Andy Palumbo

05/20/2024

Fire at the Giant in Scranton... the damage and the aftermath, coming up on Newswatch 16.

05/19/2024

Smiling through the tears... Ally has the day off to celebrate Mollie's first birthday, and Joe was kind enough to fill in. He keeps me on my toes, and we all know how painful that can be.

05/12/2024

Newswatch 16 Sunday Morning tradition: wearing pink on Mother’s Day. Plus, this is Ally’s first Mother’s Day as a mom. I hope all the moms out there have a great day, and all the children count their blessings.

04/23/2024

Polls open. Election morning in Kingston. See you later on Newswatch 16.

04/13/2024

A rare weekend with Joe!

04/08/2024

The only two television anchors in America who did NOT pose with eclipse glasses this morning!

03/31/2024

Proud to serve, and proud to wear pink on Easter Sunday. Ally and I hope you have a great holiday.

02/15/2024

Had a great time, as always. Thank you for the invite!

Our buddy Andy Palumbo joined the show with us this morning!! Come back soon!! -Doc & Chewy

02/14/2024

I get to do one of my favorite things-- radio! I'll be doing the 7 am hour with Doc and Chewy on Froggy 101 tomorrow morning. I hope you give it a listen.

02/13/2024

Heavy and steady snow in downtown Hazleton. Be safe. See you on Newswatch 16 This Morning

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas! This is one of the angels outside the arch at Marywood University in Scranton.

12/24/2023

As many of you know, Valerie moved to a shift that better suits her family. I will miss her. Valerie has become a great friend. I was lucky Ally was assigned to weekend mornings. Our first Christmas!

12/24/2023

Holiday tradition: On the last broadcast before Christmas, I always wear the candy cane striped tie. It was a gift, several years ago, from producer and friend, Amy-- good person, who is missed in NEPA.

12/24/2023

I promise. This is my last ornament shot of the Christmas season. I found these at Nay Aug park in Scranton. I focused on the red one on the left. The blue ornament on the right is deliberately slightly out of focus, and the green one, even more so. Merry Christmas, and you are safe from ornament pictures for another year.

12/23/2023

You see our outside Christmas tree all the time We also have a nice one in the WNEP newsroom.

12/22/2023

Today's photos trigger a radio memory. I apologize to regular blog readers, because I've told this story over there before.

We had a pretty good Christmas music policy during my WARM 590 days, dating back to 1981. The fun, silly, lighthearted Christmas music would start right after Thanksgiving. At first, it was one Christmas song per DJ shift. The frequency increased leading up to all Christmas music on Christmas Eve. Just as the frequency increased, the tone of the music changed. The silly stuff stayed, but the more serious holiday songs began to filter in, things like Silent Night and Little Drummer Boy.

I add parenthetically that disco was still a thing when I started. We had some Christmas disco songs by the Salsoul Orchestra in the rotation. They really weren't bad. Plus, they were long songs, giving me an opportunity to visit the soda machine down the hall or stop at the porcelain conveniences. Those Salsoul Orchestra songs were guaranteed to light up the phones. You see, WARM catered to an adult, older audience. Many listeners thought Christmas disco "desecrated" the holiday, and they called to let us know.

Be that as it may, I had some fun photos on Facebook in recent days. Let's wrap up the week, and head in to Christmas weekend with a more serious reminder of what they day is all about. I didn't intend to photograph an angel in front of St. Mary's Church in Dickson City yesterday, but I saw it sparkling in the sun as I drove by. It called me. While I was there, I went wide to include the Pope John Paul II statue.

Thank you for spending Christmas week with me, and be sure to stop by my blog for some of my favorite photos of 2023. Merry Christmas!

12/21/2023

I had the opportunity to do a little wandering during Saturday's trip to Honesdale. Sometimes, you go to the photo. At other times, it rolls right up to you. There was a lot going on here over the weekend, and the train trips appeared to be extremely popular. Great looking, too. There is nothing like trains, decorated for the holiday. It wouldn't take much imagination to see smaller versions under the Christmas tree.

Facebook is handling the holiday overflow this week while my blog features some of my favorite photos of the year.

12/20/2023

It's not Christmas without a trip to Marywood University in Scranton. Here are a couple of views of the giant tree in the center of the rotunda of the Liberal Arts Center. It's not just the tree. The setting puts it over the top.

Shooting this tree has always been one of my white whales. If you light up the greenery, you wash out the lights. If you accentuate the lights, you lose the definition of the tree. If that isn't enough, the LED lights have a unique way of reacting to the camera. The best way to achieve balance is to shoot on every setting, f stop and aperture until you get what you like.

