Backstage

Roger & Me

I don't know if everyone has a mentor, but I am lucky enough to say that I did.  His name was Roger Bahre. He was 35 years older than me.  A crusty old man & old fashioned journalist.  He helped start CNN's Headline News & worked as Senior Producer there for 20 years.  I was lucky enough to work with him for nearly 5 years after his tenure at CNN.   

Roger didn't start off as my mentor, in fact, he started off as a boss that bugged me. He had LOTS of opinions and made me change my habits. Since I also have lots of opinions and didn't particularly want to change my habits, we often disagreed.  When that would happen (daily, if not hourly), I would try to explain why my way was better.  Rarely I would win.    But Roger did something else, something that is all too rare in the television business these days... He taught.  He taught me how to cover stories that affected people, he taught me how to write stronger scripts & he taught me how to deal with people who didn't agree with my decisions. 

For years, I argued, disagreed & learned from Roger.  He showed amazing patience with a young producer that he could have told just to "shut up and do it!".  But no, he took the time to explain what I did right, what I did wrong & how I could always improve.

Roger passed away on April 15, 2007.  It was like losing a family member. Rarely a day goes by when I don't think about him. He spent years training me so I would be ready to do my job at WMBF News. I will be honest, when I have a news dilemma and I am not sure what to do.. I  think "What would Roger do?"    

I just hope I can be half as good a leader & teacher as he was.  I will always be grateful that a old school journalist did something he didn't have to do; take up his time with a kid.    

Jennifer | jdale@wmbfnews.com

Keeping a close eye on the tropics...

If you talked with my coworkers, they would probably tell you a couple of things. First, I am not a quiet person. I have a lot to say, and I usually don't hold back. Two, I take my job very seriously. Three, I have a bit of an obsession with tropical weather. 

One of my earliest memories is my parents waking me up in the middle of the night.  We were going to spend the night at the hospital where my dad worked. They had decided our house was no longer safe.   This was September 1979, the night Hurricane Frederic devastated Mobile, Alabama.   

When I was a freshman in college, Hurriane Opal hit the Gulf Coast. I went college at Troy State Unversity, a few hundred miles inland.  The storm still packed a punch, knocking down trees, snapping power lines and damaging buildings.  I spent a scary night sitting in the dark in the hallway of my dorm.

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan came ashore in Baldwin County Alabama. The storm had 115 mph winds.  That was my first experience with a hurricane while working in television. It was hard. The station I worked for had a chopper. We flew it over the devastated coastline. I remember answering the phone in the newsroom. The woman was begging for me to contact the pilot to turn the camera so she could see if her parents house was still standing.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit.  The days surrounding the storm are a blur.  Katrina actually went ashore along the Mississippi coast, but the devastation stretched for hundreds miles.  When I wasn't producing, I would help answer the phone in the newsroom.  I talked to mothers who couldn't find their children. I talked to a grandmother whose grandson was trapped in his car with flood waters all around him. She had called police, but they couldn't get there. When a storm is coming ashore, for the safety of emergency workers, they won't send people out.   I talked to a man who said the storm surge was rising around his house.  It was truly the hardest thing I have ever had to do. The only thing I could do for these people was give them information. Information about where the storm was going.  Information about where to find a shelter. It was three days before I knew if my own house was still standing.

When Katrina moved toward the Gulf Coast, the phone line into my television station became a lifeline for viewers.  That's why I take my job so seriously. That's why you won't see WMBF News sensationalizing weather, but you will see us taking ANY tropical disturbance very seriously.  When it comes to weather, you can't play around.  Your LIVE LOCAL LATE BREAKING station will make sure you have the information you need to stay safe.

