J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
Since I don't think NBC anchor Brian Williams, interim ABC anchor Charles Gibson, nor interim CBS anchor Bob Schieffer were on their respective evening newscasts on Friday (August 26th), I suspect they were trying to get in some late-Summer vacation time.
It's actually somewhat of a tradition for the "big three" evening news anchors to take a week or two of vacation prior to Labor Day with their returning to their respective anchor desks either on Labor Day or the day after that holiday.
But Hurricane Katrina is due to hit New Orleans tomorrow (August 29th), possibly as a historically-powerful storm. It has, at this writing, sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, just 10 MPH below the threshold of a "Class 5" hurricane, the most powerful possible. If Katrina gets sustained winds of 155 miles per hour or stronger at landfall, it would be only be the fourth "Class 5" hurricane ever to hit the United States (although it should be noted several other hurricanes over the years that reached "Class 5" status had weakened to "Class 4" or "Class 3" status at initial U.S. landfall). The other three hurricanes that were "Class 5" at landfall were the 1935 Labor Day storm (before hurricanes had names), Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992.
I would think that given the circumstances, if indeed Williams, Gibson and Schieffer are on vacation that they're going to be summoned back to New York ASAP. If Katrina does hit the mainland as a Class 5 storm (and especially if it's winds are well in excess of the 155 MPH threshold for a Class 5 storm, which some forecasters are worried it could), the networks may end up running lots of special coverage, since Katrina has the potential to be one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
And I would think that ABC, CBS and NBC would want their lead anchors available to go on the air for a story like this.
Thus, don't be surprised if Charles Gibson, Bob Schieffer and Brian Williams are on the air tomorrow to anchor their respective evening newscasts and any special updates or live coverage of the storm that their networks may provide.
It's actually somewhat of a tradition for the "big three" evening news anchors to take a week or two of vacation prior to Labor Day with their returning to their respective anchor desks either on Labor Day or the day after that holiday.
But Hurricane Katrina is due to hit New Orleans tomorrow (August 29th), possibly as a historically-powerful storm. It has, at this writing, sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, just 10 MPH below the threshold of a "Class 5" hurricane, the most powerful possible. If Katrina gets sustained winds of 155 miles per hour or stronger at landfall, it would be only be the fourth "Class 5" hurricane ever to hit the United States (although it should be noted several other hurricanes over the years that reached "Class 5" status had weakened to "Class 4" or "Class 3" status at initial U.S. landfall). The other three hurricanes that were "Class 5" at landfall were the 1935 Labor Day storm (before hurricanes had names), Camille in 1969 and Andrew in 1992.
I would think that given the circumstances, if indeed Williams, Gibson and Schieffer are on vacation that they're going to be summoned back to New York ASAP. If Katrina does hit the mainland as a Class 5 storm (and especially if it's winds are well in excess of the 155 MPH threshold for a Class 5 storm, which some forecasters are worried it could), the networks may end up running lots of special coverage, since Katrina has the potential to be one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
And I would think that ABC, CBS and NBC would want their lead anchors available to go on the air for a story like this.
Thus, don't be surprised if Charles Gibson, Bob Schieffer and Brian Williams are on the air tomorrow to anchor their respective evening newscasts and any special updates or live coverage of the storm that their networks may provide.