Start the Day Early

As a reporter this week, I covered the Thursday Morning Roundtable debate for Onondaga County Executive between Democrat Bill Magnarelli and Republican Joanie Mahoney. I went with Lara, who was also on my newscast team. As she mentioned, I covered the tone of the debate while her piece focused more on the harder aspects - the policies and platforms of the candidates. So if you want to know what didn't fit into my wrap, just listen to hers! Alright I'll mention a few tidbits that didn't get into my wrap. The majority of the audience was definitely over 50 years of age, but those that asked questions seemed very well informed. Also the two candidates themselves - Bill Magnarelli seemed very laid back and relaxed (already excepting defeat?) while Joanie Mahoney was more upright and mater of fact. Also, I apologize for Lara for asking me if I think we should ask people questions and I kind of shrugged my shoulders. (Sorry!) We had the idea that we would each cover one candidate in our wraps, but Professor Nicholson said that would not work. So he said one could cover tone, while another the harder aspects.

So nobody who covered TMR in the past ever mentioned how early it started! Me and Lara had to be there at 8:15 in the morning. But the advantage was of course that we were able to get to class on time. So I got my wrap done pretty early - 3:30, for a Team D newscast. I was ready to go cart it, but the other teams needed to cart stuff up and I had last priority. So around 4:00 the machines finally opened up. Unfortunantely, both machines weren't working properly, and the demagnetizing machine was not working as well, and whoever had been working with them last didn't say anything. Uh oh.

So I had a bad feeling inside something would go wrong inside the booth. So I printed out a hard copy of my script and made some alterations just in case I needed to do a live shot. Sure enough, I needed to. I'll be honest I was really mad. One, because I worked really hard on what I thought was a good wrap, and two because I didn't think I tackled doing a live shot all that well. I wish I had know earlier so I could've had time to find another cart somewhere. My wrap aside, the newscast went very well. Andrew did a great job first time in the producer seat. Kudos to Amy Johnson for stretching at the end. And Lara of course was the model of consistency. Well done guys.

P.S. - First person to post what band I'm referencing to this week gets a free lunch.