tampa, Chicago.. but it still had some of the best sports media due to solid guys in front of the camera. Nuge made a mistake with the DUI. Everyone makes mistakes. Best of luck to him. I live in Manhattan now, but it is so refreshing to come home to NEPA and get in late on a Friday evening and watch the Friday night roundup during HS football season.

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