Tim Fox

Born to tell stories … created ‘Bridge Street’ show on NewsChannel 9 WSYR, which is celebrating 20 years this year

By Mary Beth Roach

He said he was a born storyteller.

And for more than 40 years, Tim Fox has been engaging Central New Yorkers with his stories on NewsChannel 9 WSYR.

Whether it’s through his news reports, the “Tell Me Something Good” weekly segments; the “Bridge Street” program he helped develop 20 years ago; special projects and telethons on the station; the book he co-authored about local television; his work with local community theater groups; as a host for “Teen Talk” program in the mid-2000s; as a voice actor for audio books with worldwide distribution; or as an adjunct professor at two area colleges in the 1990s and for about nine years in the mid-2000s.

Fox’s birth 66 years ago in Cortland is a story itself.

His parents, Bob and Mary Ann Fox, were living over The Treat Shop in Cortland. His mother was pregnant with Tim, their first-born. As Fox recounted the story, his mom’s doctor, a family friend, stopped by the apartment on his way home from work one evening to check on them and everything was fine. A few hours later, his mother informed his dad that it was time to get to the hospital. The first-time father thought they had some time. He wanted to finish his coffee.

Apparently, Tim had other ideas.

Mary Ann went into labor and Bob started to carry her down the stairs to take her to the hospital. However, it became obvious they weren’t going to make it. So he got Mary Ann back upstairs, laid her on the couch and went to look for the newspaper. Fox said that his dad had heard newsprint was sterile — so he assumed he could wrap a newborn in it.

It would seem that Fox was fated to go into news and storytelling.

As a kid, Fox said he always “wanted to make TV” and among his local role models were Mike Price, aka Baron Daemon; Jean Daugherty, who played The Play Lady on The Magic Toy Shop; Bud Hedinger, a news anchor and local TV show emcee; weather forecaster “Stormy” Meredith; and Phil Markert, who hosted a radio show before moving over to television. His “The Markert Place” show, a local talk and entertainment program, was one of the first shows broadcast when NewsChannel 9 WSYR signed on in 1962 as WNYS. And it would be the show that Fox modeled when developing the current “Bridge Street” program.

Following his graduation from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School in 1980 and a one-year stint at a radio station in Cortland, Fox was hired in 1982 at NewsChannel 9 WSYR (then WIXT) and has remained there for 42 years, making him the longest-serving staffer.

He attributes his longevity at the station to several factors.

First, the station and its various owners over the years have always treated him well.

Recalling those earlier days, Fox said that he had a good memory for reporters’ stories, which gave him the ability to navigate the video archives. In addition, he joked, that being a Central New York native, “I could say Salina Street, Skaneateles and Schroeppel.” (New local anchors who aren’t Central New Yorkers, will often mispronounce the names of these regional spots.) And of course, his writing skills have always been strong, evidenced by the number of awards he has garnered over the years.

Moreover, he said he has always enjoyed being in his hometown market with family nearby.

“The lifestyle, the Central New York lifestyle appealed to me,” he said.

And for more than four decades, Fox has been involved in nearly every aspect of getting programming on the air at NewsChannel 9 WSYR — from reporting to anchoring to producing.

Versatility 

Today, his chief roles include that of executive producer of “Bridge Street,” a local show which airs for an hour on weekdays, hosted by Steve Infanti and Iris St. Meran. He helped create the program in 2004 and has been executive producer for more than 12 years of its run.

Lifestyle shows, like “Bridge Street,” had all but gone away in the 1980s, Fox explained, because it was more economical for stations to rent syndicated shows than produce local programming. However, they started making a return about 20 years ago and as Fox said, “I think we came back on the leading edge of a movement across the country. There are more and more lifestyle shows like this that exist.”

Part of the reason, he noted, was that they offer sales and marketing opportunities that stations can’t do in newscasts.

As executive producer of the show, Fox oversees the staff, books and pitches segment ideas and will fill in as host or reporter, if needed. As he put it, he sees his role as “backing up everybody to get the show on the air and make everybody look good.”

His “Tell Me Something Good” segments, which have been airing for about three to four years, are the stories he most enjoys telling. The segments are part of Friday evenings’ newscasts at 5:25 and spotlight the people and events around the Central New York area.

“I think it’s my favorite assignment in 40 years. I think it’s the best work I’ve done in 40 years. It’s really what I wanted to do from the start,” he said. “I think everybody wants to hear something good about their community. And there’s a lot here to talk about. I’ve met some tremendous people. Everybody has a story.”

