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Working is HARD for NPR Anchor--Montange to Depart Morning Edition

umfan said:
http://wowway.net/news/read/categor...ee_montagne_leaving_morning_edition_anchor-ap

'In an article posted on its website, she calls the schedule "unsustainable."'

I guess working the same hours as an anchor on a commercial station is too much for Ms. Montagne. The show will neither suffer nor improve by the change.
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She was on air at 2:00AM local time. I can see why she didn't want to do it. Working at night is not natural and can cause physical and mental problems.
 
The show survived the loss of its original host Bob Edwards 12 years ago. It will continue with whoever they choose to replace her. But it seems like a bad idea to originate a national morning show from the west coast time zone.
 
TheBigA said:
The show survived the loss of its original host Bob Edwards 12 years ago. It will continue with whoever they choose to replace her. But it seems like a bad idea to originate a national morning show from the west coast time zone.
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They do WHAT?!! Guess I've been disconnected from the NPR scene for a while. Preparing for a 5 AM start is bad enough.
 
Renee is going to be 69 later this year. I don't think many people her age want to be working full-time, much less third shifts.
 
justgladtobehere said:
To justify the Culver City outpost? I cannot see a benefit to have someone broadcasting at 2:00AM PST.
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We discussed Renee Montagne's work hours in this thread two years ago:

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?681482-New-Clocks-for-Morning-Edition

There is a link in one of my replies to a NY Times article about Renee's schedule. She wakes up at 10PM, is at the bureau by midnight, to be on air at 2AM Pacific. It's a crazy schedule.

I don't believe that her being based at NPR West is another one of NPR's attempts to justify the Culver City bureau. In the 12 years she's being co-hosting ME, I've never heard the hosts open or close ME with "From Washington I'm Steve Inskeep ... and from NPR West in Culver City California I'm Renee Montagne." This is different than other shows (like the late, great, Day to Day) where they actively identified their location. Indeed, I believe they go out of their way to make it sound like Renee and Steve/David Greene are sitting in the same studio. Again, as I noted in that other thread two years ago, I don't think it works. They don't have good chemistry on air with each other, and that is because they're not sitting in the same room.

Finally, in that two-years ago thread I asked "how long until Renee says enough to this work schedule and slips into semi-retirement as a Special Correspondent?" Now we know the answer; two years.
 
KMan said:
We discussed Renee Montagne's work hours in this thread two years ago:

http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?681482-New-Clocks-for-Morning-Edition

There is a link in one of my replies to a NY Times article about Renee's schedule. She wakes up at 10PM, is at the bureau by midnight, to be on air at 2AM Pacific. It's a crazy schedule.

I don't believe that her being based at NPR West is another one of NPR's attempts to justify the Culver City bureau. In the 12 years she's being co-hosting ME, I've never heard the hosts open or close ME with "From Washington I'm Steve Inskeep ... and from NPR West in Culver City California I'm Renee Montagne." This is different than other shows (like the late, great, Day to Day) where they actively identified their location. Indeed, I believe they go out of their way to make it sound like Renee and Steve/David Greene are sitting in the same studio. Again, as I noted in that other thread two years ago, I don't think it works. They don't have good chemistry on air with each other, and that is because they're not sitting in the same room.

Finally, in that two-years ago thread I asked "how long until Renee says enough to this work schedule and slips into semi-retirement as a Special Correspondent?" Now we know the answer; two years.
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Pretty sure that they are now saying where they are broadcasting from. I checked the website and the guy is mentioning he is broadcasting in Philadelphia, but the first part of ME is being cut off on the website archives.
 
justgladtobehere said:
Pretty sure that they are now saying where they are broadcasting from. I checked the website and the guy is mentioning he is broadcasting in Philadelphia, but the first part of ME is being cut off on the website archives.
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Are they doing that for all broadcasts or just the ones with a host/anchor on-site, for instance in Philadelphia for the DNC this week? I haven't heard it, though I don't listen to ME that much these days (not commuting by car as I used to).
 
People who've never worked the overnight shift for a long time -- like Renee has -- have no idea what it does to you. And it's especially hard for you if you're three hours behind the people you work for over on the other coast. I've done that and even in the same time zone I can testify that you have no life. None. You are 8 hours out of phase with everybody you know on the day shift.

Renee goes to bed no later than 6 or 7pm so she can get up around midnight, get dressed and go to the studio to spend an hour or more prepping to go on the air live with the DC anchor at 2AM HER time, which is 5AM DC time. Doing that for more than ten years takes a lot out of you. Renee has done a phenomenal job on that schedule and personally I don't know how she has lasted that long.
I did that same shift in Houston for 13 years and I finally got so tired and worn out I retired.

Yes Bob Edwards did it for longer than that, but as the local ME host on the Houston NPR affiliate I remember how old, tired and bored he sounded in the last five or ten years of that gig. It's one reason he finally got replaced. The other reason was his obdurate refusal to work with an on-air partner and make ME a livelier and more nimble two-person show. That's why NPR replaced him with Renee and Inskeep.

And by the way, they've never made any secret of the fact that ME is coming from both coasts. They just don't think they have to remind us of it all the time. I can also testify that off the air Renee a very nice, thoughtful and unpretentious person and I know she will do a great job when she goes back to what she did before Morning Edition.
 
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