Timing...and Breaking News

Well, today went much better...a bit busy, but that's ok.

I was doing my usual remote coordinator duty at 5pm, directed the 6pm and also the 7pm. All the broadcasts were clean, no problems.

The only thing that really made me chuckle was the timing some people have in calling the control room.

I was about to go on the air with Derek, teasing what's coming up at 7pm. I'm starting my 10 second countdown to everyone, and what happens?

All the phones in the control room start ringing off the hook! Normally, when a phone rings, you answer it, but when you're about to go on the air, forget about it!

Afterwards, I thought, well it could have been important. Someone may have changed the tease and wanted new copy to air. However, we were under 10 seconds. If I had taken the time to answer the phone, we wouldn't have been on the air at all.

Ok, that's small stuff. I actually wanted to write a bit about breaking news. We've had a bit of that in the past day with the Ocean City story.

There's so much I could write about, but I just wanted to pass on one thing that I tell people when they wish so hard that they would have breaking news to put in their newscast.

Before I do, let me ask you a question.

When breaking news occurs, what usually happens?

The clock’s ticking…give up?




Ok, time’s up.

I'll tell you what happens. Someone is usually injured, missing or killed. If it's not that, it's the latest antics of Paris Hilton.

When's the last time you saw breaking news on a happy story?

I'll bet ... Never!

Sure, when breaking news happens, people tune in...But at what cost to the people who are in the story...to the parents who are missing their child, to the wife who had her husband killed in a beltway accident?

Then you have the networks that label everything "breaking news." That is so annoying. What's breaking news about President Bush leaving on Air Force One? I've seen a breaking news graphic over that type of video.

We all need to be careful what we wish for, first and foremost, but we also have to be careful on what we call "breaking news." It's not breaking if it happened two hours ago. It’s not breaking, if it’s something that people do in the normal course of business.

Now that I’ve said my piece, I will say that one of the more effective uses of the breaking news label is probably weather related events. When there's a tornado warning issued for our area, we are on the air as fast as possible...and that's good.

I think that when we're on the air with information like that, we actually have the chance to SAVE people's lives, and that is the most gratifying thing to me.

In these cases, we’re ahead of the story and we’re doing our best to prevent the kind of mayhem I described above.

Agree or Disagree, let me know!

Adapting to Changes

It seems that in addition to writing about directing a newscast, I'm also writing about other positions that I work in.

In my last blog, I had mentioned that I was working with the remotes at 5pm.

One of the remotes involved Katie Couric telling viewers what was coming up on the CBS Evening News.

In coordinating this remote, it requires our control room to be on the phone with the CBS control room. They usually call us, but in today's case, I called them because we were only two minutes out to Katie.

It turns out the CBS producers were busy changing their rundown for the Evening News. Toni, the producer in New York was actually glad that I had called since things in New York were changing rapidly.

There really wasn't enough time to get the new information to our anchors, so we had to float or move Katie's live shot with us.

I informed our 5pm producer of the need to move Katie's live shot and he did so without a hitch. During the break, I gave our producer the new story information and we went to Katie right out of the break.

At 6pm, we almost had to move Phyllis Armstrong's live shot...in fact, we did.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, she was in Ocean City covering the tragedy with the dead bodies found there.

She had not fed in her story at the top of the newscast and she was the second event in our newscast. This meant the control room had to ready to either go to Phyllis or go to the next event after Phyllis.

Our 6pm producer went ahead and floated Phyllis' live shot, but luckily we received her story in time and we were actually able to go to her in her proper slot in the rundown.

Being adaptable in a live newscast situation is one of the foremost abilities that a control room crew has to possess. In our case, we have some of the best people in the business to handle the late breaking changes!

Getting your attention...

When we're in the control room, we're all very busy in getting news out on the air, paying attention to the newscast and yet hearing things just fly by you.

Once an event is on the air, we're all busy getting the next event ready to air. As such, you may miss what is said while the current story is on the air.

