Closure

It's been a tough week all around. After a demanding week, I was looking towards the closure of this week and the start of the weekend.

One of our annual family traditions is going to a local farm and cutting down our Christmas tree. The twins love the excitement of putting up the tree and holiday decorations. At work, I was hoping things would settle down a bit too, but of course, that didn't happen.

This afternoon, a disturbed man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate. The hostage drama dragged on for nearly six hours before the suspect gave up peacefully.

His submission transpired during our 6pm newscast. In fact, we cut away to it just as the suspect was taken out by police.

In Chicago, we had a severe train accident involving Amtrak. An Amtrak train plowed into the back of a freight train Friday, gravely injuring five people as its engine car hurtled to a stop atop a crushed boxcar.

At 11pm, we'll have some new information on the murder of Sean Taylor. As a matter of fact, it's looking like we MAY have some type of closure in finding the killers of Taylor.

Miami police announced Friday evening, that they have arrested four suspects in the case. The police haven't released what type of evidence that they have against the suspects. At this time, no charges have been filed, but it seems like the case is moving forward. That has to be good news in a case that has been so devastating for the family, friends and fans of Taylor.

Taylor's funeral will be this Monday morning. WUSA 9 will have the funeral live and on the internet starting at 11am. I would imagine the funeral will be just the start of the long road of recovery that the family, the Redskins and the fans will have to endure.

One Last Thing...

I forgot to put this in my last post. For anyone that wishes to add their condolences to family of Sean Taylor on our website, you can click here at:

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=65672

The Tragedy Continues...

Everyone has had Sean Taylor as their lead or top story today (Tuesday). It's such a tragic one and it deserves the attention.

During my travels today, I was listening to local talk radio here in DC. There was discussion on why Sean's story was getting so much press, when we have shootings in the DC metro area on an almost regular basis.

I'll tell you there is no difference. Murder is tragic no matter how you look at it. It doesn't matter if the murder is of a public figure or a private citizen. Every murder, every life taken by violent means is horrific and unnecessary.

Yes, Sean Taylor's murder received more coverage than usual, even national coverage. He was a NFL football player and a public figure. He had connections in Florida, Washington and by virtue of being in the NFL, the entire sports world.

However, other murders were covered with just as much detail, if not more. Who knew Natalie Holloway or Chandra Levy before they were murdered? They were private citizens that only became public figures in death. I could cite more examples, but I think the viewpoint is made here.

At 9News, we are well aware there are other stories of the day. We dispatched our reporters to cover those stories. In fact, tonight's lead story at 11pm was about the death of a 2 year old boy. That wasn’t our original intent, but breaking news happens. Unfortunately, it seems to happen all the time now. At any rate, the boy’s death has not been classified officially as a homicide at this point, and no charges have been filed as of yet, but it is being investigated by the major crimes unit in Montgomery County.

It seems there's not a day that goes by that our newscast doesn't have at least one death to report.

While we strive to end our broadcast with a story on the lighter side, it sometimes still isn't enough to clear the memories away of the first block of news...and there's the challenge for local and national news organizations.

We certainly can not "sugar coat" the event's of the day. At the same time, we have to strive harder to find the positive happenings of the day and provide the best balance we can to present all pieces of the news puzzle.

As I close, I was going to write about the writer's strike out in the entertainment industry. However, to do so now, would seem kind of hollow. As such, maybe I can do that tomorrow.

Devastating News From The Redskins...

Last night, I was in a good mood. I thought our station had excellent coverage on the Sean Taylor incident. More significantly, our last reports indicated that there was a strong possibility that he could get through this.

According to Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins' vice president of football operations, doctors had been optimistic late Monday when Taylor squeezed a nurse's hand. That small nugget of news was of great encouragement to Taylor's family and his extended family of the Washington Redskins. That "small" nugget of news even made national news. As I was driving home last night, all the national radio media had this as their lead story.

We now learn from family friend Richard Sharpstein that he was told Taylor never regained consciousness after being transported to the hospital and that he wasn't sure how he had squeezed the nurse's hand. Mr. Sharpstein was the one that broke the news early this morning that Taylor had passed away.

There are many times when the news business can be brutal. One evening you can be reporting on the hope of something good happening or the possibility of a miracle. The next morning it can be ripped away as it was in this particular story.

