A walk downtown

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I decided to take advantage of the slow work day, and rainy skies to sight see. Armed with my NYU meal plan card, I got a sandwich, a ginger ale, and I started to walk. First off was Washington Square. It's a little park about a quarter mile southwest of the dorm.


I had a half of my sandwich, and walked down to a little doggy-park still within Washington Square where people can let their dogs run free. New Yorkers have an insane amount of dogs. I see more dogs here than I ever would have guessed. One bloodhound (I think?) walked up to me at the fence, and gave me a "Bahhh-whooof!", so I took his picture, and he sauntered away.



I took off west, and got to my typical subway enterence on west 4th street.



I had originally planned to go uptown to Penn Plaza (where WABC is) and take some pictures of where I work. However, I found myself on the platform for trains heading downtown. Instead of taking the route underneath to get an uptown train, I decided to head south.

Here's the train I took:



I accidentally took the train too far south. After Nassau street, I realized the train was going a long way, and it came to me that we were under the east river, headed to Brooklyn. Again, this is something that anyone who's travelled here would know, but I'm still very new. I stepped out into Brooklyn, and it was pouring rain. Realizing that I still needed an umbrella, I grabbed a small one from a drug store, and strolled around a bit. Finally, I took the train back into Manhattan, and wandered into the Financial District.

Soon, I found myself down a street I recognized, but not because I had been there.

I was on Wall Street. On my left was the old Federal Hall, where George Washington was sworn in as the first President. Take a look at this:


Just down the street was the New York Stock Exchange. There's some pretty heavy security around the whole area, but the history of the corner is amazing. The J.P. Morgan building is there as well. Here's a couple pictures from the corner.




I then walked southeast to the east river. Mind you, this is not clean water. I pulled out the second half of my sandwich to eat here, but the smell of the water made it quite a bit less appetizing. Still, the view behind me of Manhattan, and ahead of me of Brooklyn was amazing.


I walked up the water's edge towards some piers, where I saw a couple old sail boats. One of them was The Peking, one of the last large sailing ships. It sailed from Germany in 1911, and picked up nitrates in western South America to replenish Europe's depleted soil. However, with WWI, and steam ships it became quickly obsolete, and was docked for awhile in England. I think the sign said it came to NYC in the 1970's.



After that, I headed west, back into the heart of Manhattan. Before getting on a train to take me back to my original station, I took a few photos, and this video of a street dancing group:





There's a quick taste of lower Manhattan for you!

Man on the street

I got off work at 6:00 PM today, and dropped by the dining hall for a salad. Now I'm home, though, and its nearly 7 PM. Commuting in the city isn't easy. I'm just now starting to figure most of it out. I take the A/C/E line uptown to work each day. It doesn't run near the dorm, however, so I have to walk westwardly upwards of a mile to catch my train. Then, I can never remember which entrance to the subway will point me uptown or downtown. So, if I guessed wrong, I have to take the stairs underneath the trains to get to the opposite side of the tracks.

If any of you have ever commuted in the City, you're probably wondering why I'm making such a big deal of it, but its something I wasn't used to. Starting to walk the wrong way out of a subway can add some time onto your commute.

Anyway, let's move on to my day. Elisha (the call screener) told me as I arrived that I'd be doing "Man on the Street" with her today. We go down to the street, and round up a few people to go on-air with Sean, and he asks them questions like "Who's the Secretary of State?" It's pretty fun. We pre-taped that segment of the show, and aired it as the 3rd hour.

Listener e-mail was pretty fun today. (as opposed to yesterday) Here is my favorite e-mail from the day:

Tell Sean to call me, xxx-xxx-xxxx.  I want to run for President in 08 and I am
certain he would not only like me but would endorse and support my efforts.  I
am serious. Hurry, not much time left.

Sincerely,
xxx xxxx

Oh my gosh! Hold the phones! I have to print this one out, and run it to Sean's desk IMMEDIATELY! This man says he'll be President! Tell George Allen, John McCain, George Pataki, and Rudy to back up!

Because Senator Lindsey Graham was on today (a Republican in name only, or RINO), and was proposing a weak immigration bill, I got a boatload of angry e-mails telling Sean to really take it to the Senator. Seriously, they poured in dozens by the minute.

This Freedom Concert thing is going to be huge as well. I spent quite a bit of my day just working with people who didn't like the Ticket Master surcharge for tickets in San Diego... Or people who were angry that we called the location San Diego instead of the suburb it's in... Or people who wanted another concert in the midwest... Or people who want to add a performer to the lineup.

Other than that, just another fun day in RadioLand. Curt Sliwa was discussing Little Gotti who had him kidnapped in 1992, and the trial that's now going on. Plenty of political talk, and of course, the goons from ESPN radio discussing who on each other's teams is on steroids.

Well, I need a quick nap.

Day 2

I'm back in the dorm after day 2. Today wasn't nearly as high-profile and exciting as yesterday was. No celebrity sightings, and Hannity is in Atlanta. Instead, I prepared Sean's packet of drudgereport materials. Faxing 55 pages is something I've never done before, I guess! Not too long after faxing the packet, we got news that Osama bin Laden was seen roaming in Pakistan, so I faxed in a quick cover and report for that, just in case there were major developments on it.

Other than that, answering e-mails and snail mails was my job for the day. Its a mundane job, but depressing as well. Here's why:

To the tune of roughly 750 emails a day, people write to Sean Hannity, and instead of being seen and read by the media superstar they adore, they come to me. As you can imagine, this means that a rather strict set of guidelines are set for which e-mails get moved to Hannity's assistant, or even replied to by myself. In the interest of the people I work for, I won't go into any keywords I look for, because the job will just be made more difficult for myself or anyone doing it.

