Third format breaker . . .
. . . in as many days. By the time the network goes back to the standard clock, that'll be a format breaker in itself.
Ba-dump-bum.
Yeah it was a really amazing story but sheeeiit all I care about is the clock, sometimes.
Jim got back today.
And Thursdays seem to be the most stressful days generally.
Jim throws me a *really* good story. It's literally, like, "thud", as the twenty-page, as-yet-unpublished article by a Pulitzer Prize-winner lands on my desk. The joke is that I love reading EISes, because somehow, it's true. This isn't quite an EIS, but it's about as courageous and complicated a story as I could ever hope to be asked to have anything to do with. It takes me hours to read, what with all the standard distractions.
On top of which there's another story involving mortages and stuff (I *hate* the economy. I *hate* it!) which I need to get a voice or two on. I do, and then, of course, I have to get the Congresswoman's voice on it as well, and just exactly like I know they will, they get back to me with a prepared statement which is completely irrelevant *precisely* one minute before deadline.
I'm going to start telling them not that my deadline's "five o'clock" but that it's *actually* "4:53". I know what'll happen if I do -- I'll get their responses at 4:52. instead of 4:59. I'm serious! As it is, I have to re-read the headline for the second hour (which is hour one) *amended* to point out the fact that yes, eventually, they *did* get back to us, before deadline, or they can say we misrepresented them. Unfortunately I think there are people in positions of power out there who don't take us totally seriously and *assume* we will misrepresent them. It ain't true. At least not on my watch.
I am therefore OFFICIALLY moving the "deadline" forward now for "All Things Considered". I am doing this by virtue of the authority fully vested in myself as the only total freakshow the powers that be will allow to run the board during afternoon drivetime for reasons I can not begin to fathom. The deadline for afternoon first hour (which is hour two) stories is now 4:53.
Trick is the long, involved, complicated "money in politics" type story that we hope to help to *break* is running *waaay* behind. I'm literally editing it at 4:55. Jim runs interference despite having his own things to edit before going to air. He arranges with the Freeform Host (Travis Parkin, who brought in an amazing group -- Asylum Street Spankers -- for a live broadcast from Studio A this afternoon). He calls the guy who's got the "breaking" story embargoed while he or someone he works with works on "rolling it out" on their website first. (It's called "protecting sources", I believe -- not in a "Deep Throat" kind of way but just as in "not stealing stories from other Journalists who've done the preliminary groundwork to your *helping* to break it".)
The stress is incredible.
I love it.
The only monkeywrench is that for whatever reason DN is running on CMP on LS-1 instead of on CD for reasons I don't know anything about when I take over CR. It *definitely* throws me. I have to line shit up and air it almost off the bat from CMP almost as soon as I start my broadcast. And the carts are in place but not cued up the way *I* cue them up. So DN ends and there are seconds of silence. Finally I go ON AIR to announce the frequencies and PAD, BABY PAD while I get the carts cued up, but only in time to throw off the whole log for the rest of my broadcast, more or less, but way worse in the first quarter of it.
Since I'm crunching on a big important story that winds up not airing anyway Jim helps me out by writing out some billboards for me. Only -- apparently -- we process text differently in our heads. I get a big old wall of text. I read it. The whole thing. Aparently he skims it as he goes and just hits the main points. I read whatever's put in front of me. Different approaches. Different tricks. Finally I run out of time and just cut to network for headlines.
The big story airs tomorrow morning.
Jeezus. If only people could know what we go through sometimes.
Not that I'd trade it for the world.
I wouldn't.
Ba-dump-bum.
Yeah it was a really amazing story but sheeeiit all I care about is the clock, sometimes.
Jim got back today.
And Thursdays seem to be the most stressful days generally.
Jim throws me a *really* good story. It's literally, like, "thud", as the twenty-page, as-yet-unpublished article by a Pulitzer Prize-winner lands on my desk. The joke is that I love reading EISes, because somehow, it's true. This isn't quite an EIS, but it's about as courageous and complicated a story as I could ever hope to be asked to have anything to do with. It takes me hours to read, what with all the standard distractions.
On top of which there's another story involving mortages and stuff (I *hate* the economy. I *hate* it!) which I need to get a voice or two on. I do, and then, of course, I have to get the Congresswoman's voice on it as well, and just exactly like I know they will, they get back to me with a prepared statement which is completely irrelevant *precisely* one minute before deadline.
I'm going to start telling them not that my deadline's "five o'clock" but that it's *actually* "4:53". I know what'll happen if I do -- I'll get their responses at 4:52. instead of 4:59. I'm serious! As it is, I have to re-read the headline for the second hour (which is hour one) *amended* to point out the fact that yes, eventually, they *did* get back to us, before deadline, or they can say we misrepresented them. Unfortunately I think there are people in positions of power out there who don't take us totally seriously and *assume* we will misrepresent them. It ain't true. At least not on my watch.
I am therefore OFFICIALLY moving the "deadline" forward now for "All Things Considered". I am doing this by virtue of the authority fully vested in myself as the only total freakshow the powers that be will allow to run the board during afternoon drivetime for reasons I can not begin to fathom. The deadline for afternoon first hour (which is hour two) stories is now 4:53.
Trick is the long, involved, complicated "money in politics" type story that we hope to help to *break* is running *waaay* behind. I'm literally editing it at 4:55. Jim runs interference despite having his own things to edit before going to air. He arranges with the Freeform Host (Travis Parkin, who brought in an amazing group -- Asylum Street Spankers -- for a live broadcast from Studio A this afternoon). He calls the guy who's got the "breaking" story embargoed while he or someone he works with works on "rolling it out" on their website first. (It's called "protecting sources", I believe -- not in a "Deep Throat" kind of way but just as in "not stealing stories from other Journalists who've done the preliminary groundwork to your *helping* to break it".)
The stress is incredible.
I love it.
The only monkeywrench is that for whatever reason DN is running on CMP on LS-1 instead of on CD for reasons I don't know anything about when I take over CR. It *definitely* throws me. I have to line shit up and air it almost off the bat from CMP almost as soon as I start my broadcast. And the carts are in place but not cued up the way *I* cue them up. So DN ends and there are seconds of silence. Finally I go ON AIR to announce the frequencies and PAD, BABY PAD while I get the carts cued up, but only in time to throw off the whole log for the rest of my broadcast, more or less, but way worse in the first quarter of it.
Since I'm crunching on a big important story that winds up not airing anyway Jim helps me out by writing out some billboards for me. Only -- apparently -- we process text differently in our heads. I get a big old wall of text. I read it. The whole thing. Aparently he skims it as he goes and just hits the main points. I read whatever's put in front of me. Different approaches. Different tricks. Finally I run out of time and just cut to network for headlines.
The big story airs tomorrow morning.
Jeezus. If only people could know what we go through sometimes.
Not that I'd trade it for the world.
I wouldn't.
posted by xeltifon at 8:57 PM
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