Public Service Announcement: Watch a building blow up
N&R Editor John Robinson asks about Mayor Keith Holliday's promo for Fox 8's live coverage of the implosion of the domestic textile industry Burlington Industries headquarters:
The promo spot I saw twice last night has him standing in front of the building. He says something like this (I had to find a pencil to scribble it down last night so I may have a few words wrong.): "I'm Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday, and I would love it if you would tune in to watch live the demolition of this building on Fox 8."
Reached by telephone this morning after boom went the dynamite, Holliday said he did the spot for Fox 8 at the end of an interview late last week he did about the implosion. He said that many radio and tv stations ask him to record promos and he usually obliges.
"I kinda took it as a public service announcement," Holliday said.
The mayor said that while the implosion was a terrific spectacle, if something were to have gone wrong, it would be better if folks watched it on television instead of putting themselves in harm's way. He did say though that he was there in person for the explosion, and he called it "neat, but at the same time pretty sad."
"There were definitely some mixed feelings."
As for Robinson's suggestion that the promo was related to the fall municipal election, Holliday said he hadn't made a decision yet about seeking another term and would have an announcement "within two weeks."