I offer my condolences to Sean Taylor, his family and all of the Redskins fans. It is such a tragedy to have a life cut so short and so heartbreaking.

If you wish to offer condolences to the family of Sean Taylor, please navigate to:
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=65672

You can post your comments on our website for all to read.

More later...

The Streak Continues...

Get your mind out of the gutter...I'm not writing about THAT type of streaking...

I am writing about our news coverage on Monday. Our 11pm newscast continued the comprehensive coverage we had on the Sean Taylor story.

Bruce Leshan reported live from Miami, Florida to give our viewers the most up to date progress report on Sean. Brittany Morehouse interviewed fans and got their reaction at a local bar. To wrap things up, Sara Walsh took over the story from Redskins Park to get the perspective from the Redskins themselves.

Adding to that, we had Jeff Napshin live from a hit and run accident in Gaithersburg, Maryland and an intriguing story from Gary Reals. It dealt with what happens when a police office is forced to shoot a suspect and the aftermath of that and the counseling that the officer goes through.

We had a broadcast full of critical news this evening. In terms of our Redskins coverage, there's no doubt in my mind that 9News Now had the most inclusive coverage on the day's events, which served as a benefit to all Redskins fans concerned about Sean Taylor's condition.

Breaking News

Monday was one heck of a day for breaking news. As mentioned, Sean Taylor of the Redskins was shot. Vice President Cheney had to go back to the hospital for an out patient procedure.

...and WUSA pounced on the competition here in Washington DC. In fact, WUSA was the ONLY local station in Miami with live coverage of the Sean Taylor story.

At 7pm, we went to our reporter, Bruce Leshan live in Miami. As we went to him, a press conference just got under way with Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato.
Bruce and his videographer were able to jockey for position live on the air to get the very latest on Sean Taylor's condition.

Take a look at this clip!

Strike Talk--Tomorrow!

Busy Day...

DC is bustling with news today. Sean Taylor, a player for the Washington Redskins was shot in his home near Miami, Florida. Vice President Dick Cheney is at George Washington University hospital. He's there due to an irregular heartbeat...so lots to write about, plus news on the writer's strike!

Stay tuned.

News You Can Use...

These two websites were forwarded by our assignment desk over the weekend:

http://www.dtv.gov/

http://www.dtvtransition.org

They deal with the transition to digital television which takes place in early 2009. The first website has a countdown to the transition (2/19/09) and has many articles for consumers that give tips on buying that first (or second) digital TV. There's also a glossary of terms, listing of publications and FAQ's to help you learn about this new age of television. It's worth the look!

The second website offers some of the same material, but not as comprehensive. Both websites offer information on the digital-to-analog converter box that receives digital over-the-air signals from your antenna, converts them to analog and sends the signal to your existing analog television set.

From the dtv transition website, "these boxes, which are expected to cost between $50 - 70 will be available for purchase in 2008. Beginning on January 1, 2008, U.S. households can request up to two coupons valued at $40 each. Each coupon can go toward the purchase of a single set-top converter box that will allow you to continue watching FREE over-the-air television on an analog set."

You can also navigate to: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/index.html, or call 1-888-DTV-2009 (voice) or 1-877-530-2634 (TTY) to receive more information on this device.

I haven't made the switch yet myself. I'm going to wait until next holiday season. By then, I'm sure the prices will come down even more...although, it still won't be worth waiting overnight in line Thanksgiving night to get a fabulous deal on a brand new HD/Digital television set...will it??

All that work for nothing...and a silver lining...

For most people, the day after Thanksgiving is just another holiday or an extension of the Thanksgiving holiday. For others, it's time to hit the sales!
On a side note to that, as I was leaving the station last night, I drove by the Best Buy store that I mentioned in the last blog. The line grew even longer...around the corner and down the street.

Wow.

Of course, I'm beginning to understand a little bit of that now. I asked my wife to pick up a portable DVD player. They were on sale at Best Buy for $49.99. She went there and was told they were sold out by 8am! It made me ponder for the moment the value of staying in line overnight, in the cold, in the wind, in the dampness, with a group of strangers, just to buy some material object.

Awww, who am I kidding...? It still isn't worth it to stand out in line overnight waiting to pick up some item on sale...that's just me.

Anyway, there's another group of people that also enjoy the holiday...the football holiday. Thanksgiving, along with New Year's is saturated in the tradition of football.

