Long Night, Lots of Stories

When there are no reporters to go out with at a news station, it makes things a little difficult for an intern. Last night at News 10 Now (now officially YNN - Your News Now), neither my Executive Producer or my reporter, Kat, were there. I thought I'd be stuck shadowing the producers all night, but luckily Jim, the photog, took me out on a few stories.

Initially we were to go to Syracuse's Hancock International Airport, where the Syracuse Chamber of Congress set up welcome tables to greet fan flying in for the NCAA Basketball Tournament games to be held this weekend at the Carrier Dome.

We did go to the airport, but not before covering some breaking news. Jim and I headed over to a J.P. Morgan parking lot in Cicero, where a man lost control and crashed into a parked car. We spoke to Sheriff Snell, who said the man was in critical condition, and at the time they thought he might have passed out and hit the accelerator, causing him to crash. The man died later, and it was determined to be a suicide.

After leaving the scene, we headed to the airport, but there wasn't much going on. So our next stop was the Sheraton Hotel near the S.U. campus, where Cornell University's Big Red basketball team, cheerleaders, and marching band were staying. With their game at the Carrier Dome tonight, they prepared by having a huge celebratory dinner, during which the team was honored.

Finally, we had one last piece of breaking news. Our assignment editor called us after hearing that a boy shot his mother and threatened to shoot police when they came to his house. But once we arrived at the scene, we learned that it was most likely a prank call. The boy's mother wasn't even home, a third party allegedly made the call, and the son was cooperating with police.

It was a crazy day. None of our stories turned out to be anything super major but driving all over the Syracuse outskirts to cover multiple stories was eventful and exciting nonetheless.

Constant Change of Events

Last night was another crazy Wednesday at News 10 Now. It's become a running joke that when I come in on Wednesday nights, everything goes haywire. Kat's stories always seem to fall apart or change or aren't what we expect them to be, and last night was no different.

Initially we were going to a meeting for people learning how to be politicians, but we found out the dates were wrong and the meeting was Thursday night.

So instead we headed over to the Syracuse University campus to do a story on forged tickets from Saturday night's big basketball game against Villanova.

We interviewed Syracuse Dept. of Public Safety chief Anthony Callisto, who told us there were about 200 forged tickets sold to the public, which prevented victims from getting into the game. These forged ticket buyers didn't know their tickets were fake since they were mostly purchased on Craigslist.org. Right now, the Syracuse Police are looking into the case. There are no suspects as of yet.

Unfortunately, Callisto no longer had the real or fake tickets in his possession. They were already in evidence, so we could get any shots of them. When we got back to the station, we started to do a VOSOT on the piece because there really wasn't enough material to package it. Until we got a phone call.

Another reporter, Joleene Des Rosiers had been following the partially collapsed building on North State Street in Syracuse that has forced part of Route 81 to close down. She had done a few VOSOTs yesterday, but nothing else. Syracuse city lawyers met with the state at City Hall downtown to discuss demolishing the building, but Joleene left before any of the lawyers left the building or were willing to talk on camera.

But at around 6pm, we got a call that Juanita Perez-Williams from the Syracuse Corporation Council would talk to us. We interviewed her and later interviewed Anthony Tartaro, the owner of the partially collapsed building.

As it turns out, the real reason the building has not yet been demolished is because Tartaro, the city, and the state are debating over who's going to pay for it. Neither the city, state, nor Tartaro can afford to knock down the building, a demolition project that would now cost more than $1 million. The portion of Route 81 near the building will continue to be closed off until the city and state decide the next step.

Kat and the photog, Ben, edited the package in the live truck, until Kat went live with the story at 10:15pm. I wrote my story in the truck also, but didn't' get to edit it. I'm hoping to have enough time to edit the package Friday.

For the latest, check out www.news10now.com.

Until Friday, happy newsing.

Gotta' Get That Story

Here's my journal entry to my most recent evening of adventure at News 10 Now. Enjoy!

