Saturday, June 20, 2009

Twitter annoyance

I understand how useful it is. It really is - especially for going out to cover stuff and being able to let the station and our web site viewers or other Twitter users know what we're covering. I like that. But I dunno if it's just me, or what, but rarely do people talk to me on it. I try to "tweet" people or start conversations but no one responds. What's the point of doing it if no one really gives a crap about what I have to say? Maybe I'm just overthinking it, or my cranky mood is showing, but jeez...haha

Jumping into Fayette pool

Sorry, I'm posting this late, but life kinda caught up to me. I had a fun shift on Wednesday covering the Fayette city pool. It's an extremely old, above-ground pool built in 1936 in serious need of renovations. I came in with a few other ideas, none of which were particularly interesting to me (1. Marshall school district's search for new elementary school site, and 2. heavy rain's impact on local wineries). Jen liked the pool idea since it was going to be unmercifully hot, and I agreed. It sounded like a fun/interesting story we hadn't covered before. So, I made a few calls to Fayette City Hall and, as is the case when doing stories outside of Columbia/Jefferson City, the people were much more helpful and willing to talk on-camera.

(Tangent warning): Wednesday was an absurdly busy day for reporters - it seemed packed with B2 people, VO patrollers, and such, so all of the KOMU Scions were taken by the time I was ready to leave. I got the idea to wrangle up the KOMU Ford Escape, and I managed to get the keys to it from Stacey, so I was excited to finally take it out for a spin. It's like the forbidden fruit of KOMU cars - everyone seems to want to take it for a story, but it's kept in the bullpen for use ONLY when necessary. Wednesday was my day, thankfully.

My thoughts on its driving performance: I liked sitting higher up than in the Scions. Definitely a little easier to see everything ahead and in general it had less blind spots than the stupid XBs. I think the fact it's a Ford helps our street cred when I drive into little towns I'm prone to cover stories in - honestly, I think people look at the Scions and say "What the hell is that?" They're way too edgy, "cool", and attention-seeking for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have station vehicles we can use, but if I had a choice I'd take the Escape. It felt a little more masculine and macho than the Scion.



Anyway, back to its performance. It reminded me a lot of my old Ford Focus...it had a very heavy gas pedal and a similar 4-cylinder engine. It was somewhat underpowered because anytime I wanted to pass or accelerate on i-70 it would downshift and strain to speed up. I'm not sure about its gas mileage but fueleconomy.gov says it's worse than the Scions, which is disappointing. Makes sense though because it was made in 2006, just before Ford started getting its act together about gas mileage. I liked the back window that opens up, so I don't have to swing open the entire back door to get gear out. Otherwise, it was a fun experience to take a different car, hopefully I can do it again sometime.

Anyway, back to the reporting shift. I arrived in Fayette and stopped at the pool first. I got lucky and found Jake Hendrix, the maintenance guy I spoke with on-camera, and he let me into the facility. I shot some video of the inside, where things would need work, and on the upper level, where the actual pool is. Then, I went to Fayette City hall to talk with the City Administrator. She was helpful and I managed to get some good soundbites. After that, I went back to the pool, since I was told lifeguards would be there. I spoke with the main lifeguard there, and shot a little more video around the pool. Then, I tried to shoot a standup showing the plaque dedicating the pool to WW1 veterans. I did it and I was happy with it, but it had to be 100 degrees inside the little room with the plaque. I was sweating buckets and even with my best attempts to wipe it off with a lone towel I found on the floor, I still looked funny. After I snagged some lunch at "240 Culinary" in Fayette (very good - I highly recommend it!) I headed back to Columbia.

I had a vo/sot for the 5, a package for the 6, and a vo/sot for the 10. I experienced no problems whatsoever once I got back to the station. I even stuck around for a little while after I was finished to experience some of the severe weather craziness at the station - always a good time to hear angry callers upset about not being able to watch "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!" It also felt safer to be at the station, surrounded by weather info, than in my apartment, on the top floor of its building. This was also the night the woman died in Finger Lakes Park from being struck by lightning, so the skies were pretty insane-looking.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Taking the Task Force to Task