The indoor tree tradition at Marywood began in December of 1982. That was just before the second semester of my senior year. Before that, the school decorated a tree outside, which was great. For the life of me, I don't remember that first indoor tree, even though I was a student at the time. As I recall, I just had no reason to be in this building. This was the main classroom building at Marywood during my time-- the place where you took your English, religion, philosophy, social science, language, literature, history, and psychology courses. I'd completed all of those requirements during the first half of my junior year. My last class in this building was as a first semester junior, and it was a broadcast management course. I received an A. by the way.

During December of 1982, I was putting in my time at the college radio station across the street, and researching my thesis in the library above. The actual writing took place during my rare free time. I was also working at WARM 590, pulling a ton of overnight shifts because the DJ who had the slot was on an extended medical leave.

I started going back to the tree lighting several years ago. It was an attempt to find some Christmas spirit, reconnect with my alma mater, walk around the campus, and see some old friends. I stopped attending the actual lighting ceremony because I just wasn't feeling it, and I'm still not comfortable being in a crowded building with all the illnesses that are floating around out there.

I do make an attempt to take some photos, during the period after finals and before Christmas. The place is empty, and I can take my time to get the shot I want.

This is one of our area's great sights.

Head over to my blog when you get a chance, as the photographic year in review rolls on.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

12/19/2023

It's Christmas Columbus and the Tree in the Park... The blog has another Top Ten of 2023 photo today, so the Christmas photos migrate over here to Facebook.

Admittedly, they are not the greatest, but cut me some slack. It's Christmas!

The top photo was taken last week on Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton. It's another long exposure photo, and that was a mistake on my part. The breeze was moving the trees, so they are blurry. Sorry. Even though I under exposed, the lights on the Columbus statue were overwhelming. There wasn't much traffic, so the light trail was weak. Next time, it will be a faster shutter speed. On the plus side, I used a small aperture, so the street lights had the starry effect. I love that!

I took the second photo Saturday morning in Honesdale. It's a great tree in Central Park, across from the courthouse. I was there for Michael G. Stanton's annual outdoor shower for charity. An early arrival afforded me the opportunity to walk around town, and as always, I had a great time. Some sunshine and plugged in lights on the tree would have helped the shot, but you get the idea. It was still a pretty scene.

12/18/2023

If you are going to take photos at this time of year, especially night photos, they might as well have a Christmas theme. I've moved some Christmas photos over to Facebook while my blog is in "year end review" mode. If you are from my era, then The Globe in downtown Scranton WAS Christmas. There was no other place. It's now a government infused sea of cheap drywall and low end vinyl flooring, but at least the building isn't empty. And, we still have our memories.

12/17/2023

I'm not much of a Christmas person, but I have felt like playing with the camera a bit lately. One of my favorite holiday destinations is Jessup in Lackawanna County. It looks great!

12/16/2023

I get six or seven weekends off per year, and I usually don't do much with them. I'm happy to sleep, read, and listen to the radio.
However, I'm off this weekend, and radio personality Michael G. Stanton was doing his annual outdoor shower to raise money for children in need.

It was a nice morning, so I pointed the car toward Honesdale, and waited. I got there early, so it was an opportunity to walk around one of the prettiest towns in Pennsylvania.

Then, it was shower time.

I'm always happy to support a fellow broadcaster.

12/16/2023

An Astros fan visits Honesdale.

12/16/2023

Today, it's a "just because" kind of Christmas photo. I attempted something similar in Scranton's Nay Aug Park last week, but I was shooting on a cloudy day. I had decent depth of field, but it still came out grey and flat. I did the same thing Wednesday morning, as the low eastern sun was shining over the trees. Much better!

12/15/2023

My departed friend, Nancy Free, would have loved this. Here are some early morning shots of the Tinsel Trail in Carbondale. You can find several great looking Christmas trees in the park across from City Hall. Money raised here goes to charity. Enjoy the color and the holiday feeling.

12/14/2023

Taking a photo of this tree has become a tradition. For the tenth year, members of the Volunteer Hose Company of Throop have decorated a tree in front of its Dunmore St. headquarters. Even though it wasn't necessary, I kept the shutter open for 30 seconds, hoping for a holiday light trail. My patience paid off when a truck passed by. Merry Christmas!

12/13/2023

Cold and sunny... a nice morning to attempt a little Christmas cheer. Happy Holidays from Nay Aug Park in Scranton.

11/16/2023

My blog is 19 years old today. Help me celebrate nearly two decades of drivel. andypalumbo.blogspot.com. If it's easier for you , there is a link on my wnep.com biography page. There is still another link at andypalumbo.com Thanks!

11/11/2023

Lucky to work with this person every weekend morning!

Happy Veterans Day! I am a proud veteran of both the Army and Air Force and want to thank all the other servicemembers who are and have served this great country!

I'm tracking a cool but dry weekend! I'll let you know when showers may return on Newswatch 16 Saturday Morning.

wnep.com/forecast