As a director, I'm just listening for "trigger" words that I know are in the script to roll video or insert graphics on the air...or I may be following the teleprompter with the anchors to know when to roll video. At the same time, I may be cueing up the DEKO for a motion move, or just analyzing the AVID computer to make sure my next video is cued and ready to go. It goes on, but you get the idea.

If anyone had asked me what the high temperature of the day was, I couldn't tell you. No offense to Topper, Tony and Howard, but I'm in the midst of getting the next event ready...something that I'm sure Topper would like me to do if he wants to hear his "famous" ding dongs at the 7 day forecast!

At any rate, that doesn't mean we miss everything that is said on a newscast. I was helping out with remotes at 5pm, but the lead story at 5pm captured my attention along with everyone else in the control room.

It was about the woman in Ocean City who had dead babies discovered on her property.

When the details of the story came out of Phyllis Armstrong's report, several people in the control room let out a collective groan.

When people in the control room do that, you know that Phyllis just had a very powerful story go on the air with strong impact for the viewer.

I don't mind saying stories like this make me sick...it would make anyone sick.

I know our producer at 5pm will be balancing out his newscast with some other news to make people feel better, but there are some stories that I wish we never had to air.

Phoenix Chopper Crash

By now, I'm sure everyone has read or seen the story out of Phoenix of the helicopter crash.If you haven't seen the story, click: http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=61246

It brings back some memories for me.

One of my first days at WTLV 12 in Jacksonville was marked by a helicopter accident. Our traffic reporter was doing her report. It was her FIRST day on the job. The helicopter was circling an area bringing viewers the latest information on traffic tie-ups when it went down.

The pilot was able to maneuver the helicopter into an empty field before crashing, taking his life and that of the new reporter.

This crash also takes me back several years to a friend of mine who also died in a copter crash.

Rob Pierce was an extraordinary young man, full of youth, energy and loads of enthusiasm. He could do it all, report, shoot video, produce, you name it. We both went to the University of Florida.

I was a couple of years ahead of him, but watched him progress from a producer/reporter/anchor at the station's college channel, WUFT, on to WCJB TV 20 as a producer. Afterwards, we both ended up in Jacksonville. While there, Rob was a videographer shooting video on land and in sea! He did some excellent pieces with our main anchor, Marcia Ladendorff, on sea life and the environment. With Jeannie Blaylock, he shot and edited some of her first Buddy Check 12 stories, which by the way set the standard for tv stations across the country to do stories to remind women to do their monthly breast exams. From Jacksonville, Rob went to WTVJ to his first love of videography.

He was there for several years and shot alot of his video from the helicopter of WTVJ. Some of his work even showed up live on the TODAY show as he reported on the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. It was great to see! The last time I saw Rob was at the Emmy Awards in Florida back in the mid to late 90's. He seemed happy and content.

However, in early 2000, that was cut short. His life was tragically taken in a senseless helicopter accident. I still remember reading about the chilling details of the accident and also on how senseless this accident was. I don't want to rehash those details, but all I will say, this should NOT have happened and yet it did. Rob was a great person, a person that the industry has missed, a person that I have missed.

The personal toll on bringing viewers a bird's eye view of the news can be devastating. Yet, one of the goals of the videographer to put the viewer right in the middle of the action, while delivering beautiful pictures.

Rob was an expert at that, among other things. He was literally a master of all trades!

He is still missed to this day.

You think a director's busy??

Yea, as directors, we get busy in the control room. In addition to directing the 6 & 11pm news today, I also served as the remote coordinator for the 5pm newscast AND had to build and refine graphics for special sports coverage.

The building of the graphics wasn't that big a deal, but it does get time consuming. I was able to finish that in time for the 5pm broadcast.

Then, I had to move to remote coordinating. Basically, I was the contact person in the control room for all our reporters in the field. Today, we had five reporters. Doing this position, requires me to establish contact as I mentioned and then telling everyone who they're talking to and getting roll cues to their video.