Yesterday I covered the first meeting of the Missouri Auto Jobs Task force in Jefferson City. I came into the station with a few weak ideas, my main one about the potential closing of "Lover's Leap" at the Lake of the Ozarks. But, since the weather was so bizarre yesterday, Stacey and I agreed it would be tough to do that story without being able to see the view that makes this "Lover's Leap" so popular. With all the other reporters out on flood/accident/fire coverage stemming from the weather, I took that assignment. It sounded interesting anyway - I'm a car geek and I figured it would be intriguing to hear what the Task Force was up to. I got to the meeting, held in the Governor Office Building (not his house, or the Capitol - this building is on Madison St.) a few minutes after it began. It was a much smaller meeting than I expected. There were about 8 or 9 government/industry/representative people in the room with one other reporter. I didn't use the lav mic at all and just relied on the boom mic. It picked up audio fairly well even with no speakers and a somewhat loud ventilation system, and I used several bites from the meeting where I just happened to be filming when people said interesting things. For instance, the Ford Motor Company representative spoke about centralized manufacturing plants, and I happened to be recording when he mentioned that. Same for the GM rep - right when I hit record, he was talking about how the company plans to start making a small, fuel-efficient car in the U.S. in Wisconsin, Michigan, or Tennessee. Otherwise, it was pretty standard BOPSA video, but I knew that would be something to work around.

I hit the road over to Mike Kehoe's Ford dealership in Jefferson City since much of the meeting dealt with Ford's interaction with state and local governments. I figured it would be good to get someone from the dealership to talk to, and get some of their cars on camera. I shot some video of the cars currently made in Ford's Kansas City plant, and then some video of the ones made outside of Missouri - i.e. the small, fuel efficient cars that could be made in MO if "plant retooling" occurs with help from the state. I shot a standup in front of those - the Focuses and Fusions - and later spoke with Mike Kehoe himself on camera about the Task Force ideas. He was surprisingly friendly to me and understandably so since he is a relatively public figure in Jefferson City and in transportation politics of Missouri. I figured I had enough to make a good package - for me, this topic was really interesting, so even if it wasn't humanized as much as it could have been (i.e. by finding a Mid-Mo parts supplier who might be affected by some of the Task Force's ideas) I was still happy with what I had. It felt much more NEWS and TODAY than some of the stories I've done, so I didn't mind the lack of humanization in the story. Throw in the economic impact, and I think it sort of makes up for the abundance of talking heads in the story.

I enjoyed a pretty easy Monday, preparing just a package for the 6 and a vo/sot/vo for the 10. Both aired in the A blocks.
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Interesting sidenote to my experience at the Kehoe dealership... When I first got there, it was raining very heavily. So, I did my best to finagle a plastic bag and umbrella out of the showroom so I could shoot some video outside without destroying the camera. As I was walking around, an old Pontiac coupe drove into the parking lot with some guy in the passenger seat and a woman driving. The man waved at me as they went past, and me being the "polite TV man" I waved back. I saw the man get out of the car and it was obvious he had some disability as he was using a walker to get around, yet didn't appear too old.



By this time, the rain was torrential and I stood underneath the back door of the KOMU Scion to stay under cover. The woman who drove him walked him up to the door into the dealership holding an umbrella over his head while she got soaked. I was very confused. The rain subsided a bit and I went inside. I overheard conversation between a saleswoman and the man, apparently he wanted to test drive a Lincoln Town Car. I didn't think much of it and kept doing my thing - shooting video and being a good reporter. I went back outside as the weather cleared up suddenly, and shot a standup. I saw the man get into the Town Car with his woman, and I saw them drive off, again, didn't think much of it.

I shot my standup, and when I went back inside the dealership, I heard one of the managers answer his phone inside his office, listen for a moment, shout a few commands and say "I'LL BE RIGHT OVER", and hang up. He came out of his office, visibly angry, looking for the saleswoman who let the semi-disabled man man test drive a $46,000+ car. He said quite loudly, "That man you let out in the Lincoln? Just got broadsided by the Papa Johns!" The rest of what they said was inconsequential, but I was just surprised that stuff like that actually happens - someone going out for a test drive in an expensive luxury vehicle and getting into an accident. I don't mean to be politically incorrect, but the way the man behaved walking into the dealership (by that I mean his body language, conversation, physical appearance, etc) he did NOT seem fit to drive. On the other hand, he had a valid drivers' license and insurance, so he was perfectly within his rights to take the car out for a drive. I guess it goes as one salesman said to me yesterday after the incident, "It's tough, but we gotta let em drive." And I'd imagine dealerships have a ton of insurance for this very purpose. Plus, I believe your insurance is liable if the accident is your fault when using a car like that.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Cole Camp-ing: June 10

