Warning: If you don't like bragging, you might want to skip this blog post.I am so proud of our news and sports teams here at ABC5. Yesterday was an example of 'when it rains it pours.' We had breaking news, a bizarre murder investigation unfold, oh yeah, and the President of the United States was in our state.
Our crew can only plan ahead for so much when it comes to a newscast, the rest of the time things just happen and we have to be flexible and smart enough to handle them appropriately. Yesterday's newscasts were shining examples of a well-oiled-machine.
Here's a condensed outline of what happened yesterday during the five o'clock news.
*The producer, Melissa, had three scripts ready to go for our top story: Take live shot from Ottumwa with President Obama speaking, take live shot and explain we're waiting for President to show up, or take live shot and say President already spoke. Luckily he was speaking and we took him live off the top of our show.
*Meanwhile - ABC5 sports crew is working the phones to confirm the new hire of Fred Hoiberg. They do! So at about 5:05 p.m. John Walters rushes down to the set and we go on air talking about his breaking news. We were the first news outlet BY FAR to relay this information.
*Off camera, the newsroom learns more about a tragic and bizarre death of a Drake student and reporters James and Hillary begin the scramble to update the story with new information.
After all this we were able to relax, but in those first ten minutes of the five o'clock show EVERYONE (the producer, the production crew, sports team, reporters, and myself) had to be on the same page with last minute decisions. That means a lot of chatter over headsets, in the newsroom, and in ear pieces. But the viewers had no idea all this was going on, and that's just how we like it. It was all executed perfectly.
Great job everyone. I'm proud to be part of this team.
Amanda
ps: While I'm bragging... our meteorologists deliver Central Iowa's most accurate forecast. Didn't want to leave them out :)
