First (and only) day on the job for a news anchor

[kerry]

Brand New TV News Anchor's First Words On-Air: "****in' ****!"

[mgburg]

Link just shows "blank" spots where the video is suppose to be...and no audio.

[kerry]

Works for me.

[Jim B.]

Brand New TV News Anchor's First Words On-Air: "F***in' S**t!"

[mgburg]

Back in the late 80s (sounds so long ago), the TV station I worked at would record a 5-minute newscast to play back at 8PM, then go on with whatever programming we had running.

In order to record the newscast and get the "automation" to play it back CORRECTLY (this has a BIG PART in what's coming up), you had to "tone" one of the audio tracks approximately 5 seconds and 15 frames before THE FIRST VIDEO FRAME and at the END of the tape, you had to "go back" approximately 2 seconds and 15 frames BEFORE THE LAST FRAME OF VIDEO and lay down that same amount of "tone" for the automation to "switch over" to the next tape that was already running from its own cued-up "tone" at the head of its first video.

Got that?

Well, a couple of first-day interns THOUGHT THEY HAD IT RIGHT...not.

And now, to the slipup...

Our anchor, a gentleman known in the area as a fun-loving (Burgundy-mustached) kind-of-guy would fool around with the folks working the studio floor and in the Production control-room.

AND, as his "trademark" coment AFTER THE CAMERA-LIGHT WOULD EXTINGUISH would be "...and blow it out your 455!"

Yep, you guess it...the girls flipped the tones around, put the tape in Master Control for the 8PM playback, waved "Good night!" to anyone left and did so themselves.

8PM rolled around.

The "cue tone" is heard on the air, then the newscast starts...so the Operator is writing up the discrepency on the DR (Discrepency Report) while the rest of the newscast runs...

Then 8:05 and 5 seconds PM came and went...

At 8:10PM, I'm getting a phone call, from the Station Manager, asking me (In reality, I was being yelled at...) to head to the station, get the newscast recording from the operator and lock it up 'til tomorrow morning...then I get the 'click!' in the ear.

As I'm driving to the station (this is before bag-phones, let alone cellphones...period) I try to imagine what could possibly be on that newscast tape that pissed off the GM.

When I arrived around 8:45PM, my operator is still suffering from a severe case of "IT CAME FROM NOWHERE!!!!" and all he can say is "...all I heard was 'BLOW IT OUT YOUR 455!'"

I collect the tape, take it to the edit bay, play it and my heart sinks...I lock the tape up and head for home...

Now, the next morning...

I'm there before the GM walks in, waiting in the lobby near his locked door.

He shows up right at 8AM...sharp.

I'm instructed to hand him the tape, then we go back to the edit-bays (where the tape was prepped by the guilty) and I explain to the GM (may he RIP) what I believe (and it did) happened.

NO GOOD.

The interns are terminated from the program at the station (WTH???) and Mr. Personality has to get on the air (with a PROPERLY "TONED" TAPE) and apologize to our viewing public about jocularity that's NOT SUPPOSE TO HAPPEN, OPEN MIC OR NOT.

End of story?

Not really...

A few months later, the Challenger blows up following liftoff. I saw the whole thing from "Liftoff! The Challenger is..." through to the point that everything was trailing apart. Since it was on CBS, I went back to Mr. Personality to inform him that "...something is seriously (understatement of the year) wrong with the shuttle launch and you'd better start getting ready to get on the air with something..."

Well, you could have sworn that someone grabbed Mr. P by the back of his neck and shoved his nose and face into the butt-end of a coughing cow...he blew a gasket. For the next half-hour, he tore around the studio & station acting like Rip Van Winkle just waking up and wondering why no one told him he'd been sleeping for 20 years.

Not the smartest thing to do...

Apparently, the GM was on an 'important phone call' when Mr. P starting breaking the "permissible dB. level of courtesy."

Mr. P didn't last 'til Lunchtime that day.

He was fired.

So kiddies, doesn't matter if you're "The Face" behind the microphone (live or dead), in front of it or at your desk, viewing porno or making calls to sex-lines (another incident, involving the Production Manager) on company time...you're only as good and as employable as the tolerance level of the guy above you.

And if they're higher up...fugetaboutit.

REMEMBER...THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DEAD MICROPHONE.

[catmandoo62]

he was probably refering to the god dam snow that just will not quit this yr.we just got another 3 inchs today f*^#ing $#!? anyway.