On Wednesday, I covered Cole Camp's reaction to the triple homicide inside the home of the Luetjen family. I came into KOMU with 3 completely unrelated story ideas - I pitched the missing alligator story, the new Fulton vandalism, and a follow-up to the story I did in Glasgow over spring break. We were leaning towards the alligator story but no one offered to take the Cole Camp story, and understandably so. I figured I'd take it but I had no idea how to cover the story. Chance Seales did a good job covering it the night before when it was publicized, and he passed along several emails with shocking (yet unconfirmed by officials) details about the crime. I felt this made my job tougher - to have to get through the grisly details to get a story. By the time we (I had another shadow with me) arrived at the crime scene, we had a pretty good idea of how we wanted to cover the story - more on local reaction. There was very little new information available besides law enforcement officials calling it a triple homicide, so we had to take the humanized route and talk to a lot of Cole Camp residents.

So, when we got to the house, police tape surrounded it while a "mobile investigations unit" was set up outside the home. Several sheriff's department vehicles and Cole Camp Police cars were outside too. As we approached, an officer came up to us to get our names and who we were with. I guess they were keeping tabs on everyone who came - I don't know if that's standard procedure or not, but I found that interesting. He told us we could not go beyond the police tape, and understandably so. The house's location and surroundings were really good for video. It had some flowers out front with an American flag on it, with a church and playground across the street - providing an interesting visual paradox with the crime scene yellow tape. The officer on the scene would not comment on anything (as all other officials would do during our shift) so we really had no official source. We shot some video and left, and as we drove down the street we saw an old lady walking out to get her mail. We stopped and began talking to her - she was happy to talk to us on-camera, and she gave us some good bites. We then went to get some gas for the car, and while I gassed up I spoke with the station's owner. He said Donnie Luetjen would come into the gas station nearly every day to get gas. Next door, at the Dairy Hut, we found several interesting characters who all knew the family. One man we found was good friends with Donnie Luetjen. All the people we spoke with had their suspicions on the details of the crime - i.e. the perpetrator, but naturally we didn't want to "go there" on-camera and such. I shot a standup in the downtown area to try and show the quaint nature of Cole Camp. Otherwise there wasn't much to it. I didn't have much to show. Then we hit the road back.

We did an A-block vo/sot/vo for the 5, then an on-set A-block package for the 6. Then, a vo/sot/vo for the 10 with an update saying there would be a news conference at 10am Thursday for officials to give more details. I had a lot of help from my shadow, KOMU alum Holly (not Edgell...not sure what her last name is) whose experience at KFVS in Cape Girardeau was really helpful for my writing. She was also helped me out a lot with synthesizing the information and making our trip into a good package. Overall, while it was a sad/disturbing story, I thought I did a pretty good job. I also did a much better job of time management, making sure I was back to the station by about 1:50pm, so I wasn't pressed for time. I thought my on-set went very well - no complaints about it, and the mic worked this time, so it felt like a rousing success. But, apparently I have no idea how to put on makeup. I need help with that. I'd love to get one of those professional makeup stylists to do my makeup before a show to save me the trouble...oh well...Not something I take too seriously, I guess, haha.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Tuberculosis comes through in the clutch

So yesterday, Monday, I pitched the story of a kid in Camdenton who won a car as a reward for his excellent attendance at Lake Career Technical Center. We decided to go with this story, so I called the LCTC and spoke with a woman who said she would pass along my info to the supervisor of the place, who apparently would be available mid-morning. She also said she would give my information to the instructor at LCTC who refurbished the spiffy 2007 Pontiac G6 as part of a mechanic training class. So, I left KOMU for the hour and 40 minute drive with the understanding I would be getting a phone call. I did not receive one, and when I pulled into the LCTC I called the number again. The same woman answered and told me very matter-of-factly that the supervisor would be "unavailable", the mechanic instructor at home, and no one else in the building because of summer hours. Needless to say, I was not pleased. With no chance to contact the kid who won the car, and the unhelpful secretary denying any opportunity to speak with an official, I was pretty much SOL. I knew the "escaped" alligator in Versailles was a possibility as a backup story, but the producers didn't want to do it, so I headed back to Columbia.