Jennifer | jdale@wmbfnews.com

Just the facts, ma'am

We did it! 08.08.08 arrived with a bang! WMBF News is on air, online & on the go!  My workday on August 8th started at 6 am. I arrived at work and just stared at the countdown clock for a while. At seven, I was standing in the control room with Matt (our news director) when the clock hit zero and the music from The Today Show started. I have watched The Today Show many times, but NEVER with as much excitement as Friday morning. After all, I wasn't watching it on WIS or WECT. I was watching it on MY television station!

Anyone will tell you that when you work at a television station, you dump a lot of your heart into the product you put on the air. This is especially true for me at WMBF News. For months, I have blogged about the work we were doing and the good things to come.  Friday, just before our first newscast at 5pm, I stood in the control room with my heart in my throat. I was about to see months of work come together in front of my eyes.  I was extremely proud, not only of the actual product we put on tv, but I firmly believe every story we covered on our first day was crucial to our viewers.  That is how WMBF News picks stories to cover.  We aren't a tabloid station. We don't sensationalize.  I won't work for a station that does that.  However, we will dig to find the information that the public needs. When severe weather hits, the WMBF Storm team will earn your trust.  When big news breaks, you can count on the WMBF News team to make sure you know about it.

     Just the facts, ma'am- that's my news philosphy. We don't do opinions, but we do make sure you have the information you need.   Check us out tonight. I think you will like what you see.

Jennifer |jdale@wmbfnews.com

Excitement is in the air...

So I just so happened to look at the countdown clock set up in the newsroom... and I can't believe that we have less than ONE DAY until we officially sign on as the Grand Strand and Pee Dee's NEW NBC affiliate station.  It seriously feels like I was just walking through the doors of our temporary offices - scared and nervous out of my mind - looking at the countdown clock with 60-some odd days on it.

Like they say... time flies when you're having fun!

I know you hear everyone keep repeating this, but what's happening internally here at WMBF is a once in a lifetime experience for anyone who is in/entering the broadcasting industry.  It's not every day that a digital station is built from the ground up in an already established and growing market.

WMBF, I guess you could say, is the first - the first digital station to actually be built from scratch.  We've been getting so many fabulous "good luck" e-mails and phone calls, and the encouragement and welcoming gestures make us all so happy and determined to be the best we can be in Market 103.

We officially sign on tomorrow with the Today Show, and be sure to watch for a NATIONAL "SHOUT OUT" FROM AL ROKER AT 8:30 ON THE TODAY SHOW, AND ANOTHER FROM BRIAN WILLIAMS ON THE NBC NIGHTLY NEWS. 

But until then... the set people are continuing to put the finishing touches on the set... we're doing our final rehearsals... and getting ready for our big debut!

Be sure to tune in at 5pm for our FIRST, LIVE NEWSCAST!

Meghan Miller | meghanmiller@wmbfnews.com

HD -- The Good, Bad and the Ugly

High definition is a beautiful picture, there is no disputing that.  The color, the images and all that other technical stuff makes watching television a new experience.  I've heard rumblings for the last year or so with anchors --  all worried about the big switch.  Everyone worried about how HD will show EVERYTHING on your face.  I scoffed at their furrowed brows.  Really, how bad can it be?  I've taken pretty good care of my skin over the years and while I have a freckle face, it never shows on camera, so there is no way it can be different. 

Boy was I wrong.  That crisp, clean picture shows every last scar, wrinkle and knick in your face.  I mean it shows EVERYTHING.  The first time I sat down to the desk under our nicely lit set and peeked over at the flat screen to see how we looked, I did a double take.  My freckles showed up in swarms, you could tell I didn't get too much sleep the night before from the small, dark circles around my eyes and...what was that?  CROWS FEET?!  I panicked.  This really is going to be a whole new world.  Every blemish, every laugh line -- crystal clear.  There was no more relying on a muddy picture to smooth away the small issues. 

Image consultant to the rescue!  Carolyn Grimes was in this week working on our HD makeup makeovers.  Those of us who have been in television news for awhile now needed a little different kind of makeup with the switch.  I'm happy to report that my eyes seem to be just a little wider, my freckles don't look like dark splotches on face anymore ... and I'm the proud owner of this powder that could wipe the shine off of any woman dealing with South Carolina humidity in a pinch. 

