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Featured Artist by Cliff Roles (as seen in AnythingArts.com Newsletter December 11, 2008)
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Featured Artist
Linda Carson **to continue reading from the newsletter, start where the story is in BOLD**
By Cliff Roles, radio host 1220 AM Talk Of The Sun Coast, columnist SCENE Magazine
On her 65th birthday, Linda Carson's gift to herself was to join the "Luffing Lassies", part of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron, buy herself a 17' Pram sailing boat and learn how to sail. That was five years ago. Amazing as it is to believe, Linda turned 70 on July 11 this year.
She still sails a lot nowadays: "I capsized last week" she blushes. "Two men from the chase boat had to fish me out of the bay!"
I visit Linda at her desk in Sarasota's ABC 7 studios on Tenth Street, where she's preparing the weekend news together with her producer Courtney. We chat as she proudly shows me photos of her four children and three grandchildren.
This past Monday, December 7, Linda made her way to her church to celebrate the life of her late husband Bud Carson, the acclaimed former football coach to whom she was married for 35 years. He passed away on that date in 2005.
"I'm helping to send my two grandsons to college in Bud's name", she tells me. She's also formed the Bud Carson Memorial Scholarship, which awards $ 5,000 every year to a defensive High School football player who embodies "the backbone of the team". Three players have already received this scholarship.
It didn't escape anyone's notice 3 years ago when Linda put herself in the hands of Dr. Bill Anderson and succeeded in losing 73 pounds in weight.
"He would get me to sit in a chair and meditate", Linda recalls. She still sticks to the no-snacking rule, restricts herself to 800 calories a day, exercises at the YMCA three times a week and takes her dog Murphy, a 5-year old Collie, for brisk walks. Linda got him from Southeastern Guide Dogs three years ago.
"He didn't quite make the grade as a guide dog", she remembers. "But he's a great companion, and I love him dearly."
Linda has spent more than 44 years in the field of television broadcasting, working as a weathercaster, anchor, sports reporter, and consumer reporter. She began her career in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, as a weathercaster at the ABC affiliate. She spent 10 years at that station and went on to become a reporter and weekday anchor. Linda joined ABC 7 in 1995 from WTFX-TX in Philadelphia, PA, where she worked as a freelance weather anchor and Co-Host of the award winning show, "Job Exchange", and Guest Host of the sports feature "Eagles Day Live Show."
Memorable episodes in her career?
"Definitely my coverage of Coretta Scott King, the widow of slain Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta during the nation-shattering moments following his assassination. I was at WXIA-TV, getting ready to anchor the 11 pm news on the night it happened; we followed the Mayor to Coretta's house and waited outside while he told her what had happened. We saw the world change before our eyes when the leader of peaceful change was gone, and riots broke out all around the county."
Linda was present on October 25, 2006 when "Gainesville Ripper" Danny Rolling was executed by lethal injection in the Florida State Prison in Starke near Gainesville. He had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of five people in 1989/90.
"His signature was to arrange the bodies in such a way as to highlight the carnage in the rooms, even including setting up several mirrors and decapitating or posing his victims."
Linda interviewed Rolling on Death Row.
"The most shocking thing was that he appeared to be so nice and normal. He was funny and good looking, and personable.
I said to him, "Danny, you're a nice guy; if I ran into you at the mall, I wouldn't be afraid of you. He replied: "You should be - sometimes the nicest face you see can turn out to be the last face you'll ever see.""
The story was about how to avoid becoming the victim of a serial killer. Danny said he really wanted to help people, and he gave this advice.
"Lock your doors, get a dog, lights around your house, and one of those clap-on, clap-off gadgets. If I make a noise trying to get in your house and the lights go on, I'm out of there." He went on: "I don't have a certain type of victim - my motto is easy is as easy gets."
He also confessed to raping several of his victims, committing an additional triple homicide in 1989 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attempting to murder his father in May 1990. In all, Rolling confessed to killing eight people.
None of us will ever forget September 11, 2001. For Linda Carson, it's especially poignant. As the local news team, Linda and her photographer were in the second-grade classroom with President Bush when he learned of the terrorist attacks.
Linda remembers: "President Bush paused for a moment as if to absorb the news, then headed for the Media Room where the national media was already gathered, and spoke to the nation on live TV. As horrible as those moments were, I felt a great pride and a great love for my country and a determination that we would somehow get through this together."
Linda likes nothing better than to grab her cameraman Tom and travel through the county meeting people, investigating new controversial topics and reporting on current events. Every week she seeks out and previews the best events for her very popular "Suncoast Scene" segment, which viewers can see on Thursday evening and Friday morning. And every weekend she anchors the ABC 7 newsroom at 6.30 and 11 pm with her pal, weather-lady Wendy Ross.
But Linda's utmost priority is her family, of course. Having just spent Thanksgiving in Jacksonville with daughter Cathi, who works there for CBS47 WTEV, she'll soon pile Murphy into the car and enjoy Christmas in Atlanta together with son Gary, daughter-in-law Nary, and her 15-week old granddaughter Ariana Grace.
She holds up a photo: "Isn't she beautiful?" she beams. "She was born on August 21 and I was present at her birth!"
And there's that unmistakable smile again - that warm, charismatic smile that has made Linda Carson one of Sarasota's most popular and loved personalities.
