John Drury

For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about John Drury, probably the most kind, decent, caring and self-effacing co-worker I've ever known. That claim is all the more noteworthy because John was a TV anchorman in the 70's, a job where an outsized ego and self-centeredness were almost prerequisites.
We worked together for WLS-TV in Chicago, an 'owned-and-operated' station, meaning the network itself held the keys, rather than some independent local concern. And for them, this was an extremely lucrative proposition; their five 'O and O's' generated far more profit than the network itself. We were among the first 'Eyewitness News' formats, derided accurately by competitors as a 'happy talk' substitute for real news. And indeed, the nature of our product was kinetic, and often nearly vaudevillian in nature.
Against this, John was as comfortable and welcoming as your grandpa's Barcalounger.
In those days, Channel 7 dominated the local news ratings. The competitors vainly tried to copy the format, to no avail. Eventually WBBM, the CBS station in town, figured out it might as well do something different, and began presenting itself as the 'hard news' alternative. Same actors, different play. But following classical marketing theory, it worked. When you can't compete doing the same thing, doing something different is frequently helpful. (Think Volkswagen in the same era, putting the lowly Bug up against all those behemoth U.S. models). And thus, WBBM went from being a blip on the ratings meters to two blips.
Enter the dramatic conflict. The network's roving band of 'outside consultants' arrived in town, and began a presentation with their trusty foam-core boards (yes, Virginia, there was a time before Powerpoint). What those graphs showed was that, IF THE TREND CONTINUED, WBBM could indeed catch WLS in the ratings race in a couple of years! Whatever will you do?
(It should be noted that WBBM's small increase came largely at the expense of the other station in town, not WLS. The ratings and other research showed that people still loved the WLS product and people as much as ever.)
The droll and disgusted news director of the station put the question right back to the consultants--'well, what would you do?'
Unfortunately, they were ready with an answer. "In order to show the market that you're not complacent, you've got to shake things up. Show some aggression."
"OK," the news director said distractedly. "Exactly how do we do that?"
"We think you've got to fire one of you main anchors. Doesn't make any difference which one. Just fire someone."
No one was distracted anymore.
The news director lasted about 60 seconds more before getting up, proclaiming this 'the stupidest f**king idea I've ever heard", and walking out of the room.
You can guess the rest. A couple months later John Drury was out of a job...and the news director departed not long after.
There was a flood of protest after Drury's departure. "How could you take him off the air? We love him!", was the general tenor of the thousands of respondents. Unfortunately, the consultants were not around to advise exactly how to answer that question.
But when the news director...the guy who built the ratings powerhouse from the foundation up...was ushered out the door for his insubordination, those same consultants were quick to begin collecting additional fees for 'finding' his successor. The man they chose arrived with a decent resume...and a nasty cocaine habit.
And thus did one of the dynasties in the history of local news begin to dismantle itself.

John Drury rebounded nicely. He became the iconic anchor for the independent WGN TV for years...poetically returned to WLS to finish his anchor career...and was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame.

Sometimes nice guys do finish first.

diderot