We had a sports live shot with Brett Haber AND Sara Walsh. Brett was in Cooperstown, so his shot was a satellite shot. That meant that we had to be out at a certain time, otherwise, we lose the shot. Since it was Cal Ripkin's induction to the Hall of Fame, losing the shot was NOT an option.

In between talking to the other live shots, I was on the phone talking with our sports executive producer, talking with our microwave unit, talking with CBS Newspath in New York, and of course updating the producer on my activities. It turned out that the 5pm newscast was running a bit long, so we had to extend Brett's window of time, which we did successfully.

It also turned out we didn't have audio from our CBS reporter, from the Johnson Space Center. It was time to put out the fires!

The 5pm producer did move Brett and Sara up in the broadcast to avoid the extention, but as it turns out, we still went long and luckily, we had the extra time. In case nobody has ever seen this, if a tv station is on a satellite shot and they go past their time, you could be looking at hash on the air...not a good thing.

As for our CBS shot from the Johnson Space Center, that one was an easy fix. The audio signal coming in was low, so our microwave operators cranked up the audio and we were fine on that end. On a side note, CBS was doing a live shot for their station in Richmond, Viriginia. They had problems with their IFB and they were going long too. As such, the guys in New York, told Richmond they would have to finish their story with CBS from the set and not live from the Space Center.

At any rate, everything went off without a hitch...now, I get to concentrate on my primary job of directing!

One of these days, I'll have to do a glossery of terms for those of you not in the business!

Teamwork...

So, I'm directing the newscast the other day, and my Technical Director, Dave Rankine catches a mis-spelling on a lower third graphic. Tonight, I'm working on graphics and one of the production assistants, Heather Torbitt is double checking the rundown for me. The other production assistant, Chris is streaming the weather webcast. The other night, my robotics operator, Dave Whittenburg, came up with a really nice way to showcase the studio in one of our wide shots. Creativity like that just spurs me on to do the best I can!

It's all about teamwork to get our product on air, and I have to say we really shine when we all work together! Many viewers don't know exactly how a newscast is put on the air, or how many people it takes.

There are many dedicated people in front of and behind the camera to get the news on the air, and as a director, I value each and every person's contribution.

Good News versus Bad News

One thing producers try to do in formulating their rundown is to make sure the entire broadcast isn't filled with bad news.

In these days, it can be a challenge to find the uplifting news. For example early on Friday morning July 20th, DC experienced eleven shootings in just two hours. New video came in concerning a Metro bus accident where two women died. Just in to 9News, an elderly woman was struck by a vehicle on Branch Avenue near Iverson Mall in PG County Friday afternoon after 3:30pm. She was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.

My point, it goes on and on. It can get downright depressing for me as a director. I have to wonder why a viewer would watch!

Luckily, our second block is all Harry Potter...let's just hope he doesn't get killed off!

Foundations...

As a director, I continually remind myself that I'm only as good as my last show. More importantly, I remind myself I'm only as good as the crew I work with. The current production assistants we have at WUSA are rock solid. They are the foundation of our newscast. Without their valuable assistance, our newscast could never go on the air. They make sure our anchors are looking in the right cameras, operate the teleprompter and do any other tasks that are important to the newscast AND the web.

Before I go on I should say for those that don't know, the production assistant at any television station is an entry level job. The pay is lousy, the hours are hard, and there isn't a whole lot of praise that comes with the job. However, as a production assistant, you're not looking for praise; you're looking to gain as much knowledge as you can so that you can move on to that next level.

We have three production assistants in the evening that show so much promise. Anthony Lucas and Heather Torbitt are two of our production assistants that have aspirations to direct. Both of them have caught on so quick, it really makes me proud to see! They are both strong and confident in their direction when they sit in that “hot” seat.

David Whittenburg has gone the extra mile to join our local union so he could run robotics for our newscast. This opens so many doors for David as he can learn how to run audio or edit or any other technical position.

