> Does anyone know anything about being an assignments editor
> in a small market say the size of Waco or somewhere on that
> scale? Thanks.
>
Yeah, the job sucks.
Seriously, when I was in TV, the station I worked for in Abilene had reporters who were not inclined to show any initiative when it came to working their beats. (Translation: they were lazy.) Our first assignments editor was a newspaper reporter who, later in his career, wrote an op-ed column for the paper (along the lines of a Bob Ray Sanders or a Bud Kennedy at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, only not nearly as good). He would spend his mornings cutting articles out of the local paper and handing them to the reporters. For the first part of my tenure at that station, nearly every story in the newscast (that wasn't breaking news or state/national) was straight out of the paper.
Later on, I had a chance to do that job, and I only lasted a few weeks before I told the ND I wanted to go back to producing the show. Everybody wanted the "plum" assignments, everybody wanted to be the lead, and nobody wanted to get off their lazy butts and put any effort into it.
The next AE we got was also a newspaper reporter, but she was tough as nails. Imagine Reba McEntire with black hair, shorter, and an attitude. Her favorite catch-phrase was "Deal with it" (I still use that today). Reporters began to shape up around her, and we actually won an AP Best Newscast award in 1990. That's shortly before I left.
When it comes to AEs in small markets, probably the best thing to have in that job is lots of contacts. When a reporter hits a brick wall, or lacks the drive to go work his/her beat, the AE needs to be able to provide some leads for them to follow (and kick their butts in the meantime). Newspapers should be an absolute last resort, unless the paper scooped you during the overnight. (And very few small-market stations have any staff on duty other than the MCO after the 10 pm news).
The best one I ever worked with was a guy in Wichita Falls by the name of Troy Jensen, who had worked in that market since Noah dropped off the animals. He had reported, anchored, and finally AE'd, and also did the morning weather cut-ins. Great guy, but sometimes would get flustered on-air...my favorite flub was one morning when the wx computer fried during the cut-in, and after a couple of minutes of vamping he closed the 'cast with "Thank you for calling."
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"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Robert Heinlein
dan</P>
