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Channel 8 Story Falls Apart

N

nuzguy

On Channel 8 at 10:07 PM. This one was painful to watch. Intro to Chris Heinbaugh story on city officials owing the city money. Heinbaugh did the live studio open to the pre-produced package to follow. Video locked up on a still frame, then about 10 seconds of silence over the freeze frame, studio shot of Heinbaugh staring off camera, then he walks off camera. Anchots did a short reader cover.

Out of commercial, Heinbaugh is back (onviously more than a bit miffed) and the story ran in full. It was a good, interesting story. Glad they managed to get it straightened out and on the air.

Perils of live TV.
 
> On Channel 8 at 10:07 PM. This one was painful to watch.
> Intro to Chris Heinbaugh story on city officials owing the
> city money. Heinbaugh did the live studio open to the
> pre-produced package to follow. Video locked up on a still
> frame, then about 10 seconds of silence over the freeze
> frame, studio shot of Heinbaugh staring off camera, then he
> walks off camera. Anchots did a short reader cover.
>
> Out of commercial, Heinbaugh is back (onviously more than a
> bit miffed) and the story ran in full. It was a good,
> interesting story. Glad they managed to get it straightened
> out and on the air.
>
> Perils of live TV.
>
>>>>>In this digital age, how much does it really cost for backup? If they had backup, it would have been priceless. If it can go wrong , it will.
 
> > On Channel 8 at 10:07 PM. This one was painful to watch.
>
> > Intro to Chris Heinbaugh story on city officials owing the
>
> > city money. Heinbaugh did the live studio open to the
> > pre-produced package to follow. Video locked up on a
> still
> > frame, then about 10 seconds of silence over the freeze
> > frame, studio shot of Heinbaugh staring off camera, then
> he
> > walks off camera. Anchots did a short reader cover.
> >
> > Out of commercial, Heinbaugh is back (onviously more than
> a
> > bit miffed) and the story ran in full. It was a good,
> > interesting story. Glad they managed to get it
> straightened
> > out and on the air.
> >
> > Perils of live TV.
> >
> >>>>>In this digital age, how much does it really cost for
> backup? If they had backup, it would have been priceless. If
> it can go wrong , it will.


Proof that Murphy's Law often is the only thing that cen be counted on to work properly just about every time. And when things really get messed up, it appears that Murphy was looking at the bright side of it all.
>
 
> > > On Channel 8 at 10:07 PM. This one was painful to
> watch.
> >
> > > Intro to Chris Heinbaugh story on city officials owing
> the
> >
> > > city money. Heinbaugh did the live studio open to the
> > > pre-produced package to follow. Video locked up on a
> > still
> > > frame, then about 10 seconds of silence over the freeze
> > > frame, studio shot of Heinbaugh staring off camera, then
>
> > he
> > > walks off camera. Anchots did a short reader cover.
> > >
> > > Out of commercial, Heinbaugh is back (onviously more
> than
> > a
> > > bit miffed) and the story ran in full. It was a good,
> > > interesting story. Glad they managed to get it
> > straightened
> > > out and on the air.
> > >
> > > Perils of live TV.
> > >
> > >>>>>In this digital age, how much does it really cost for
>
> > backup? If they had backup, it would have been priceless.
> If
> > it can go wrong , it will.
>
>
> Proof that Murphy's Law often is the only thing that cen be
> counted on to work properly just about every time. And when
> things really get messed up, it appears that Murphy was
> looking at the bright side of it all.
> >
>
There was some other law that said "Murphy was an optimist".
 
Snafu worse than that..

It was worse than described above. Nuzguy saw the second snafu. He missed the first.

Heinbaugh's story didn't air right until the *third* time they tried to air it.

First time was the lead story at 10:00. John and Gloria tossed to Chris, he read his lead in, and the tape ran. All we could hear were nat sounds of leaves being raked and lawnmowers. Heinbaugh's track could not be heard - nor could any of the soundbites. After 30 seconds of this, they bailed out and Heinbaugh apologized and tossed back to John and Gloria.

The second time was around 10:07 as mentioned before. This time we saw video of a sign at city hall and no audio at all. When they bailed out of that video, Heinbaugh was standing there and you could hear Gloria reading something off mic. Heinbaugh walked off camera leaving a shot of an empty studio. They finally cut to a shot of Gloria and she finished reading the tag to his story and moved on.

A few minutes later, they came back and John read the intro, tossed to Heinbaugh and the package finally aired properly.

