In
Phil's own words: In 1974 I went in search of a exciting JOB.
I decided TV was the place for me. I landed a spot at WGN-TV
in the lowest paying job in the building. Yep, you guessed it ...
the mail room, printing all the scripts for every live show ... which
was a lot. In any spare moment, I watched live tapings of Bozo, Phil
Donahue and every sport immaginable, all being created ... LIVE! I
decided live TV was the most exciting thing there was. The team work
is unbelievable. I started down that path.
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In 1975 making commercials, I moved up quickly to Director and
it was fun. I was asked to Stage Manage a program, U.S. Farm
Report. It was every thing I dreamed of. I traveled to over
40 countries and 49 states. I did programs with Secretary's
at Cabinet levels. There were many, many Governors, Congressmen,
Senators, Presidents and Foriegn
Prime Ministers as well, who wanted
to be on our program, as it was syndicated to over 200 TV stations
coast to coast.
I also
directed Siskle & Ebert At The Movies for seven years.
Got to meet several movie stars and see hundreds of movies.
Me being me ..I wanted more. So I worked as a cameraman shooting
news pieces on programs at WGN, MSNBC, Bill Maher/HBO, among
others.
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During the summers
for 20 years I was the Network Coordinator-Director for the
Cubs Baseball Network. Yep they payed me to watch a ball game.
Later in my career, I jumped at the opportunity to be a game
camera operator. I started with CBS NFL sports. From then on
I worked a lot of weekends, freelancing with ESPN covering White
Sox, Cubs, Bulls, Bears, HBO Boxing, Showtime Boxing, Sabers
Hockey, Bowling, CBS March Madness, U.S. Open Golf. I also did
lots of high school and college games. I think I enjoyed being
Camera 1 on Sky Basketball the most. For four years it was exciting
in every game. And now, it's wonderful to see the women's sports
grow and televised as well.
Come to think
of it ... I never did get a job ... I got an adventure!
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