We had a scorcher on WUSA. It was LSU vs. Arkansas. Triple overtime and one of the most exciting games I've seen in a long time! I just wish I wasn't waiting to direct a 6pm newscast in the control room. It would have been much more “pleasurable” at home with the family watching that excitement! At the same time, I have to say that while everyone put in alot of hard work to get a 6pm newscast on the air, if it had to be pre-empted; this was the game, the silver lining that made it all worthwhile!

Slow Computers

I love computers, but sometimes they are so slow. I'm sure everyone has experienced a slow computer at their work place or at home.

When I experience a slow down in a computer, it can show on the air!

Case in point--
We had a breaking news story concerning multiple shootings in Maryland. We sent a reporter out and had plans to go live at the top of our 11pm broadcast.

Seconds before we hit air, the live shot experiences digital breakup. The live shot kept going to black and back to video and finally black.

The decision was made to float (move) the live shot down in the rundown. No problems so far. We still did the story and ran the video from the story and then teased that we would have a live report in a couple of minutes.

We floated (moved) the live shot to the middle of the first block. Our intent was to re-run the video that we used at the top of the show. However, the computer was slow in adding this. When it finally came in, our reporter was wrapping up her story in the field and it was time for us to go to the next event...which we did.

Unfortunately, when we played the next event, we saw a freeze frame of the video on air. That was due to us trying to re-insert the previous video in from our live shot that we didn't get a chance to roll.

Since we didn't roll that video it was still cued up in the gate to go. Things happened so fast, we just didn't have time to go past it.

It all goes down to the fact that our reaction time was fast, but the computer just couldn't keep up!

A Tale of Two Thanksgivings...

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope everyone had a wonderful time with family and friends. After all, it is a day to give thanks for those very things.

Our family started the holiday by serving Thanksgiving lunch to veterans of past wars. It was a rewarding experience to serve those veterans a Thanksgiving dinner after all the service they have done for us and our country.

We were there with our girls and their brownie troop. The smiles and enthusiasm of the little girls were so contagious to the veterans enjoying their lunch. It was easy to see that this Thanksgiving day was a special event for the girls and our veterans of wars from World War II and Korea!

On the other end of the spectrum, during my dinner break, our family met up with my cousins who live in Northwest DC.

As I got on the Tenleytown Metro stop, I saw a big line outside the Best Buy store. Curious, I had to ask why these people were lining up at 6:00pm Thursday evening when the store didn't open until 5am the next morning. People looked at me like I was crazy. They were there for the bargains. Not only that--they were there at 3pm to pick up tickets so they could have a spot in line.

So much for spending time with family and friends when you can spend your Thanksgiving night outside a subway stop in the wacky weather we had today. It went from sunny and 70 degrees to windy and rainy and now windy and cold. About the only thing those people in line will pick up is a nice cold!

A Little Thanksgiving Cheer...

Last post, I mentioned my friend Bruce Snyder and his wife, Charisse, having a new addition to their family.

I was just sent a video link that ran on Fox News in Charlotte, along with some raw video.

Navigate to: http://www.myfoxcharlotte.com/myfox/pages/Sports
...and meet Sage Snyder!

The Circle of Life...

It keeps turning and we keep moving on. Late in October, I wrote about a friend battling leukemia. Her name was Trish DiComo. Earlier this month, she passed away after a brave and valiant fight in battling the disease.

She actually beat the disease, but passed away from other complications related to her treatment.

She will be missed by all that knew her.

...and as that wheel of life keeps spinning around, a new life was born to one of my dearest friends, Bruce Snyder. Bruce and I went to college together, were in the same fraternity and worked at the same television station while in college. Now, he's the sports director at the Fox affliate in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bruce and his wife welcomed a little girl into their family this past weekend. All is well and diaper training is well underway!

More Later...

Better Late, Than Never...

Yes, it's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged. The past two weeks have been busy with so many things...so, it's time to play catch up.


First up...an idea for all your leftover Halloween candy...take a look at this:

This is but a sample of the leftover Halloween candy that was collected in our neighborhood. The kids were invited to donate candy to our soldiers serving in our military overseas. I think it's safe to say the kids were pretty generous!

If anyone wants to know the details on this program for next year feel free to e-mail me.

More later...