Neil A. Carousso produces and co-hosts WCBS Newsradio 880’s Small Business Spotlight series with Joe Connolly. Click here to watch the weekly video segments featuring advice for business owners on survival, recovery and growth opportunities.

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  • A Look Back at Steve Scott’s Interviews With James Earl Ray, The Man Who Pleaded Guilty To Killing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — James Earl Ray pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which happened 50 years ago Wednesday.

    But until his death at the age of 70 in 1998, Ray maintained that the guilty plea notwithstanding, he was not the one who killed Dr. King.

    WCBS 880’s Steve Scott interviewed Ray several times – including two radio interviews in the prison where Ray was serving his sentence, first in 1992 and again shortly before Ray died in 1998.

    Ray was a footnote in the grand scheme of history, Scott noted. But in 1992, Ray published a book, “Who Killed Martin Luther King? The True Story by the Alleged Assassin.” Upon seeing the book, Scott thought Ray might be an interesting person to talk to.

    Scott went through Ray’s publisher to get in contact with him, and not long afterward, Ray called him at home.

    “I was taking a nap one day, and got a collect call from a maximum security prison in Nashville, Tennessee, and there was James Earl Ray on the other end of the phone,” Scott said. “And I interviewed him, and then I asked him, I said, ‘Hey listen, if I can get myself down to Nashville, would you be willing to sit down in a room with me and record a radio interview face-to-face talking about the King assassination?’”

    Scott said Ray responded, “Well, you know, they don’t like me a whole lot,” but said Scott could ask prison authorities. The prison authorities in turn said there were no rules against an interview, so Scott could come down to talk to Ray if he so desired.

    So Scott, who was working in Chicago at the time, headed to Nashville and met with Ray at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville in 1992. Ray laughed as Scott played him a clip of CBS News’ Walter Cronkite from the night Dr. King was assassinated.

    “Dr. Martin Luther King, the apostle of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, has been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. Police have issued an all-points bulletin for a well-dressed young white man seen running from the scene,” Cronkite said in the clip.

    Ray said: “Well-dressed? That couldn’t have been me.”

    Ray had been a fugitive from a Missouri prison at the time of the King assassination. He had a long criminal record that included armed robbery, burglary, forgery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, CBS News reported.

    Speaking to Scott, Ray said he was a low-level crook who ran guns over the Canadian and Mexican borders. He said he was duped into being in Memphis when Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968.

    Ray fled the city shortly after the shooting and was captured in London two months afterward, CBS News recalled. He signed a confession with a detailed description of how investigators claimed the crime happened, and went on to plead guilty, CBS News recalled.

    CBS News reported the prosecutor in the case, Phil M. Canale Jr., maintained there was no evidence of a conspiracy in the King assassination. Canale did not outline a motive for the killing, nor did he accuse Ray, who was white, of being racist, CBS News reported.

    Ray tried to withdraw the guilty plea three days after issuing it even though he had told the judge he understood the plea could not be appealed, CBS News reported. He claimed at the time that he was set up by a shadowy gun dealer he had met in Montreal and whom he knew only as Raoul, and said he himself was changing a tire at the time King was killed, CBS News reported.

    Authorities never found a connection between the man identified as Raoul and the slaying, and several courts said there was never evidence of anyone else’s involvement, CBS News reported.

    Ray told Scott in the 1992 interview that he was not involved in any way with the King assassination, and he said he pleaded guilty out of concern that his brother and father – the latter also a prison escapee who had been on the lam for more than four decades – might also face charges otherwise.

    Scott: “James, I’ll ask you again, did you kill Martin Luther King?”

    Ray: “No, I had nothing to do with the shooting of Martin Luther King, and I had no advance knowledge of it. But having said that, I had been, you know, committing criminal offenses. But I wouldn’t have got no 99 years for what I was doing.”

    Scott: “You confessed to the King murder.”

    Ray: “Yes… I didn’t really confess to it. I entered a guilty plea. There’s a difference between, you know, a confession and a guilty plea.”

    Scott: “But why plead guilty to one of the most notorious murders of the 20th century if you didn’t do it?

    Ray: “If I didn’t enter a guilty plea, they might charge my brother Jerry Ray for as a conspirator in the Martin Luther King murder.”

    Scott: “Who had nothing to do with it?”

    Ray: “He was working. They knew he was working at the time. He was working in Chicago at the time, six days a week. They also said they might arrest my father, and my father, he’d escaped from prison in 1925, and he’d been a fugitive ever since. So apparently, the Justice Department found out about it, and they told my attorney, Percy Foreman, and he came and told me that if I didn’t enter a guilty plea, that you know, they might put him back in jail. And so I agreed to enter a guilty plea on those conditions.”

    In the interview, Ray suggested that the FBI was behind the King assassination, because then-Director J. Edgar Hoover was terrified of King’s influence over black America.

    Ray also reminded Scott that he was a prison escapee himself in 1968, and said, “What better way to stay under the radar than to kill Martin Luther King?”