I spoke with Stacey while driving back and he said he found an AP release on the "economic stress index", a measure of economic output in every county in the U.S. When I got back to the station I began to prowl around iNews for a link to the graphic/interactive map, but I couldn't find it. So, I spent about 45 minutes calling several AP numbers to figure it out, and finally a customer service rep emailed me the link - but by that point, we received a fax in the newsroom about a press conference at University Hospital with very vague wording - to the point that Randy thought something serious was going on, and to an extent, he was right. With a feeling it could be Swine Flu/H1N1, we (I had a shadow with me all day) immediately went up to the Hospital. We hung out in the conference room for a little while (as once again KMIZ showed up last) and every MU J-School affiliate was well represented. KBIA, KOMU, and the Missourian all were there about a half hour before the presser began! It began and we were given folders with the official writeup of what had happened - a hospital worker contracted "active" tuberculosis and had apparently been in contact with patients and other employees while carrying the disease. I immediately Tweeted the news to KOMU and sent a similar text to Meredith Miller - the only producer I had in my phone. She sent me back a few questions she wanted to know as a producer, which was excellent. I liked being on the same page at the same time we were in the presser. The other journalists in the room were on the same page, as they asked very similar questions to what Meredith wanted to know. There was basically no video at all to get besides the geezers talking in the press conference, so we booked it back to KOMU as the presser ended.

Once we got back, it was really easy to write a reader/gfx for the 5, a vo/sot/gfx for the 6, and a vo/sot for the 10. I had a lot of help from the producers, so it went well. Overall it was a crazy shift but it ended up going well, and I'm happy I had a lot of help to make it work. All 3 aired in the A blocks.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

"you're not saving anybody's life"

In our B3 meeting/lecture/roundtable yesterday (I call it that because it's technically a lecture, but it's so informal that it feels more like a meeting/roundtable) we discussed and viewed good/bad/ugly live shots. I may be on my own in this, but I think "going live for the sake of going live" is a good thing. Having reported in live shots, and set up live shots as the truck operator, I think it provides an important link in a newscast. Yeah, it might be completely worthless standing in the dark as a "floating head", but to me, that means you need to be more creative. Show me something worth flipping to from the studio - even if it's a sign or some sort of "scenic" backdrop (i.e. field, stadium, building, traffic). It can sometimes appear cheesy, but I like the aspect of "Hey, we ARE out in the community paying attention to things that are going on." As a reporter, I enjoy them because it gives me a lot of face time and a chance to show either my personality, or show something related to the story in more detail than I would be able to in the studio. Does the fact I enjoy it for face time detract from the journalistic quality? Perhaps.

I can see the argument both ways. With our training, I feel we're pretty apt to not let our personalities overshadow a story. The challenge comes for inexperienced live reporters who get nervous and stick strictly to a script, or get nervous from "YOU'RE ON LIVE TV. GO!!!" For me, that nervousness doesn't happen. Yes, the adrenalin kicks in, but I love that.

I attribute the fun of it to a line I heard several years ago (circa 2005) from Mike Quick, the high school sports producer, reporter, and anchor from MSG Network in New York. He taught the "advanced" section of the "Bruce Beck and Ian Eagle Sports Broadcasting Camp" in NJ. To this day, there are VERY few people who scare the living bejeezus out of me, and he is one of them. He's probably 6'5", 250 pounds, and as intense as Tom Coughlin. Anyway, we were doing on-camera exercises as a group. One person messed up, and Quick had him do it again. His advice? He spoke slowly, staring each one of us in the eye: "Calm down. It's just TV. You're not saving anybody's life here. You're not a surgeon, a doctor, a soldier, or a cop. It's JUST TV."

