BY M. JUNAID ALAM
“What's the Story, Jerry?” was named after 1970s local gadfly Jerry Rosenberg. It focuses on northeast Queens and will air its second episode later in the month.”They had been asking me to do this for a while,” Iannece said of QPTV, where he has frequently been interviewed over the past 10 years, “but it was just always a question of timing.”The former CB 11 chairman compromised with the channel and agreed to do one show a month, focusing on community neighborhoods and the civic heads most familiar with local concerns. So far he has taped three shows.On Feb. 28, for example, he will be seen interviewing three leaders of the Little Neck Pines Civic Association: Bob Nobile, Juy Oderwald and Dan Oderwald.”I try to focus mostly on the civic leaders in the areas I'm looking at because they can usually best describe the concerns,” Iannece said.He said he enjoys firing away questions and understands the distinction between interviewee and interviewer.”As an interviewer, you want to highlight and show off your guests,” not spend 20 minutes talking, something he said he will not to do when on the receiving end himself.For now, he tapes the show in the basement of his Flushing law office with a skeleton crew of two because of its proximity to his Bayside home rather than the channel's Jamaica-based studio.Although he is running for City Councilman Tony Avella's (D-Bayside) seat, which must be vacated in 2009 due to term limits, Iannece said the television gig will not be used as a launching pad or appendage to his campaign.”That's not the intention at all, I wouldn't do it and it wouldn't be fair,” he said. “I'm trying really not to be political.”He added, however, that he would not shy away from engaging in political dialogue as an interviewee if another QPTV show wanted to interview him.
