That house was owned by a couple who had a son about my age. The parents themselves had moved away or were on an extended trip. Most of the people in the house were also students at Sac State.
I spent a lot of time at the house. Another person who spent a lot of time at the house was Les, a guy who lived down the street from the house. Les was about two and a half years younger than I was. He was a friendly guy who had the bug to be a performer or public personality of some sort.
I was told that Les thought of being a stand-up comedian and had tried some of his routines on the denizens of the house albeit unsuccessfully.
Les also attended Sac State in the Communications Department. He worked weekends at KRAK, a 50,00 watt radio station in Sacramento that played country music. He even recommended me for an audition, although I did not get the job.
We were both involved with the carrier-current radio station on campus. There was one guy who really wanted to be a disk jockey -- but he was blind. Les found a microphone and hooked it up to the console. Les would operate the board while the other guy lived his dream of being a disk jockey.
Les was very friendly. He worked hard and got along with people. We were definitely on friendly terms but we were not super close friends.
By 1982 Les was a reporter for KCBS radio in San Francisco. My first wife was an assignment editor at a San Francisco TV station. I told her about Les so she knew who he was. Normally she did not get out in the field but one day she rode around with a news crew. They went to the scene of a fire in a high-rise building. As they pulled up they were listening to Les on the car radio and watched him as he gave a live report from the scene. They were also listening to the KCBS producer in the studio over a scanner. Les was remembering a certain 1974 disaster movie as he gave his report.
Les: "it looks like a towering..."
Producer: "Don't you dare!"
Les: "...bonfire."From KCBS, which, as you might imagine, was owned by CBS, Les went to work for the TV network news department. He would be do background interviews that, while needed for a story, were not important enough to send the high-priced big name reporters.
Somewhere along the line he went over to NBC appearing on a number of news programs. He also appeared as a news person in a number of TV shows and movies. He was also being a bit more formal by this time, using the full name of Lester Holt. In 2014 he became the anchor of the weekday edition of the NBC Evening News.
I shuddered when, in 2004, he conducted an interview with a Palestinian official after the death of Yasser Arafat and extended his sympathies to the official.
I didn't let that bother me too much. However, in this past week this event occurred in Detroit:
While the reporter apparently gave an accurate description of event, Lester Holt sent out the following Tweet:
Detroit protesters demand justice after Hakim Littleton was killed by police. @KathyParkNBC reports.
The subject in the video clearly pulled a gun. The subject in the video clearly fired at the officers. How could he ignore that and even suggest that the event caused righteous indignation?
Les, What happened to you? I thought you had more sense than that. He certainly has been more successful than I ever was, but at what price?
Wow, you never told me the story of how you met or knew him. Very interesting post Matt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteAmazing, Matt, I never expected that. I hope that somehow he sees this article, he needs to read it.
ReplyDeleteWe are now fully in the Emperor's New Clothes era.
I used to like Lester Holt, a lot. I thought he was a good journalist. He's sold his soul though, probably to keep his job. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the personal story about him Matt.