And that's how I look at it. Live shots help me, as a reporter, keep perspective on our jobs.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

A jarring crime

Someone in the Sedalia area thought it would be cool to steal a donation jar from a convenience store, the Cork'N Bottle. The jar was meant for the family of Diana Bryce, an employee of the Cork'N Bottle who passed away suddenly a few days before. Security camera video showed the man enter the store, ask the clerk for minnows (live bait), and as the clerk had her back turned, he grabs the jar and runs out the door. I heard about this on the Sedalia Democrat's website after noticing it was one of the most-viewed/emailed/commented articles on its site. I figured it'd be a good story since no one in Columbia had covered it, and it would be a definite gawker/"Oh my God, how terrible" story. Of course, I considered finding the family of the woman, but I felt that might be too sensationalistic or intrusive for a sensitive time. But, we were able to make the story work with an interview with a woman from the Cork'N Bottle and a Sedalia Police Detective. When I met the detective, she told me she'd be able to give me a copy of the security camera video, which was fantastic for the story because it showed how dastardly and despicable the man could be - his body language when stealing the jar demonstrated he clearly wanted it and had every intention of spending the money from the jar. It also seemed like he knew he was doing something wrong by running out of the store. In retrospect, I'm shocked at how dumb this guy was too - the security cameras are quite visible within the store, and he's a moron for stealing it in plain sight of the cameras. I think it was fair on our part to call it a "cowardly" crime - unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances, everyone agrees that it's not right to steal a donation jar. This was a really easy story to write, and with a long ride back from Sedalia I had plenty of time to think of what I wanted to use.

I had no idea when I got back to the station that I was supposed to do an on-set. It didn't go well because my mic was not cued in the booth. It cut into time I would have liked to use to write/cut/voice my package. But altogether I was happy with my shift. The 5 and 6 story aired in the A block, while the 10 vo/sot aired in the B block.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Wi-fi jobs

On Monday, I reported on the Wi-Fi Sensors Inc. company's announcement that it will buy a plant in Kirksville to begin manufacturing, you guessed it, wi-fi sensors. It's big news for an area that has been hit hard lately by unemployment. While Adair County's unemployment rate is lower than Missouri's average, it has shot up in recent months, so the prospect of about 100 new jobs meant a busy day at the Missouri Career Center in Kirksville. I pitched the idea and Stacey liked it - and I had no problem making the drive to Kirksville. Even if it's not quite within our viewing area, it's still news for people in Moberly, Macon, or other towns within commuting distance to Kirksville.

I must have made about 25 phone calls while on the way to Kirksville. I was surprised to lose cell phone service several times on 63 between Columbia and the Sturgeon exit - to the point I lost a call - but I was able to gather a lot of information about the best place to go for the story. While at the station, one source I spoke with mentioned the company selling the building, Hollister, was very weird about media coverage. He said the plant manager skipped town once it was announced Wi-Fi Sensors would buy the building, and they've been "unavailable" for comment all weekend. So my plan was to go to the Missouri Career Center and see if people were applying for the jobs to try and humanize the story that way. Since the Hollister building is on 63 right as you come into Kirksville, I got a wide shot and some sign shots from the outer edge of its property. We (I had a shadow with me) drove into their parking lot and I went inside to try and find someone to talk to, but no one from either Wi-Fi or Hollister answered my calls.

So, we hit the road to the Career Center on Normal St. When we arrived, I was shocked to see how many people were inside waiting to fill out applications. But, Wi-Fi had not given the Career Center applications, so all it could do is have interested people leave their names and contact information, and they'd be contacted once the applications came in. So we walked in and pretty much found a CCC immediately - a guy who was looking for a new job and who claimed to be very passionate about electronics. He mentioned that he had taken apart an iPod, a TV, computers, and several other things, so I pretty much knew he'd make for a great CCC and humanizer. I also interviewed several other people - the supervisor of the Career Center, who talked about how busy the day was, and 2 older women who wanted to apply. The 2 women didn't say anything very poignant or interesting - I'm guessing they were nervous about the camera because they gave very short answers even though I really tried to ask easy, open-ended questions. Eventually we left the Career Center and headed back towards Columbia. I shot a standup on the sidewalk across from the Hollister building because I didn't want to be on their property without permission. I didn't want to get in trouble for trespassing when it was obvious the company, for whatever reason, didn't want attention or coverage. And since I had already gotten a few shots from its property, I didn't want to risk any more.

After that, we headed back to Columbia. Everything was pretty routine once back at the station. I was the "new at 6" and just had to do a package for it, and a vo/sot for the 10. I was very happy with how the shift went. For a story that was somewhat odd in that I had no one from the companies involved on camera, I was able to humanize it enough to make it a lot more interesting than it would have been if I had some talking head from Wi-Fi or Hollister. Both aired in the A block.