Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Stan.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: And I'm Shen.
[00:00:03] Speaker A: And each week we bring you the Stan and Shen Show. And each week we talk about fun things through our travels throughout the capital region. We touch on food, we touch on news, try to touch heavily on good news. And Shen's always available with hot takes.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So if you could follow along and listen to us every week on DailyGazette.com or on all major streaming platforms, we'd love to have you join us.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: So Ken did 7,000 shows. Have you been on his podcast yet?
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Does doing the promos count?
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Nope.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Wait, Ken's done 7,000 shows?
[00:00:39] Speaker C: We don't know how many he's done. No, we don't. He's done maybe 700.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: So have you seen the price of eggs?
[00:00:47] Speaker B: I have, and I'm currently not eating them, which makes me really sad.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: So eggs are at $5.97 a dozen at Walmart.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: But you know what's not 597?
The 12th episode of the Stan and Shen Show. It's free on all your podcasting platforms.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: This is like a really bad drive time radio show.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: It's not my fault. I'm not the one who makes it this bad.
We leave that to Stan.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: As Rita was saying, don't laugh. You'll just encourage him. So welcome to episode 12 of the Stan and Shen show with our very special guest, the Andrew Puglies. See how we got your high Sunichi?
[00:01:30] Speaker C: How I got it down? That is how I tell people to do it, Pug. Like the dog lease like you have on an apartment.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: That's it.
So before we get to. Andrew is our very special guest news.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Editor of the daily newspapers.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Yes, it was what he is. Thank you for that.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: I was just waiting for you to say the wrong thing because people call me the wrong thing all the time.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: I didn't call you a lot of things.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Listen, I gave him a promotion in an email, like last week. Yeah.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: I was the editor and Miles was the managing ed editor.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: So he was my. He was my underling for about a five minute email.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: So in case you don't know, we're here for now.
[00:02:07] Speaker C: We are.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Shannon and I are here for now, but we do have an application into the White House press corps as they are inviting in podcasters and influencers, and I think we hit both.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: I did not agree to this and said contract for podcast. Just want to put that out there.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: I think we'd have a blast down on, you know, down at the big house.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I Think we'd be a hit?
[00:02:32] Speaker C: I sure. Yeah. We'll see. Gets episode 13, 14, 15.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: So episode 13 falls on it right?
[00:02:41] Speaker A: On the 12th.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Yes. But we get to talk about what the special thing we're doing on the 13th.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Would be fun.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Which is part of my good news.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Oh, we have some of that this week.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: We have some good news.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Okay. Well, it's certainly not that the price of eggs is down.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: That's right. But the podcast is free. So we have the family. The family of newspapers has a big week coming up.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Yes. At least for the three up north. Our Hudson papers are not a part of this, but the Gazette Recorder and Leader Harold early next week will be marking the five year anniversary of winter when the COVID pandemic lockdown came into view. Or rather the COVID pandemic those early days. We'll be looking back at how the landscape of certain things have changed, how certain aspects of life have been impacted in the last five years, how we've rebounded in some ways.
What are some of those things? How has the landscape of healthcare changed? What has the impact been on how businesses operate, how restaurants operate, how our local governments and courts operate? We'll be talking to someone for a profile on what has been the impact on their life having long Covid but then we'll also be looking at, you know, how some places have tried to bounce back. I know some of the things we've heard so far are, you know, entertainment and sports have tried to, you know, return to as things were in a lot of ways. So we're going to have a good set of stories coming out next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the Recorder Leader and Daily Gazette from all of our reporters across across the region talking about that and trying to look back without trying to dwell and live on it too much a time. That was so difficult for all of us.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: What's your memory of the COVID period?
[00:04:33] Speaker C: So I wasn't in journalism when Covid started. I was a youth minister.
I was a two months in as a youth minister to parish in Roman Catholic parish in central New York in Syracuse, Liverpool area trying to rebuild the program and had a couple events and then it was oh, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz has is touching all the microphones and I remember distinctly the ACC men's basketball tournament. I was watching it at a friend's house and they decided after that night they weren't going to play anymore. We were watching the Syracuse game and it was done.
And then four months of really not getting to leave my Apartment. I had just gotten a cat, and me and Macaroni got to know each other very well over that spring and summer.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: You still have the cat?