    The U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1978 that Ray was the man who killed Dr. King. But the committee concluded that a group of racial bigots in St. Louis – with a reported $50,000 bounty on King’s head, might have been involved too, CBS News reported in 1998.

    As to whether he believes Ray was King’s assassination, Scott said: “He maintained until the day he died that he didn’t do it. Do I believe him? I’m not a big conspiracy guy. I’m really not. But there is a lot of compelling evidence – and the King family buys into this as well – that points, perhaps, to the fact that James Earl Ray at least did not act alone or didn’t do it at all. But you know what? If you give me 99 years in prison, I’m going to come up with some pretty good stories too. So the bottom line – I just don’t know.”

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced and edited the backstory video with WCBS Newsradio 880 afternoon anchor Steve Scott.

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  • High School Students Learn Valuable Lessons On Digital Business Skills At WCBS Small Business Breakfast

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    STAMFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) — Amid the sea of attendees in the Stamford Hilton ballroom Wednesday at the WCBS Small Business Breakfast was a table filled with high school students furiously taking down notes.

    The students from the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering from the Stamford School District gathered to hear Google Small Business Marketing Expert Wendy Gonzalez talk about how to grow their business online and sharpen social media strategy.

    Business and technology teacher Brenda Zanga has brought students to these breakfasts in the past and calls it “an amazing learning experience.”

    Student Jena Lombardo spoke to WCBS 880 after the breakfast and said she was walking away not only with broad and overall points, but with “actual specifics” to help her understand the needs of a small business and how to make brands stand out.

    “I do like how Wendy was talking about how your business, they like if it’s personalized; if it kind of has that wholesome feel, and also not everything you put out there has to be some big bang – it’s all about like a gradual growth,” Lombardo said.

    The morning was especially helpful to high school senior Marco Lima, who created his own business brand – Triple M – an apparel line that sells clothing in several states.

    “I do produce clothing – it’s retail – and I don’t know, anything that you can think of, basically, and I also do custom designs for people, and so if somebody has a huge order they want to do, in terms of wholesale, I also do that as well,” he said.

    Lima loved the networking at the event and even met a potential business partner who does embroidery.

    Student Bryant Kozial is also working on his own business, and told us he learned about some helpful tools for the first time.

    “It really was interesting, because a lot of the sources that, you know, you could use from – like Google Analytics and Express – I didn’t even know those existed prior to today,” Kozial said. “And now that I walk into this room and got such a meaningful presentation of what Google could help you with in your business, I think that it’s going to help out my business a lot more.”

    Student Linsey Loraditch said she was especially intrigued with the Google My Business aspect of the presentation. She said the tools she learned about would be useful when it comes to artistic applications for promoting a business.

    “I would say to be able to develop their style through art; to be able to draw traditionally and digitally, especially with this growing media presentation that we have with art in the world,” she said.

    The group, including members of the school’s faculty got to talk with WCBS Business Anchor Joe Connolly following the breakfast and took some photographs with him. They’re already talking about a trip to the WCBS Newsradio 880 studios for a follow up conversation.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880’s multi-media coverage of the Small Business Breakfast and assisted in organizing the event in Stamford, CT on March 28, 2018. All WCBS 880 videos and social media posts were written, edited and published by Neil A. Carousso.

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  • Google’s Wendy Gonzalez Gives Advice On Sharpening Your Digital Skills At WCBS Small Business Breakfast

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    STAMFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) — Participants learned how to take full advantage of the digital tools available for their business at the WCBS Small Business Breakfast Wednesday morning.

    Joining WCBS 880 Morning Business Anchor Joe Connolly at the Stamford Hilton was Google Small Business Marketing Expert Wendy Gonzalez. Guests heard tips on how to grow their business online and to sharpen their social media strategy.

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/videos/1499906383465333/

    Among the pieces of advice Gonzalez passed along was how to make the social media presence for a business engaging and personable – even if the business itself might seem to be on the dry side. Connolly mentioned one man he knew who worked as an accountant, and engaged potential clients on social media by showing himself coaching his Little League team on the weekends.

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/posts/1499781796811125

    “For a lot of people, the whole world in accounting is very scary, and it’s something that is the last thing on your to-do list to deal with. But everybody has to deal with taxes and business. You’ve got to deal with your finances – of course, you’ve got to deal with your finances,” Gonzalez said. “So you want to work with somebody who seems personable. The video can show that.”

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/posts/1499709043485067

    She noted that no matter what the business, there is always something in that lends itself to video and social engagement.

    “The first step, really, is to take a step back and say, ‘What’s our goal here?’ Because I think you can also see a lot of YouTube channels where they have a lot of videos, but none are very interesting. None feel very authentic. None feel like you’re getting information,” Gonzalez said. “So I think the first step is to say, ‘Well what’s the point? What am I really trying to do here?’ So in the case of that accountant, I think my goal would be, I am trying to show that I’m somebody that you want to hang with. I’m somebody that you can relate to. I’m coaching Little League. This is what I do on weekends. That is going to lead to a different video strategy and social media strategy, and someone who wants to show these products, or someone who wants to show these customer stories. It all depends a little bit on what your goal is.”

