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Behind the Mike: 'Tenacious' label suits Galli just fine, thank you

WKOW's pit bull of an investigative reporter asks tough questions of himself, too

Mike Lucas  —  5/01/2008 5:19 am

To some, the boldness may border on bravado or brusqueness. To others, the hard edge to Tony Galli's delivery and dialogue and his well-honed, on-air presentation skills are consistent with his tenacity as an award-winning investigative reporter for WKOW-TV (Ch. 27).

"I'm flattered when I'm called tenacious," Galli said, matter of factly, chalking it up as a compliment in his line of work. "And I would tend to agree. I think that I would consider myself tenacious."

There's a softer side, too, reflected by his tireless efforts as the lead emcee locally for the annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day telethon. It's a meaningful role which he has embraced and expanded since the late '80s, upon breaking into the Madison market after getting "the door slammed in my face in Milwaukee and several other places."

That included two other local network affiliates (Ch. 3 and Ch. 15) that Galli recalled "didn't have time for me."

This gentler side of Galli has also been shaped by his love of baseball, dating to his formative years in the San Francisco area, where he was exposed to the Hall of Fame play-by-play voices of Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons with the Giants and Bill King with the Oakland A's.

"In a sense, there's an element of play-by-play in news," said Galli, whose ambition as a youth was to be a big-league baseball player. "You've got to observe. You've got to be quick on your feet. And you have to be accurate."

But what about the other side of Galli, the pit bull? Is there a limit to how far and how hard Galli will push on a story? And is there such a thing as crossing the line? Pushing too far, too hard?

"I don't think I've ever crossed any ethical line," Galli maintained. "You can be hard-charging, you can be probative without in any way compromising your ethics."

To this end, he says that he has always attempted to comport himself professionally and cordially while never losing sight of his job, or doing it.

"I consider every reporter investigative," he said, broadening the specs. "I carry a larger burden because of my level of experience and my knowledge that the station and my audience expects me to dig deeper and deliver more."

So he doesn't back away from the label or title: investigative reporter. On the contrary, Galli pointed out, "For all journalists, it's an element of their work that they are investigating at all times."

There's another element that comes into play here in chasing a story, and presenting it to his audience. Has Galli ever second-guessed himself? On what he has done? Or how he has treated the subject?

"Every day, every day," he repeated slowly. "Probably one of the most difficult aspects of being a news reporter is the constant reflection. Did you get it absolutely right? Was the context appropriate? Did you cover all the bases? And were you fair and objective?"

In following a routine, Galli compared his checklist to a quarterback making his reads and going through his progressions, checking down from option to option. "If you take those steps,'' he said, "you're more than likely to find the information you're looking for, and information you didn't expect to find."

Galli suggested that news reporters are prone to performance anxiety, not unlike athletes before a big game or entertainers before a sold-out concert. For Galli, and others, the butterflies may come after a piece has aired, especially upon further review of its accuracy and fairness.

Asked how he handles negative reaction, Galli said, "We're somewhat insulated as the news reporter. We're the messenger. I know sometimes people want to kill the messenger. Honestly, it does affect you to some extent if there's criticism leveled at your work or your organization's work."

The 52-year-old Galli has a long list of credits as far as breaking stories. And he acknowledged that he's most proud of his work, and that of the WKOW-TV news staff, in examining the state's travel contract with the Milwaukee firm, Adelman Travel Group.

Galli conducted a 20-minute interview with Georgia Thompson, the Department of Administration purchasing supervisor, who spent four months in jail after she was convicted of feeding a state travel contract to Adelman that had links to Gov. Jim Doyle. That conviction was later overturned, however.

"There was an appellate court that felt her conduct did not rise to the level of criminal activity, and she was exonerated," Galli reasoned. "And that's the way the system is supposed to work. But it does not diminish the work of our TV station, or my work in uncovering facts that the public had a right to know."

The Associated Press recently honored Galli with the Carol Brewer Award, recognizing his meritorious service to broadcast journalism in Wisconsin. Galli admitted much of what he's doing today can be traced to his early training in radio. That dates to 1979, when Galli graduated from San Diego State with a major in political science and a minor in economics.

Depicting himself as "kind of accidental tourist in journalism," he first got exposed to the profession as an overnight editor with an all-news radio station in San Diego. That led to an on-air radio gig in Santa Barbara, Calif. From there, he jumped to TV as a local anchor and reporter.

Looking to relocate in the Midwest to be closer to his son, who was living in Chicago, he sent out his resume and got rejections from stations in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Champaign, Ill., before landing at WKOW in April 1986. On his first day on the job, Galli was making follow-up calls on the death of University of Wisconsin football coach Dave McClain, 48, who was stricken by a heart attack following a workout at Camp Randall Stadium.

To this day, Galli says that he's driven by his competitive instincts and what he believes is every journalist's responsibility to "look for the warts and problems and the things that can be improved" -- even at the expense of stepping on some toes, if not stepping across that imaginary line.

There's a hint of insecurity at work, too, in the form of the "What have you done for me lately?" challenge of staying relevant in the ever-changing landscape. Particularly when measured against cable news networks and the Internet. "The Web has exploded and its importance is growing exponentially," Galli agreed.

In the next breath, he noted, "The audience share for local news is shrinking because there are more options. But it's not a death knell and it's not necessarily a bad thing that the pie is being divided a little bit more because it shows that people have a tremendous appetite for knowing what's going on in their lives."

Galli questioned whether the younger, inexperienced news reporters in the market are as hungry as they need to be. Or as hungry as their contemporaries. "Maybe they don't fear for their jobs as some of the old folks, like myself," he said.

Mike Lucas  —  5/01/2008 5:19 am