Watercooler

AuthorHouse

Contents

OFF MIC: Anchors, Reporters, and Hosts share their "Off Mic" stories.Introduction "Get a Realistic Career".......................................................1Mother Nature's Fury........................................................................5An All-American Tragedy.....................................................................7Be Brave....................................................................................13In the Thick of Things......................................................................17The Siege of Sarajevo.......................................................................19Putting It into Perspective.................................................................25Holiday Blues...............................................................................27Choosing Course.............................................................................31Veronica's Story............................................................................33Defining Moments............................................................................37Falling into Weather........................................................................45Perks and Punches...........................................................................49It's All About the Points and the Road to Kandahar Dead Ends in Karachi.....................51Wearing the Call Letters....................................................................57Reflections on Death........................................................................63Merciless Mother............................................................................65Giving Respect..............................................................................71Local News Novice...........................................................................75Launching Pad...............................................................................77A Career Off Track..........................................................................79Big and Blue................................................................................87Doing It All, and Then Some.................................................................93Greenville and Beyond.......................................................................99Acknowledgments.............................................................................105Contributors................................................................................107

Chapter One

I knew in my heart, I wanted to be a television news reporter at a young age. At eleven years old, using a small tape recorder, I placed a microphone in front of my sisters and the neighborhood kids. Could we help find the missing dog or cat? Can you describe how Johnny got in trouble at school today? How are you helping society? I would interview them for my "nightly newscast" or sometimes weekly newscast to play for my parents. It was simple, innocent, and authentic to me in every way.

At first, my family and friends thought I'd grow out of it, but as the years went by, I was still interested in reporting the news. Some tried to discourage me. I heard stories of what I would have to do to make it in this business, mainly from those who knew nothing about the news world. "If you want to be on TV you're going to have to compromise your integrity," a friend told me. "You'll never make money at it because you have to move to a small town and then you'll get stuck there when you marry someone who won't follow you," the comment from another friend. Then there was this pompous line, which I have never forgotten, from an old boyfriend: "Get a realistic career, you can't be on TV."

The best advice ever given to me came from Ann Martin. I started watching her when she was a weekend anchor at KABC TV in Los Angeles. I was a sixth grader and decided to write her a letter asking, "How can I be like you, a newscaster?" Every day I asked my mother if I got a reply in the mail. I waited anxiously and to my surprise she wrote back. She said, "You must have a strong sense of writing and grammar if you want to make it as a journalist." She also wrote, "It helps if you look decent on camera."

A few years ago while working for CBS News, I met her and mentioned that letter to her. She seemed pleased that she helped me, but my mother, who was with me at the time, blurted out "She's been a fan since she was five years old." I quickly corrected my mom and said, "No, I was eleven," like a few years would make a difference for a woman in a career where looks matter. For days afterward, I worried that I had made my role model feel old. It was like sticking your foot in your mouth when you're trying to impress someone.

During high school, I wrote for my school newspaper The Nobel. The Los Angeles Times had called my school "functionally illiterate" based on California Placement Test scores. It was actually my first big story as an aspiring writer of the news. I interviewed our school principal, teachers, and students. The next year our test scores were among the best in the state. I wish I could say my article led to the improvement, but I can't.

By the time I entered college, I was charting my course. I did a lot of book work, but I didn't get much hands-on training in school. So, I knew I would have to intern somewhere. One morning I woke up to my radio alarm clock set at KFI AM 640. They had a new morning show with two women hosting, a sports guy, and a weatherman. I thought hey, this sounds pretty cool. This is where I should call. The next thing I knew, I was interning at KFI Radio in Los Angeles. But the road to becoming a radio reporter and eventually television journalist wasn't quite the way I imagined. However, it was the beginning of a "realistic career" that has been fulfilling, challenging, and most of all fun, despite the daily bitching in newsrooms, rapidly advancing technology, and changing viewer habits.

It's the changing business that threatens many jobs right now. In the newsroom, colleagues will gladly tell you the behind the scenes story of their news day. But when asking reporters to put it in writing there was hesitation by some. Not because they couldn't, but because they didn't want to draw attention to themselves. They wanted to "stay under the radar," by not giving a reason for management to let them go.

Losing your job is a concern at television and radio stations across the country. Over the last two years, job losses have led the "Watercooler" talk in plenty of newsrooms. Gannett, Belo, NBC Universal, and other broadcast corporations are handing out pink slips. The downturn in the economy and declining viewers are to blame. People are no longer relying on the nightly news to get information on the day's events. They now have the internet, twenty-four hour cable news outlets, and headlines being broadcast on wireless mobile phones. Managers insist that the quality of news coverage will not suffer, but they can't say the same for morale. Many stations are doing more with less and most veteran journalists agree that quality is taking a hit.

In 2008, CBS News laid off one percent of its staff. Employees at CBS owned and operated stations (O and O's) in thirteen cities were...