Lisbon native John Moore has reported and written thousands of stories in his career, but the retiring television newsman says one of his most memorable occurred as a radio reporter in Ogdensburg.
Moore was still a relative rookie newsreporter in the summer of 1980, long before he anchored the “FIRST at 5’’ show on WWNY-TV in Watertown. At WSLB-AM, he would intermittently exchange news tips and story ideas with his colleagues in Massena and Potsdam. One afternoon a rumor stopped Moore in his tracks.
“I remember the Potsdam guy calling me to say Abbie Hoffman came out of hiding and was living in the Thousand Islands.’’
Hoffman had been the face of the counter-culture movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. He was part of the Chicago Seven that the federal government unsuccessfully tried for rioting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. All convictions were vacated on appeal. In 1973, Hoffman was charged with distributing cocaine. He asserted evidence was planted and he was entrapped. He skipped bail the next spring, underwent cosmetic surgery, and went into hiding.
Hoffman’s secret life in the Wellesley Island community of Fineview unraveled on Sept. 4, 1980:
- Hoffman had posed as activist Barry Freed of Save The River, the environmental lobby opposed to winter navigation on the St. Lawrence River.
- He surrendered to the state’s special narcotics prosecutor, then was released without bail by a judge.
- Hoffman and his girlfriend, Johanna Lawrenson, had taped an interview at their Fineview farmhouse with ABC-TV’s 20/20 host Barbara Walters. The recording aired the day of his arrest.
Moore recalled reporting on this for WSLB while North Country residents remained stunned that they never suspected the skilled organizer had led a public double life.
Free on bail, Hoffman continued to promote his autobiography, Soon to be a Major Motion Picture.
“A few days later, Abbie Hoffman held a book signing in Clayton,’’ Moore recalled. “I drove down, got a copy of his book, and had an interview. He signed the book — “Fellow River Rat Barry Freed.’’
Radio reporters in smalltown outposts like Ogdensburg rarely report on a national story such as Hoffman. Moore considered himself lucky.
He graduated in 1974 from Lisbon Central School where he starred on the basketball team. That makes him the second most notable son of Lisbon. NBA coach Rick Carlisle, Ricky then, was a lanky eighth-grader and scorekeeper for the team whom Moore remembered for bringing “cold pizza and potato chips for lunch almost every day.’’
Moore earned a two-year degree in journalism from SUNY Morrisville, landed a reporting job at WSLB, then left to pursue his political science degree from the University of Buffalo. He returned to WSLB, then moved in 1988 to an ABC startup station WTTI (Channel 50) in Watertown. Over 22 years, he served as reporter, anchor and news director until he joined WWNY in 2010. Viewers know him as the anchor of the “FIRST at 5’’ news show since 2018.
“John’s career is 45 years long and counting,” said news director Jeff Cole in a press release. “7NEWS is honored John has been part of WWNY’s newsroom as a reporter, anchor, leader, community ambassador and mentor for 16 of those years. We’re thankful that he’ll continue to be part of our team while still enjoying retirement.”
While Moore has worked and lived in Watertown since 1988, he maintains the family farm he inherited from his parents in Lisbon. He plans to file reports from Lisbon and Watertown after his retirement in late March or early April.
Moore is the sixth generation to manage the farm. Its founders were connected to the Palatines, Protestants who fled from Germany to England. Eventually, they were shipped by Queen Anne to Washington County, north of Albany. Peter Dings surveyed land in the North Country and was granted a 50-acre plot by land baron Stephen Van Rensselaer III. So Dings moved his family and developed the Lisbon homestead.
Moore has spent most of his weekends keeping up the property, maintaining the home and renting the fields for hay.
“I am trying to preserve it,’’ Moore said, “and keep it going for future generations.’’
“I’ve been driving back and forth for 20 years once a week.’’
He has endured his share of late-night snowstorms but the funniest moment occurred on the night he hit a deer.
“The trooper came out, the deer was laying there, he looked at my front end, and the deer got up and left.’’
Moore remains thankful for the mentors in his life. George MacPherson – George Mack on air – was his first news director at WSLB. Scott Atkinson was the TV news director who first hired him. He also struck up a lifelong friendship with Jim Reagen, former managing editor of Ogdensburg’s Journal and Advance-News.
“I learned a lot from Jim when he came to the Journal in the early 1980s. He was much more steeped in journalism. My hat is off to him, and he became a good friend.’’
If Hoffman was a sensation, the story that Moore fondly recalls is putting a face on homelessness around Watertown. He began to spot people sleeping in doorways around City Hall and downtown venues, and became curious.
“This happened in big cities, not Watertown,’’ he reasoned.
So Moore decided to humanize the issue by interviewing vulnerable persons to understand their plight.
“I wanted to know what put them on the streets,’’ Moore said. “Nobody asks for this but somehow, some way it happened.’’
His reporting helped a young couple get back on their feet, find a home, and return to work.
“I was blessed by being around good people and good colleagues,’’ Moore said. “Even during the hard times, there were many good people.’’
Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/
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