Ramsey, Doug 1934- (Douglas A. Ramsey)

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Ramsey, Doug 1934- (Douglas A. Ramsey)

PERSONAL:

Born October 3, 1934, in Choteau, MT; son of Arthur Bailey (a life insurance sales representative) and Edith (a teacher) Ramsey; married Charlene Lindberg, July 29, 1961; children: Paul, Miles (deceased). Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: University of Washington, Seattle, B.A., 1956.

ADDRESSES:

Office—3714 West Chestnut Ave., Yakima, WA 98902; fax: 509-965-4315. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Seattle Times, Seattle, WA, reporter and copy editor, 1956; Far East Network, Iwakuni, Japan, manager, 1958-60; KIMA-TV, Yakima, WA, anchor and news director, 1960-61; KYW-TV, Cleveland, OH, documentary producer, 1962; KOIN-TV, Portland, OR, anchor and reporter, 1963; anchor at television stations in Portland, New Orleans, LA, and New York, NY, 1964-73; United Press International, New York, NY, chief television correspondent in Washington, DC, 1973-74; news director at television stations in San Antonio, TX, New Orleans, and San Francisco, CA, 1975-83; Foundation for American Communications, Los Angeles, CA, vice president, 1983-84, senior vice president, 1984-99. Brubeck Institute, honorary board member; Poynter Institute, member of Broadcast Advisory Group. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, 1957-60; became captain.

MEMBER:

United Nations Correspondents Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Radio-Television News Directors Association, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Associated Press Managing Editors, Sigma Delta Chi, Delta Upsilon.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Outstanding achievement award, United Press International Broadcasters of Louisiana, 1978, for editorial at WDSU-TV; Emmy Award for best daily news program, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1982; Deems Taylor Awards, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, 1997, 2006; best book citation, Jazz Journalists Association, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Dale E. Shaps) Journalism Ethics: Why Change?, Foundation for American Communications (Los Angeles, CA), 1986.

Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of Its Makers, University of Arkansas Press (Fayetteville, AR), 1989.

Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, Parkside Publications (Seattle, WA), 2005.

Poodie James (novel), Libros Libertad (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Jazz: A Reader's Companion, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000. Columnist for Dallas Morning News, 1988-89. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Down Beat, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, New Orleans Review, Chronicles of Culture, and Jazz Times, and to the Internet Web site All about Jazz. Contributing editor, Texas Monthly, 1975-96. Also author of Web log, Rifftides.

SIDELIGHTS:

Doug Ramsey once told CA: "In the foreword to Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of Its Makers, Gene Lees quotes me as saying, ‘The primary responsibility in writing about anything is to help people understand.’ I should have added that writing about a thing helps me to understand. That's a large part of what motivates me—the understanding, the surprise around the corner of the next paragraph, the next page, the next chapter.

"Writing about jazz, I hope to stimulate discovery and appreciation of the mother lode of modern American music that is buried in a mountain of cultural debris deposited by the venal music business. Writing about First Amendment matters, free press issues, and journalism ethics, I aim to help in perception of the value, complexity, and fragility of the constitutional heritage of free expression and free information. The rights and responsibilities of that heritage are unknown to many and taken for granted by most, including journalists given stewardship of these amazing privileges.

"As for fiction, that's where the major surprises lurk. The biggest of them is the difficulty of imaginative writing for a writer of nonfiction. Red Smith likened writing to opening a vein. Fiction opens an artery."