Broadcast Committee member Steve Taylor shares Reagan anecdotes

Club member Steve Taylor told the June meeting of the Broadcast Committee that his journalism career aligns neatly with the political career of honorary Club member Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States.

Taylor was broadcasting results of the federal mid-term elections for college radio station WUVA, aided by a lone UPI printer outside the studio, in November of 1966 when Reagan was elected governor of California.

He first saw Reagan in Charlottesville, Va. during Reagan's first unsuccessful run for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1968. Taylor was struck by the governor's "gee whiz" facial expression. "He acted like he was surprised anyone had shown up for his well orchestrated rally." Taylor noted "he's got the same expression on his face" in the photo hanging at the Club showing then President Reagan admiring the NPC honorary membership card he'd just been presented.

Taylor arrived in Washington in 1982 as White House correspondent for the Satellite News Channel, an early and short-lived competitor to CNN. Reagan had arrived at the White House in January of the previous year.

The Reagan White House leaked news to the press as much as any administration that Taylor covered, he noted, but on June 18, 1986, the president successfully pulled a surprise. "The president will be in the briefing room in two minutes," the voice in the ceiling intoned. That was back in the day when the two-minute warning meant 120 seconds, not today's "sometime soon."

The reporters present saw the president, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Associate Justice William Rehnquist and U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judge Antonin Scalia approach the podium. Burger, it turned out, had submitted his resignation, Rehnquist was being named to be Chief Justice and Scalia was being nominated to the high court. Unlike today's nomination dramas, "There were no long lists, no short lists, just appointments." Taylor conceded "he sprung one on us."

Taylor, now a correspondent for Fox News Radio, recalled another day that reporters were gathered to hear from Reagan, this time it was a formal press conference and the president had his photo cheat sheet on the podium so he could see which reporter was supposed to be seated in which assigned chair so the president could personalize the call on the reporter. The visual aid didn't always work, Taylor recalled. Reagan looked at his chart and called on a regular, who had called in sick that day.

There were other stories, some of them quite funny. But, you had to be there. This is a family newsletter.

You can be at meetings of the Broadcast Committee, which is open to all members of the Club interested in making the role of broadcasting and its practitioners in the Club's activities. To join and attend the Committee's meetings, usually at non on the first Thursday of the month, contact Chairman Mark Hamrick at [email protected]