On the eve of Thanksgiving, our commentator Terry Pluto says he has a lot to be thankful for this year. Pluto says it was a remarkable year writing about Cleveland sports for the Plain Dealer. And he's grateful for seven years of weekly talks on WKSU with Amanda Rabinowitz.
"When we started out with this, we were just making it up as we went along," Pluto says. "What would people want to hear? What do we want to talk about?"
"When I go out and do my book signings, people mention three things. They love my Sunday Terry's Talkin' in the Plain Dealer. Second, the faith column. And third, my weekly talk with Amanda on WKSU. Because they're different.
And I have many people tell me that while they don't care so much about sports, they're listening to WKSU in general and they don't turn it off just because they're curious about what we're going to do. So we're thankful that they keep the dial on," Pluto says.
An industry that's still strong
"The reports of [the newspaper industry's] demise are premature. And the most remarkable thing was when the Cavs won the title, there were a line of cars that went all out to Tiedeman Rd. from the Plain Dealer plant. People were waiting over two hours to get a front page of the Plain Dealer.
They sold almost 600,00 copies. And you know why? They can't put a website on the wall. There's still something nice about putting your hands around a newspaper. And I'm grateful for that."
And you go back to the radio, there's something intimate about two people talking back and forth about sports or whatever it is."
40 years of writing
"I'm especially thankful because I've been going at this now full-time going on my 40th year. I've been doing it here since late 1979. And one of the blessings for me is that early in my career, it wasn't here. I was in Greensboro, North Carolina, Savannah, Georgia and Baltimore.
And while I was grateful to get those full-time jobs and get going, my goal was to come home and cover sports in my hometown with my hometown teams. And working somewhere else gave me a greater appreciation of this area.
It's like those of us here understood why LeBron James would want to come home. Ninety-five percent of the stories thought he should have had his sanity checked! I think in his mind, having gone away gave him a greater love, thankfulness and a grateful heart for being able to play basketball here."
Winning teams ease the stresses of life
Pluto says the championship run of the Cavs and World Series trip for the Indians gave fans an escape from life's stresses.
"Sports is one of the great diversions of life. Good or bad. The biggest story that I've ever covered in my life was the Cavs winning the title, because I just never expected it. The Indians just having a fun run to game seven. It was great entertainment.
Bottom line is, I have a very grateful heart to people who are listening and people who are reading. And, I've long said this...without you, there's no us. Meaning, without you out there listening or reading, there's no us working in radio or newspapers."