That said, I almost feel like crying at the letters I get. Long, heartfelt pleas for relatives with cancer... Elderly, terminally ill listeners who want to know a postal address for Sean before they die... Single mothers who can't pay their bills, and who boil water to give baths to their children.

One letter really hit me today. It was sent by an entire platoon of soldiers on behalf of their wounded buddy. In Iraq, this guy had his teeth knocked out by a mortar round, and both eyes struck by shrapnel. His face is understandably a wreck. When he came to, he asked if anyone else was hurt. Upon learning that he was alone in the suffering, he looked relieved and said, "Good."

The bottom of the letter had the scribbled signatures of the whole platoon. They all wanted nothing more than to see their new inspiration honored at the Freedom Concert this July.

For those of you who don't know, Oliver North started the Freedom Alliance, and the purpose of the concerts held every year is to raise money for the children of slain soldiers. I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to go to the concert, or have to stay back and be an intern. Then I heard today from the Events Coordinator that we'd all get to go out and help set up banners, and work the concert.

So, that was my day. I emptied the e-mail inbox, and replied best I could to the letters sent. It's just quite an experience to see what 1,400 people had to say today.

Amazing First Day

I just had the most incredible day.

I started work at WABC for Sean Hannity's show today. As I arrived, I took a quick tour with Rachel, Mr. Hannity's personal assistant. After that, I did a quick sort of the mail, and started arranging a news packet with James ("Sweet Baby James", for those of you who know the show). As we were discussing Al Gore's recent trip to a global warming summit, I mentioned that the 400,000+ gallons of fossil fuels used by Gore on this trip alone gave him a bigger "carbon footprint" than the average American that he's condescending to. James stopped, looked up at me and said, "Ooh, that's good!", and scribbled it down in his notes to Sean.

Foot in the door.

Before the show started, Hannity arrived and chatted with staff. His assistant Rachel introduced the new interns, and he said, "I see that all we hire here are blonde, pretty people, huh?" Not sure I fit into either one of those catagories, but hey!

Tim Russert was the guest for the day. Jeff (this summer's other intern), and myself went down to the ground floor to meet Mr. Russert, and we escorted him to the green room that we'd prepared for him. Let me tell you, he looks nothing like that intimidating guy leaning over a desk that you see on TV. He's incredibly friendly, and a great conversationalist. I disagree with quite a bit I've seen on Meet the Press, but he's really an example of a civil liberal.

Anyway, he was there talking with Sean about his new book about fatherhood, and what I caught of the show was great. If you get a chance to pick either book up (the newest one is out today), do so.

There was a good deal of mundane, intern-type work today. Yet, I'll take an internship where I ask the nation's #2 talk show host and the nation's premiere TV journalist if they want coffee any day.

It was an amazing day. I think I did exactly what I set out to do on day one. Make an impression, display work ethic, and get a good foot in the door.

I'm back tomorrow at 10 AM, so I'll talk to you later!

I'm here!

It's only 8:50 PM eastern time, and I'm wiped out, I'm afraid. Yet, I'm finally here in the City. My shuttle driver from Newark International Airport to Manhattan was absolutely insane. He missed five turns. That's not an exaggeration, either. He actually got tired of realizing he was missing turns, and just plowed over a highway island to correct himself 100 ft. too late. Also, he attempted to go IN REVERSE on a missed turn ramp. Traffic behind him got upset, and after the dust had settled our driver showed us an ice pick that he keeps in his door in case he needs to kill someone. He went on to explain how the cops would never find him, and how the dynamics of the ice pick would make all the bleeding internal.

Welcome to Newark.

Finally, I made it to the dorm, and moved my stuff upstairs. I'm on the fourth floor, but I can still feel the subway shaking everything sixty some feet below. The room is alright. It looks like a dorm, but I moved all my stuff in, plugged my phone in, and it feels better now. I've posted some pictures below to give you a feel.

On a run to a drug store down the block, some other students were shopping for the same items I am. They asked if I was at Brittany Hall, and I said I was. So, we spent the next half hour walking through K-Mart (a Manhattan version with three floors, and a subway entrance underneath), and a drugstore. We went in on an ironing board. I suggested that since no one wanted to buy a board that we couldn't take home, we should all pitch in two dollars and share it. That way, we wouldn't care to leave it behind. So, the 3 foot-long, communal ironing board is here.

After that, I grabbed a cheap sandwich (first thing I'd eaten in 14 hours), and sat down with the group to watch a little TV. I announced that I needed to take my contacts out, so I came here. So, Hi! I miss you.

Make sure and read all my posts from today if you're just checking in. I've posted thrice today, so it'd be easy to miss my earlier posts. I'll have more on the "culture shock" of Manhattan tomorrow.

Goodnight!

En route...

I last said hello at 3:25 this morning, and four hours later, I’m somewhere over central Missouri. I really have no idea how I’m going to take my two large suitcases, carry-on, and laptop bag with me when I arrive in Newark. It’s going to be a real blast if the shuttle won’t drop me very near to 10^th and Broadway. No, I take that back, it’s going to be fun. I’m also going to have an amazing time ironing all my smashed clothes this evening. It’ll give me a chance to adjust to dorm life again, before wandering around for some cheap groceries. I just thought of something I neglected to pack, actually. A radio. You’d think that working for a radio station, I’d take with me some method to monitor the goings-on of my job site. WABC has absolutely massive range. For those of you in Colorado, think of KOA but with no surrounding mountains or hills to affect range. I’ll try and find a graphic of WABC’s range to post tonight for illustrative purposes.

3:25 AM

It's 3:25 AM, and I'm about ready to leave for the airport. I've got pictures of packing up (which I'm notoriously bad at)... they're just stored away in my baggage. I'll update from either the road or NYC.