Sports Reporter, Rocky Mount (N.C.) Telegram

Cocky Mount is an overrated, average paper that gets elevated to elite status because some editors have posted on here. If anyone read it they would see it. But since the editors post on here, the paper's knob will keep getting polished.

 

I work with a former Rocky Mount reporter. He won an APSE here earlier in the Spring. I was beat out by another RM alum for that job in Orlando. Jason Boyd was one of the most respectful people I dealt with when I needed out of my former gig.
Game, I don't think Rocky Mount has a good reputation because a few of their people post here. I think they have a good reputation because they've moved people on to bigger (and if you like, better) things. They are obviously doing something right.

 

Just because they continually turn you down for jobs is no reason to post negative things on this thread.

 

I've never seen the RMT, but if what you say is true, more power to them. I started my career at a paper whose reputation far exceeded its quality, and that reputation helped me considerably when I moved on to my second and third gigs.

 

There is a lot of good sentiment about the RMT around here. As an alum, I'm curious as to what happened between the time I left (late 1992) and now. My time there was short (13 months) and not the most pleasant of experiences. Nobody with whom I worked went on to bigger and better. I believe I'm still the only sports guy still in the business.

I worked liked hell to get out of there, found another good gig in NC and eventually moved on to bigger and much better. Now I see that the RMT has become some grand jumping off point.

How'd that happen?

 

seems to me like rocky mount is producing some pretty good hacks, and I've never read the product.
You don't move from there to orlando if you don't have at least a little bit of talent. But maybe that's just me.

 

yeah, but if that was done just eight months or so into his tenure at rocky mount, how much of that was the "grooming" received at the telegram and how much of it was the dude was just good?

 

Our bitter friend may have a point -- though I notice he's not criticizing Danville, which may have racked up some of its "legendary" status because everyone's favorite wunderkid works there.

 

It's not that Rocky Mount is necessarily "grooming" people. It's that the paper makes good hiring decisions on people like Andrew Carter who are already talented, and those people get a chance to do so many different kinds of stories that it helps you grow.

I mean, I got to cover the Super Bowl in Houston as a 23-year-old from a 14k newspaper...then went right back to preps the next night. One time I covered the Daytona 500, then had to book to get back to cover something the following afternoon. Now, you don't have to cover those stories, but the opportunities are there if you want them.

I think the stories and events that the Telegram covers are what makes it a good sports section, especially for its size. By the way, it did win best sports section in the state for its size last year.

And Game is right, I'm sure all this sounds incredibly cocky. But I'm trying to tell prospective candidates out there that they should apply and hopefully carry on the tradition. Also, I'm proud of where I got my start, so it probably comes across as bragging. :-[

 

No wonder the 'Gram didn't have anyone at the Wilson-Rocky Mount American Legion game last night.

 

HOLY SHIT ERIC PRISBELL WORKS AT DANVILLE. Drew, why didn't you tell us?

 

The Super Bowl? Daytona? So that's the difference from the time I left until now. When I was there, the mere mention of going to Chapel Hill for a UNC basketball game was reason for suspension. My world consisted of little more than Northern Nash vs. Tarboro football.