Bounced Anchor Sends his Old Newsroom Pizza
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FTVLive told you that Meredith parted ways with longtime WFSB Anchor Dennis House.
Despite being a fixture in the Hartford market, House was not given a chance to say goodbye to the viewers or many of his co-workers.
So, House jumped on the high road and sent a bunch of pizza over to the station along with this long goodbye email.
A class move and maybe some the suits at Meredith could learn a thing or two from.
Just saying.
Here is House’s email that was obtained by FTVLive:
Dear friends and colleagues, I'm sorry it has taken so long to write, but it is hard to wrap up 28 years quickly and I wanted to make sure I covered everything. Producers, I need some extra time!
I want to express my gratitude for the cards, texts, calls, social media posts, tweets, messages, gifts at my house, etc from you. Some of what you wrote nearly brought me to tears. I never realized how much I meant to some of you, and now please know how much you mean to me. One person wrote, "i never had the chance to tell Denise how I felt about her, and so now I'm going to tell you how I feel about you." I'm going to do the same here. It's my intention to respond to every one of you who reached out, in addition to former Channel 3 team members, viewers, friends, competitors, and associates, and it is a daunting task. I still have much to do.
I so loved working at Channel 3 and was so proud and honored to be a member of the team. I started there as a 20 something, somewhat unsure as to whether I could make it with the best team in Connecticut television. Back then I had my eye on a bigger market or network, and never planned to become the second longest serving news anchor (after Denise) in WFSB history. Over time my goals changed and this became my forever home. My nearly three decades at WFSB were an amazing adventure that brought me the finest broadcast news experiences I could have imagined, some deep lifelong friendships, and of course the love of my life.
We did great things together, as a team. From standing on the field at a World Series with Brian Elba, to lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001 with Mike Kopelman, to listening to the Pope sing from his apartment in the Vatican with Eric Budney, the challenging and rewarding assignments were numerous. Andy Halpin and I covered the Olympics bombing in Atlanta, I ran through snake infested wildfires in Florida with Dana Neves, and camped in our sat truck outside the Kennedy compound with John Discenza after JFK Jr was killed in a plane crash.
Brian and I spent a night in a prison, I slept in the police academy and at the crack of dawn trained with cadets, chased leads right up until deadline, walked through a burning building, blizzards, hurricanes, and floods, and did some I-Team reports that changed the way the government spends our money, because "You Paid For It."
We traveled to conventions where future presidents were nominated, I anchored the elections of four governors, a few presidents, and reported history in the making to the people of Connecticut. It was one cool ride.
I've witnessed tremendous change. The sale of the station from Post Newsweek to Meredith, the move out of downtown Hartford, the drop in market size from 23 to 33 and the dawn of the internet that impacted our business in ways we couldn't have imagined. I worked for six general managers, seven news directors and hundreds of super talented people who are now all over the country.
When I started at Channel 3, I carried a beeper and was handed a folder of newspaper clippings for background on stories, and when I left 28 years later to the day, I carried a device that allowed me to go live from anywhere. The change in the world has been monumental.
Not all that monumental change was happy. Together as a team we went through the sudden loss of Denise. Every moment of that awful day will be etched in my memory forever. For many of you, and certainly for me, it was the biggest loss we'd ever suffered. The grief is still there, and I've always welcomed those of you who needed a moment alone with me to talk about someone who was such a kind and caring soul and a geniune friend to many of you.
Kara was Denise's closest friend at work so if you need someone to turn to now for a Denise story, or those Denise type words of wisdom, or advice, she is there for you, as I was.
My fear in mentioning individual people is that I will miss someone whom I shared something special with, but I'm going to try anyway. Bear with me producers, I am going over my allotted time here!
Marney Elliott: you are so talented and smart. When we launched the hour long edition of the morning news (we wondered "how will we fill an hour?" ) you made it easy and your creativity put the morning news on the map. You also met your husband here, and you and Jim are one of about five couples I can think of who found their love at the station they love.
Mike Kopelman: From 9/11 to the inauguration, we had so many assignments far and near. We got married and had kids at about the same time and never ran out of things to talk about. You never phoned it in and always sought to make our stories better.
Brian Elba, World Series, the Pope in NYC, the murder that led to a live shot we will never forget, to having rocks thrown at us and hearing gunshots for the first time. Our experiences shaped our lives.
Eric Budney: Rome, LA, Tampa, and more. Our work adventures were assignments with long hours and in the case of Italy, opposite hours due to the time difference. We did some solid reporting over the years, and I am really proud of the stories we sent back home.
Tom Zukowski: from our days as single guys in the newsroom to fatherhood and some great stories in between, we have some good times to look back on.
Dana Neves: from an intern to GM, I always admired your climb. From our Newport share beach house to raising kids; our friendship went beyond the walls of the station. I'll always remember your kind visit to our house after Kara and I suffered a terrible loss.