This had to be the biggest screw up I've ever seen at Channel 8. What a disgrace.
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

> This had to be the biggest screw up I've ever seen at
> Channel 8. What a disgrace.

How much you wanna bet there was a new editor who still wasn't comfortable with current non-linear computer editing techniques. From the above descriptions, sounds like the package wasn't assembled or compiled correctly, or incomplete versions were inadvertently being filed to the server, which of course would need to be flashed (refreshed) properly for the final correct playout to be available.

The new high-tech toys are really nifty, but they'll bite you in the butt bigtime if you don't know exactly what you are doing.
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

> It was worse than described above. Nuzguy saw the second
> snafu. He missed the first.
>
> Heinbaugh's story didn't air right until the *third* time
> they tried to air it.
>
> First time was the lead story at 10:00. John and Gloria
> tossed to Chris, he read his lead in, and the tape ran. All
> we could hear were nat sounds of leaves being raked and
> lawnmowers. Heinbaugh's track could not be heard - nor
> could any of the soundbites. After 30 seconds of this, they
> bailed out and Heinbaugh apologized and tossed back to John
> and Gloria.
>
> The second time was around 10:07 as mentioned before. This
> time we saw video of a sign at city hall and no audio at
> all. When they bailed out of that video, Heinbaugh was
> standing there and you could hear Gloria reading something
> off mic. Heinbaugh walked off camera leaving a shot of an
> empty studio. They finally cut to a shot of Gloria and she
> finished reading the tag to his story and moved on.
>
> A few minutes later, they came back and John read the intro,
> tossed to Heinbaugh and the package finally aired properly.
>
>
> This had to be the biggest screw up I've ever seen at
> Channel 8. What a disgrace.
>
As Paul Harvey says, now we know "the rest of the story." Painful to see as the second attempt was as I tuned in late, glad I missed the first try. One has to wonder what's being done and said in the studio and newsroom in the wake of such a debacle. Or do we really want to know.

Small wonder Heinbaugh looked so distraught after the second run at getting the story on the air. Something says the sentiment was much more than "not one of our better efforts."
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

> It was worse than described above. Nuzguy saw the second
> snafu. He missed the first.
>
> Heinbaugh's story didn't air right until the *third* time
> they tried to air it.
>
> First time was the lead story at 10:00. John and Gloria
> tossed to Chris, he read his lead in, and the tape ran. All
> we could hear were nat sounds of leaves being raked and
> lawnmowers. Heinbaugh's track could not be heard - nor
> could any of the soundbites. After 30 seconds of this, they
> bailed out and Heinbaugh apologized and tossed back to John
> and Gloria.
>
> The second time was around 10:07 as mentioned before. This
> time we saw video of a sign at city hall and no audio at
> all. When they bailed out of that video, Heinbaugh was
> standing there and you could hear Gloria reading something
> off mic. Heinbaugh walked off camera leaving a shot of an
> empty studio. They finally cut to a shot of Gloria and she
> finished reading the tag to his story and moved on.
>
> A few minutes later, they came back and John read the intro,
> tossed to Heinbaugh and the package finally aired properly.
>
>
> This had to be the biggest screw up I've ever seen at
> Channel 8. What a disgrace.
>
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

> > This had to be the biggest screw up I've ever seen at
> > Channel 8. What a disgrace.
>
> How much you wanna bet there was a new editor who still
> wasn't comfortable with current non-linear computer editing
> techniques. From the above descriptions, sounds like the
> package wasn't assembled or compiled correctly, or
> incomplete versions were inadvertently being filed to the
> server, which of course would need to be flashed (refreshed)
> properly for the final correct playout to be available.
>
> The new high-tech toys are really nifty, but they'll bite
> you in the butt bigtime if you don't know exactly what you
> are doing.
>
>>>>Maybe, since this is NOT the first time something like this has happened, they should pre-record the news 30 minutes ahead (and make a tape backup!)and stay in the studio during replay, just in case there is breaking news;)
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

> >>>>Maybe, since this is NOT the first time something like
> this has happened, they should pre-record the news 30
> minutes ahead (and make a tape backup!)and stay in the
> studio during replay, just in case there is breaking news;)
>
remember last May during sweeps. Almost the same thing happened to Macie. Thjey Promoted a story for two days and every break in network programs on a sun. eve. When the time came the tape wouldn't play, and the backyup wouldn't play. So they had Macie sheepishly apologize and played it the next day at 5p.
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

We had a similar meltdown a few weeks ago on the 4. First the opening live shot died. Then the prompter didn't update. Finally the second story hadn't been pushed, and we were told to pitch to the third - all through our IFB's within 15 seconds of airtime. The light went on, and Walter Cronkite here tossed to every story but the right one. Noticing the deer in the headlights next to her, my partner ultimately pointed me in the right direction. Oh. My. Goodness. I was puckered so badly that the chair got up to leave when I did.

