Family traits

AS a native Kentuckian, I grew up with Nick Clooney’s strong, principled presence on my television and still read his newspaper column three times a week online. George’s warm respect for the legacy of his father’s integrity reveals his own integrity. He could easily cash in and coast on his clout. Instead, he uses it to try to create work of originality and resonance. I’ll look forward to “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

CHARLES EDWARD POGUE

Hollywood

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IN the mid-’60s, in the wake of the popularity of Joe Pyne’s call-in radio programs, a number of stations around the country started similar shows.

Nick Clooney had one in Lexington, Ky., called “Sound Off.” While Lexington, a college town, was not as ultraconservative as many other Southern communities, Clooney rather daringly invited callers to comment on the hot-button topics of the times: race relations, Vietnam, etc. Unlike Pyne, Clooney did not attack callers, but took an objective, detached approach, allowing even the most virulent local racists to have their say as long as they didn’t go over the local-proprieties line.

RICK MITCHELL

Los Angeles