If you'd like to write to Linda Carson, you can email her at lcarson@mysuncoast.com.
Linda Carson **to continue reading from the newsletter, start where the story is in BOLD**
By Cliff Roles, radio host 1220 AM Talk Of The Sun Coast, columnist SCENE Magazine
On her 65th birthday, Linda Carson's gift to herself was to join the "Luffing Lassies", part of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron, buy herself a 17' Pram sailing boat and learn how to sail. That was five years ago. Amazing as it is to believe, Linda turned 70 on July 11 this year.
She still sails a lot nowadays: "I capsized last week" she blushes. "Two men from the chase boat had to fish me out of the bay!"
I visit Linda at her desk in Sarasota's ABC 7 studios on Tenth Street, where she's preparing the weekend news together with her producer Courtney. We chat as she proudly shows me photos of her four children and three grandchildren.
This past Monday, December 7, Linda made her way to her church to celebrate the life of her late husband Bud Carson, the acclaimed former football coach to whom she was married for 35 years. He passed away on that date in 2005.
"I'm helping to send my two grandsons to college in Bud's name", she tells me. She's also formed the Bud Carson Memorial Scholarship, which awards $ 5,000 every year to a defensive High School football player who embodies "the backbone of the team". Three players have already received this scholarship.
It didn't escape anyone's notice 3 years ago when Linda put herself in the hands of Dr. Bill Anderson and succeeded in losing 73 pounds in weight.
"He would get me to sit in a chair and meditate", Linda recalls. She still sticks to the no-snacking rule, restricts herself to 800 calories a day, exercises at the YMCA three times a week and takes her dog Murphy, a 5-year old Collie, for brisk walks. Linda got him from Southeastern Guide Dogs three years ago.
"He didn't quite make the grade as a guide dog", she remembers. "But he's a great companion, and I love him dearly."
Linda has spent more than 44 years in the field of television broadcasting, working as a weathercaster, anchor, sports reporter, and consumer reporter. She began her career in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, as a weathercaster at the ABC affiliate. She spent 10 years at that station and went on to become a reporter and weekday anchor. Linda joined ABC 7 in 1995 from WTFX-TX in Philadelphia, PA, where she worked as a freelance weather anchor and Co-Host of the award winning show, "Job Exchange", and Guest Host of the sports feature "Eagles Day Live Show."
Memorable episodes in her career?
"Definitely my coverage of Coretta Scott King, the widow of slain Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta during the nation-shattering moments following his assassination. I was at WXIA-TV, getting ready to anchor the 11 pm news on the night it happened; we followed the Mayor to Coretta's house and waited outside while he told her what had happened. We saw the world change before our eyes when the leader of peaceful change was gone, and riots broke out all around the county."
Linda was present on October 25, 2006 when "Gainesville Ripper" Danny Rolling was executed by lethal injection in the Florida State Prison in Starke near Gainesville. He had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of five people in 1989/90.
"His signature was to arrange the bodies in such a way as to highlight the carnage in the rooms, even including setting up several mirrors and decapitating or posing his victims."
Linda interviewed Rolling on Death Row.
"The most shocking thing was that he appeared to be so nice and normal. He was funny and good looking, and personable.
I said to him, "Danny, you're a nice guy; if I ran into you at the mall, I wouldn't be afraid of you. He replied: "You should be - sometimes the nicest face you see can turn out to be the last face you'll ever see.""
The story was about how to avoid becoming the victim of a serial killer. Danny said he really wanted to help people, and he gave this advice.
"Lock your doors, get a dog, lights around your house, and one of those clap-on, clap-off gadgets. If I make a noise trying to get in your house and the lights go on, I'm out of there." He went on: "I don't have a certain type of victim - my motto is easy is as easy gets."
He also confessed to raping several of his victims, committing an additional triple homicide in 1989 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attempting to murder his father in May 1990. In all, Rolling confessed to killing eight people.
None of us will ever forget September 11, 2001. For Linda Carson, it's especially poignant. As the local news team, Linda and her photographer were in the second-grade classroom with President Bush when he learned of the terrorist attacks.
Linda remembers: "President Bush paused for a moment as if to absorb the news, then headed for the Media Room where the national media was already gathered, and spoke to the nation on live TV. As horrible as those moments were, I felt a great pride and a great love for my country and a determination that we would somehow get through this together."
Linda likes nothing better than to grab her cameraman Tom and travel through the county meeting people, investigating new controversial topics and reporting on current events. Every week she seeks out and previews the best events for her very popular "Suncoast Scene" segment, which viewers can see on Thursday evening and Friday morning. And every weekend she anchors the ABC 7 newsroom at 6.30 and 11 pm with her pal, weather-lady Wendy Ross.
But Linda's utmost priority is her family, of course. Having just spent Thanksgiving in Jacksonville with daughter Cathi, who works there for CBS47 WTEV, she'll soon pile Murphy into the car and enjoy Christmas in Atlanta together with son Gary, daughter-in-law Nary, and her 15-week old granddaughter Ariana Grace.
She holds up a photo: "Isn't she beautiful?" she beams. "She was born on August 21 and I was present at her birth!"
And there's that unmistakable smile again - that warm, charismatic smile that has made Linda Carson one of Sarasota's most popular and loved personalities.
If you'd like to write to Linda Carson, you can email her at lcarson@mysuncoast.com.
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