The Facts About Troy Hooper

August 31st, 2006 at 01:43pm Michael Conniff 2

Well, I should have seen it coming. Troy Hooper, ace reporter for the Aspen Daily News, returns to town after a vacation and immediately starts to (a) write yet another story where he’s holding the bag for Sheriff Bob Braudis, and (b) tries to go after me in the process.

One could argue that it takes a superior scribe to pull off a bank shot like that, but we all know what Hoop can do when he puts his mind to it. One thing he can do is to make the Sheriff look good no matter what; the other thing he can do is to try to make his target look bad.

Thank God for Aspen Post.

You see, the Hoopster is writing a story for Friday’s Aspen Daily News that says I have tried to prevent a public service announcement (PSA) recorded by Sheriff Braudis and his friend and mine, the musician Jimmy Ibbotson, for Tipsy Taxi, the cab you catch when you’re too far gone to drive. Listeners to “Con Games” know I have consistently beaten the drum against drug and alcohol abuse, so I am more than happy to spread that message any way I can, because I have seen how it ruins lives.

I have told Ibby more than once I’d be happy to have it on my show, and that’s where the matter stood until Ibby showed up this morning. Ibby sat in the studio for the balance of my show Thursday morning on KNFO, and then we went around to see what the story was with the Tipsy Taxi PSA. It turned out the PSA has been running in regular rotation on KSPN (and KNFO, as I learned later). I told Ibby I would do what I could to make sure it started running on my show. Ibby then went to see his old friend Bob Braudis.

The next thing I knew I had a phone call from Troy Hooper, ace reporter, with that gotcha tone Troy gets. He bitched about the story I wrote outing his coverage of Braudis, then he said: “[Aspen Daily News Editor] Rick Carroll heard you have been trying to keep the Tipsy Taxi PSA from airing on your show.”

I resisted speculating about who had tipped off Rick to this hot story. I told Troy point-blank that wasn’t the case at all, that I would be “delighted” to have the PSA on my show, that in fact I had tried to figure out whether it was airing (see above).

But Troy Hooper was not about to let the facts get in the way of the story he had already written in his head. No sir, not when it comes to his man, Sheriff Braudis. He called back all jumping for joy a few minutes later to say Ibby, one of my most loyal listeners on “Con Games,” had said I wouldn’t air the PSA because I had “a hard on for Bob Braudis.”

Because I know how the Hoopster works, I talked to him about journalistic corruption for a few minutes and then repaired to my own computer. At that point it struck me that I had better protect myself.

“Are you recording this?” he said.

“No,” I said. “If I was recording I’d have to tell you I was recording it. But I am going to take very good notes of our conversation to make sure you get it right.”

He asked me about Ibby’s “hard on” assertion.

“That assertion by Jimmy Ibbotson is 100 percent false,” I said very slowly as I typed everything out.

He asked me about the PSA.

“I am delighted that Sheriff Broadus and Jimmy Ibbotson are doing an advertisement that urges caution when one is drinking,” I said and wrote v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

He asked me about the PSA again.

“I am delighted that Sheriff Broadus and Jimmy Ibbotson are doing their part in the battle against alcohol abuse,” I said/wrote. “In fact, that’s a battle I’ve been fighting on ‘Con Games’ for years. And I look forward to working closely with them on my show and in the community to spread this message far and wide.”

He asked me about Ibby.

“Jimmy Ibbotson has been one of the most faithful listeners and callers to ‘Con Games’ since the beginning. I admire his talent and I consider him a friend. In fact I took Jimmy around the station this morning trying to find out if the PSA had aired.”

He asked me where the PSA was airing.

“I found out it was in the regular rotation of stations owned by NRC Broadcasting,” I told Hooper as I wrote down my own reply. “I am going to try as hard as I can as soon as I hang up this phone to make sure the PSA is included on ‘Con Games.’”

I invited Troy Hooper to come on “Con Games” Friday morning to talk about this “story” that the facts were not going to get in the way of.

“Oh I can’t do that,” he said. “Maybe some other day.”

“How about Monday?” I said.

“I can’t,” he said.

“I bet you can’t,” I said.

(Note to Troy: you’ve got an open invitation to come on “Con Games” any time you want to talk about this story. Note to self: don’t hold your breath.)

If there ever was a non-story, this is it, but I know Troy Hooper is going to write it anyway. I almost feel sorry for him.

His last words to me were: “I think this is a good story.”

My last words to him were “You’re too good for this.”

Later in the afternoon I learned the PSA has been airing on both KSPN and KNFO ever since it was submitted. It will rotate through my show according to the whims of the computer. I will be glad to have it, and I will enjoy the irony of Sheriff Braudis’s voice on “Con Games” urging caution when it comes to drinking and driving. That’s the kind of stuff not even Troy Hooper can make up.

Entry Filed under: Basalt, Media, Aspen, Radio, Pitkin County