14

Friday, January 25, 1985

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

TV newsman Murray Feldman
has found the trappings
of Detroit's Jewish
community very welcome.

•

V..itSS"

Preparing to go out on
assignment, Murray Feldman
checks his notes.

BY SUSAN WELCH
Special to The Jewish News

1 1

W

hen Murray Feldman
arrived in Detroit in De-
cember 1976, among the
first things he noticed
were the "Happy
Chanukah" signs in local shops and
restaurants. He was delighted. It was
quite a change from Providence, R.I.,
"a nice little place" where he had had a
great time, but where the Jewish
commuity was small and the only deli-
catessen in town was Murphy's.
"I. thought, 'This is really some-
thing. It must be one heck of a Jewish
community,' " he says. "And it is."
Eight y6ars of living here have not
changed his mind. He's happy to be
part of that community, happy with
his home in Farmington Hills and
happy in his job as televison news re-
porter for Channel 2 Eyewitness
News.
"I've never regretted coming
here," he says. "I thought I might come
for a year or two and then move on to
another city, where I'd like to just be.
Well, this is it. This is the place where
I'd like to just be. I'd like to stay here
for the rest of my career if possible.
"Of course," he smiles wryly, look-
ing as if he is mentally touching wood,
"it could end tomorrow, and it would
be possible." Longevity in the mar-
ketplace, an achievement he admires,
is not, he knows, something to be
taken for granted in his business. "You
can here one day and gone the next.

Feldman, right, reviews a news segment with tape editor Mike Mcphail.

You only decorate your house on the
odd years, because you're not up for
renewal then."
Perhaps he haSless to worry about
than he thinks. The easy rapport he
has with his colleagues and their un-
solicited testament to his ability indi-
cate that he is very good at his job.
"He's terrific. He's witty and in-
genious. He works hard and he - gets
better all the time," says fellow re-
porter Nancy McCauley, who has
worked with him for several years.
Moreover, at 33, Feldman has al-
ready been in the business of broad-
casting for 20 years, since, at the age of

12, he started working for a local radio
station in New Jersey, within the met-
ropolitan area of his native Philadel-
phia.
Feldman worked all through high
school, at first behind the scenes and
then on the air, doing a high school
sports show and some disc jockey work.
After graduating, he spent a year
at school in Pittsburgh before deciding
to transfer to Emerson College in Bos-
ton, where there was a greater em-
phasis on broadcasting, rather than
journalism, and set about applying for
a job.
"I got a call from a Boston radio

station," he recounts. "They said,
`Come right in. We think we have a job
for you.' The first question the inter-
viewer asked me was, 'Who typed your
resume?' I said that I did and he said
`Well, it's very nice. We need someone
to type our surveys.' I said, 'You don't
understand. I'm an announcer.'
" 'I've heard your tape,' he said,
`and you're not an announcer. If I put
you on the air as an announcer, we'd
lose every commercial we have within
24 hours.' "
Angry and upset, Feldman turned
down the typing job, but later reflected
objectively on the criticism. "I thought
maybe I should redirect my goals. Let
me try TV. Maybe with pictures, with
film and video, my voice will carry."
So, studying at school at night and
interning with WPRI in Providence by
day — "no pay; it cost me $60 a week in •
bus fares and gained me one credit
hour a term" — he acquired the skills
of a television news reporter and dis-
covered a job he loved.
After graduating from college, he
spent a year working in Syracuse be-
fore returning to Providence to take up
a full-time (paid) job with WPRI.
Reluctant to leave Providence,
where he was enjoying life so much,
Feldman eventually accepted the job
in Detroit, bringing with him the key
to the city of Providence and the writ-
ten declaration, presented by the city's
mayor, declaring Nov. 24, 1976 as