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/videos/1499698876819417/

    Following the discussion, Gonzalez said the most important takeaway was that businesses are looking for ways to find customers the same as ever, but with new tools at their disposal.

    “To me, it’s still the bread and butter of business that people are looking for customers. And people are looking for customers now on all sorts of different platforms, and approaches and strategies on how to find those customers, but ultimately, that is still what people are looking to do, and digital is a great way to find those customers now,” she said.

    Gonzalez noted that when it comes to digital strategy, businesses are going well beyond the “hours and directions” box on Google.

    https://www.facebook.com/wcbs880/videos/1499942043461767/

    “When a business pops up on the right-hand side, that’s run through a program called ‘Google My Business.’ So business owners can claim that listing, and they can add their hours, and they can add photos, and respond to reviews, and we have a new feature called ‘local posts,’ where people can post information that’ll last for about a week, including videos – so just more engagement; new ways that people can – as a business owner – engage with their customers, right at those moments when customers are looking for them,” she said.

    Google AdWords were also a major topic of interest at the breakfast. One man noted that if AdWord number one is too expensive, taking the second slot is not a bad idea.

    “Ultimately, we are always trying to deliver a relevant experience to a user, so looking at your search term; looking at the ad text; looking at your website; finding what is relevant to whoever is searching, and sometimes that is the number two ad position,” Gonzalez said. “So of course, number one is great, but I think he made a great point that he sees a lot of success by sometimes being the number two search result.”

    Now in its 23rd year, the WCBS Newsradio 880 Small Business Breakfast is the longest running small business event series in the New York area.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880’s multi-media coverage of the Small Business Breakfast and assisted in organizing the event in Stamford, CT on March 28, 2018. All WCBS 880 videos and social media posts were written, edited and published by Neil A. Carousso.

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  • NYC Comptroller Stringer and Candidate Rev. Faulkner Vie for CFO Job

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    By Neil A. Carousso

    In two separate sit-down interviews, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer (D) and his Republican challenger Rev. Michel Faulkner discussed their ideas for improving the City’s transit delays, how to work with the Trump Administration and prevent the loss of federal funding for the New York Police Department, among other issues.

    Rev. Faulkner  is a retired NFL Player who worked on former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s community policing task force. Now, Rev. Faulkner is running opposite Incumbent Comptroller Stringer.

    New Yorkers vote for City comptroller on the ballot on Tuesday. The polls in the Big Apple close at 9 PM local time.

     

    Featured Image: Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and Rev. Michel Faulkner debate on Spectrum News NY1 in October.

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  • “Bank on Bo:” Bo Dietl Opens Up about NYC Mayoral Race, His Friendship with President Trump and More in Rare Substantive Video Interview

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    By Neil A. Carousso

    Bo Dietl is the independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York. He is a life-long New Yorker who literally shed his blood, sweat and tears in the Big Apple as a New York Police Department officer and detective. He is a self-made entrepreneur and millionaire who never went to college because he had to work to support his family. He was an iron worker on the World Trade Center, and now, a private investigator hired by high-profile celebrities and executives.

    Dietl is challenging Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and New York State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R). He is a registered Democrat who supported his friend, President Donald Trump and donated $50,000 to his campaign, but is disappointed that Mr. Trump has been stalled in accomplishing his “America First” agenda.

    “I hope they say to themselves wow this guy is somebody I want to lead this City. This guy will help my kids. This guy will help me get affordable housing,” said Dietl of why New York residents should vote for him.

    Dietl tells it the way he sees it with 15-years of law enforcement experience with the country’s largest police force, but oftentimes his “heart,” his “compassion” and his love of New York City and his genuine passion to improve its security, education and the homeless problem is lost in the campaign fighting.

    “You got to remember my last case was the Palm Sunday Massacre. Ten Puerto Ricans, eight of them were children under the age of 12 years old, all shot in the head. [I have] vivid memories of those kids being shot in the head and I cried,” Dietl said with passion, adding, “That’s what I want to prevent and I want to help the people of New York. That’s who’s running for mayor: A caring guy against some egotistical, thieving, corrupt pay-for-play guy who wants to get re-elected. That’s your choice.”

    Dietl calls Mayor de Blasio a “nincompoop” throughout this interview and rejects the polls, including the latest NY1/Baruch College poll, which puts de Blasio at 49 percent, Malliotakis at 16 percent and Dietl at 3 percent. He says the only poll that matters is the results of Tuesday’s election.

    Watch this reporter’s full 44 minute interview with Mr. Dietl, which is substantive on the key issues pertinent to the New York City election and provides an in-depth profile of the “Bo Man.”

     

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