Too tired to blog

Sorry about not posting for awhile. I’ve been waking up before the sun has even thought about rising, and by the end of the day, it’s all I can do to take off my shoes and brush my teeth before falling asleep, much less head out to the lobby to use the wireless internet and post something.

Thursday and Friday morning, I shadowed the morning newsperson. The news at KEDM for the most part is a one man band situation, or more accurately a one woman band starring news director Sunny Meriwether. There’s a little complication at the moment. Sunny is out after hand surgery, which is part of the reason I’m needed here. Her replacement Cynthia has been showing me the ropes. I’ve had a good time working with Cynthia, but she’s only been doing the news at the station for two weeks, so sometimes I have questions and she understandably doesn’t know the answer.

The news department does more newscasts than I’ve ever done before.

Here’s the schedule:

*One minute news headlines at 5:59, 6:59, 7:59, and 11:59
*Four minute
newscasts at 6:06, 7:06, 8:06, 9:06 and 12:06
*Two minute newscast at
6:33 (featuring a pre-recorded garden segment), 7:33, 8:33 (sometimes replaced
by a 9-minute long interview)
*There are also 2-minute pre-recorded
newscasts somewhere in the 10
o’clock and 2 o’clock hours

It seems like a lot of local news, and it’s literally rip-and-read from the AP wire. They have a 20 year old printer. It’s the kind that uses paper with the strips at the sides with a series of holes. The AP prints directly to it, you rip it off and read it. Also, the newsperson includes weather in the newscast and runs their own board. Thankfully, I’ve always been at stations where the newsperson did not have to do things with the board. I’m a little nervous about that part even though it isn’t hard. I think I’m afraid I’ll forget some part of routine.

So the plan, as I understand it, is that I will start doing the newscasts up until 8ish. Then Cynthia, who is part time, will do the rest. The bad part is waking up at 4am. The good part is that I’ll be free to go report during the day. I think this plan will lead to napping.