Jan 28, 2008 5:41 pm US/Central
Viewers Express Grief Through E-Mail
More Than 1,000 Viewers Have E-Mailed Condolences To cbs2chicago.com
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The sudden death of our friend and colleague Randy Salerno has prompted an overwhelming outpouring of sympathy from many. A flood of e-mails is helping us and his audience cope with the loss of our "mayor of the mornings."
As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the first weekday morning news broadcast without Salerno began with heartache, and recognition that viewers lost someone special, too. From 5 to 7 a.m. Salerno helped people get their day started. Those viewers shared their sorrow with us.
cbs2chicago.com has received more than 1,000 e-mail condolence notes.
"For anyone wondering, are they reading those messages? Yes, we are," said morning anchor Roseanne Tellez.
E-mail has become the most common and immediate method of showing sympathy.
"There's a need to do something," said grief counselor Curt Wennerdahl. "The Internet provides a tangible way to reach out to the family."
Wennerdahl isn't surprised that people responded overwhelmingly.
"Because he was so young, it doesn't fit our expectation for life," he said.
"I'm so touched that they would think of me, his TV wife, I call myself," Tellez said. "It's very touching."
Some viewers shared their own loss of family members.
WGN radio host Spike O'Dell said Salerno's sudden death took him back to the day legendary broadcaster Bob Collins was killed in a plane crash.
"The first thing that came to mind, I know what these guys are going through," O'Dell said.
That day is marked with a page from the calendar, posted outside Collins' old studio.
Spike O'Dell eventually replaced Collins in the morning. He says, literally, the void can never be filled.
"That's Bob's drawer, where he kept his knick knacks. We just never put anything in that," O'Dell said.
You may have noticed the eight anniversary of Collins' death is coming up on February 8. Randy Salerno was one of the first reporters on the scene of the plane crash that killed Collins.
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