Looking forward to Friday and showing you everything we have to offer (Friday, yes it's 2 days away).  See you at 5pm!

Something from Nothing

    This may by my last post BEFORE we go on the air 08.08.08.  As we get closer to the date, I have been thinking a lot about building something from nothing.  This time a year ago, Raycom had already decided to build this station.  The first people hired were our GM & our Chief Engineer.  Matt, the News Director, came along around the first of the year.  In March, I was offered the EP job. The something from nothing approach is what interested me the most.  I was intrigued by the fact, that Raycom was taking an idea & building a television station around it.  For example, WMBF News is your LIVE LOCAL LATE BREAKING station.  When we go on the air (in less than 72 hours), you will see how our entire station has been designed around those words.  From the way the newsroom was constructed, to the way our newscasts are designed- we have built this station with the purpose of making sure you have the information you need.  If news breaks in Myrtle Beach or Florence, I promise you WMBF News will be on the scene.  If big news breaks in our region, not only will we be on the scene, but you will have the full resources of our network of sister stations.  From WECT in Wilmington to WBTV in Charlotte and from WIS in Columbia to  WCSC in Charleston, we will bring you the news you need.   

As for the idea, the vision that has been in our heads for months is about to be shared with the Grand Strand and the Pee Dee.

See you at 5, Friday!

Jennifer | jdale@wmbfnews.com

   

Planes falling from the sky = breaking news test

Maybe it's just because I was born and raised in PA where only major airliners fly high in the sky, but it seems like every other week, there's another banner plane falling from above.

Today (if you haven't heard), a FOURTH banner plane in the last three months took a dip in the ocean, and this time, we were more than ready to cover the breaking news!  Today was a true test of tuning in a live shot from our live trucks during a "rehearsal" newscast... and we pulled it off wonderfully thanks to our great reporters, producers, directors and photographers.

If we were on air, I think it would be safe to say that we would have owned that story in our market.  Now that makes quite a few people around the WMBF newsroom pretty happy :)

ONE WEEK until go-time! 

Meghan Miller | meghanmiller@wmbfnews.com

T-minus 6 days.

   So what do you do at a tv station that isn't yet on the air?  I am glad you asked.   Because today was completely nuts.   It started off quietly enough.  My coffee & I arrived at work this morning a little later than usual.  I had worked 'til after midnight last night.  I wanted to get a first hand look at how the 11pm show was progressing.  I took a few minutes to talk with the morning crew about how their show went this morning before heading into our editorial meeting.   I sat down with our reporters, producers & anchors to decide what to cover today.  We made our decisons and headed out the door.  And in typical fashion.. they all changed.

It was rather quiet until about 3:50.   We were very close to the start of our 4pm show.  We had all our live shots lined up and ready to go.  Then we found out a banner plane had crashed in North Myrtle Beach.   

What do you do when that happens minutes before air?  You change EVERYTHING!  We rerouted live trucks, made maps, shuffled anchors & reorganized the ENTIRE newscast.  Your LIVE LOCAL LATE BREAKING station may not actually be on the air yet, but that did not keep us from practicing excactly what we will be doing one week from today.  I am thankful no one was hurt in the crash.  That isn't always the situation with the news we report.

     Reporter Greg Argos was the first on the scene. He shot video & got us the latest information. He even tracked down an exclusive picture of the plane actually making a nose dive into the ocean.   When our live truck got on the scene, we quickly thew up the mast & had a live shot ready to go.  We continually updated the story thoughout our 4pm, 5pm, 530 & 6pm newscasts.  There is one thing for sure.  When you want the latest breaking news, I know you will find in at WMBF News. 

6 days to go--- but who's counting?

Jennifer | jdale@wmbfnews.com