Baked Cheesecake
Published on 5 April 2024 by Andrew Owen (3 minutes)
Thirty years ago, my journalism career peaked before it had really begun. Through a connection between my journalism course director and his counterpart at Long Island University, I was able to stay in New York over the Easter recess. During my visit, I did some copy editing for Inter Press Service. But mainly I did the shortest ever internship at WBAI radio with Amy Goodman as my news editor. At one press conference I put questions to Tony Kushnre, Rosie Perez and Susan Sarandon. At another press conference with Jesse Jackson, I got the last seat in the room, right next to him. I asked if he minded if I used my microphone instead of plugging into the room sound. He agreed and because the room sound failed, I was the only one who got audio.
One time I got sent to cover a Latin affairs story and, given my lack of expertise in the area, I organized for the Latin affairs department to cover the story, which I believe was a first for WBAI. I also sat in on Eric Corley’s “Off the Hook”. On my return to England, flush with success, I had the tenacity to obtain Tom Lehrer’s home telephone number (although he didn’t want to be interviewed, so I didn’t get much in the way of usable quotes). After that I did important but unglamorous but sometimes important local newspaper journalism for the rest of that career. But nothing ever compared to being a kid with a radio rig and a temporary press card in New York City.
Living in Brooklyn and working mostly in Manhattan, I used to go to Junior’s on the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb for a full American breakfast before catching the D train. Lunch would be a slice of pizza washed down with pink lemonade from a nondescript vendor. For dinner, I’d return to Junior’s for a grilled cheese sandwich or similarly light snack. Why? So I could finish the slice of cheesecake I’d be having for desert. Over the course of my stay, I worked my way through the menu. While I was there, Pink Floyd released “The Division Bell” which one radio station I listened to played in full (with an ad break after the A side). On April 5, I was in my dorm room, listening to the same radio station when I heard the news that Kurt Cobain was dead at 27. I think that was my generation’s John Lennon or JFK moment. I also remember inline skating through Central Park and going to see a baseball game. But my abiding memory is the cheesecake.