Producer (13 page)

I would be remiss here, by the way, to omit the fact that Susan Mercandetti gave new meaning to the term “Rolodex.” People
had real ones back then, not virtual Rolodexes on the Internet, and Susan lugged her huge one around with her wherever she
went. I remember being with her at Martha’s Vineyard when she pulled out that crazy Rolodex. It really was the real thing!
I didn’t end up getting her job, which mortified me at the time, but when I look back, I see that I didn’t deserve it. I needed
some more experience.

The next job I didn’t get but I think I actually
did
deserve was replacing one of our PR staffers, Jan Smith. Since she wanted to be a reporter, she was leaving her post as ABC
public relations assistant to go to Kansas City, to “work on her reel.” When someone wanted to become a reporter, it was common
practice to go to a smaller market to get experience and create
a reel of film. Then you would come back to the big city and land a job in the larger market, using your reel as an audition
tape. I was eager to make the jump to PR assistant, but I didn’t get that job, either.

Then one afternoon, my boss, Kevin Delaney, walked over to my desk and said almost apologetically, “Wendy, I need you to take
a cab to Capitol Hill right now. Our correspondents Charlie Gibson and Ted Koppel are there, the phones are ringing off the
hook, and they can’t get any work done. They want somebody to come and answer phones. Would you mind doing that?”

Quite the opposite. It sounded great to me, and I jumped into a cab and headed for Capitol Hill to answer phones and do whatever
else anybody needed. I only did this once but I loved being where the action was, it was the coolest thing ever, and I wanted
to do more of it. The only hard part was jumping in the cab since, after my Paris incident, I am incredibly frightened of
them to this day. But that was how much I wanted it!

It was 1979, during the Iranian hostage crisis, when Roone Arledge, the head of ABC news at the time, created a show called
America Held Hostage.
Roone had made a commitment to do a special every night that the hostages were in captivity. The show was expected to last
for a couple of weeks, but the crisis went on for a tragically long period of time, 444 days, and so did the reporting. In
the beginning, several different anchors were used, but ultimately, Ted Koppel, who anchored the show more than anyone else,
became the permanent host and the show was eventually renamed
Nightline
.

When
World News Tonight
had finished airing in the evening, I would pick up my massive typewriter and carry it down to the editing booths to help
with whatever else anyone needed. My job description at the time did not include editing, but I
went to the edit floor every night anyway, partly to learn editing and partly to enjoy the catered dinner that was served
at night, which encouraged everyone to keep working.

At that point in time, Katie and I were so broke, we shopped at Loehmann’s discount store and shared our outfits, wearing
a different scarf and hoping no one would notice. At the end of a long day of work, our dinners were generally chicken pot
pies or spaghetti because that was all we could afford. We were so poor, we would go to a restaurant in Georgetown, get a
table, order coffee, and ask cute guys sitting near us if we could have a bite of whatever they ordered. Seriously! I have
a hard time believing it, but we really did that because we were broke When we stayed late at ABC to help, however, they brought
in roast beef, mashed potatoes, fresh veggies, and pies. Getting a free dinner back then was a big deal, and I made sure to
take advantage of it while I also learned the art of producing a story on tape. Like a scene out of a movie, I would stuff
my pockets with rolls and chicken to take home and put in our refrigerator.

Eight months after I began working at ABC, when I was just getting the hang of things, George Watson called me into his office
and shut the door. “No one knows this yet,” he said quietly, “but I’m about to leave ABC as bureau chief.”

I was stunned. He was the last person I had thought would ever leave, but when he explained further, I was intrigued. “I’m
taking a new job,” he said. “I’ll be helping Ted Turner start the Washington bureau for his new venture called Cable News
Network. He wants to launch the first network that airs only the news for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week on cable.
And I’d like you to come with me.”

This offer, which would eventually change my life for the better in countless ways, was a complete surprise. At first, I
wondered, why me? Why didn’t George choose someone with more clout? I was a neophyte, a mere assistant to the deputy bureau
chief. I was not someone with prime contacts back then, and I did not have an influential voice in the news business. But
I always worked harder than anyone else, and I had proven that to George. Today, when I review the amount of sweat, hard work,
and moving mountains it took to do this impossible thing with Ted Turner, I probably would have hired me, too, considering
the fact that I worked harder than anyone else.

WORK HARDER THAN ANYONE ELSE

If your company is doing layoffs like so many are, they are going to lay off the people who don’t work hard and have bad attitudes.
The people who work the hardest and don’t complain make their bosses’ lives easier, so they get to keep their jobs. Which
one are you?

This really is a no-brainer. The harder you work and the better your attitude, the more people will notice you and the more
indispensable you will become. It’s all about your work ethic.

Do you find ways to go above and beyond what is required of you, even if it takes a little longer?

Or are you tapping your foot, willing the hands of the clock to move faster so you can go home the instant your eight hours
are officially up?

Here are some tips that will serve you well:

•  Get in to the office earlier than your boss and stay after he or she leaves. I believe that when
my boss, George Watson, saw that I was coming in to the office on Sundays, he felt secure that he could depend on me to do
a job with more responsibility.

