MNN Diaries: Richard Renda

The beginning of May brings not only the hope that spring is here for good. It also delivers a new installment of MNN Diaries, our blog series that provides a platform to let the talented people behind MNN’s vibrant and diverse programming write about the journeys that got them here.

This fourth entry is very special. It was penned by Richard Renda, who nearly 20 years ago created what is still MNN’s most popular fashion program, “Totally Cool ®.” Back then, Richard conceived of a show that would bring the experience of flipping through a glossy style mag to the small screen in people’s living rooms. Over the following two decades, his approach would be copied again and again.

Read on to hear Richard’s insider stories from the fashion world (he’s quoted in this 2011 CNN video: “They don’t call the press pit the ‘press pit’ for nothing. It sometimes can be hell.”), who really came up with “Fashion Police,” the importance of good news, and why wearing a live python snake around your neck is “Totally Cool ®.” We promise: His spirit will inspire you.

What led you to MNN?

When I discussed this project—to write an entry of MNN Diaries—with the editor, Lee Helland, we talked about the approach. For me it would have special meaning. I wanted the piece to not only tell a story firsthand, but to be an inspiration to you, the reader. A sort of: What can you do in your life, and how can MNN help you make your dreams come true? I want to make two points: 1 – that you can make a difference, a difference in your community and a difference in the world around you; and 2 – where there is a will there is a way.

My name is Richard Renda. I created and own the federally registered trademark “Totally Cool ®.” I come out of the magazine industry and I have been trained and influenced by some of the very best magazine editors in the world. I did private investigations for elected political officials and was also a sound engineer for many years. After that, I entered the magazine industry and worked as a coordinator and a professional fashion stylist, specializing in street wear to high-end fashions for both young and old, along with lifestyle and trends. Aside from all that I am a video journalist and photographer. Today many know me as “front and center” of the International Press Corps. (watch a CNN video about that here).

So what led me to MNN? I was working on a project for Barry Diller [a prominent media exec and the creator of Fox and USA networks] with my partner Laurie Schechter. At that time Barry was chairman of the TV telemarketing home-shopping giant QVC. We were the inner circle that was creating a second channel for QVC, “Q2,” which was to be an upscale shopping network with an editorial point of view. Once we got Q2 off the ground, I realized I wanted to create a unique independent television project—one that was for everyone, one that would enhance the quality of life in our community, and one that would affect people across the country: “A Magazine in TV Land.”

I wanted to create a specific trademark and to do something that had to do with “Cool,” because I love things that are cool. And so does everyone else. So two of my friends, Laurie and Evie, and I thought about doing something like “Way Cool.” But when I did the trademark search, I learned that Tribune Entertainment already had a pending application. Now, by the hand of Destiny, I was being pushed to the next level. I locked myself in a room at 200 Central Park South, and three days later, Laurie and Evie knocked on the door and said, “So– do you have the answer?” I said, “Yes. The answer is…“Totally Cool ®”!

Wow, now that was probably one of the most fun moments of my life. Because I did have the answer, and it was “Totally Cool ®.” That is where it all began. From that moment onward, the journey would continue and the path would blossom.

I contacted Patrice in the Programming Department at Manhattan Neighborhood Network and told her I wanted to create a pilot show: “The Totally Cool ® Hour: A Fashion and Lifestyle Editorial Show.”

In the pilot show, we covered Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which included Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. In that segment, notable names like Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, and many other fashion designers and supermodels talked about Breast Cancer awareness and how you could get involved.

We did a history of shoes (did you know that originally platform shoes were created not for their look, but to keep you from getting wet when walking in deep puddles?) and we covered Mary Trasko’s book on hairdos (did you know that hundreds of years ago, women used to put mouse traps around their pillows to keep the mice from sleeping in their hair? Yup, that is actually true).

We also did a segment called: “What is a Look?” where I went around and asked people to tell me how they would describe a fashion look. Everyone had a different description. And then at the end of the segment I described “What is a Look” in one sentence: “A Look is something that makes you look!!!” You know, like when you are walking down the street and you see someone wearing a strange fashion design or clothes of wild colors or a live python snake around their neck—it makes you turn your head and look!

Oh, and we were also the first ever in all of TV Land to do what is called: “Fashion Police.” So if you think it was E! that created “Fashion Police” on TV, it wasn’t!!!

But the segment that I was probably most proud of was called “The Black Jean.” I took a pair of not extremely expensive black jeans (Levi’s 505s) and created many different outfits that revolved around them. For example, I added a maroon MV Sports hoodie, black Wayfarer Ray Bans and a very chic tan suede quilted baseball hat by Patricia Underwood for an “inner city look.” Then I took the black jean and added a nice pair of expensive Warren Edwards men’s loafers, a white tailored shirt, and a tie … for that “going out on the job interview look.” Well after that, corporations started adopting “Dress Down Friday,” all inspired by the black jean story. It showed how if you put your mind to it, you could still have class and look good in any environment, and dress comfortably at the same time.

