What It's Like

It began with a text.  My phone alert went off just before 11 PM Monday.  Acting morning producer Mike sent me notice that there had been a triple homicide near Saylorsburg in Monroe County.  I should come in early.  I did.

At the office, Mike briefed me on what had happened, and he told me where to find the computer video file of what the evening crews had gathered at the scene.  I slammed together a few different stories, recorded my portion (the audio track to those in the biz), and handed them off to editor Bonnie.

Photographer Corey arrived.  He loaded up one of our satellite trucks, and we were off to Ross Township.  We found the location in plenty of time, and got ready for our first live report in the 4:30 AM news.

We were one of the first ones there yesterday morning.  As you can see from the photo above, several others followed on a foggy Pocono morning-- New York, Philadelphia, Allentown, CNN, FOX...

We broadcast the latest twice a half hour, throughout our morning broadcast.  There were additional updates during Good Morning America.  We even had a few seconds to put together a report for our sister station in Kansas City.

The location shifted at 9:00 AM.  We headed to the Monroe County Emergency Services Building in Snydersville for a late morning news conference.

Photographer Corey, pictured above, was in the editing section of our truck, putting together our report for Newswatch 16 at Noon.

As I've noted earlier, big stories are often reunion and friend making time.  I see people I worked with and against in the past.  There are new acquaintances on the job.  Even former WNEP reporter Kyle Schmoyer was there.

Kyle is doing really well, working for a national cable operation, and he says "hello."

There was a lot to do in Snydersville.  We met up with other members of the Newswatch 16 team who would cover the State Police news conference.

There was a huge amount of interest in the story.  The classroom at the Emergency Services Building was packed.

We carried the news conference live at the top of our noon broadcast.  I gave a quick recap at the end of Newswatch 16 at Noon, and my long day had come to an end.

I was happy that we got the latest information out in a timely manner all morning long.  We introduced you to many people who had a role in what happened Monday evening.   It was such a sad story-- people who want to make their community a better place killed or wounded.  The survivors will be mentally scarred for life.  It was a horrific scene.

As far as my job, I set the table for the rest of the team, and our coverage continued into the afternoon and evening.  A lot of people had a hand in the process.  You're only as strong as the weakest link in the chain, and on this day, there were no weak links.

Above, I'm conferring with our noon broadcast producer, Lindsey, as the clock ticks toward twelve.  My giant soda cup is empty, but note, there's refill material on the seat to the right.  It was taken by a photographer for WPVI, the ABC station in Philadelphia.

Plenty of co-workers offered kind words.  An e-mail from one of my favorite former bosses made my day.

Thank you, all.  It was a team effort.