In continuing our series about WNET’s 50th anniversary celebration, the public broadcaster reaches the milestone with new digs. The studios at Lincoln Center were built in 2010, leading to the move of WNET from its antiquated facility near the West Side Railyards on 34th Street. The Lincoln Center locale has no room to fit office space. Regular Thirteen staffers recently moved to the updated WorldWide Plaza on 49th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.

At Lincoln Center, passersby notice the street-level studio directly behind the number 1 subway station, the first such studio in the country for public TV.

Unlike the typical studios of the same ilk, WNET keeps a black curtain down during all tapings. PBS constructed the studios at Alice Tully Hall, but they were constrained by what was in front of them. Most notably, the walls are not sound proof.

Even with the curtain drawn the sounds, perhaps a siren bellowing on Broadway, permeate. To counteract, the station says it doesn’t have much live content from the Lincoln Center studio.

Therefore, as a spokesperson told FishbowlNY during our recent tour of the studio that any objectionable sounds from the street can simply lead to a “re-do.”

In the secondary studio above 66th Street, there are no audio concerns during taping, and the screen is not pulled down.

Look for a video “tour” of the upstairs portion after the jump, and you’ll notice the proximity to the studios of WABC/Channel 7 in the background.

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Vic Miles anchoring in 1978

For a quarter-century, Vic Miles was a steady rock at WCBS/Channel 2. His delivery was simple, not flourishing. His looks weren’t of a matinee idol; he appeared at times to have a suit too big for his slender build. Miles was a newsman, whether in the field or at the anchor desk.

Miles’ son Vincent Levy confirms to FishbowlNY that his father died last night. Miles, who had been in declining health, was hospitalized Saturday in New York. He was 79.

“I think he liked reporting a lot, because he was naturally suited to it,” former WCBS anchor Carol Martin recalls.

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. WNYC Host, Producer Jad Abumrad Named a Genius, September 20
2. The New York Times Has Smart Commentators, CNN Doesn’t, September 21
3. Brides EIC Out After 25 Years, September 16
4. Self Names New Managing Editor, September 21
5. Conde´ Nast Continues Changes, September 16
6. Food Network Magazine Toasts Bobby Flay, September 20
7. The Onion is Leaving New York, September 22
8. Bill Keller Tackles Obama in First Op-Ed, September 19
9. Veteran Anchor Mike Schneider to Helm NJTV Nightly Newscast, September 19
10. Former WNYW/Channel 5 Reporter Andrea Day ‘Excited’ to Take Career in ‘Different Direction,’ September 21

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

As we examined last week, staffers are finding their way since the break up two years ago from Bloomberg LP.

One of those is Mitch Lebe, now a fill-in news anchor primarily on 77 WABC.

Lebe is a radio lifer, in the business for more than 50 years.

Last year, this reporter began a campaign to get Mitch inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

While waiting for a decision, FishbowlNY reached out to some friends and colleagues that know him best. Needlessly to say, there was a consensus. 

Mitch began his radio career at WINS in 1958 billed as “The Teenage Disc Jockey.”

There were several stations over the years, but his greatness was solidified with stints at WYNY/66 WNBC, WCBS-AM, and WBBR (Bloomberg).

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On February 4, 2009, more than 100 employees of Bloomberg Radio and TV were laid off. While that’s part of the business, especially as the economy went from bad to worse, at the Mayor’s financial media empire, Bloomberg LP, it was unimaginable. Just do the math—28 years in business, no layoffs until that fateful day.

Last August, FishbowlNY spoke exclusively with veteran anchor Mike Schneider, who along with his staff, saw firsthand the ball rolling the night before.

Dozens were let go, but there were a select few that would find their voice again, working in New York radio and on the national scene. Longtime news anchor Mitch Lebe, at Bloomberg Radio (WBBR) through much of the last decade, is back on the air. He’s doing part-time anchoring on WABC-AM for Metro Networks and Westwood One.     

But this focus is on the names you don’t see on TV or hear on your radio. This is a cross-section of some behind the scenes staffers who had to deal with the Bloomberg debacle, and how they’ve recovered, or attempted to, in the ensuing two years. 

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Between February 3 and 4 of 2009, more than 100 Bloomberg Radio and TV staffers were laid off at their world headquarters in New York.

It was an unprecedented move for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s financial news outlet, with no layoffs in the company’s previous 28 years of existence.

One of those people sent packing was notable news anchor Mike Schneider. Schneider granted FishbowlNY an exclusive interview–his first since leaving Bloomberg LP.

“The night before it happened I actually looked at Norm Barnett [6pm producer] and I said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’”

Barnett’s response, according to Schneider, “You think so?”

Both men laughed knowing what the next day would likely bring.

When the next day arrived, as anticipated, Schneider had an impromptu meeting with Andy Lack [chief executive for multimedia unit].

“I knew what was coming by the time I went up to discuss it with him,” Schneider recalls.

His first words after Lack informed him were “These things are never pretty.”

To which, according to Schneider, Lack replied, “No, they’re not.”

“He [Lack] was very respectful of me, and I harbor no hard feelings, whatsoever,” Schneider says. “He’s got a job to do over there, and he felt that these things were necessary.”

Looking back at the events of 18 months ago, Schneider brings his signature gravitas to the situation.

“I’ve been in this business for three decades. I’ve seen cutbacks come in every decade,” Schneider says. “With what was going on on Wall Street, and with the fact that leadership had changed at Bloomberg in order to try to deal with the new realities of the business world…I wasn’t surprised.”

But the veteran newsman was concerned for his talented friends who joined him on the unemployment line.

“A lot of the people with whom I worked that got laid off were, and are, very good people,” Schneider says. “Nobody likes to see good people get hurt.”

• After the jump, Schneider discusses why he’d enjoy a return to Bloomberg.

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Late breaking Thursday item: The Wall Street Journal has scooped up veteran Los Angeles Times writer Dan Neil to lead their new auto column.

In 2004, Neil’s weekly feature Rumble Seat won him the Pulitzer Prize; he has been working at the L.A. Times since 2003. Today, James Rainey, media columnist for the L.A. Times, called Neil “the best car writer in the biz” on his Twitter.

Memo from Mike Miller of The Wall Street Journal after the jump

Read More: LAT loses Pulitzer-winning auto writer Neil to WSJ — Romenesko

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