July 3, 2008
UPDATED THURSDAY: Seaton Continues Breathing on His Own at Hospice
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
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Huntington, WV (HNN) – Former WSAZ-TV anchor and now practicing attorney, Kathy Brown, traveled Wednesday, July 2, from her Wheeling, WV office to Huntington to see a friend. She did not head for the studios downtown; she visited Tony Seaton at St. Mary’s Medical Center, with whom she worked in the SAZ newsroom in the 80s.
Seaton who worked at WSAZ, then left for Florida and Detroit where he shot one or more cable networks continues breathing on his own. He’s peacefully sleeping; he did not awake from a Sunday surgery. The prognosis is not favorable.
Through March 2008, HNN published articles and posted videos produced and written by Tony Seaton. Having his roots in Huntington television media, he had moved on to larger cities , then returned after suffering a head injury in a motorcycle accident. Originally, he worked for WSAZ-TV in the 1980s when the likes of Tim Tooten, Bob Brunner, D.J., Rob Johnson, Kathy Brown and Kenny Bass were some of the on-air reporters.
You may have seen Seaton downtown, one of the few who rode a bicycle with a helmet.
Seaton has a passion for news gathering, accuracy and this town which we call Huntington. Although suffering from a possible terminal illness at the time, Tony seldom spoke about himself. Oh, he vigorously stressed his opinion on a quote, its accuracy, or a better way of phrasing. He would go days without sleep.
Despite his challenges, Tony continued the work he loved up until his condition worsened. At one point, he would sit in a wheelchair at St. Mary’s typing out possible stories or sending emails to get quotes that could be incorporated into other stories. Or, he looked for some previous graphics to illustrate an update.
One of his last stories concerned Walgreens coming to town. He wrote it from the hospital. http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080409-seaton-localwalgreens.html
Later, he emailed that demolition had begun based on his source. At the time, one structure was only partially removed. However, a few days later I emailed him back with more of the photos he wanted for a story. They bounced. His box was full.
Since on-line journalism, especially with a small staff, does not often put the entire team in the same spot, there were a lot of stories in which we met in passing, knowing I would do a detailed written report and he would capture the important moments on video.
My first real introduction came as the city prepared for the “We Are Marshall” premiere. Introducing video segments our internet website was a unique addition; now, nearly all of the local television stations and the Herald-Dispatch post video of “big” stories.
We got off to a rocky start working with each other; he was determined to video a brief scene from the movie on screen. Marquee’s manager as well as Warner Bros and the theatre owner had said no. When he came to do the usual video, I told Charlotte that he was strong willed. She stopped him from breaking the rule, which to him, seemed like videoing a brief scene from a sports game or concert. We argued about fair use.
Actually, Tony and I “argued” a lot. Most of it for the better. Having an additional set of eyes scan submissions often led to journalistic style discussions, particularly when writing more of a feature piece versus hard news. I came from the feature/entertainment background; he came from hard news. He had a gift for graphics and catching those spelling and grammatical errors that under the pressures of deadlines are often missed.
We learned much from each other. His knack for calling anyone complemented my more passive approach. He too knew when to jump beneath a mere statement and go for the jugular, even though I thought it was too soon for that gusto.
Neighborhood advocate Richard Cobb, husband of Seaton’s mom, Carter Seaton, previously emailed us with the grim diagnosis: Tony is terminally ill. His family agreed to remove life support. He could only live for a few hours. However, the Lord has allowed him to remain with us.
His mother, Carter Seaton said in an email that just before midnight on July 1 he was moved to a hospice portion of St. Mary’s in the skilled nursing unit where he can “view the glorious sunrise over the 31st Street bridge that he loved to see from his room in skilled nursing.”
That’s what we know as a deadline approaches. As you remember him in prayer, we have also provided some links to an assortment of his work at HNN. What happens next will be in the hands of the Man Upstairs.
Tony (for that matter so does this writer!) loved the Keith Albee and he wrote/edited numerous videos on the Huntington Symphony performing there. http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/2007-09-videoarchive.shtml and by clicking on the next link, you’ll find that he did a lengthy interview with now Herald-Dispatch owner, Marshall Reynolds. http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/2007-08-videoarchive.shtml
Tony was particularly proud of an interview he conducted with Brandi Jacobs-Jones; you can see it by clicking here: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080212-seaton-localbrandonmayorhuntington.html, and he occasionally wrote a City Beat column. In this one, he’s discussing a city council debate showing the Mayor and other council members: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/070623-seaton-localcitybeat.html
In addition, he shot a story memorializing the victims of the Emmons Junior fire. You can see it by clicking: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080114-seaton-localemmonsmemorial.html
Actually, it’s hard to find favorites. And some require an additional player download. But by clicking here, you’ll catch a glimpse of Huntington celebrating summer in 2007, even if you can NOT download the player to your system: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/2007-07-videoarchive.shtml
He also covered both Barack Obama's March 21 stop in WV and Hilary Clinton’s March 19 appearance. Here are those links: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/index.shtml.