Christopher Laudicina is another one of our production assistants. His aspiration is to work in the weather department as a producer and maybe one day meteorologist. Even though his goals are not production oriented, he still works just as hard as everyone else and even keeps everyone hydrated with root beers and ginger ales!

We’ve had production assistants that have gone on to great things from WUSA-TV. JR Nichols is our nighttime assignment manager. He worked his way up from a production assistant position to media coordinator to his current position. He was trained by some great desk people and is instrumental in helping us bring you the stories that you see on our newscast.

Ismere Payton is our senior sports producer. He worked the same type of track as JR, but went into the sports department. He's a hard worker with great things ahead for him!

Outside the station, we have Jeremy Settle. He's THE news director at the CBS 19/FOX/ABC station in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also anchors one of the evening newscasts there. While here at WUSA, he served on the assignment desk, worked as a producer in the sports department and was also one of the first people who reported on the College Park mayhem when the Terps won the NCAA Basketball tournament a few years ago.

There are many more examples, but the point in all this:You can enter the broadcasting industry in a top ten market. It's hard to get in, but once you do, if you work hard, it will pay off...and when a TV station brings these production assistants up through the ranks, the foundations that the production assistants lay out only make the station stronger. As a director, it makes the newscasts that I direct stronger.

Washington DC Heat

Our lead story at 5pm today was the heat wave in the Washington DC metro area.We had reporter Jeff Napshin at one of the city pools in East Potomac Park. He was doing a story on how people are coping with the heat.

Of course, one of the best ways to cope is to find a pool and go swimming. I don't direct the 5pm newscast; I was serving as the remote coordinator. That position is the link between the control room and the reporters in the field.

As I was talking to Jeff and setting up his live shot, there was one thing that kept going through my mind for Jeff and his videographer, Keith Williams. Be careful!

Back when I was in Florida, a friend of mine was doing a similar live shot. I don't remember the exact circumstances of what happened, but at some point the mast on the live shot truck hit an electric wire. That sent a jolt of electricity down through the truck and through the camera and down the microphone cable to the reporter. There was a jolt of electricity that went up to his leg and he was burned. He survived, but it was a harrowing experience for all.

Many times people say producing TV isn't brain surgery. No one will die. That's not necessarily true. In the field, if you let your guard down for just a moment something catastrophic could happen. It's a lesson I would see others go through at other times in my career, sometimes with deadly results.

The Small Stuff....

I have a tendency to fret over small things. I try not to, but sometimes it just happens. It can transcend into my work and sometimes I have to pull back and realize I can't sweat the small stuff. Ok, so there's a shot change from a vo to a sot. It looks bad, but what kind of impact does it have on anyone? None.

The wrong vo runs, we get out of it. We may not look professional at that minute, but who's going to remember it the next day or the day after that?

A good friend of mine is going through an ordeal of a lifetime. His wife is going through her second round of leukemia treatment. She's going through a bone marrow transplant as I write this now.

That's the stuff to fret about...and even then, there's only so much you can do. Alot of it is out of my friend's hands and in the hands of the powers that be.

I know I'll be keeping him and his wife in my thoughts today and at the same time remember the only real important thing in life is family.

If you would like to read my friend's blog and get an idea of what I'm talking about, go to:

http://trish.dicomo.net/

A hot time in the city tonight....

The other night I wrote how slow the evening was. In true news fashion, July 4th was anything but slow.

To start the day off, we had thunderstorms in the area with the possibility of tornados. Whenever a tornado warning goes out, we go on the air.

Before we actually hit air, one of the responsibilities of the director at WUSA is to make sure we have captioning. So, while on the phone with our captioning company, we're rounding up the crew, informing Master Control that we'll be going live and we have to do this literally within a minute if not sooner.

We actually did hit the air pretty quick with our coverage, but it takes a bit of time for captioning to come on line. In order to serve our hearing impaired audience, we put up a lower third graphic on the screen informing them what areas are posted in the tornado warnings. Once captioning kicks in, we can take the lower third off.

