I Want a Chopper...

Okay...

So a month into my new job... Literally. I didn't realize it until about an hour ago when I was getting in touch with a friend of mine who helped me during the hiring process. But I actually have worked at my new station for a month on the dot today. How cool.

So we had a breaking news story today.. in common parlance.. a breaker. And today was a little breaker by all real standards.. Still it was big enough to get that phone call from the assignment desk telling me that one of my reporters was going bye-bye for the last hour of my show. Here's how it works..

I'm in the control room.. really the beating heart of any newscast once it's on the air. For me, that means I'm in the chair, calling the creative aspects and story decisions of the show from 5-7AM each day. It's great. When it comes to producing I like most aspects.. But I really love being in the chair when things are happening. More on that at a later date. But by virtue of the fact that I'm in the control room during that time, I'm disconnected from the newsroom where all of our news gathering operation really functions. Our assignment desk with all of the police/emergency scanners.. etc. That means if something happens, it has to be relayed in to me. Things are a little different here. At my old shop.. if something was breaking and I was in the control room I'd get a call.. and a question about what to do. Now.. not so much. I just get the call telling me this is what is happening.. and here's how we're reacting to it. On one hand, its nice, I have enough going on that extra decision making/planning would probably be a little overwhelming.. still.. it's disconcerting when someone on the other end of the line changes your show for you. Oh well. Just another thing to get used to.. and I appreciate the reason why we do it.

So back to today. A month into the new gig. At first I was pretty overwhelmed with everything going on. Between new technology.. new talent(the anchors/reporters).. a new location.. and different expectations it was a lot to deal with. I won't say that I'm fully adapted. It will continue to be a learning experience. That all said. I want a chopper. Today's breaker wasn't a major issue. Police were shot at by a mysterious.. if not altogether sane gunman. Roads were closed. SWAT got called out. But nobody died that I know of and that's a good thing.One of my reporter/photographer teams got pulled to head to the breaking news. So.. All we could do was say we had a crew on the way.. and show a map. Meanwhile the competition was showing pretty pictures of police cruisers and blocked streets from their hovering camera platform in the sky. Could I handle the day-in-day-out management of such an aerial accomplice? Maybe not yet.. But today was the first day that showed me why it would be so valuable. Plus.. what tv viewer(myself included) doesn't like looking at images from the sky and thinking about the fancy technology that makes them possible. So like I said, I want a chopper.