Hit and Run

You hear that phrase and what do you think? We’re about to report on yet another car accident in the DC metro area.

You would be wrong.

Tonight’s incident happened in our studio. It was only a minor collision and nobody was hurt.

You may be asking yourself, how the heck did we get a car into the studio.

Trade secret.

However, the vehicle in question wasn’t a car. It was a camera.
To be precise, it was one of our robotic cameras.

Derek and Jennifer were starting the 5:30pm half hour standing at a position in front of the set. As Derek and Jennifer walk back to the set, all of a sudden, I hear our robotics operator yell out, “watch out Derek!” ..But it was too late, he had already been clipped.

Nobody was asked for their license and registration. The police weren’t called. There wasn’t even an insurance report filed…it was all in the line of duty and one of the hazards of walking in a studio with cameras that can run you down!

Seriously speaking, nobody was remotely hurt in this incident and the names weren’t changed to protect the innocent.

Capture the moment...

I'm sure you've heard that phrase before. There are many meanings behind that phrase. At Channel 9, when I hear that phrase, it usually means that I better capture a moment for all to see. One of my mentors, Harvey Mars, has preached that to me for the past twenty years!

Case in point--last night's 6pm broadcast. Our last story was about a woman who had a penchant for hugs. A woman from Utah, Jordan Pearce went out and hugged 765 people in just 30 minutes - breaking the world record. It was one of those "feel good" stories, no doubt. Our writer also added a line in the script indicating that hugging can lower your blood pressure - reducing your risk for heart disease.

So, in keeping with moment, Brett and Topper had their own moment and walked over to give each other a great big hug. Soon, everyone got into the act. It was a nice reaction to the story and a nice way to say good night to the audience. Just as important, it hopefully gave people something to talk about.

When people see something like the hugs you're looking at above, the tendency is to think that there is good chemistry with everyone on the set.

The hope of news management is that the chemistry on the set reaches out to those watching the newscast. In turn, if people like the chemistry of the anchors, they might trust the anchors to deliver them the news of the day, which is the goal of any television outlet.

Did we succeed? Look at the picture and judge for yourself!

--Rain Delay--

Wow. What a night. I don't think I've ever experienced a night like this in a long time!

Breaking News happens all the time. Everyone at our station can rock 'n roll with the best of them when it comes to breaking news.

Tonight, we had to rock 'n roll with our Redskins coverage due to a rain/lightning delay. So, here's what happened.

We were supposed to go on the air at 7:30pm with our Redskins pre-game show with Brett, Levan and Sara. All of them were live from FedEx Field.

Fifteen minutes before air, the lightning moves in. We have three live shots coming from the stadium. Two out of the three went down due to lightning.

We were able to move Brett and Sara into the tunnel to protect them and the crew from the elements.

We went on the air with one live shot, which was no big deal. Hey, I was happy to have something to go to!

Howard Bernstein was in tonight for Tony Pann. He alerted everyone early on something like this might happen. As a result, the call was made to bring Levan back to the studio…an EXCELLENT call.

We went on the air as scheduled. Needless to say, our line-up changed a bit due to the weather, but towards the end of our broadcast, we lost all live shots. During the last commercial break, we lost our analog signal. When we came back on the air for the last segment, my off air monitor was in black. I have small monitors in front of me and I was monitoring our air signal. I heard and saw our signal so, we just kept going.

Anyway, we filled the rest of the time (3 - 4 minutes) with Levan and Howard in the studio.

We end our broadcast and go to our end break.

During our end break, we find out two things:

1. The game was going to be delayed.

2. The truck that was supposed to bring viewers the game lost power.

Apparently, there was a lightning strike at the stadium! Comcast Sports Network was supplying our station and its own network with the game coverage.

What did that mean? It meant that we had to all of a sudden fill time in the studio until the truck at FedEx Field could come back up and also until the game could start.


The sports producers went scrambling for material. I went ahead and put a special report open in our rundown and we were off to the races!

We came up to Howard Bernstein and he filled the first few minutes detailing the progression of the storms.

A few minutes later, we had a camera come back up inside the tunnel where the Redskins players enter the field. We were back in business with a live shot back up and then we were able to fill with Brett and Sara in the field and Levan with Howard back in the studio!

It actually worked out very good.

Brett basically grabbed players as they were passing through the tunnel and interviewed them about the night's events and their thoughts on the pre-season.

