By Mike Russo
He got involved with his high school newspaper mainly to hang out with his friends who were on the staff. Now, nearly 30 years later, Mevorach has turned that once minimal interest into an accomplished career, as news director of radio station 1010 WINS.
Mevorach, an East Meadow High School alumnus, has reported on many major events over the course of his radio career, including the Iraq War, the Sept. 11 attacks and the crash of TWA Flight 800. He is responsible for everything that goes on the air at the all-news station, which has more than 3 million listeners in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. He works with editors to assign reporters to cover stories and helps shape the coverage into comprehensive, balanced stories.
According to Mevorach, his job is essentially 24/7, because he is also responsible for making sure every breaking news story is covered. A 16-hour day isn't unusual.
Mevorach was involved with his high school and college newspapers, but found radio more appealing after taking a class in it at Boston University. He began his radio career in 1984 at WCCM-AM in Lawrence, Mass. That year, he covered a story that would change the way he viewed his responsibility as a journalist forever.
He was assigned to cover a fatal fire in which a little boy was killed. Mevorach remembers being thrilled when the Associated Press picked up his story and ran it statewide. Later that day, the fire chief, who had called Mevorach to give him the information earlier, said that the little boy was actually a girl, and that her body had been so badly burned that she was almost impossible to identify. He remembers the fire chief's voice cracking with emotion, and Mevorach suddenly realized what his true role was as a news reporter.
"This is not about me, this has nothing to do with me," he said of the story. "That mistake haunts me to this day, but it has also kept me grounded. The story is the star ... I'm just the messenger."
Mevorach was reporting live for 1010 WINS from the Manhattan Bridge on Sept. 11, and watched the World Trade Center's north tower collapse. "It looks as though the building is going down - is that the second building of the World Trade Center going down?" he said on the air. "I cannot believe it. A huge pouring of smoke came out of the middle of the building and then the building just disappeared in the smoke. I cannot describe it. It is one of those rare moments when you just can't describe it."
In 2003, Mevorach arrived in Qatar a week before the Iraq War began. As he describes it, there were two ways to cover the war, either embedded with the troops or ''unilaterally.'' Not wanting to get a myopic view of the war, he chose to go on his own, traveling from Qatar to Kuwait to Bahrain, spending time on Navy warships, a military hospital ship and other locations.
While aboard the hospital ship, Mevorach saw American and Iraqi soldiers being treated within yards of one another. Other moments seared in his memory include holding the hand of a wounded 5-year-old Iraqi child, seeing the dedication of young soldiers who had suffered horrible injuries but wanted to return to battle to help their comrades, and coming under sniper fire.
He had a close call while covering the 1995 wildfires on Long Island, when he and members of the Greenlawn Fire Department were temporarily trapped between walls of flame. While firefighters were trying to put out the fire in front of them, Mevorach recalled, the wind picked up and the flames jumped over their heads, igniting a fire behind them. He said he felt that his life was in jeopardy, but the firefighters got everyone out safely.
"Hero is an overused term, but it doesn't do the Greenlawn Fire Department justice for what they did that night," he said.
Mevorach helped to prove the "power of the press" after reporting on a New York City firefighter's infant daughter, who needed open-heart surgery. The city's open enrollment period for choosing medical plans had ended, Mevorach recalled, and the doctor the girl's family wanted for the procedure was not included in their plan. The city declined a waiver request, and within four hours after 1010 WINS ran the story - at 5 a.m. - several hospitals had called the station, offering to do the procedure for free.
By 10 a.m., the city had reversed its decision and reprimanded the worker who denied the firefighter's family the waiver. The little girl underwent successful surgery to close the hole in her heart - performed by the doctor the family wanted. Mevorach said he still sees the girl from time to time.
Mevorach was also the first reporter in the U.S. allowed into the Calverton hangar to see the reconstructed wreckage of TWA Flight 800.
Those stories, which earned him three Edward R. Murrow Awards, the broadcasting industry's highest honor, helped define his career, but he says that stories like those about the little girl are also important to him, as "examples of people who have suffered immeasurable loss only to battle through it and become shining beacons of light and an inspiration to others."
Bruce Arnold, WCCM-AM's program manager, was Mevorach's first boss in the radio business and a major influence on his career. "He's the best, the greatest," Arnold said of Mevorach. "He was unbelievable. I don't say that about many people, but you could trust him with anything and he was always there when you needed him."
Arnold said he will never forget the day he got a call from Mevorach, who explained that he had just been offered the news director position at 1010 WINS and was asking for Arnold's opinion. "What are you, crazy?" Arnold remembered saying. "1010 WINS? The first all-news radio station in the world? Of course you should take [the job]!"
In addition to his Murrow Awards, Mevorach has been a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Nassau Community College Distinguished Alumni Award. He also serves on media advisory panels at St. John's University and Hofstra University.
In his little free time, Mevorach enjoys landscaping, strolling the boardwalk in Long Beach and anything that doesn't require making a decision - because that's what he does all day at work. He teaches radio reporting and new media at SUNY Old Westbury, and lives in Malverne with his wife, Cindy, and sons Josh, 20 and Daniel, 19, and daughter Samantha, 11.
"I believe I might write a book one day," Mevorach said, "but after 24 years in this field, I can honestly say I still love it and would be happy to keep doing it for another 24 years."
Comments about this story? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
