The Golden Voice

It’s perhaps the most mind-numbing duty in TV news: making beat calls.  You don’t need a degree to do it, just a lot of patience.  Step 1: Pick up the phone, call a county sheriff or fire department dispatcher and ask, “anything going on?“  Sometimes the scanner traffic gives you a hint (car accident, shooting, etc.).  Step 2: Repeat over and over again until you’ve called every number on the list.  The folks on the other end of the phone are tasked with handling calls from citizens and dispatching emergency crews where needed.  Oh, then they have to put up with us.  The latter is, understandably, not always a priority.

But when there is an emergency in our area, there is always an immediate call for information from people in the media and people in the community.  This is exactly where a Bob Wylds was invaluable to all of us.  Bob (and I know this is “inside baseball”) would always make sure that we were informed accurately and timely.  Making our jobs easier in a crisis improves the flow of information.  And during an emergency, information is invaluable.

Bob was that kind of fellow.  No matter the emergency around him, he always parsed out what -you- needed to know to us in the media.  Even if it was little-to-nothing.  He understood that open communication was the best way to serve his community.  These days, for reasons justified and not, information is not as forthcoming.  You’ve probably heard us mention an “FOIA” during a newscast.  It stands for “Freedom of Information Act.“  Read about it here: http://tinyurl.com/28u4cg

As journalists, we find ourselves spending more time typing up official requests for information that we should all have unfettered access to.  It’s folks like Bob who realize that, unless there’s harm by doing so, information about an ongoing situation should be dissemnated quickly and clearly.

So what a fitting tribute to Bob that longtime radio voice and friend Lee Miller quickly created The Bob Wylds Sr. Beacon Committee.  The founding group includes Lee, veteran mobile reporter Wayne Roberts, EMA Director Pam Tucker, Bill Bengtson and yours truly.  It’s an honor to be a part of this group.  We’ll select a dispatcher annually who, in the spirit of Bob Wylds, supports and lives the philosphy that information is best shared in a timely manner to the media (and of course, you).  This year’s inaugural award was presented to Bob’s boss, Phil Wasson, on his behalf at the Augusta 911 Center.

Bob touched many lives.  In addition to his service as a dispatcher, Bob was also a deputy and even a mobile radio reporter.  It’s fitting that he was nicknamed “The Golden Voice.“  While I never had the pleasure of spending time with Mr. Wylds (or being earshot of one of his wonderfully timed jokes), I do recall chatting with him on the phone regularly.  It was back in the day, when I started out and my biggest responsiblity was, you guessed it, making beat calls.