Moreover, as he said, “I continue to learn something new with every story, every week.”

For Fox, “Tell Me Something Good” is also a complete opposite from some of the stories he has had as a reporter.

“I’ve had shotguns aimed at me. I’ve had people come after me with pipe wrenches and very big dogs. I got to the point where I was really sick of sticking my face where people didn’t want to see it,” he said.  “A reporter’s job gets harder and harder every day.”

In addition to his reporting and executive producer duties, he has been director of new media at the station; sales marketing manager; and a host or producer for various special projects, like the station’s coverage of Syracuse St. Patrick’s Parade and telethons to benefit such organizations as the Alzheimer’s Association, Muscular Dystrophy; Landmark Theatre. The Red Cross’ Telethon he helped with — held three days after the September 11th tragedy — raised $1 million in one night.

One of the most recent special projects he did was a tribute for Markert, one of his childhood idols who died in late May.

His skill set, flexibility, versatility and the ability to do something at the last minute have proven to be beneficial to the station. He recalled that he once received a call at 5:30 a.m. to fill in at the 6 a.m. show.  Living in East Syracuse, he was close enough to the station to be able to answer that call.

It’s that versatility that former Channel 9 anchor and friend, Dan Cummings, calls truly amazing.

Cummings and Fox have known each other for about 40 years, their paths having crossed covering news in the Central New York area when Cummings was with a local radio station. When he started with Channel 9 in 1984, he said of Fox in an email, “he’s been a mentor and a trusted friend since the day I first walked in to the TV station as the rookie assignment editor.”

According to Cummings, “He’s done everything! Sports reporting and anchoring, news reporting and anchoring and creating and producing — often from scratch — and hosting much of the special programming on Channel 9 for more than four decades! Telethons, parades, ‘Bridge Street,’ news specials, you name it, he’s done it and done it superbly well.”

Cummings added that Fox knows what makes “good television. He’s always ready and willing to share what he knows with others…to make the rest of us look better!”

Calling Fox an “Anam Cara,” (Celtic for soul friend), Cummings shared a personal story. Cummings’ daughter, Anna, was born on the same day as Fox’s son, Ryan. As a gift to Anna, Fox created a time capsule of that day, with newspaper headlines and other artifacts from that day.

Technology in covering news

One big change at the station since Fox first started has been the technology and it’s been a welcome change for him for the most part.

As he explained, today, one can pull out a phone and do a story as it is happening, instead of having to go back to the station, get gear, head back to the site and hope the story is still there.

He also recounted how, back in the earlier days at the station, when typing out a story, they had multi-part carbon packets, with copies going to the anchor, the director, the producer, graphics.

But the technology has made everything faster, and that can be challenging.

“There’s a deadline every minute,” he said. “Now you can’t hold anything.” But, he added, the station has the principle that the stories be accurate and confirmed before they go on the air.

In recognition of his work

His work has earned him numerous awards over the years, including those from the Syracuse Press Club, the Oswego Press Club, the Vermont International Film Festival and the NYS Broadcasters. He has received a nomination from the NY Emmys; he’s been a Telly Awards finalist; and he was inducted into the Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMYS) Hall of Fame in 2020.

Founder of the SAMMYS and president of Syracuse Jazz Fest, Frank Malfitano, said that Fox is the best friend the community ever had.

In an email statement, Malfitano wrote, “The list of things Tim has contributed his talents to for the past several decades is unparalleled and his numbers and accomplishments constitute the resume and stats of a major league all-star. Literally, everything the guy touches is a success because he’s the ultimate professional and gives it everything he has every time he steps up to the plate. Safe to say none of the things I’ve been involved with over the course of my career would have ever gone anywhere without his help and assistance and guidance. He’s a player-coach who makes everyone around him better and the guy you want next to you in a foxhole.”

Away from the station

Fox has been able to blend his love of storytelling and his interest in the community in work that goes beyond NewsChannel 9 WSYR.

That kid who wanted to make television wrote a book about local TV, with colleagues Christie Casciano and Lou Gulino.

“Images of Images of America —Syracuse Television” was published in 2013 and Fox said that the timing was perfect for him and his co-authors. He felt that they were the right people to write the book since they had met or worked with many of those who pioneered local television, like news anchors Fred Hillegas and Ron Curtis. They received a lot of support from the local broadcasting community and the Onondaga Historical Association, he added.