[00:05:21] Speaker C: I do still have the cat.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: It's a very important question.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Yes. Macaroni and I have. Have moved home at this point to Rotterdam. But I got her. And then within 10 days, maybe lockdown started. So we spent a lot of close time together. And that bond's special to me now. But, yeah, it wasn't in journalism. I came back to the Gazette in September of that year on the desk. And so I missed a lot of the action. But I'm looking forward to Miles Reed, our editor's first person reflection in Monday's edition, talking about what that was like in the heroic ways that a lot of people stepped up to provide the news to our people, our readers, because we don't want to dwell too much on all the challenges we face and all the heartbreak and all the. The really difficult times. But in those times is when it's important for people in our business to step. And a lot of people here, because that did that. And the Recorder, which we took over.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Just before that, which is where you were, correct, Stan, I was going to.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: Ask you where you were.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Oh, well, I was going to go, you know.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Okay, you want to go, you want to kick it off to me?
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: So I was here at the Gazette. I had just left The Saratogian after 22 years, I think.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: You were at the Recorder. You've been everywhere. I mean, now you are.
[00:06:34] Speaker C: Saratogian also owns the Record or doesn't own Record. Detroit Record in the Saratogi Nerd part.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Kingston, Freeman, things like that.
[00:06:41] Speaker C: I get that confused.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: So I had a wonderful six weeks here at the Gazette and then got a phone call.
Hey, so you've probably heard there's some layoffs.
Pause.
You're not one of them.
You're a furlough.
So there was a difference.
[00:07:02] Speaker C: There was. There was.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: So I was.
I was on a brief hiatus for seven weeks and then was able to came back, come back. So it was like the first week, you know, needless to say, it didn't go over well with the bride.
First response out of Rita was not fit for podcast. The second one was good career move.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: So keeping you honest, that's all good spouses do.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: So, you know, first couple weeks were good. I was doing a lot of porch deliveries for the family and doing things like that. Did a ton of baking because I was already doing that anyhow. So now I had the Time and then delivering baked goods and then finally got the okay, like, okay, it's going to be next week, next week. And it finally came through just in time because Rita was really getting.
She was getting stressed out. And again, the important thing about this is for the family was that, you know, Rita was, you know, a patient assistant on ICU at Saratoga hospital during all of this. And the challenge is that nurses do, do everything, but because of COVID and everything that was going on, you then ran into a situation where on the ICU floor, several nurses were pregnant, so they were not about to go into a Covid room. Then you had other nurses taking care of their elderly parents who moved in with them to take care of them. They were not going into a Covid room. So Rita was literally putting on the hazmat suit three to four times a day, not only to care for patients, but many, many, many times seeing them off. So she was that last face a lot of these people saw. I don't know how she does it, God bless her.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: I mean, but it's a vocation. It's certainly a gift that a lot of people don't have. The people who do are saints.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: If I've said this once, I said it a thousand times, I go, when it's time, you want Rita there next to you. She will get you through that in as comfortably and as loving a manner as you can look forward to until the next step.
So God bless her and everybody who worked in that field. So, kid, what were you doing?
[00:09:14] Speaker B: So definitely not being the hero that Rita was. But I was, was one of the. The many journalists covering the front lines of what was happening on a daily basis. I was actually down in Cortland county at the Cortland Standard, which is still around.
Family owned newspaper down there. So I've been blessed to work at 3, pretty much family owned newspapers at this point in my career.
And I mean, it was hard.
You know, I lived in Lafayette, which was about 30 minutes. So, like, not coming into the office wasn't really an option for me.
So I consistently had to take that and factor it in because I at the time, you know, sort of still fresh out of college when this was happening and things like that. I was living actually with my grandparents. So I also had to be, you know, acutely aware of that at all times.
So, I mean, it was difficult. The transition to having to cover meetings virtually was so hard.
I mean, you're dealing with areas that don't have Internet or don't have people who know how to Use the Internet.
And so everybody's trying to learn all at one time, and you're trying to still get out stories about, you know, the economy and what's happening. And businesses in our area were so stagnant in an area that's already was sort of struggling to kind of grow and had just sort of, kind of recently gotten, like, state money to expand their downtown. And so all of that's happening at that time. And I, I just, I remember so clearly the day that they were like, okay, this is happening. This is gonna be a thing. Get your hand sanitizer. And like, you couldn't find it anywhere. And then we had the run on toilet paper, as everyone remembers, and just kind of watching people freak out, like no one knew it was gonna happen. And then, like, I don't know, like a month into this, I walk into the office one day and we just have jars of New York State made hand sanitizer, which was the worst smelling hand sanitizer. On the face. Yeah, on the face of this planet. And a note from the, like, it was like the Syracuse Press Club got ours and sent a note to us thanking us for what we did with, like, stickers and, like, little candies or things like that in there.
