That's pretty optimistic. Where is the traffic reporter located? And with what resources? And does the typical overnight traffic reporter have the background and training to covering big breaking news, even for a few minutes. If they sound uncertain, confused or uniformed, I'm gone.
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KNX Talk at Night?
- Thread starter david
- Start date
By the same token we've all seen video of professionals at the news desk when a quake hits, and those supposedly experienced news people are screaming and running for the doors. When the lights start falling from the ceiling, the staff will run no matter who they are or what their job description is.
Going back to both the Landers quake and the Northridge one, staff at the stations in LA and Santa Ana where I was PD and OM reacted differently. The initial reactions were surprise and not being sure how to react on the air. In the Northridge event, the power went out so until the generator came on, there was nothing to do in total darkness.
Onice the genny came on, the quakes were nearly over and the staffers tried to read prepared messages we had about what to do. Landers was on a Sunday morning and Northridge was around 5 AM, so support staff was not there.
my other experience was with the big Mexico quake, where a friend was on the air at XEDF. He talked about it for the first few seconds, and the the power went out and the building collapsed, killing everyone. But initially, my friend tried to talk about the shaking.
We've all seen the video of anchors diving under the desk at the first rumble. But if the situation is dangerous, no one has the expectation that anyone should "take one for the team." I was referring to a situation where there is significant shaking, but things are not crashing down on you. I know of many situations where courageous anchors were on the air while others were still confirming that the building was safe to stay in. While we had off site backup studios, we always saw evacuation as a last resort. Sometimes circumstances are against you. KNX was unable to respond during the first few minutes of the Northridge earthquake when speakers, lights, cart racks fell on the control board. It took some to clear the debris, turn off a beeping CBS network channel and get an anchor going on the air. Just up the street at KFWB, the shaking was different and the team there was able to get a head start on the coverage and give the first live reports of the damage.
At KHJ we only lost about 25 seconds for the generator to come on. The jock was back selling when the quake hit, so the first 20 seconds were live, including one “oh, shit” in English. After power came on, he read the prepared stuff.
A homeless Pearson in Santa Ana was recording under a bridge. I paid him $25 for the cassette.
If their overnight coverage of an earthquake, when they were staffed, was airing totally un-vetted live phoners from the general public, the listeners were served just as well by the rerun on KQED -- i.e. not at all.
Reporting basic facts doesn't require a masters' degree in journalism.
- There has been an earthquake
- Mild/moderate/major intensity was felt at the KNX studio
- Shaking lasted approximately X seconds
- US Geological Survey says Y
- US Tsunami prediction center says Z
- Basic earthquake safety procedures are [blah]
Frankly, that's an unrealistic expectation in the instance of any developing story where the newscaster has to go off-prompter. They should be uncertain of lots of things in the first hour or two.
Are we really watching "PTBoardOP" lecture a well-respected former News Director of KFWB, Los Angeles on broadcasting and journalism?
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I don't want to quibble with you but you are describing observations that an experienced reporter/anchor could make in the first few minutes after an earthquake. Perception of intensity and even the length of the earthquake can vary widely among people in the same room. You have to have some experience to know how to have USGS/etc. information at your fingertips while on the air. I'm not sure that "basic earthquake safety procedures" would be top of mind for our hypothetical traffic reporter.
Not at all, if you don't panic and you talk about what you know, admit what you don't know and don't speculate, you won't come across uncertain, confused or uninformed.
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While we're spending a few minutes talking about coverage of natural and other disasters...the 1994 Northridge quake occurred at 4:31 AM on Jan 17th. Since the skies happened to be crystal clear that night coupled with no "light pollution" due to the fact that the quake created a power blackout some 50-60 mile radius around LA, the night sky was absolutely magnificent, with "seeing" probably not that good in the area for well over a hundred years. Being a lifelong amateur astronomer, my first reaction when walking out the backdoor of my house was: "My God !!
The reason I mention this is because many people called radio stations, and local authorities, i.e. 911 etc to inquire whether the earthquake might have been caused by the brilliant night sky !! -- No folks, you can't make this stuff up !
The reason I mention this is because many people called radio stations, and local authorities, i.e. 911 etc to inquire whether the earthquake might have been caused by the brilliant night sky !! -- No folks, you can't make this stuff up !
All I'm saying is don't minimize the value of "the staffer in the newsroom." You obviously have lots of experience, and that allowed you to opt out of working bad shifts. That happens a lot. The best people don't want to work crappy hours. That's how stations end up with "the staffer in the newsroom."
Anybody might be driven to dive under the news desk no matter what their experience...Several years back there was a moderate quake during a prime time newscast and the seasoned staff at KTTV did just that!
I, like many others, got the experience working overnights and other crappy hours.
Apparently so.
I'm just as surprised as you are! Regrettably, I didn't keep track of who was ND at KFWB the day I filed my Selective Service form.
I actually agree with this - I thought your original comment was suggesting newscasters should proceed with bravado in the face of a developing situation, acting as though they were omniscient.
When the major shaking stopped, then I went to turn on KFWB and Jack Popejoy.
KFWB at the time was reporting the basics of what they knew, plus taking calls from listeners describing what happened in their homes. They were actually orderly and professional. Jack Popejoy ran in out of breath about 20 minutes later, IIRC. He said that he left his home in Glendale ( I think) about 60 seconds after the first tremor, and he drove as fast as possible to get to the station.
