brucesw, on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 @ 10:22am, said:
He is perhaps best remembered for building the shop at KPRC that was one of the best local TV news shops anywhere and for creating and narrating The Eyes of Texas beginning in 1967.
I had the privilege of being hired by Ray Miller in 1969 when he was still running KPRC TV AND radio news. Until 1971, TV and radio news were one big department, with him in charge.
Miller had the silly notion that TV reporters should be genuine journalists. That's why for many years he hired people straight out of the prestigious schools of journalism, like the University of Missouri and Columbia. They were educated as "print" journalists, but Miller always said he could teach them all they needed to know about TV in 20 minutes.
He had a very low opinion of most of the schools of "broadcast journalism." He wanted people with a broadbased liberal arts education who could "cover" a story, write it intelligently, and deliver it in front of a camera. It didn't matter if they didn't look or sound "smooth" or "polished" or have that "blow dried" TV announcer look.
Miller required ALL his reporters to be equally skilled in TV and radio news. TV reporters out on a story were also required to file reports for the radio side. Radio reporters and announcers were often called upon to grab a camera and cover a story if no TV reporter was available. The radio reporter also edited the film and wrote the script for the anchor. It was also common for the morning radio newscasters to fill in as the local newscaster during the Today Show from time to time. I did that on a few occasions.
KPRC was a demanding but exhilarating atmosphere. As a radio reporter, I never knew what I would be doing from one day to the next. One day I had to grab a 16mm camera, drive to the old Andrau Air Park on Westheimer to catch a plane that flew me a hundred miles out into the Gulf of Mexico to get film of two ships that had collided in the fog. When I got back I edited the film and wrote the story for the 6pm news.
Another day early in 1974, on very short notice, I jumped into a plane with an NBC crew to fly to Huntsville to cover that infamous prison break and hostage situation in which several convicts and hostages were killed. I stayed up there for several days filing reports for radio and writing scripts for the TV side.
That was an incredible setup for broadcast reporters, and it explains why so many former KPRC staffers from those days can still be found running TV and radio news departments and working in network jobs all over the country. Radio or TV. They could do it all. He had a great way of hiring film photographers. He wanted the best of the best, so he hired those who got awards for film photography at TV stations in smaller markets around the state. Miller's photographers were regular winners of national awards and recognition for their work.
In 1971 Miller got tired of running both sides of the newsroom and hired a News Director for the radio side. That was the late and much lamented John Davenport. Remember J.D.'s Journal on KTRK?
I will always take great pride in being one of the last people Ray Miller hired for radio news. I learned so much from him, and I hear his voice in my ear every day as I sit writing my story. He's reminding me to write uncluttered straight forward declarative sentences in conversational English and pay attention to my grammar and syntax. He always said there is never an excuse for sloppy writing.
I've never forgotten the last sentence in Ray's newsroom guide and stylebook. It summed up his credo: "You were hired because of your demonstrated superior abilities. Superior performance is expected of you."
This post has been edited by FilioScotia: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 6:48 PM
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