WHAT *REALLY* GOES ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT WUSA 9 NEWS NOW...

Wednesday morning, on the air around 5:45, you might have seen me shooting some video that I said I was planning on using in my blog. If that is what you are looking for, then you have come to the right place. YUP -- my EXCLUSIVE, behind-the-scenes video of the 9 News Now Morning Team is uploaded (NOTE TO SELF: 84 M's takes an ETERNITY to upload.)




I was told I had a little extra time yesterday morning and thought it might be fun to show you what being a meteorologist is like from my perspective at O:DARK-HUNDRED in the morning at WUSA 9 News Now. So, prior to one of my weather segments (seconds before, actually) I turned on my little camera-that-could and pointed it out to the set, keeping it on during the first part of my weather segment. Next, I marched my meteorological self down to the "Control Room" to hang in the central nervous system of the station during the show. That video can be located a little farther down...

The Cliff Notes:

• I do not read a teleprompter (script that scrolls down the screen from which the news anchors read.)



• Meteorologists adlib their segment. We basically just chit-chat about the weather and what we believe is going to happen next, with the aid of our computer graphics.
  


• We use "packages" as cover to walk over to the set from the weather office (as was the case this morning.) Actually, we were showing Senator McCain's appearance on the Late Show when I walked over to the news set from the weather office prior to my weather segment.



• The anchors (both of them!) don't "cheat" on their outfits. YES they are in suits the whole time (contrary to the belief that anchors and judges just wear shorts...)



• Andrea really does have great taste in shoes; it is a shame she only gets to show them off during "THE BUZZ" SEGMENT around 5:55am
  




• The morning meteorologist (let's not name names) does eat Extreme Chilli Heatwave Doritos for breakfast




• I DO stand in front of a big green wall when I "do" my weather (I just said "I do"!) (computer graphics take over from there...)



• We DO have an incredible staff of behind-the-scenes types who make us look good.



• Our green room is dated (sorry, but let's be up front in our blogs, shall we? 1987 has come and gone...time for some new decour a la
  Divine Design with Candice Olson !)



• (MAJOR OFF-ON-A-TANGENT ALERT) ...I love Chico the electrician! I love that Candice is 6'2" and he's about 5'6"!! I love how, in order to balance it out on the show, they always have Chico standing a few steps up on a ladder, working on a light fixture, while Candice is chatting with him!! So funny !! (Pictures courtesy of HGTV)




• I have a bit of a hike over to the chroma wall from the set and sometimes if you listen really carefully, you can hear my heels click click clicking away on my trek. Other times, you can hear me tripping off the set, as my heel sometimes catches the metal casing wrapping around our little platform.
  




• Not only is Chris-the-floor-director-slash-meteorologist a nice guy, he can further multi task and shoot video of me for this blog!