Just one of the small thank yous that, you know, reporters got. Because, I mean, it was like, during this time, we were like, you know, so like, we're, we're covering all these things and, you know, we're so thankful to a lot of the, you know, first responders and people on the front lines. And it was just like, you know, I don't think people thought too much about how, like, covering these stories impacted us. Like, there was a lot, like, I mean, you know, going to nursing homes and having to watch families, like, touch hands outside of a window. Like, I remember that being a story we covered. Or like, the normal sports section wasn't the normal sports section. And because there was no. There was no sports and there, you know, and then graduations and like, trying.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: To, like, drive through graduation.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Sure, yeah. And like, trying to make those, like, happy moments. Like, trying to find these, like, happy moments in the middle, the midst of all this sort of, like, chaos and, like, uncertainty and, you know, thousands of millions of people dying. And it was just like, probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to deal with in my career, especially so early on.
And like, looking back now, it's just like, I think there are whole parts of it that I've just kind of gotten rid of. Like, I can't Tell you I can remember a certain things, having to cover them, but I couldn't tell you certain stories that I covered.
[00:13:03] Speaker C: Yeah, and I mean the reality too is that, and I think this is something a lot of you are finding and reporting is in that same vein. A lot of people we're trying to talk to don't want to talk about it or you have to encourage them to want to talk about it because they don't want to look back, they want to look forward.
But it is important to remember these things and document these things and, and see how our society changes through, through difficulties and through tragedy.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: And that's what I was going to ask you. Like how important was it from your perspective, you know, as a manager to, to pick this time to tell this story.
And I think as far as we know right now we're the first.
[00:13:42] Speaker C: I haven't seen a lot of specific anniversary things recently at all. We'll see next week because I believe that we found that next Wednesday or next Thursday was the first confirmed case and in Schenectady County. So we're coming up on that five year anniversary of kind of the start of feeling it here.
But honestly it was reporter generated. It was reporters that knew that, you know, like Shannon and like Chad Arnold that really saw an importance in this and really wanted to make sure we're telling that story and we're looking at how this happens because we are the ones that kind of do those check ins that were those touch points of, you know, and also it's part of our job to ask the hard questions.
So when other people don't want to look back and they kind of want to just move forward, it's important for us to be the ones that take that responsibility on like during the pandemic to Shannon's point, to take on those difficult questions, those challenging things, dialogues to have with people. You know, we need to continue to do that and just like, you know, a few years ago we did a 10 year look back on I believe it was Irene and Irene Lee and Irene and Hurricane Lee and how it's impact people.
We need to do the same things. We need to be the place where people can go to, to see how the world around them is being impacted by the things they. And they're not alone in being impacted by these things.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: And kind of just to go back on that because I was part of that package we did on Irene and Lee and like people to this day, I mean like this was 10 years later we're talking about and you would Think that everything's fine, it's all been fixed. That's not the case. In fact, there's things still being worked on, especially in like, Lower Rotterdam Junction, where, like, those people were impacted so significantly hard by that. And like, I think, you know, five years, like, it doesn't feel like a long time, but it still feels like a very long time because Covid felt like a very long time. It felt like I slow. I looked back and I was like, wait, the phase reopening started on these days? I was like, it didn't feel. Feel like that. It felt like these took like a year before we got to phase one. And in all reality, phase one, when I looked it up for like the capital region was like May. I think it was like April or May. So really it was like two, three months, but it felt so significantly long. And I mean, that was because we had, especially in our state, which we will touch on, is like such a slow rollout compared to everybody else.
But as you also noted, it's like super important. And Chad and I were very on top of bringing this forward because, like, I think there's something to be said about the way that people see the media now and how highly criticized it is. But during that time, who was. Who was there? We were there because we could be there.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Well, I mean, I had.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: We were covering it, you know what I'm saying? So, like, the information we were relaying was what we could get in that time. Was it always the best information? Probably not.
[00:16:43] Speaker C: We changed every day.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Could we have done better? Definitely. We strive to every day. But, like, where are we at?
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Are we gonna have games on the spot?
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Are we gonna have games?
[00:16:52] Speaker C: Governor Cuomo was out there every single day giving out information at that time that tells you how. I mean, he found it important enough to come out every day. And you can talk about all of his reasons for doing that. But in reality, there was new information every day. People tuned in every day to know what was going on, because it was an ever evolving situation. So it was important for us to be there.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: And again, it's an old reference, but it became must see TV.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: Because his statement at 1:00 or 130 actually dictated our afternoon from a sports standpoint from the state, then to the county of whether teams would be even be playing. And I know one of my moments, you talked about Rudy Gabert, you know, and the NBA shutting down. As I was at McKiel Christian as they were entering the state tournament, and they're coming in for practice and the coach is coming down the highway and he's got a big smile on his face. Hey, Stan, how are you doing? Hey, coach.
