So Long Michael

If the number of people who turn out for your funeral are any indication of the lives you touched, then Michael Frank would be comforted (and likely humbled) to know that his funeral nearly filled up two auditoriums.  Michael was killed in a one-vehicle accident Saturday afternoon, as he drove home from Atlanta.  He’d spent the past thirteen years as the press information officer for the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.  Prior to that, he’d done a tour here at WJBF.  As a PIO for the Sheriff’s Office, Michael made sure information flowed freely between law enforcement and you.  And it’s not an easy job.  Just ask Steve Morris, with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office or Tim Pearson, with North Augusta Public Safety.  The media can be a real pain in the neck.

Lucky for us, Michael once worked at that nerve center.  He knew deadlines never changed and how our lead stories often depended on new and timely information for our viewers & readers.  Perhaps Michael’s biggest challenge at that post came during the Graniteville train wreck and chemical spill in 2005.  Within a couple of hours of the accident, Michael was in front of the cameras and microphones, calmly and effectively sharing critical information at the start of an unfolding crisis.  And as the minutes passed, the media crowds grew.  Michael tirelessly answered questions from behind the podium, one-on-one and in live talkbacks with anchors from across the country.  At no point did Michael ever lose his composure or sense of calm.  If there is a “finest moment” to be had in that career, this was his.

As a journalist, Michael was one of the most efficient you’d ever meet.  He seemed to always meet his deadlines and his cool demeanor served him well in the confines of a pressure-packed newsroom or at the scene of story.  Unlike a lot of more experienced journalists these days, Michael would have embraced the new media.  He would’ve used his cell phone to post content to the web, before he came back to edit a story for broadcast.  He would have used “Twitter” to send headlines.  He would have probably had a Facebook or MySpace page to connect with viewers.  I know this because Michael really transformed the communication bridge between law enforcement and media.  Michael shot video from the scene and made it available at the ACSO website.  He had a press voicemail box that was constantly updated.  He sent email to hundreds with mugshots and web links for more information.  And in just the week before his untimely death, Michael was actually using our blue and gold background and literally “pre-producing” mug shots for us.  For WJBF specifically.  I was actually about to give him access to our website, so that he could post content to a special ACSO section.  I bet he would have filled that section up daily.  He loved technology and wanted to make getting information out there as easy as possible.

While he will forever be remembered as a loving father to his son and daughter, as “ref” to countless hockey players and friend & peer to us at WJBF, his local law enforcement legacy might just be the technological advances he mastered to ease and speed the flow of information between you and your government.

Somewhat fitting I guess, that I’m taking a moment to remember Michael on a “blog.“  I think he would have probably appreciated that.