Every weeknight, Dan Rea is busy at work upstairs in his Chestnut Hill house.
Wearing a headset with a mic, Rea retains a watch on his laptop computer to see who is asking into NightSide, a chat present the veteran Boston newsman hosts on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 AM from 8 p.m. to midnight Monday by Friday.
NightSide entered its sixteenth yr on the airwaves in October, and Rea mentioned he received’t be calling it quits anytime quickly. He is having an excessive amount of enjoyable on what he calls “North America’s Virtual Back Porch,” as he connects with listeners from throughout the nation and in Canada.
“You don’t have to be a U.S. senator or governor to be a caller to my show,” mentioned Rea, a member of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. “Your voice and your opinion is just as important to me as a governor or senator because you are a part of the fabric of our society. Those voices need to be heard.”
Rea tailored to his distant work atmosphere on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, greater than a year-and-a-half after WBZ NewsRadio moved its headquarters from Soldiers Field Road in Allston to Medford in August 2018.
Working out of his Chestnut Hill house has brought about Rea to lose the power to have eye contact along with his friends and browse their physique language, which made the transition to the distant world difficult.
Rea has overcome these early hurdles, evidenced by the variety of listeners and friends that proceed to name into NightSide on a nightly foundation. Rea broadcasted the yr’s last episode of NightSide on Thursday, when he hosted the present’s tenth annual charity mix by interviewing representatives from 22 charities throughout New England.
Though he has loved interviewing some big-named politicians, corresponding to former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, on his present, Rea mentioned he believes the charity mix is his most vital episode of the yr.
“I want to connect my audience with some of those charities so they could either contribute to them or volunteer for them,” he mentioned of the aim behind the charity mix. “Those people are important because of the amount of good they do, more so than a major politician or a famous person.”
Self-identified as an impartial, Rea mentioned the subjects he discusses all through his present dictates whether or not he stays impartial or takes a aspect. He made his opinion identified throughout a phase earlier this month on the Dedham library director rescinding her preliminary plan to not put up Christmas bushes within the city’s two libraries.
“It would be like me saying, ‘Tonight, I’m going to do a special show and we’re going to do the sounds of silence for an hour,’ ” Rea mentioned. “(Listeners) would be like, ‘You’re a radio talk show host, you have to do a show.’ It just doesn’t make any sense.”
In different situations, Rea mentioned he prefers to present extra time to listeners and friends so he can achieve a deeper understanding on the problems of the day. Rev. Kevin Peterson, founding father of Boston-based New Democracy Coalition, appeared on the Dec. 15 episode to debate the Boston City Council approving a committee to review reparations for Black Bostonians and what meaning.
Rea’s strategy to his reveals is a shift from when he reported tales “right down the middle” throughout his 31-year-career as an on-air tv reporter for WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston.
Awards that Rea has acquired all through his adorned profession — together with the Yankee Quill Award, thought of the best particular person honor for journalists in New England — cowl a wall close to his studio on the highest ground of his house.
“I watched this city grow over decades,” Rea mentioned about working within the Boston information business. “When people talk about the bad old days, hey, I lived in the bad old days. I went to Boston Latin School, Boston State College, Boston University Law School. I’m a Boston guy, very proud of the city but I can still be critical.”
Over the years, as expertise and social media have advanced the journalistic panorama, Rea has develop into lively on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Every day, both Rea or his producer publish previews and recaps of that night time’s present on Facebook.
Sometimes, relying on the magnitude of a selected challenge, Rea mentioned, tales may very well be coated “wall to wall,” such because the instant aftermath of the bombing on the Boston Marathon in April 2013 and the seek for terrorist Dhzokhar Tsarneav.
On different days, when the information cycle is gradual, Rea mentioned he has to get inventive and “come up with a spin that would interest people.”
The WBZ NewsRadio sign reaches 38 states, permitting Rea to type relationships with listeners from throughout the nation and in Canada, together with Clark in Pennsylvania, Richard in Toronto, Chuck in Georgia, William in Baltimore and Susan in Chicago, all of whom are frequent callers, he mentioned.
“Without callers, I don’t have a talk show,” Rea mentioned. “I am not the show. The callers and guests are the show. They make the show work. If it’s just me for four hours, who’s going to listen to me for four hours? They may for a while but not for long.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