You haven't seen your email yet.
And I was the one who broke to him that New York State Public High had announced that there would not be a New York State tournament. The competition was done at that point in time, so they didn't get a chance to play. And again, sports, you know, unimportant. But when you're in it, it is the most. One of the most important things, especially as a teenager and things like that and for the parents and for those things to come back. And the one thing I remember coming out of COVID was I think down at the harbor had like the first 5K, the first one. And they were staggered and things like that, but the reception was mammoth because the first time people actually got to go out and run as a group and be outside and be part of something versus inside the four walls or walking the dog ad nauseam.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: So what I want to say is like, because I know we gotta wrap it up here, Podcast studio is needed. But, you know, I want to ask Andrew what his hope is out of this story. But I know that my hope is that, like, there's a little thankfulness after this, that we're a little. We come out a little bit with a little bit more gratitude for life and all that it offers and all that it can be because there are lots of people who just didn't make it. There are lots of businesses that didn't make it. There are lots of memories that couldn't happen and memories that had to change, the plans that we had that just don't. Didn't exist at that point or had to change in some sort of format. And I. And I hope that even though this is sort of a sad topic in a way to sort of hearken back on, that people take from this just like all the things that you survived and you experienced and you made it through and we come out a little bit better of people after this.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: You have and people and the things you still have and the people you still have. I'll take it.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: I mean, I think that it comes down to regaining that feeling from early in the pandemic. Early in the pandemic. There's a lot of social media activity about. I'm so glad that I'm realizing all the time with my family. I'm so glad, like getting back to remembering that. While also I think it's important for closure to realize and look back and understand how we've grown, because I think that's a really hard thing for people to do in the moment. When you're dealing with tragedy, when you're dealing with loss, when you're grieving, it's very hard to see the light. And this is an opportunity for people to. And some of them aren't going to be that easy. You know, like this. The profile on the woman who's dealing with long Covid. Long Covid is Long Covid. It's something you're going to deal with for a long time. But how can we help people reflect on the growth, the light shining through that has come from this experience.
The last one we had was the. The flu of influenza of 1918.
A lot of those people are gone. My grandmother, who was born in 1924, passed away, you know, during COVID And so people from. From that last one, there was few. So we don't have them here to. We didn't have them here during the pandemic, really, to remind us as much. There were stories that were told, but not everyone knew someone. We're going through that together now. We're learning how to bring forward with us the bright spots and also just the ability to be humbled by things bigger than us, like a pandemic.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: All right, we're going to keep you around here for good news because we have to wrap because Ken and the coach are on their way in. So good news.
So good news this week. Shannon, New York Phoenix 2020-off- to a rip roaring start. Capacity crowd Friday night. Had a good crowd Saturday night, probably 800 plus.
But even on Friday night, the excitement was there, but everybody was Talking about the 13th, when the Albany patrons will return, face the New York Phoenix for the first time. A lot of teammates seeing each other. So we got some stuff. Hopefully reaching out to them, get some people on for Stan and shenanigans for next week. And the other bright spot is next Thursday.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: Yes. So the standing chin shows hitting the road. Catch us on Facebook live at the game that day 13 on the 13th. Yes. Which is not Friday the 13th, which is what Stan originally told me to which I explained to him that we will never do anything on Friday the 13th.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: I'm superstitious and Andrew knows how calendar, how calendar challenged I am at times.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: We both are. There's been plenty of times where we thought something was happening on this Sunday. So, Stan, you're gonna go. And then we've even sent Pete Barber.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: Two places that, oh, that's next week. Really? Oh, yeah. Because we saw 2024 on our planning purposes, and it was.
[00:22:30] Speaker C: We are not perfect, but we make up for it with our hustle.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: Yeah, we're working hard. So you're gonna catch Stan and Shen next week on the podcast episode Lucky.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Number 13, and it is Taylor Swift's favorite number.
[00:22:44] Speaker C: And maybe it'll be the day that the Phoenix get their first win over their rivals.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: First win over the rivals. They're on the road this weekend, so we'll see how that shakes out. They go in four and. Oh, on a huge streak. Are they two and two and learn some things on the road. And I'm going to pitch to have Andrew join Miles maybe on the. The media project at wamc. I think he did a great job here today. So you want to come back? You want to be a regular?
[00:23:07] Speaker B: I'm sure he wants more work to do.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: No, I'm for. I'm already late for a meeting, so I think I'm going to. I'm going to keep it. Keep it infrequent, but thank you.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: That's what we're here for. We're here for you. Whenever you need us, just say, oh, I got to do the podcast.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: All right. For Stan and Shen, say goodbye.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Goodbye.
