Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Holidays and News Schedules

We all accept certain things about the jobs we choose. If you choose news know you will work holidays. It is the nature of the beast. I knew before I started working in news that was how it worked. Not just here but every television station. But it isn’t just holidays…

Schedules are a funny thing in news. Like on my schedule it simply says evening on the days I work. I know when I have certain meetings and what I need to have ready to go for those meetings so I come in time to prepare myself. How long that might take changes day to day. It also doesn’t tell me what time the end of my day is. I have a basic idea of when my day starts and ends but specifics would only get in the way. My day is over when I have gotten all the information I can on all the stories I am working at any given time. Some days I could work 8 hours on a big news day 10 to 12 is nothing out of the ordinary though.

I cannot tell you how many times my husband has gotten a phone call toward what I thought would be the end of my day that sounded like this, “Hello, breaking news…check the website…pick up the kids…gotta run…call you later…“click. 

Some people would hate it for me I love it. One of the reasons I work in news is I never have the same day twice. Everyday I learn something new and meet a new person or find great story that is different from the day before. I had a college proffessor ask me constantly if I had “fire in the belly.“ It wasn’t until I started working I truely understood what he meant and it wasn’t until I had children it would be tested. I love working in news and that what keeps us all going. We have a “fire in the belly” and without it none of this would be possible.

Erin Worrell