Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Nightside For A Day

The news does not stop for holidays.

Therefore, we can’t stop gathering it. That means some of us have to work. Today, I am working night side. It’s a shift I worked for four years until I was promoted to management and had to shift my schedule to dayside.

Working dayside has its advantages and disadvantages. So too does night side. Yet, there is something very special about night side. It is a tight knit group of individuals. As journalists, we spend more time with our co-workers than we do our families. It’s the nature of our business.

If I say that we are five and six tonight, everyone would look at me like I am crazy….everyone but my producer. If I say it’s time for the quiz, my producer will understand. It’s funny, whenever I fill in night side it’s just like the good ole’ days. The producer and I are a single operating unit. We work together to seek out fresh content that is relevant to your lives. We are constantly talking to each other about things that are developing. When you work so closely with someone, you end up knowing what each other is thinking and how the other will react to certain stories and you get used to that routine.

I guess I should explain what those two saying mean, eh?

While working the night desk I had a saying “time for the quiz.” This is what I always referred to when it was time for the 10pm newscasts.  What does it mean? How did I come up with it? Every station, no matter the market, monitors the competing stations. It’s not a secret. In school, I always remember getting the ten question quizzes each week leading up to the all important test. The test always carried a much heavier weight on your final grade. For an assignment editor, the quiz is the nightly check before the all important test (the 11pm news). Hence, the quiz.

The five and six saying is how I refer to the number of staff working on any given night. That number changes daily. The first number always refers to the number of reporters. The second number is the number of photographers. Some nights you may three and three while other nights two and two or four and four for that matter.

So tonight, I am back filling in night side and I can honestly say it’s always fun to work with my producer again, even if it is a holiday.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Please Be Safe This 4th Of July

Tomorrow, we celebrate America’s birthday. Across America, fireworks will be set off in celebration.

Where there’s fireworks there’s a potentially dangerous situation.

In just the past few weeks, one hospital has seen four patients come in with burns related to the fireworks. In the course of our phone calls, we discovered that a three year old South Carolina girl was in a local hospital with burns…the result of a firework falling over and launching into a crowd of people, catching the young girl’s dress on fire and burning over 40% of her body.

These stories always tug on our hearts in the newsroom. I think the single biggest reason is that, in many instances, horrible situations often reported on by the media could have been prevented. Now, rather than being able to enjoy a local fireworks display this one girl is in a the hospital still recovering from her injuries.

Are you doing some unique this 4th of July? Post them to the comments section.

Whatever you do this 4th of July, please be safe!

-Jason
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Monday, July 02, 2007

I Bought An I-Phone

Over the weekend, I talked about the circus of people who lined up at stores all over the country to buy one of the new Apple I-phones.

In the same blog entry, I told you that I had managed to purchase one Friday evening and promised I’d tell you about my adventure of purchasing it on Monday. Since today is monday and I am a man of my word, here goes.

I really had no intentions of buying an iphone. Personally, I already have two blackberries. ...one for work…one for personal. The last thing I need is another gizmo hanging off my belt, weighing me down.

My girlfriend has been wanting one ever since the slick advertisements started rolling out. When I told some of my co-workers that I was going to try to buy one for her after work on Friday, many laughed…believing that I was crazy to think I was going to wonder up to an AT&T store and just purchase one of these devices. Who got the last laugh? Me.

I left the newsroom at 6:30pm, friday evening. I proceeded to drive up to the AT&T store at the North Hills Mall. When I arrived, only about 20 people were in line. I stood in line for about 20 minutes without moving. The store manager comes out to tell us about a computer glitch with processing the actual purchase of some of the devices. He disappeared back into the store only to resurface outside a few minutes later at which time he pointed his finger at some mid-point in the line and told everyone that they are running low on the phones. He wouldn’t say how many phones were left. In fact, I came to figure out they are not allowed to say how many the store has recieved, how many were/are left, when they expect more or anything. Are you kidding me? Why is that a secrect? Anyways….

The store manager soon directed us to the store on Capital blvd, saying that store still had plenty of iphones in stock. I jumped in the truck and drove the 2.5 miles to find a relatively empty store. I walked right into the store and up to a sales person who promptly placed an 8gig I-phone into my hands. A swipe of the credit card and a quick signature as the sales person placed the iphone into a plastic bag that had a barcode on it (yes, a barcode on the plastic bag) and I was on my way home.

Did you purchase an iphone? If so, post your thoughts about it in the comments section.

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Sunday, July 01, 2007

The Wait For The I-Phone Is Over

After months of teasing you with advertisements, the highly sought after Apple iphone went on sale, Friday evening.

I must say, I was not shocked to hear that people were camping out at AT&T stores across the Triangle more than 12 hours before the device went on sale.

I don’t know what’s worse…the fact that people camped out to buy the device or the fact that media stations across America sent photographers, reporters and live trucks to local stores to get video of the people camped out. (Full Disclosure: NBC 17 News was one of the stations that was live with the lines of people eager to put their hands on an iphone).

Now, I will admit that I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this phone. That being said, I had no intention of standing outside a Triangle AT&T store (yes, I know cingular is the new AT&T) battling to get the device. Ironically, I did end up buying an 8gig iphone Friday evening. I’ll provide you full details of my adventure on Monday.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but begin to think about how much free advertising the iphone has recieved by media outlets throughout our country. I mean, every time someone reported on the hype, the anticipation of the release, the lines of people or the actual item going on sale…it is free advertising for Apple.

The big question is—what would you think if we (NBC 17) didn’t report on the Apple iphone at all? What if all the media stations banned together and none of us had reported on this device? Would their still be a rush for everyone to run out and spend $600 bucks to buy one?

Local iphone reaction here and here.

Did you go out and buy one? If so, I’d like to talk to you.
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Saturday, June 30, 2007

Did You Buy An Iphone?

Did you buy an iphone? If you did, I would like to talk to you.

I am looking to find some people who purchased an iphone and might be willing to blog about their experiences with the new device for our TV station’s website. If you think you might be up to the challenge, send an email titled “IPHONE” to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)