Not only does Mitch Lebe hold some sort of record for being on the radio somewhere in the NY metro market virtually continuously for the past almost 60 years, with news sense & talent to spare, he is without a doubt the absolutely NICEST person you will ever meet in this business. Ever.
My favorite Mitch Lebe story dates back to 1974, when the Franklin National Bank failed. There was a news conference at the Federal Reserve Bank, and Mitch was there for WRFM. I was on a brief tour of duty as a street reporter for WNEW. The news conference seemed uneventful, as Fed president Frederick Hayes droned on about how the FDIC would make good on all of Franklin’s deposits and European-American Bank would continue Franklin’s retail business uninterrupted. The floor was opened for questions, and Mitch, in his unfailingly polite way, asked how the Franklin failure ranked among the collapses of American banks in history. What little color there had been in President Hayes’ face drained away. “It’s the biggest,” he finally said. The room emptied. Mitch had single-handedly put the story on the front page. He is one fine reporter!
Not only does Mitch Lebe hold some sort of record for being on the radio somewhere in the NY metro market virtually continuously for the past almost 60 years, with news sense & talent to spare, he is without a doubt the absolutely NICEST person you will ever meet in this business. Ever.
My favorite Mitch Lebe story dates back to 1974, when the Franklin National Bank failed. There was a news conference at the Federal Reserve Bank, and Mitch was there for WRFM. I was on a brief tour of duty as a street reporter for WNEW. The news conference seemed uneventful, as Fed president Frederick Hayes droned on about how the FDIC would make good on all of Franklin’s deposits and European-American Bank would continue Franklin’s retail business uninterrupted. The floor was opened for questions, and Mitch, in his unfailingly polite way, asked how the Franklin failure ranked among the collapses of American banks in history. What little color there had been in President Hayes’ face drained away. “It’s the biggest,” he finally said. The room emptied. Mitch had single-handedly put the story on the front page. He is one fine reporter!