Diane Smith's Cultural Life.
The veteran writer, reporter and news anchor reveals how she made it through the best night of the year with two broken bones. The video Diane shows her University of New Haven students.
Welcome to the second edition of Now You Know-The Cultural Lives of Others.
Reporter, author, television news anchor and radio host Diane Smith has made Connecticut a better place for decades. In this edition of Now You Know, Diane shares interests and delights in telling war stories, including smiling through an election night broadcast with broken bones.
On air, Diane provided master classes in journalism. One morning on WTIC a nervous young guest was making his first radio appearance. As he struggled to explain the event he was promoting, Diane gently guided him back to the topic and completed the interview with grace the listener could not have missed.
In a competitive business that can be particularly hard on women, Diane has always known the value she brings to any enterprise. Pass that on.
Today, Diane teaches communications (with life lessons) at the University of New Haven. In that spirit, this edition comes with some assignments. Watch the magnificent Tim Manley video below—and share it. And then subscribe below to Now You Know.
Favorite author or book.
Classics – John Steinbeck, F Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton.
Contemporary – Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Tyler, Amor Towles, Ian McEwan, Alice Hoffman, Elizabeth Strout, Alice McDermott
The book you have read over and over.
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
The book you are reading.
Since it is summer, I am indulging in fiction. I just finished Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and started The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty. In the car I am listening to Daniel Silva and the John Grisham canon though I often enjoy recorded autobiographies narrated by the author.
The book you couldn’t finish.
Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman. I was really looking forward to the book’s publication, but after several chapters I found I just did not want to immerse myself in Trump again. The book is still on my nightstand so I intend to get back to it at some point.
The book you’ve long intended to read but never get to.
Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce. I need the intellectual challenge, but I never seem to take it on.
Most memorable live performance.
Bob Marley and the Wailers live at the Apollo 1979
Talking Heads Stop Making Sense Tour New Haven Coliseum 1983
American Utopia David Byrne on Broadway 2022
Your best binge.
Ozark, The Diplomat, Community, Schitt’s Creek
Favorite TV series.
I used to gather weekly with my TV reporter friends for Murphy Brown. I still love Candice Bergen and think of her as Murphy.
Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Barry (hmmm – all begin with a B)
Game of Thrones, Hacks, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Great, Shameless, Yellowstone and its prequels
Wow – maybe I watch too much TV!
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A YouTube video you find yourself returning to.
The Teacher Talent Show, Tim Manley at “The Moth”. I show the video in my communication class as an example of good storytelling, and it still holds up after a dozen viewings.
Favorite piece of music.
Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, Bach ever since singing it in tenth grade at The School Of the Holy Child Jesus.
The music that cheers you up.
Wordy Rappinghood The TomTom Club
If you could own one painting it would be…..
The Birth of Venus Sandro Botticelli (fondly known as Venus on the Half Shell)
I fell in love with the painting in Art History 101 and have since owned posters, post cards, mouse pads and pencil cases, since I cannot pry the original away from the Uffizi.
The lyrics you wish you’d written.
Mose Allison:
You're sitting there yakkin' right in my face
I guess I'm gonna have to put you in your place
Y'know if silence was golden
You couldn't raise a dime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtime
The poem/song that makes you wonder.
People poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
The instrument you wish you’d learned to play.
The piano or for that matter almost any other. One of my only regrets in life is never learning to play an instrument. Making music is wondrous.
Your guiltiest cultural pleasure –
I am not guilty about any of them.
You wasted an evening…….
Wishing I were in college again.
Something that ought to be better known.
That Connecticut has her own kind of beauty and is a wonderful place to live. I grew up in New York State where the mountains are taller, the beaches are wider, and the cities are much, much bigger. But Connecticut is splendid all on her own.
A recent discovery.
Lost in New Haven museum of city artifacts.
You’re having a fantasy dinner party, you’ll invite these guests…..
Charles Kuralt, Bill Geist and Steve Hartman because they spent years delighting in telling stories they discovered on the road and inspired my Positively Connecticut series. Telling tales that are sometimes warm, sometimes comic, and often offbeat.
Or
Diane Sawyer, Leslie Stahl, and Martha Teichner because nothing beats trading tales with veteran news “broads” and I consider myself one.
The place you feel happiest.
On a sailboat, at the beach, listening to waves.
It used to be Kapalua in Maui, but now Maui makes me sad.
The best movie about or set in a newsroom.
“All the President’s Men” convinced me to become a journalist. I also loved Broadcast News, His Girl Friday, and recently The Post and Spotlight.
The books every aspiring reporter should read.
Elements of Style, Strunk and White
All the President’s Men, Woodward and Bernstein
Personal History, Katherine Graham
Dopesick, Beth Macy
Charged, Emily Bazelon
She Said, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
The Soul of America, John Meacham
Biggest scoop.
Traveling to Ukraine with Americares a year after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and reporting on the illness and dearth of effective medical care for the victims in the aftermath.
Your most satisfying story.
My most satisfying stories were the ones that unfolded on air live and required thinking on my feet, spontaneous and smart adlibbing, off the cuff interviews, local knowledge, and some history and background. One of those was live coverage of 9-11 starting moments after the 1st plane hit the World Trade Center and continuing for several hours on air at WTIC NEWSTALK 1080.
I’ve anchored live events like the funerals of a murdered police officer and victims of the terrorist attack on Pan Am 103 that can move me to tears, so keeping emotions near the surface but still in check is difficult but satisfying.
It is a challenge to make anchoring or reporting on hurricanes, tornadoes and snow storms compelling and useful for the audience, but satisfying when accomplished.
Anchoring live coverage of events like state nominating party conventions and opening day of the state legislature can be the ultimate exercise in thinking on your feet and turning on a dime.
The best night of the year.
My favorite night of the year is Election Night. I’ve covered many live on TV and radio. It is exciting to be the first to correctly call a race and to interview the winner fresh from victory. The most satisfying was probably primary night 2010 when, as the first on-air “talent” on CTN I anchored a full evening of coverage hours after tripping over my dog, and breaking my arm and foot. Did it all without painkillers, too!
I new Diane was a class act. Didn't know she was so funny and well-read. That video was awesome. Thanks.