Keith Connors: I will miss our chats about football, fatherhood and journalism.
Shawana Perry: from the fun times with Denise, Kara and me, to tremendous help understanding issues now shaping the world we live in, thank you. You're a great journalist and will go far.
Jamie Calli: you, Denise and I became instant friends because of our similar Italian backgrounds, from working on shows together to election stuff, we had some great collaboration. Your kindness and your delicious sauce and meatballs are just a few of the awesome memories we share.
Tracy Furey: One of the few who pre-dates my time at Channel 3. We worked together on some great journalism over the years and you helped me become a better reporter years ago when you produced the evening news when I was a rookie. I still laugh at the blind date you fixed me up with for my first WFSB Christmas party who proceeeded to drink too much and throw up in front of the GM's wife.
Tracy Phelan: from an intern to a newsroom leader. I'm super proud of what you've done. I still remember the red jacket you gave to Helena when she was born.
Wendy LaFollette and the directors: you are excellent at what you do.
Greg Thomas: from the great conversations Kara, Denise and I had with you to the chats about cars, I will miss all of that. Visits to your office always made me smile.
Amy Desson, Chris Hamm, Michelle Schulke, Bill Hall, Ayah Galal, Libby Hess: producing is hard, stressful work and you make it look easy. I appreciated all of what you did and it was always a pleasure to anchor a newscast produced by you.
Rob Polansky, Mike Agogliati, Kaitlyn Naples, Olivia Lank, Rachel Rooney: my first job was on an assignment desk, which is what the DCC used to be called, so I always felt a special kinship with you because I know how demanding that job can be.
Larch Purinton, Victor Zarrilli, Haynes Ford and all the engineers: you keep the place on the air in ways so complicated I could never fully comprehend.
Ralph Fortier, Rich Vitale, Nicole Arre and all the editors: your commitment to excellence did not go unnoticed.
Ed Longley and Peter Canoni: you helped me countless times. Do you do house calls?
David Rodriguez and Eddie Torres : Thank you for all the seemingly little things you did that were really big to me.
Bruce DePrest: we go way back to the Charley Bagley, Hilton Kaderli, Joe Furey era. Thanks for always being a friend, and answering weather questions without ever making me feel like they were stupid questions. Your call after my departure was deeply touching.
Scot Haney: from the surprise birthday party you and Kara threw at your home, to public appearances to the Christmas show. Your sense of humor and friendship is always welcome around the corner from your house at ours.
Joe Zone: those tea and hard boiled egg breaks with Denise and you were a highlight of our day. I'll miss our discussions about the TV business and I can't wait to celebrate your 50th anniversary in broadcasting.
Mark Dixon: when you were brand new, Kara and I were assigned to show you around. We didn't look at it as work. Thanks for being our cat sitter and neighbor.
Melissa Cole: so glad we became friends and our kids too. I'll miss our conversations at the makeup mirror.
Irene O'Connor: from meeting you years ago when you were a reporter at Fox 61 dating Matt, to hanging out with our kids, was there ever a time we weren't having fun? See you around the neighborhood.
Shannon Kane: you took our digital game to new heights and I've learned so much from you.
Bill Whittle and the sales team: we shared a few crazy times over the years and I always was thankful for sharing with me sales knowledge.
Andrea Almeida: so creative with everything you do and so very kind and thoughtful.
Kevin Hogan, Susan Raff and our team of anchors and reporters: You're all great and I've spoken to many of you individually so I won't spell it all out here. Kevin was one of the first I met when he was at WTNH and he helped me, the new guy from the other station. When I first met Susan she was a competitor at WVIT. I wish you all the very best.
Eric Parker: thank you for the hours you put in after work for the union and legal advice.
Holly Harwood: thanks for doing everything and anything.
I'm proud of some of things I was able to do for our team, from getting us verified on Twitter, to helping with stories with tips from my sources, to launching the employee committee to celebrate employment milestones, to so much more. I put my heart and soul into making WFSB a better place, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
If you made it this far I am so grateful, and sorry I've gone over my time! I couldn't wrap up such a long and wonderful tenure in a short email. My time here and you mean too much me.
I can only say great things about Channel 3. It was such a big part of my life, and still is, as I'm a WFSB spouse! I'm not angry and don't blame anybody.
I don't know what is next for me. Maybe it is the obvious, maybe it is not. I'm really excited about the possibilities of doing something different, and maybe something I've always wanted to do. Whatever it is, our paths will cross again. I still have to come in and get my years of stuff from my desk, so perhaps I'll see you then.
Please call me anytime if you need help with something or just want to talk. Over the years I embraced my role as a veteran journalist and I'm always around to dispense some advice or just listen when you need someone.
Keep up the great work this television station is known for.
It was an honor to work with all of you.
Much love and gratitude,
Dennis