When Brett had nobody, we went back to the studio with Levan and Howard for weather updates.

The MOST memorable moment of the night:

We were in a commercial break and were planning to come back to Howard and Levan. About 10 seconds before we come back, we see from Brett that the Redskins players are about to file out to the field.

So, we changed our game plan and went back to Brett and showed the players walking to the field.
Ok, we're thinking that the game is going to start soon…although at that time, the truck in the field wasn't up yet.

As we're showing the players going to the field, we see all the stars and management.
Jason Campbell, Mark Brunell and Dan Snyder are just some of the people our camera caught as they went to the field.

The next thing we see:

Everyone does a turnabout and marches right back into the tunnel. Apparently, a lightning strike gave officials second thoughts and they decided to wait a few more minutes.

It was the wildest thing ever. During the march back, Brett was able to grab Jason Campbell and do a one on one interview with him and his pre-season activities.

It was great television, in fact the whole evening was.

At 8:55pm, we received word that the truck was back up to power and that the game would start at 9:05pm.

We ran a 1:30 commercial end break and then joined Comcast for their football coverage.

Our half hour pre-game special turned into an hour and a half extravaganza.

I have to say I couldn't have directed this broadcast so well without the help of everyone in the control room.

James Williams was my technical director. While I was dealing...wait a second...as I'm writing this now, Matt Hall has told me that we have to be on stand by to go back on the air.

More thunderstorms are on the way! I'm moving to the control room to finish up!

--In the control room--

Ok, I'm in the control room, ready to go back on the air. In picking up where I left off, James Williams was my technical director. James was great!

Let me explain briefly that the technical director position is occupied by the person who pushes all the buttons. I call the show as a director and then James calls up when I need on the switcher.

He was there punching the show as if we had planned everything. James went beyond the call of duty and offered his input on a couple of things. For instance, you may have seen Brett in a double box with our radar and weather computers.

That idea came from James.

Our audio operator Yvette, was able to follow the flow of the show easily, making sure our viewers heard everything they were supposed to hear.

Ismere Peyton and Matt Hall were our producers in the booth. They were in constant with the sports executive producer, Matt King at FedEx field and with the camera operators.

Ismere was also working with me in making sure we provided the proper graphics on air. Not only was I directing the broadcast, but I also served as my own graphics operator.

While we have an automated graphics system, when you have breaking news or events like tonight, automation goes out the window. I can say it's a huge challenge not only directing this type of coverage, but also maintaining four channels of graphics!

I also couldn't have done all this without Judy Gough. Judy was running teleprompter for me. Anchors aren't the only people that use the teleprompter. When I direct shows like this, I follow the flow of things with my computer in front of me and with the teleprompter.

That way, I can keep my eyes on the monitor wall and the on air product and not bury my head in paper scripts!

I can't end this blog without mentioning some very important people, and those people were the ones at the stadium!

Everyone out in the field did a tremendous job in bring metro viewers the latest on the game delay, and just as important with me, they kept themselves safe from the lightning too. All the camera operators and engineering technicians did a tremendous job in keeping the pictures and words flowing until the lightning forced them to power down.

As far as I'm concerned, whenever there is lightning in an area, there's just no question that the mast on the truck comes down and you protect yourself!

That being said, the crew out in the field worked under very harsh conditions. They were out at the football stadium early in the day when the temperatures were soaring towards 100 degrees. Then they were out that night in the rain. The game started late and by the time the news is over on Saturday night/Sunday morning, it may well be 2am before all is wrapped up.

I'm proud to say that our technicians and videographers are the finest in the region!

Of course, this entry would not be complete without mentioning our on air sports anchors. Those guys truly were able to rock ‘n roll. Brett, Levan and Sara are three of the preeminent sports anchors/reporters in this territory and it showed Saturday evening. At the same time, Howard Bernstein kept viewers up to date on the progress of the storms.

Television is such a team effort. I have to say I don't know if my words can truly do justice to what a team effort tonight was. As a viewer, all you see is what we put out on the air. Watching a television broadcast, I seriously doubt that people think what really goes on to bring you that broadcast.

Hopefully, this blog can give you some sort of an idea!

The Rundown Shuffle

Everyday the person who produces the newscast comes up with a rundown of what they want to see on the broadcast.

