As I watched the TV lead ups to our
current snow storm I couldn't help remembering when I was in charge
of orchestrating this kind of coverage as Metro Editor for WCBS-TV
News, Ch. 2, in the 1970s.
Some things haven't changed much in 40
or so years. The correspondents are reporting from the usual choke
points, the weathermen or women are literally in their elements
predicting as best they can what we can expect. But tempered but
major hurricanes and Katrina-like disasters, public officials now
take no chances. States of Emergency have been declared, schools are
closed and we've all been warned to batten our hatches, stock our
larders (if we have any) and stay out of the way.
Today, we take for granted the blanket
coverage TV gives with live reports from all over the world. When I
started in TV news we still had film cameras; once shot on location,
the film had to be brought back to the lab for processing and then
edited for air. A laborious process.
I still remember when we got our first
video camera. We couldn't wait to broadcast LIVE from a remote
location. Where was it? On the sidewalk outside our building. The
weatherman was reporting in real time from 30 feet away. Never mind
what he had to say, the fact was he was reporting LIVE.
One small step for live broadcasting so
many years ago.
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