TV Phrases, What They Mean to Me

You will hear a lot of "TV" phrases on any television station. You will hear us say "Only on 19." That's one example.

But what does that mean? Well the way I feel and the way our news managers seem to feel is that we call a story "Only on 19" when it's, well, only on 19. That seems to be a good policy. If we say it's a story you'll see only on 19, that means you won't see that story anywhere else. You won't see it on another station or in the newspaper.

Sometimes we will cover a story that is in the newspaper or on another station, but we will still say "Only on 19." But we won't say it's a story, you'll see only on 19. We will say something like, this is video you'll see only on 19. Or this is an interview you'll see only on 19. I've seen some examples of others using the phrase "It's a story you'll see only on ....." when in fact, it was in the newspaper earlier in the day.

Another one you'll hear is, "we've got a crew on the scene." To me a crew on the scene means we have people there where something happened as we speak. However, today I read where someone else said, we've got a crew on the scene of a plane crash in Fort Payne. Brad Hood looked around, but didn't see anyone on the scene. They did show up later. I guess what they meant to say is, we've got a crew on the way to the scene.

I guess a lot of people would ask why we even use these phrases. Well, we say Only on 19 or First on 19, or first to the scene, because we want you to know that when news happens, you can hear and see it on our station first. We want you to know that we're going to get stories you won't see elsewhere. We want you to know that we are in a position like no one else to get to the scene of a story while it's happening. We use those phrases, but we and especially I, don't take them lightly. If you see me doing a story that's "Only on 19", you can believe it's only on 19.