• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

NBC staff member reportedly tests positive for COVID-19/ Coronavirus

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

https://pagesix.com/2020/03/16/al-r...28.1343601682.1584364872-269741609.1532021207


https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...osts-al-roker-craig-melvin-absent/5057571002/

I would like to know where Today, NBC Nightly News, MSNBC and WNBC4 News New York Operations backup plans. WNBC-TV might need to get the other NBC O&O's to take over their local news operations just in case their staff is being told to get out of the news room, Today, MSNBC and NBC Nightly news might need to decide on doing their operations from Washington DC or Los Angeles now that there is a report of somebody from NBC being tested positive for COVID-19. Yes NBC might need to face the same issues CBS News had to deal with last week.


"Today" hosts Al Roker and Craig Melvin were absent from the morning show Monday after an employee who works on the show's third hour tested positive for coronavirus, host Savannah Guthrie announced.

"On a personal note for this show, last night we learned that a colleague of ours on the third hour of 'Today' has tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus," Guthrie addressed viewers. "So out of an abundance of caution, Craig and Al have taken the morning off so we can trace their contacts and see what's going on with them. We promise to keep you posted. Both are fine right now. They feel good."

Guthrie and host Hoda Kotb assured viewers both Roker and Melvin, hosts of "Today"s third hour, were doing well and that they were just aiming to be as cautious as possible.

"Yeah, we're just trying to play exactly by the rules and we hope and wish that they come back soon," Kotb added
Click to expand...
 
RadioPatrol said:
I would like to know where Today, NBC Nightly News, MSNBC and WNBC4 News New York Operations are held.
Click to expand...

Most of the studios are in 30 Rockefeller Center. The building also has a shopping mall and is a tourist destination. They may want to consider closing the building, as CBS did last week.
 
TheBigA said:
Most of the studios are in 30 Rockefeller Center. The building also has a shopping mall and is a tourist destination. They may want to consider closing the building, as CBS did last week.
Click to expand...

I forgot to correct myself and say backup plans. Such as having other NBC O&O's such as KNBC, WRC, KNTV, WMAQ take over WNBC's news operations and Today, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News moving to Los Angeles or Washington DC as NBC New York deals with a COVID-19 investigation.
 
RadioPatrol said:
I forgot to correct myself and say backup plans. Such as having other NBC O&O's such as KNBC, WRC, KNTV, WMAQ take over WNBC's news operations and Today, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News moving to Los Angeles or Washington DC as NBC New York deals with a COVID-19 investigation.
Click to expand...

As this goes on, all of their places will likely have people who test positive.
 
Don CT said:
I wonder if we get 30 minute primetime weekend update episodes like they do in the summer.
Click to expand...

Assuming the building isn't shut down.

There's no guarantee the cast of the show would want to walk into a place where there's been a confirmed case.
 
We won't get any more SNLs the rest of the season I bet. In fact TV will be mostly rerun city for weeks if not months. Except for the shows that were lucky to tape BEFORE the outbreak.
 
Also NBC Sports Net National might need to simulcast some of the NBC Sports Regional Editions such as NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California (Regional Sports Outlets from San Francisco and Sacramento) during this confirmed report of a NBC Staff member reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
 
RadioPatrol said:
Also NBC Sports Net National might need to simulcast some of the NBC Sports Regional Editions such as NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California (Regional Sports Outlets from San Francisco and Sacramento) during this confirmed report of a NBC Staff member reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
Click to expand...

Assuming none of those other bureaus get positive tests. Hard to make that assumption. Slow incubation & lack of tests mean people won't know they have it.
 
crainbebo said:
We won't get any more SNLs the rest of the season I bet. In fact TV will be mostly rerun city for weeks if not months. Except for the shows that were lucky to tape BEFORE the outbreak.
Click to expand...

Okay, par for the course, this thread is spinning up and making some assumptions that may, or may not be true. Here are some basic facts:

SNL is in a geographically different and detached part of 30 Rock from Today or NBC News. Nothing has been decided yet, but based on not having any studio audiences and limiting in-studio guests for news, SNL was probably not planning on either the early rehearsal with an audience, nor actual show.

Since the reported infected staff member for Today probably didn't hang out in the SNL studios, offices, or control room, don't assume that those shows would be equally affected. Same goes with Nightly News. Each department has separate staff, most on different floors or sections of the building. I'm sure the NBC Universal Medical folks are investigating who this person may have interacted with, and precautions to clean those areas and evaluate who they interacted-with.
 
Kelly A said:
SNL is in a geographically different and detached part of 30 Rock from Today or NBC News.
Click to expand...

The other thing we don't know is who actually has this. Because only a small percentage has been tested, there could be a lot more infected but not confirmed.
 
https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/245988/lester-holt-to-anchor-live-virus-special/


Update NBC News is going to have a special on COVID-19. Now the question here is where will NBC News send Lester Holt and the other staff members to when this special is out.


NBC News will air a live primetime special NBC News Special Report: Coronavirus Pandemic, anchored by Lester Holt on Thursday, March 19, at 10 p.m. ET across NBC, MSNBC, the streaming service NBC News NOW and Telemundo Digital.

As developments and massive global impacts continue to unfold around the pandemic, a team of the network’s correspondents will provide crucial real-time information around what viewers need to know about the coronavirus.

The one-hour broadcast will also include expert analysis and health advice from NBC’s Coronavirus Crisis Team, including NBC News and MSNBC correspondent Dr. John Torres and top virologist and NBC News and MSNBC medical contributor Dr. Joseph Fair.
Click to expand...
 
SNL shutting down for 3 weeks.
Saturday Night Live is going dark amid the coronavirus outbreak.

NBC sketch series is shutting down for three weeks, according to a source with knowledge of the news. NBC did not immediately respond to request for comment.

SNL had been set to return on March 28 with John Krasinski as the host and Dua Lipa as the musical guest. Like other films that had been slated for a release soon, Krasinski's movie A Quiet Place Part II was already pushed back until later this year.

Of course, SNL films in front of a live studio audience, and many other shows that do so (like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and many late night shows) have already suspended filming.

SNL is 16 episodes into its 21-episode season and it's currently unclear whether the comedy series will pick back up for those final episodes.

In New York, where SNL films, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered all movie theaters, nightclubs and concert venues to close by Tuesday, March 17. Restaurants, bars and cafes can stay open but are limited to food delivery and takeout only.
Click to expand...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...-1284930?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
 
RadioPatrol said:
Update NBC News is going to have a special on COVID-19. Now the question here is where will NBC News send Lester Holt and the other staff members to when this special is out.
Click to expand...

This is a special about COVID-19, not how it's effecting anything at NBC.

There's an old saying in the news biz: Report on the news, don't become the news.
 
Brian Williams was just interviewing a guest, and ended it by saying that he's in an isolated studio so that he doesn't come in contact with any other people to limit his own exposure to the virus. So it's possible that the in-studio face-to-face interview that we see so often on TV is now on hiatus.
 
My radio company has closed our studio facilities to everyone except employees.

Primarily that affects officials wishing to use our air to reach their constituents, who are invited to join us over the phone.

NBC and the other national networks operating from Manhattan have a unique problem though. The largest known COVID-19 outbreak is happening there, now. Roughly 10% of all the cases in the USA as of yesterday are located in Manhattan, and 20% of the total outbreak is in metro New York City (including a couple of New Jersey counties)
 
Last edited:
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom