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On March 18, about 150 well-wishers gathered at the Press Club of Grand Rapids to honor an old friend. Everyone in the crowd wore a button. It read: "Jack Hogan Gave Me My Start."
A quarter-century earlier, the first voice broadcast by WZZM-TV belonged to Hogan. Until February, he was the only news director in the history of Channel 13.
Then Hogan was fired suddenly by order of Robert Price, president of Price Communications, which owns the station.
Hogan was given few reasons, little notice and no respect. There were no fond farewells or thanks for nearly 26 years of distinguished service -- he was given a month of severance pay and a kick in the butt.
Despite threats and warnings from Price, through his management, an anonymous committee of past and present employees privately organized a good-bye bash. They were still loyal to the man who gave them their start at WZZM.
One Hogan alumnus, Martha Teichner, had an acceptable excuse for not attending; she was on assignment in South Africa for CBS News. She sent her salute on videotape.
"Jack, people don't usually get to pick their own families -- but you did. Even if we didn't know it when we signed on, we didn't just go to work at WZZM-TV, we became your children. And if we've done well, it's a measure of what kind of father you've been. . .
"WZZM is just a television station now," concluded Teichner. "My home is wherever you go."
Most television news operations lack stability and continuity. Nationally, the average news director keeps his or her job for less than two years.
That was rarely a problem at WZZM. Since 1962, Jack Hogan ran the news department. He was a local institution with a national reputation. His peers once elected him president of Radio-Television News Directors Association.
Hogan was sometimes full of blarney. But his ability to spot and hire promising young journalists was remarkable.
With Hogan's help, a number of his WZZM recruits later hit the big time. To name a few:
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