“The Totally Cool ® Hour: A Fashion and Lifestyle Editorial Show” was supposed to air just three times during the month of October when it first premiered. It was soooo popular that MNN aired it 21 times in October and 20 times in November. And in that show there was without question, a little something for everyone.

I had a philosophy: “The more goodness you put into the community, the more goodness you get out of it; the more negative you put into the community, the more negative comes out.” And I wanted to influence all the news networks to do more good news: community events, museums, music, film, fashion, culture, and arts. So I created: “Totally Cool ® Broadcast News: Always Good News, All The Time!” It launched on MNN in April of 1995.

Now this is what really made it all so much more interesting and not like any other show in the world. I was a professional fashion stylist. But I was also a male with longgg brown hair, which meant I got stereotyped and, in some circumstances, not taken seriously. So I would change my look for each segment. If I was doing a community news segment I would wear a wig that was cut like a shorter Beatles haircut and a Luciano Barbera suit (finest menswear in the world), along with a nice shirt, a vest, and a tie. For “Totally Cool ® Bites,” I might wear conservative-cut wig with a black suit jacket, collared shirt, and an ascot. You never knew what to expect. But you knew one thing: It would definitely be cool :) Totally Cool ®.

Three months later, I got a call from a friend who wanted to let me know the Nielsen people were watching the show. Four months after first airing “Totally Cool ®,” because I cut into their ratings so badly the news networks changed their format from 90 percent hardcore news and 10 percent good news to 80/20. Eight or nine months later, news networks across the whole country moved their formats to 60/40. A little goodness goes a long way.

What have you learned - about the craft, about yourself - while creating a TV show at MNN?

When I first started to create the show, there was no such thing as digital editing. Everything was done on analog machines. They were big clunky tape machines that had big knobs and that recorded and edited the material from one piece of videotape to another piece of videotape. It took a lot more time to create a TV show during that time than it does today. Before there was non-linear editing capabilities, once you set a segment where it was going to be placed on a piece of videotape, you could not change it. If you wanted to change it, you had to do the whole half hour or hour presentation all over again, basically from scratch. So really what I learned is that when you put your mind into something or your heart and soul into something, in most circumstances you can do it. Also, whether you are 25 or 30 or 45 or even 75 years of age, you are never too old to learn! You just have to have faith in yourself. And sometimes if you don’t have enough faith in yourself or your own capabilities, someone else might. And that, you will find, is good enough. And you may find that is greatest inspiration of all.

Also the other thing I learned is that things change. Technology makes it so you can do more, as well as communicate with people in far-reaching lands and maybe make a difference in more people’s lives than you thought. When I first started in video and TV show production, MNN did not have the capability to go online and allow people in other countries to access and see your work. Today the network has that capability. In the year 2000 there were 40 million people on the Internet; in 2012 there were over 2 billion. That means you can help a lot more people today than you ever could have before, as well as enrich your own life on a much grander scale.

I also learned how this medium of communication can enlighten a person and many people, as well as develop more compassionate thinking. And all that could actually make the world a much better place than it is today, if given a chance.

How would you like your show to impact your audience?

As I explained above, I always remember my own original philosophy and share that with many, many people: “The more goodness you put into the world, the more goodness will come out of it.” I would like to hope that this MNN Diaries piece will also have that impact on someone. That a person somewhere realizes how important it is to have good energy and compassion put into the world, and that they realize that they themselves can make a difference. Whether it is in their backyard community, the county or city in which they live, or even on a much larger grand scale.

How has MNN changed your life, present and future?

It makes me think about all that my friends and I have done and accomplished through the years. And it makes me think about the mess the world has become during these times, with politics causing war and with the killing of innocent people. I would like to think that the network has inspired and will inspire a greater communication with the world at large and begin to change the negative slope. When I did “Totally Cool ® Talks: The Controversy Series,” which began as a live call-in show, it developed into a roundtable show that addressed many issues that were of concern, including people killing other people! I would like to think that maybe we could bring that back some time in the future, expand it nationally and internationally, and really change the world even more for the better. The children of the world deserve that, and people need to realize how important it is to preserve life, not watch it be destroyed even further each day because of someone’s own personal interest.

In three words, why do you love the work you do at MNN?

Preservation. Sharing. Communication.

Catch “Totally Cool ®” every Sunday at 10pm on MNN2 and MNN.org.