Jack said something that I still remember to this day. "If you're asleep when a quake starts, then you probably instinctively want to jump up and check on the well-being of your household members in other rooms, then to check on damage to your home. But when you get up, remember the very first thing to do is to put on your shoes. Put something on your feet, because there may be shattered glass, or broken objects, or pieces of stucco from an acoustic ceiling on the floor."
That's something I forgot to do when I wobbled into my son's room, because our condo was shaking so badly ( we were on the second floor). Jack, of course, was a seasoned reporter, the very best that existed in terms of covering quakes. But I always remembered his advice.
I always thought that radio stations should have a binder of basic safety instructions that they kept in the studio, which everyone could refer to and read aloud on the air. That would help new talent, or very inexperienced talent who were working maybe a skeleton shift all by themselves. Maybe they now have a binder of instructions like that. But 28 years later, I still remember to put on shoes if I think there might be damage from a quake. -- Daryl
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Speaking of news anchors taking safety precautions during earthquakes in L.A. : Remember in 1987 during the Whittier Narrows quake when Channel 4 KNBC Kent Shockneck told the on air news team to get under the desk? I was watching that newscast. He also chastised the control room personnel for swearing, as they could be heard over the air. Also on this clip is I think Christine Lund at KABC Channel 7.
Somebody on You Tube compiled about a minute and a half of tv news anchors taking shelter. - Daryl
Somebody on You Tube compiled about a minute and a half of tv news anchors taking shelter. - Daryl
Shhhhhhh!! Come sit next to me @michael hagerty...Reach for that bowl of popcorn over there. I just made it fresh.
My daughter's bed had a mirrored backdrop. As I stumbled into her room, I had a cognitive moment and grabbed her off the bed, just as the mirror shattered..As TomásEstefan says above, the Northridge quake occurred on Monday, Jan. 17, at about 4:30 A.M. Many public schools were closed that day in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Day. So I had the day off work. When the earthquake started, our house was wobbling back and forth, and I stumbled/wobbled into my son's room, where family photos were hanging on the wall above his head. I told him "I'm going to hold onto these photos, so their frames don't fall off the hooks in the wall and hit you on the head. "
I quickly dressed and got her into jeans and a T-shirt. We found the front door to the 4th floor apartment in North Hollywood was jammed into its frame. I broke a hole in the drywall and we went down the stairs to one of the parking levels... frightened by an aftershock.
I later learned that my location had the equivalent movement to a 7.1 quake.
No stoplights. No lights at all. I picked up our midday jock and her daughter and we went to the station, KHJ, where the gate to the parking in the rear was blocked by a fallen wall. Parked on the sidewalk, and got in the front and got some TVs running, taken from the prize room. The morning guy, El Cucuy, got in soon and we started teaming to get data and put it on the air.
We were the only Spanish language station on the air for over 4 million Hispanics. The others had no generator at the studios. It took KTNQ and KLVE about 8 hours to get on, for example. The KSKQ/KLAX building had suffered damages and they could not get on.
I had prepared a packet of instructions and stuff that could be read if the staff was jittery or uncertain. It hung in an envelope where the EAS stuff (validation card, etc) and things like my First Phone hung. That allowed people to give essentials, like "turn off the master gas valve if you know where it is and how to do it".
At my location in West Toluca Lake I had about the same drive as Popejoy. KHJ was near Hollywood and the Freeway underpass, and he was near Hollywood and Vine.
I got to a phone in the recording studio once everyone was organized... maybe 25 minutes after the quake in total. I was calling the station owner when I realized I was bleeding rather significantly from my left arm. I had not felt it before in adrenaline rush, but suddenly it hit me. We had a first aid kit, and our midday lady helped me clean and wrap the cut, which by then I realized had made me bleed more than a small amount.
Even when you know the routine (I had my first quakes in Ecuador more than 30 years before), you don't prioritize that task well. And in the "rush" you are prone to not feeling cuts and burns and the like.
We had loose-leaf pages at the place everyone knew to look for EAS stuff, so that part was done. The real issue is something that can't be planned for: getting everyone calm enough to think logically. We get just as scared as our listeners!
David, Thank you for an absolutely amazing and riveting account of what happened. You and your station should have won a journalism award and a public service award for helping an audience of over 4 million listeners in urgent need of information. - Daryl
My TV news career took place in markets where earthquakes weren't much of an issue (Reno, Las Vegas, Phoenix), but as the native Angeleno, I was the one who got put on the plane to go cover them (Whittier, Joshua Tree, Northridge). For me, that meant a couple of days outdoors reporting on the places and people that suffered the worst and often being on-air live during aftershocks---but outdoors with nothing to collapse around me.
I will say this about anchors taking cover---good. There are/were heavy, hot lighting rigs suspended above the anchor desk in a grid. The individual lights are generally attached pretty securely, but if part of the grid goes, or part of the ceiling supporting the grid, someone underneath is very likely to be seriously injured or die.
You don't want to watch that, and if it happens, you won't have someone there to give you information.
The anchor shouldn't panic, scream and run off the set, but ducking under the anchor desk ---taking cover, as that person will soon be instructing people to do as there are very likely aftershocks nearly as strong as the main quake coming---is the right thing to do.
If I were an ND in an L.A. TV newsroom, I'd want my anchors on-air when a quake hits to do three things:
1. Survive.
2. Take a breath.
3. Calmly report what we know and provide potentially life-saving information.
Yes, absolutely, Michael. Safety has to come first during a quake. I think these newscasters certainly did the right thing. Anyone in their place would be worried about the lighting grid or the ceiling collapsing. I remember being concerned as a viewer, because the camera showed how severely the studio was shaking. Your points are well taken. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 - Daryl
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