While doing all this, we still have to prepare for our broadcasts, but with the warnings, there's not much you can do to the rundown of a newscast. It's going to change by the second.

Case in point, during the 5pm broadcast, Jennifer Ryan asked Tony Pann if anymore warnings were going to be issued and just as she asked, a new tornado warning came on. This meant we had to stay with Tony longer to explain the new warning. In giving Tony extra time, that meant changes had to be made to the rundown of the newscast. Those changes basically meant stories were going to be dropped.

At any rate, during Jeff Napshin's live shot; he was in the right place at the right time as the police on the National Mall were warning people to take shelter from the thunderstorms. It made for good TV, but more importantly it put the viewer in the middle of the action as it happened. This is something you will NEVER get from the internet, from the newspaper or from the national news cable networks. Local stations excel in the live and late breaking news stories like no other medium.

That brings me to the 11pm broadcast. Nancy Yamada was on the scene of the fireworks display in Vienna, Virginia. She and her crew had exclusive video of the fireworks mishap that injured some of the crowd and the aftermath of the fireworks show that went haywire.

Nancy and her crew literally worked right up until the last second to get 9News Now viewers the latest information on the story in Vienna.

In between broadcasts, I helped out with answering phones at the assignment desk and took a call from officials in Stafford, Virginia. The area experienced a major water main break there. Hundreds of customers would have little or no water pressure for awhile. That became our second story of the 11pm broadcast.

After our broadcast was over, I then took information from Nancy Yamada and Doug Buchanan so I could post their stories on our website. Since their stories didn't run back to back and since we had a minor technical issue with Nancy's story, I had to re-edit the video for the web so it would appear seamless.

Finally, I'm writing this blog and will leave probably right around 1:30 in the morning.

As a director, you're expected to multi-task in the control room. That's a given. However, that multi-tasking doesn't stop when you leave the control room. Nowadays, you're expected to do much more in order to get not only the newscast on the air, but content on our website!

Truth be told, it's still fun for me to do! If there's one thing I've learned in this industry, it's that you have to love working in it and that hasn't changed one bit for me!

Wingin' It...

One thing we try to do in local news is to create "memorable moments." "Moments" could be anything that might get a viewer talking about our newscast the next day.

Monday night was a slow night, no doubt about it. You would think it would be hard to create a memorable moment or put a unique spin on a story.

When you have Brett Haber in the house, it's not hard at all! Brett wanted to illustrate the difficulty people were having in establishing service with their new i-Phone. It was a story that we had reported on earlier in the newscast and earlier in the day.

Tracey Neale had just bought her new phone and was one of those many people having trouble establishing service.

To "illustrate" the problem, Topper took Tracey's phone and hung out at the chromakey wall.

After sports was done, Brett was trying to talk to Topper and we took a shot of him trying to talk on the phone to Tracey, who had another cell phone. Since Tracey's service wasn't established yet, Brett had the opportunity to talk about the problem of no service and chastise Topper and Tracey for not "paying attention" to the sportscast.

Writing about this can not re-create the moment, but Brett ran away with this and even read Tracey's closing script as Topper and Tracey tried to "chat" with each other.

It was a nice way to illustrate the problem people had with establishing service with their new i-Phone and a way to leave viewers with a smile on their face at the end of a broadcast.

It is "memorable moments" like these that will hopefully remind viewers that local news channels are still your best source for information in your community!

Sunday Mornings

I just finished directing our Sunday morning newscast here at WUSA. Sunday mornings are kind of slow, especially compared to the week nights.

It did give me the chance to "play" around with the camera shots for a bit. We have the BEST set in the mid-Atlantic area and I love to show it off!

Thanks to Tom Krogel, our most excellent camera operator, and some extra time, we were able to do some really beautiful shots during our broadcast.

It's always nice to put your "unique signature" on a broadcast and Tom's camera work this morning went a long way in making our newscast stand out this morning!