The rundown is generated in a computer program called, "I-NEWS." There are different programs that stations use, but this is the one we use.

The producer will work hard all day in coordinating the day's events into their rundown. They work in conjunction with the assignment desk, news management, reporters, the art department, the production department…and the list goes on.

During the day, many people have their hands into the rundown changing things here and tweaking things there, but the producer is the “ring-leader.”

Naturally, the rundown is subject to change throughout the day. It all depends on the day's events. While there are many elements to deal with, the producer does have the help of news managers for guidance and direction.

At any rate, on Friday, those changes came at 5 minutes before air time. We had some breaking news.

The N-F-L suspended star quarterback Michael Vick - indefinitely.

It was a decision that was expected to come down, but nobody knew when the N-F-L would act. This was obviously a big enough story that it became our lead story, and rightly so.

Our producer worked frantically to change the rundown to accommodate this story.

It involved changing the order of stories, changing anchor reads, changing graphics and adding graphics; all to enhance the presentation of this important story.
Then, once all those changes are made the producer had to communicate them to me.

In turn, I have to communicate them to the crew. When all those changes happen, I just tell the crew to ignore their rundown for the first few stories and listen to me. I’ll call those changes with enough time for everyone to react.

Needless to say, everyone did a sparkling job! The newscast went off without a hitch.

I wish I could prove it to you and provide a link to the first block of our news. However, we ran N-F-L footage as part of the story. At this time, the station isn’t allowed to stream such footage, but trust me when I say the crew really did a great job.

...and of course, there's one last thing to keep in mind concerning that rundown I told you about. In today's case, we actually had a little time to react. There are many times when breaking news can happen while we're on the air.

That's when the adrenaline can really start pumping!

Spotlight on Tom Buckley

-Spotlight on Tom Buckley-

Tom Buckley is one of our engineering technicians here at W*USA.

He started out at WTOP (now, W*USA 9 News) in 1974 as a freelance technician. He proved himself so valuable to the staff that in November of 1976, he was made a full-time technician at Broadcast House/WTOP Radio & Television.

Tom is literally a MASTER of all trades here at W*USA 9 News. If there is a crisis ANYWHERE in the building, one of the FIRST people that everyone will turn to is Tom Buckley.

It doesn’t matter if the crisis is in the newsroom or engineering department, Tom has the experience and knowledge to save the day. In the newsroom, his expertise has saved many live shots from being lost.

As a director, I welcome Tom when he works as my technical director. When things go crazy, I can depend on Tom as another set of eyes to make sure wrong graphics or tapes do not hit the air.

In master control, he will read over the log BEFORE his shift to make sure there are no discrepancies and that all commercials air correctly. His efforts have saved the station countless dollars and many viewers because he takes a PROACTIVE approach to our business.

That is a very commendable trait in today’s corporate world where many people may take the attitude of “it’s not my job.” Tom Buckley makes it HIS job to ensure W*USA 9 News runs in a smooth manner.

As such, Tom has proven himself to be an invaluable employee time and time again. I kid him sometimes and call him the “Junior GM” of the tv station. He literally has his fingerprint in every project of the station. In fact, his contributions go way beyond the norm of any technician.

Whenever there is talk of a set re-design, Tom Buckley is the first one to offer his thoughts and opinions on making the transition to the new set a successful one.

He backs these thoughts and opinions up by studying the sets and graphics of many different stations throughout the country and then applying a Washington DC Metro touch to them.

At the same time, if there is a graphic re-design, Tom is also the first to offer his opinions and ideas on what will look good on the air and then spend countless hours in the edit suite updating the graphics for air.

Nobody has to ask Tom to do these things. As a matter of a job description, these are all things that he doesn’t have to do, but WANTS to do. When it comes down to it, Tom Buckley is the living embodiment of W*USA 9.

He cares so passionately for the station that when tapes or set props are thrown out for garbage, he will give them new life in his own home. In fact, his home has become sort of the unofficial historical museum of W*USA 9 News. At his residence, you will find old set props, tapes earmarked for the garbage bin, which contains promotional campaigns and newscasts of a bygone era.

You'll find that Tom Buckley is probably the most dedicated employee this station will ever see.

A helping hand...

We had some pretty good broadcasts on Wednesday.

However, after the 6pm, we received a call from our general manager. He said he saw the floor director's hand in a wide shot.