•  Don’t complain. Complaining is contagious and it brings everyone down, including you. No one wants to work with a complainer,
no matter how talented you are. When a complainer leaves my staff, I am relieved. Of course, you may need to vent about certain
things, so call a friend and tell him or her how you feel. Then it’s back to work with a good attitude. It’s so much easier
to get a job done if you are someone other people can get along with. When a better position becomes available, you will be
passed over if you have the reputation of being difficult.

•  Don’t drop the ball: Be a team player. If you are on a staff, every job will have some kind of overlap with the next job.
You have to get along with other staff members and keep the ball rolling. If you are someone who does his or her part and
you are working with someone who drops the ball, instead of complaining and blaming, pick it up. People will notice. Don’t
waste your time being pissed off about the people who aren’t working as hard, just because you’re one of the people who does
work hard.

•  Offer your boss good suggestions without being asked. Be part of the solution. I expect my staff to present me with original
ideas. I want people who are going to challenge me and be challenged. It’s a strong person who can say to their
boss, “I heard what you suggested and I don’t think that’s the way to go. I would do this.”

If you have an idea about how to save money or improve on a product, speak up. It’s all in the attitude. I would avoid complaints
and irritation such as, “This is all wrong. We need to make it right.” Nobody wants to listen to an employee who is irritable
and grumpy. Instead, how about saying, “I’m curious. Wouldn’t it work better if we did it this way?” This is being part of
the solution.

And then, after you have spoken your mind, it’s a strong person who can let it go if their boss does not agree, because he
or she has the final word. Whether the boss followed your suggestion or not, you will be remembered as a creative thinker.
Then, when that promotion comes up, who do you think will get it? Someone who did very little to speak of, or you, who came
up with some revolutionary ideas? I think you know the answer.

Bosses feel a level of comfort when they have people on their staff on whom they know they can rely. These are the people
who will get ahead because they work harder than anyone else, and they will get the job done right and on time. If you do
these things, if your work ethic is beyond reproach, people will know. Believe me, one way or another, they always know.

W
hen I first began my White House producing job for CNN in 1983, we had two desks in the White House basement press room, one
for correspondent Dean Reynolds and the other for reporter Jim Miklaszewski (we called him Mik). I had no desk so I stood
between them most of the time, happy just to be there. But I kept urging my bosses to ask the White House to assign us a glass
booth with sliding doors and a small office inside, like the other networks. Maybe I would even have my own chair. The three
large networks each had a booth and we needed one, too, but where would we put it?

I went on a search and discovered a small area in the basement of the press room. A kind of “crazy old lady” radio reporter
was using that space to hoard old newspapers and magazines. I asked for the space and when the White House granted us permission
to put our booth there, this woman was incredibly pissed off. She got so incensed, I had to take matters into my own hands
and move her magazines and papers for her. It was the only way I could get it done.

And so, over Christmas that year, I spent most of my time overseeing the construction of our much-desired booth. When I look
back, I wonder what in the hell I was thinking, spending my Christmas vacation at work in the basement of the White House.
But back then, work was everything, and it was all trial and error since I had no one to show me what to do.

I would arrive at the White House in the morning about 7:30 or 8. I made coffee and got organized, made calls, checked the
president’s schedule for the day, and then I’d go to the morning briefing with my tape recorder. If there was a major news
story, I’d type up my notes and fax them to CNN on our clunky fax machine.

The other producers at ABC, CBS, and NBC had one evening news spot to do while Mik, Dean, and I had to find live shots to
feed the news beast all day long. That’s why we needed to have a full-time producer stationed at the White House. I was like
a short-order cook for CNN, leaving other people free to make calls and do the rest of their work.

I spent the entire day at the White House, acting as liaison between the administration and CNN. After the morning briefing,
if the president was going somewhere, I might go, too. Then someone else from CNN would take my place at my desk. But I always
stayed in contact with the main news desk. If the president was going out at night, we did what we called a “death watch,”
making sure someone always represented CNN in case something happened, such as the Reagan assassination attempt. We refused
to be left high and dry any longer, so someone always stayed on “death watch” until the president was back home again. It
usually ended up being me because nobody else was willing to stand on a street corner, waiting. For me, it was all about learning
as I went along.

In fact, I had only been there a few months when I found
myself in a very embarrassing position. I was crossing the White House lawn on my way to the press room when I noticed a large
crowd hovering around someone so small, you couldn’t see who it was. When crews and reporters surround someone who is newsworthy
and shoot out random questions, we call it a gangbang for lack of a better term. And this was just that—a gangbang on the
front lawn of the White House. My first one.

Toting my huge walkie-talkie, too large to fit into a pocket or even an oversize purse, I made my way through the group of
burly cameramen to see Mother Teresa, three inches shy of five feet tall, in her blue-striped head covering, discussing the
meeting she’d just had with President Reagan. I marveled at how such a tiny woman could make such a huge impact on the world,
as she clutched a handful of prayer cards.

Each time she spoke to someone, she handed him or her a white-and-blue card, colors that matched her clothing, with a painting
of Jesus on the front. Anyone who received a prayer card took it and said, “Thank you, Mother Teresa,” in reverent tones.
When I got in close enough, she handed me a card, too, which I framed later as an offering from a living saint.

Card in hand and breathless, I stepped away from the circle and got on my walkie-talkie with a guy named Vito at the CNN assignment
desk. “Vito,” I gasped much too loudly, barely able to contain my excitement, “there’s a gangbang with Mother Teresa on the
front lawn.”