I've always thought in the worst case scenario, maybe the right thing to do is simply say, "We've got a problem. Let's take a break and come back when we've sorted all this out." Sadly that never seems to occur to me at the time. The only person I've ever seen with the presence of mind (and the guts) to do that is Dale Hansen. Sometimes everything that can go wrong does, and as an engineer friend of mine once pointed out, "Nowhere is it written that all this stuff is going to work every time." Chris et al have my empathy.

Jody

> > >>>>Maybe, since this is NOT the first time something like
>
> > this has happened, they should pre-record the news 30
> > minutes ahead (and make a tape backup!)and stay in the
> > studio during replay, just in case there is breaking
> news;)
> >
> remember last May during sweeps. Almost the same thing
> happened to Macie. Thjey Promoted a story for two days and
> every break in network programs on a sun. eve. When the time
> came the tape wouldn't play, and the backyup wouldn't play.
> So they had Macie sheepishly apologize and played it the
> next day at 5p.
>
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

I know this is going to sound bad...but I like watching the trainwrecks occure. Its for the simple fact it shows that people in this business are just as human as the people watching them. Sometimes funny (such a wrongly queued package or VO)or sometimes tragic (when an anchor/reporter loses their mind live on air), it makes for good theater.



> We had a similar meltdown a few weeks ago on the 4. First
> the opening live shot died. Then the prompter didn't update.
> Finally the second story hadn't been pushed, and we were
> told to pitch to the third - all through our IFB's within 15
> seconds of airtime. The light went on, and Walter Cronkite
> here tossed to every story but the right one. Noticing the
> deer in the headlights next to her, my partner ultimately
> pointed me in the right direction. Oh. My. Goodness. I was
> puckered so badly that the chair got up to leave when I did.
>
>
> I've always thought in the worst case scenario, maybe the
> right thing to do is simply say, "We've got a problem. Let's
> take a break and come back when we've sorted all this out."
> Sadly that never seems to occur to me at the time. The only
> person I've ever seen with the presence of mind (and the
> guts) to do that is Dale Hansen. Sometimes everything that
> can go wrong does, and as an engineer friend of mine once
> pointed out, "Nowhere is it written that all this stuff is
> going to work every time." Chris et al have my empathy.
>
> Jody
>
> > > >>>>Maybe, since this is NOT the first time something
> like
> >
> > > this has happened, they should pre-record the news 30
> > > minutes ahead (and make a tape backup!)and stay in the
> > > studio during replay, just in case there is breaking
> > news;)
> > >
> > remember last May during sweeps. Almost the same thing
> > happened to Macie. Thjey Promoted a story for two days and
>
> > every break in network programs on a sun. eve. When the
> time
> > came the tape wouldn't play, and the backyup wouldn't
> play.
> > So they had Macie sheepishly apologize and played it the
> > next day at 5p.
> >
>
 
Re: Snafu worse than that..

They are always entertaining unless you are in the middle of them. I used to direct an hour newscast and sometimes you feel like you are running on a giant snowball rolling downhill, just waiting for the bottom.


> I know this is going to sound bad...but I like watching the
> trainwrecks occure. Its for the simple fact it shows that
> people in this business are just as human as the people
> watching them. Sometimes funny (such a wrongly queued
> package or VO)or sometimes tragic (when an anchor/reporter
> loses their mind live on air), it makes for good theater.
 
It is NOT the perils of Live TV...it is ineptness at its worst!!

In a market this size, with a reputation for excellence that Ch.8 has, that sort of thing has no place. They simply don't have the luxury anymore of throwing "stuff" on the air and hoping it all works out. They need to plan better, execute better, and be damn sure every single piece of video, audio, live copy, live shot, whatever is THERE and ready...and that every single person touching any control knows EXACTLY what they are doing and when.
The gig is up. They HAVE to be perfect every time from here on to get the viewers back. Every time they make a mistake now, it's as if the viewer is saying "yep, they're not as good as they used to be". Some would argue mistakes happen, but if you research it, they most often occur because SOMEONE in the chain of events SCREWED UP. That just cannot be acceptable anymore for Ch.8.
They need to go top to bottom and find out who can get it done and replace those who can not.
 
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