In a message dated 2-24-10:

Gotta' Get That Story

Tonight, Kat and I were sent out on a story that The Post-Standard mentioned about a Syracuse University alum and former football player who was coming to the Syracuse Boys and Girls Club to conduct a forum on sports ethics.

It sounded like an easy tie-in because of the latest news with the Camillus Youth Basketball Association and their brawl, but this forum was not newsworthy. The football player was not there. He's attending another forum next month supposedly, so then we went downtown to cover a story about the plans for a new Centro bus station downtown.

We tried interviewing business owners of stores that are centered in the area where all the current bus stops are located, but by 6:15, very few businesses were still open. If they were, their owners/managers were no longer there. We eventually found a great guy who spoke to us, but refused to do so on camera.

Eventually, we left and decided to do a story on the SU students camping out at the Dome for seats to Saturday's Villanova game. So we headed over to the Dome, but didn't see anyone there.

We finally learned that to be a part of Otto's Army and get the best seats, you had to enter a lottery inside the Dome before the women's basketball game. The camp-out starting then, forcing students to go to the women's game...which wouldn't be over until about 9pm.

Knowing there was no way we could produce a package by 10pm if we were starting at 9pm, we did a live hit! Well, Kat did. She did a live interview with one of the students in the group who drew the number one slot in the lottery. It wound up being a pretty fun story, and afterward, the photog shot a fake live tag of me that I plan to use on my resume reel.

Kat quickly edited a VOSOT in the live truck, sent it to our producer, and dictated the script over the phone so it could air at 11pm. Overall, it was a very long, crazy night, but we finally found our story. Finding that story and making the deadline is really all that matters.

Local Business Prepares for Nova Game

I completed my first news package at News 10 Now with the following story:

In an entry dated 2-5-10:

Local Business Prepares for 'Nova Game

Today was my first time doing the dayside shift. Amanda wasn't there because she works nightside, but GM (General Manager) Ron Lombard and reporter Brad Vivacqua helped me get settled. I attended the morning news meeting, which showed me that there really wasn't much going on...probably because it's a Friday.

Regardless, Brad, an S.U. alum, invited me out on his story about the "Beat 'Nova" T-shirts that Holy Shirt! has already started printing even though the game is not happening for another three weeks. Another reporter, Karen Lee, came with us to help Brad shoot.

Holy Shirt! owner John Groat was super nice and accommodating. I think he was a little starstruck by Brad, who he said he's seen on News 10 Now before. But Groat was a broadcast major at S.U. and is also the song of Channel 9 anchorman Rod Wood, so he was very amenable to working with us and gave great bites. Brad helped me shoot my own standup.

Both Brad and Karen gave me advice on it. When we got back to the station, I took notes on the footage including its bites and timecodes as Brad ingested everything. We both worked on writing a VOSOT (voiceover sound on tape; this is a short version of a story that includes the anchor reading over video footage, followed by a soundbite from an interviewee) and package (a longer version of the story in which the anchor refers to a reporter's piece and rolls video of the reporter's story) version of the story, since each New 10 Now reporter does two for every story they report on.

Brad helped me edit my stories, but there were very few changes I had to make to the package, which is really exciting. I didn't finish editing the package because I had issues with Vortex, which I'm simply unaccustomed to. I got help from Brad though and from Lori, another woman who works at the station who is apparently the Vortex guru.

I left the station at 6pm, and only had some B-roll and CG's to add. Other than that, I completed my first package!

By that time, Amanda had also arrived and gave me my own tape to hold onto all the packages I put together throughout the course of the semester.

*Other free things I got today: my own "Beat 'Nova" T-shirt! Groat generously gave Brad, Karen, and I fifteen shirts for ourselves and the rest of the people at the station. Overall, it was a pretty sweet and productive day.

There are more posts to come.

To see the full story that Brad did about the Beat 'Nova T-shirts, go to News10Now.com.