John Montalbano: A Break From Television |
| Gordon White | Monday, 14 September, 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
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By day, John Montalbano is a live television cameraman. This is the story of what happens when he puts the camera down, loads his truck camper, and hits the road to adventure.  When professional MSNBC cameraman, John Montalbano, emailed his feedback on our videos, we were very interested in what he had to say. We were also very interesed to learn his truck camper story. In fact, we were full of questions. Had he used his truck camper for on location work? Did he ever drive his truck camper into New York City? How did he become a professional cameraman? And then we had a few questions about life in the television business.
TCM: How did someone who works in Manhattan everyday discover truck campers? John: My uncle had one, and I wanted his, but he wouldn’t let me have it. So, I bought a tent camper deal for the bed of my truck. Then I spent a couple of nights in bad Michigan rainstorms. That was enough. When I got my new truck, I started looking for a used camper. TCM: Tell us about your truck and camper. John: I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins diesel and a 2002 Lance 815. The guy I bought it from had left the back door open over the winter and thought the camper was shot. He sold it to me for a giveaway price. I re-built the floor myself and now the camper is fine. The camper was a steal.
TCM: Where do you keep your camper? John: I live in Wharton, New Jersey. I rent a small house and actually have room in the back near the driveway for the camper. It’s kind of tight, but it fits. I just like the fact that I don’t have to register a camper. It’s in the yard, we cover it over, and it’s fine. TCM: Have you ever driven your truck camper into New York City? John: Not yet, but I’m probably going to when we go away. My wife is pregnant, and we are going to go on one last trip out before the baby arrives. I have a couple weeks off, so we are going to go west somewhere. When we go, I’ll go to work on Friday morning and park it in the street. I just parked in the street today and I’m pretty sure I can get it in a street spot early in the morning.
TCM: What do like to do with your truck camper? John: I bought a truck camper for my dirt bike racing. Then, I got my girlfriend into truck camping. I started her off on little trips. We went to Florida to visit her girlfriend a couple times then to Lake Placid when I asked her to marry me. I also take my model airplanes. I stuff a couple of model planes in the camper on the side of the bed and then find a field to fly them. Now I’ve got to grow up and buy a house for all these hobbies. TCM: How did you come to work in the television industry? John: I just lucked out. Before working at MSNBC, I was wiring my College for the Internet and it was not going well. My teacher saw me and told me that I should intern for a cable television channel called, "America’s Talking". I didn’t want to do it at first because the internship didn’t pay. But he gave me a tip that it soon would be re-launching as MSNBC and it might be a paid position. That was good enough for me. They liked my interview and I have been here ever since. We rehearsed the first shows when the studio wasn’t even built yet. I remember taping in the cafeteria. Brian Williams was near a vending machine. What a great job! Television can be a hard business to get into. But once you get in, and get to know people, it’s a lot of fun. And if you’ve got a good work ethic, you can go pretty far.
TCM: Have you ever used your truck camper on location for work? John: I actually used my camper in 2007 during the primary debates up in New Hampshire. They told me I had a full day and a half to get up there. We were on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont at Dartmouth College in September. I drove up there myself in the truck camper. I camped at a KOA the night before and was able to drive up to the location and park right next to the satellite truck. Then, I worked at the debate that night. I tried to take the camper to the Presidential inauguration, but there was some ordinance that I couldn’t take it. It was freaking cold there that day. With the camper, I would have had heat.
TCM: I guess truck campers can go anywhere, unless there’s an ordinance during a Presidential inauguration. Have you done a lot of election season coverage? John: I have been sent out on the road for every election cycle. I covered both Bush elections, including caucuses and debates, and was working with MSNBC’s, "Imus in the Morning" at the same time. I also worked on this past election cycle covering the Democratic Primary. I was in South Carolina, California, Iowa, and New Hampshire in the middle of the winter. Now I'm doing a new show called, "Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan". I do all the fancy camera shots with a Steadicam. The Steadicam is a camera stabilization system that you wear. The whole thing is about sixty pounds. So, I’m the one running around the studio doing crazy shots. TCM: If a reader is watching "Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan", what shots are you responsible for? John: With the Steadicam, I’m going around things or walking with people. Sometimes I go to the monitor and do Dutch angles, which are like sideways shots. I just did the ultimate walking shot. Brian Williams did a special called, “A Day in the Life” at the White House with the President. The President was right in front of me in the oval office. I didn’t get to talk to him, just video what he was doing that day. I did this great following shot of him leaving the Oval office, going past the Rose Garden up the residence stairs to the “green room”. I kept going and almost walked right into the press conference he was holding. I think a Secret Service guy finally stopped me.
TCM: Wow. That was close. John: That was the most amazing time I’ve had. I had access to everywhere in the White House except the East Wing. I took some photographs, and the Secret Service guy made me erase the photos I took. My parents were all excited that I had done the Steadicam work for that show. If I had more than two hours of sleep, I think I would have taken it all in more. TCM: What an experience. What's the off-air atmosphere like at work? John: At the end of the day, we’re all friends. Most of the time it’s hurry up and wait. That’s television. We’ve been doing this for a long time together. It’s like any job where you can clown around. Joe Scarborough does a lot of clowning around. He’s great. TCM: Speaking of Joe Scarborough, we now have some very "serious" questions. If Starbucks sponsored a “stunningly superficial” arm wrestling match between John Stewart and Joe Scarborough, who do you think would win? John: Definitely Joe Scarborough. Joe jumped on Dylan Ratigan the other day. Joe is huge! And I don’t where he gets his energy. Joe gets up super early in the morning, does his Morning Joe show, and then leaves to do his radio show and writes books on the side! TCM: No wonder the show is sponsored by Starbucks. Next serious question; How have you avoided severe injury having been around so many Pat Buchanan chops? John: I’ve gotten away from Pat. He has to take his reading glasses off, so I can run away real quick. His glasses are cool and funny at the same time.  TCM: And here’s our final "serious" question; What was the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into at MSNBC? John: I’ve worked with Brian Williams for many years now. He’s the Anchor and Managing Editor of NBC’s Nightly News. But when I first started at MSNBC he had a show called, "The News with Brian Williams". We would have a lot of fun during the commercial breaks. But one time we got in deep trouble because Brian and I were throwing a football around. We broke a light with a thunderous crash right as we were coming out of a commercial break. They thought we needed to be more serious. TCM: Thanks, John. This has been great fun. Please take pictures next time you use the truck camper at work. We would love to see that. John: I most certainly will. |