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UPDATED THURSDAY: Seaton Continues Breathing on His Own at Hospice
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Former WSAZ-TV anchor and now practicing attorney, Kathy Brown, traveled Wednesday, July 2, from her Wheeling, WV office to Huntington to see a friend. She did not head for the studios downtown; she visited Tony Seaton at St. Mary’s Medical Center, with whom she worked in the SAZ newsroom in the 80s.
Seaton who worked at WSAZ, then left for Florida and Detroit where he shot one or more cable networks continues breathing on his own. He’s peacefully sleeping; he did not awake from a Sunday surgery. The prognosis is not favorable.
Through March 2008, HNN published articles and posted videos produced and written by Tony Seaton. Having his roots in Huntington television media, he had moved on to larger cities , then returned after suffering a head injury in a motorcycle accident. Originally, he worked for WSAZ-TV in the 1980s when the likes of Tim Tooten, Bob Brunner, D.J., Rob Johnson, Kathy Brown and Kenny Bass were some of the on-air reporters.
You may have seen Seaton downtown, one of the few who rode a bicycle with a helmet.
Seaton has a passion for news gathering, accuracy and this town which we call Huntington. Although suffering from a possible terminal illness at the time, Tony seldom spoke about himself. Oh, he vigorously stressed his opinion on a quote, its accuracy, or a better way of phrasing. He would go days without sleep.
Despite his challenges, Tony continued the work he loved up until his condition worsened. At one point, he would sit in a wheelchair at St. Mary’s typing out possible stories or sending emails to get quotes that could be incorporated into other stories. Or, he looked for some previous graphics to illustrate an update.
One of his last stories concerned Walgreens coming to town. He wrote it from the hospital. http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080409-seaton-localwalgreens.html
Later, he emailed that demolition had begun based on his source. At the time, one structure was only partially removed. However, a few days later I emailed him back with more of the photos he wanted for a story. They bounced. His box was full.
Since on-line journalism, especially with a small staff, does not often put the entire team in the same spot, there were a lot of stories in which we met in passing, knowing I would do a detailed written report and he would capture the important moments on video.
My first real introduction came as the city prepared for the “We Are Marshall” premiere. Introducing video segments our internet website was a unique addition; now, nearly all of the local television stations and the Herald-Dispatch post video of “big” stories.
We got off to a rocky start working with each other; he was determined to video a brief scene from the movie on screen. Marquee’s manager as well as Warner Bros and the theatre owner had said no. When he came to do the usual video, I told Charlotte that he was strong willed. She stopped him from breaking the rule, which to him, seemed like videoing a brief scene from a sports game or concert. We argued about fair use.
Actually, Tony and I “argued” a lot. Most of it for the better. Having an additional set of eyes scan submissions often led to journalistic style discussions, particularly when writing more of a feature piece versus hard news. I came from the feature/entertainment background; he came from hard news. He had a gift for graphics and catching those spelling and grammatical errors that under the pressures of deadlines are often missed.
We learned much from each other. His knack for calling anyone complemented my more passive approach. He too knew when to jump beneath a mere statement and go for the jugular, even though I thought it was too soon for that gusto.
Neighborhood advocate Richard Cobb, husband of Seaton’s mom, Carter Seaton, previously emailed us with the grim diagnosis: Tony is terminally ill. His family agreed to remove life support. He could only live for a few hours. However, the Lord has allowed him to remain with us.
His mother, Carter Seaton said in an email that just before midnight on July 1 he was moved to a hospice portion of St. Mary’s in the skilled nursing unit where he can “view the glorious sunrise over the 31st Street bridge that he loved to see from his room in skilled nursing.”
That’s what we know as a deadline approaches. As you remember him in prayer, we have also provided some links to an assortment of his work at HNN. What happens next will be in the hands of the Man Upstairs.
Tony (for that matter so does this writer!) loved the Keith Albee and he wrote/edited numerous videos on the Huntington Symphony performing there. http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/2007-09-videoarchive.shtml and by clicking on the next link, you’ll find that he did a lengthy interview with now Herald-Dispatch owner, Marshall Reynolds. http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/2007-08-videoarchive.shtml
Tony was particularly proud of an interview he conducted with Brandi Jacobs-Jones; you can see it by clicking here: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080212-seaton-localbrandonmayorhuntington.html, and he occasionally wrote a City Beat column. In this one, he’s discussing a city council debate showing the Mayor and other council members: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/070623-seaton-localcitybeat.html
In addition, he shot a story memorializing the victims of the Emmons Junior fire. You can see it by clicking: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080114-seaton-localemmonsmemorial.html
Actually, it’s hard to find favorites. And some require an additional player download. But by clicking here, you’ll catch a glimpse of Huntington celebrating summer in 2007, even if you can NOT download the player to your system: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/2007-07-videoarchive.shtml
He also covered both Barack Obama's March 21 stop in WV and Hilary Clinton’s March 19 appearance. Here are those links: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/videos/index.shtml.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
