Our meteorolgists did the weather from their homes at the start of the current situation. Safety first. It was a wise move. We have the technology that makes it easy, and for the most part, the last three months have been exceptionally smooth.
There is a slight delay with the gizmo that gets the audio and video back to the station, so what we call "cross talk" was a challenge. I would say something, and the meterologist would respond a few seconds later. It was awkward.
My remedy was to just simply cut back on the interaction between Valerie and myself. Get to the forecast quickly, and a quick "toss back" from Valerie. It worked, but I felt the broadcast was missing something. Valerie has been a wonderful addition to the team, and I really enjoy our little banter.
With any luck, the "remote" days are over for quite a while, and I look forward to having a meteorologist in the same building at the same time-- and a few feet apart.
I happened to be anchoring Newswatch 16 This Morning on Joe's first day back in the office, after a 67 day exile to Scott Township. I snuck outside for a few pictures during one of the "Good Morning America" updates to capture the day for history. That's Bill Schultz on camera.
Moving on...
Herb Stempel died in April, and his passing was just announced by the family over the weekend. . He's the guy who blew the whistle on the game show scandals of the 50's. Stempel was a contestant on "Twenty One." He was given the answers, and then was scripted to lose when a more telegenic and charismatic contestant came along. A movie called "Quiz Show" was based on the episode. As I have said before, "My Favorite Year" is my favorite movie, and "Quiz Show" is the best piece of film making I ever saw. Keep in mind, I'm not much of a movie guy. It captured your attention, even though you knew how it would end. There is no action. It's rather grey and talky. Yet, I thought it was fantastic. Herb Stempel was 93.
And, I should note the passing of Bill Small last week. He ran CBS News and then NBC News. Small hired some of the greats at CBS and he ran the organization when it was just about unstoppable. There wasn't much success at NBC. He didn't fit in to the culture and he forced a number of veterans out. David Brinkley was among them. Brinkley wound up at ABC and helped build an extremely successful Sunday morning broadcast.
However, if you look at the body of work, Bill Small should be considered one of the industry's giants. No pun intended. He was 93.