Later in the evening, I took a look at the air check. We did see a hand waving on a wide shot, but only in high definition land.

The picture on the right is in high definition. You can see the hand on the bottom left side of the screen.

On the standard definition feed, you couldn't see a hand at all. Here's the same picture below in standard definition.











I took the opportunity to scan the newscast for another case of hands in the shot. Take a look at this shot of Jennifer Ryan in high definition.

On this picture to the right, if you look to the bottom right, you'll see Todd McDermott's hand.

Right below, is the same picture of Jen in standard definition.

Look to the right. Do you see Todd's hand?

No, you don't.
At the same time, look to the right side of the picture. Look at all the room we have in high definition. Now compare that same picture in standard definition.

We don't have so much room now, do we? If I zoomed the camera in a bit, I'd lose Todd's hand in high definition, I could also lose Jen's shoulder in standard definition.

At this time, we have to shoot our broadcasts for high definition (16:9 ratio) AND standard definition (4:3 ratio).

When you're directing a fast paced newscast, it's quite the challenge. Since MOST people still have a standard definition television set, we tend to shoot our shots for the standard definition side. It's better to see a hand moving briefly on the edges of the screen rather than having an anchor with a shoulder missing or only seeing part of a graphic in the monitor.

One important thing to keep in mind: These are just freeze frames.

In the actual video, Todd moved his hand towards himself, so we lost the hand in high definition. While in the first example, the floor director was waving his hand across to camera two. As such, if you were really looking for it, you would have only seen his hand briefly.

That doesn't excuse anything. We need to try to shoot the shots as cleanly as possible for both standard and high definition. At the same time, by showing these pictures, I hoped that I've illustrated that it can be a challenge to shoot for both looks.

Once February 2009 rolls around, we won't have this problem anymore. Everyone will be in high definition!

Back to work...and BOOM

After a couple of weeks of vacation, I'm back to work. I have to say it was a pretty uneventful day...which is kind of nice. It enabled me to kind of "slide" back into the rhythm of things.

There was one thing that put a smile on my face, indicating things were the "same old, same old."

We had a new reporter at 11pm. She filed her report, but forgot to put down the times that she wanted her lower third name supers to hit.

So, we called her into the control room to help call out her supers.

By the way, for those of you not in the know, "supers" are the lower third graphics that name the people on the screen.

At any rate, when I call for a super, I'll usually say "downstream." This tells the technical director to insert the lower third super. Last night, we had good ole JW at the board. JW, James, is a master switcher! Seriously, James is one of the best technical directors I've worked with and can also be good at cutting the tension in the control room with his humor.

At any rate, when our reported indicated that she wanted her first super to air, all of a sudden we hear, "BOOM."

I looked at her, and then she said, "That’s the guy." It was her way to indicate to put the super in.

So for the rest of her package, I just told James, "BOOM."

...like I said, "same old, same old."

It's good to be back!

One last thing, while I was away, our night side reporter, Nancy Yamada, had a baby boy...congratulations, Nancy!

Takin' a break

I'll be taking a break from blogging for the next couple of weeks.

When I return, I plan to post some behind the scenes pictures and maybe even a newscast with director's track.

Thanks for reading!

Gephyrophobia

Gephyrophobia--anyone know what that means?

I'll tell you what it means, since that particular phobia has become a horrific reality for thousands of people in Minnesota.

It's the fear of crossing over bridges.

Around 7pm, the entire span of an interstate bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed during evening rush hour. It sent vehicles and tons of concrete into the river and land below.

A story this enormous will be covered in Wednesday's 11pm newscast and beyond. In fact, our initial rundown was thrown out so we could dedicate more time to the coverage of this calamity.

The assignment desk is busy lining up interviews, sending reporters and videographers to different locations. We're also arranging for live coverage from Minnesota for our 11pm news tonight.

In terms of the webpage, I was about to post it to the web, when web guru, Rick Garner, beat me to it. Rick set up a live stream of video so that if people wanted live coverage now, they could instantly get it, a true definition of “9 News Now.”

When we get on the air, our rundown will still change to reflect the latest breaking news concerning this disastrous event.

It's one of those nights where everyone will be at the very top of their game to give the Washington DC metro area the latest on this story and how it can locally impact people in our area...and believe me, there are always local ties to stories that happen elsewhere. You just have to dig.