“I think we did a really credible job documenting television up to that point. It was great fun,” he said.

He has also honed his storytelling skills with performances with Syracuse Stage, the Syracuse Symphony, Syracuse Opera, Landmark Theatre, Redhouse, Cortland Repertory Theatre and with various community theater groups.

And some of these shows has had him sharing the stage with such notable television celebrities as Loretta Swit (aka “Hot Lips” Houlinhan on “M*A*S*H” and more recently with Fred Grandy and Ted Lange, who played Gopher and the bartender Isaac Washington, respectively, on “Love Boat.”

Because of previous interviews Fox had done with Grandy when the latter appeared in local productions, the actor had Fox’s contact information. Last fall, Fox said he got an email from the actor, asking him if he’d be interested in doing a role as a radio announcer in “Inherit the Wind” at the Redhouse in downtown Syracuse. Grandy was starring in the production and Lange was the director.

Between his work at the station and the play, Fox had to put in some long days — some at least 16 hours from January through March of this past year. But Fox saw it as a wonderful opportunity.

“It was like a master class, working with the two of them and some of the finest local actors from Central New York. It was fascinating to watch the process,” he said.

But, ever humble, he said that to say that he is an actor is a bit of a stretch.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” he said.

Maybe it’s being at the right place at the right time, maybe it’s being prepared to open that door when opportunity knocks or maybe, as he said, he can’t say no.

To make the most of such breaks is something that Fox has tried to instill in the interns that have worked at the station and the students he has had in classes he’s taught at both Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and Cazenovia College.

He taught at his alma mater from 1991 to 1999 after a reporter at NewsChannel 9 WSYR who had been teaching a newswriting class as an adjunct professor, got a new job and relocated.

He began at Cazenovia College in 2014 and ended in 2023, when the college closed. For that job, he explained that he got a call at the station from Cazenovia asking him if he knew of anyone interested in teaching. He took that opportunity, too.

The students at the two colleges approached Fox’s classes with different goals, he explained, so his approach had to be different.

Because SU students were hoping to have a career in broadcast journalism and those at Cazenovia had more of a liberal arts background, he explained that he structured differently, teaching them how to write press releases, should they ever find themselves needing that skill, or giving them interviewing skills, should they ever be interviewed, representing an organization in their community.

He found that the students over the last 10 years have changed tremendously and he had to find ways to engage them in the classroom. He said that he doesn’t think that students watch TV so much these days, as much as they stream or get everything on the web.

“When we were growing up,” he said, “we had a shared pool of knowledge with our parents, our grandparents, the rest of the community. They don’t have that as much. It doesn’t go back as far. It makes it harder to connect,” he said.

But it’s been easy for him to connect to the community over the past 40 years, involving himself in a cross-section of groups, including the  United Way of Central New York; Syracuse Chiefs; Bishop Grimes Junior-Senior High School’s marketing committee; the Syracuse University Orange Television Network Advisory Committee; the Museum of Science and Technology’s marketing committee; Empire State Games, 25th Anniversary Committee; American Heart Association Heart Walk Committee; Cayuga Community College’s  TV/ Radio Advisory Board; Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; and Project LEGAL.

Frank Lazarski was president of the United Way of Central New York from 2003 to 2107 and headed the agency when Fox came onto its board of directors about 2012. On the board, Fox led its marketing and community committee and as Lazarski noted, he guided the discussions about media strategies, campaign themes, collateral materials and public relations.

“When I describe what a high-performing board director would look like, I think of Tim Fox,” Lazarski said in an email statement. He noted “his willingness to share his professional knowledge, skills and expertise; his good nature and kind personality; his helpful attitude. Tim Fox was a rock star for United Way and we were extremely fortunate to have him in service to our organization.”

His level of involvement requires motivation and without a moment’s hesitation, he acknowledged his wife, Cheryl, and son, Ryan, for their support. And the community overall.

“I think people keep you motivated. You don’t think about making a grandstand. You just try to help boost everybody else up a little bit. It’s my way of paying back for the opportunities I’ve had,” he said. “I was brought up to be involved.”

Paraphrasing a scouting quote, he said, “Always leave the woods better than when you came in.”

And good news for viewers, Fox isn’t leaving television right away. He said that he has talked with the station about taking on a more part-time role and continuing to do community projects and his “Tell Me Something Good” stories.