Look Mom, No Tape

Today Brad was off. So I had the double duty of shooting and reporting. So today was my first time using the new P2 camera. If you've read Brad's blog then you know these cameras don't use tape. Everything is recorded on a card.

Everything was fine today. No problems. But I do miss the clicking sound you get from the camera's that use tape. You know something's going on in there. But tape is slipping into the past, just like film.

When Channel 19 went on the air in 1963, they were using 16mm film for all news stories. They didn't have sound and the film had to be driven back to the station and run through a film developing processor. So there was no quick turn around of shooting something and then getting it on the air. Over the years sound finally came, then color. In 1979 the station switched to videotape. It was called three-quarter tape. It was big and bulky. The station was still using this when I started interning in 1997. So I got use the 3/4 gear. Not fun. The camera was one piece, and then the recorder was another piece.

In 1998, the station switched to the DVC Pro format. It was digital videotape. Much easier to use and the picture quality is also better. Huntsville is still using DVC. But Sand Mountain and the Shoals are now tape free.

Christmas in April?

Months ago I downloaded "My Home's in Alabama" to my computer. I paid for it. It played fine then. Tonight, when I went to play it off my computer, instead of the group Alabama I heard Michael Buble singing "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" Why? I haven't downloaded that song.

Friday Night in the Rain

Friday everyone was set to cover the severe weather expected to move in to North Alabama. Brad and I ended up in Huntsville. We had sent three crews toward the Shoals, because that's where Dan expected the worst weather to be, which turned out to be the case. So Brad and I were brought in to protect the rear flank I guess you could say.

It turned out to be an interesting night. We did live shots from all over, from Limestone County, to Northern Madison County to Huntsville. At one time we were very close to a storm that was trying its hardest to put down a tornado. I know Dan expressed some concern about our safety. I appreciate that concern. I know that several people were also praying for me and that means a great deal. Thank you.

There's No Crying in T-ball

It's the time of year that little kids are starting to play t-ball and baseball. I was thinking about something that happened when I was playing T-ball. There were no girls on our team, but there were girls on this team we were playing once. I was playing first base and this girl comes up to bat and she hits it right between 1st and 2nd. I go get the ball and realize i'm not going to be able to get back to the base. So I just lean back, throw the ball and hit her in the arm with it. I figured that was the same as tagging her. She cried and I had to sit in the dugout the rest of the game.

5 Years on the Bureau Beat

Today, April 5th, marks 5 years since I became the station's Sand Mountain reporter. The first story I did was about the ceiling at Plainview School falling in because of heavy rain. In many ways it doesn't seem like five years. When I started we were working out of a small office, not much bigger than a bathroom, in Guntersville. We didn't have internet, nor did we even have a TV in the office. We just had a little laptop computer we could dial into the system in Huntsville and that was it. We also did not have microwave capabilities. That meant we couldn't send our stories to Huntsville. We would have to drive to the station everyday and drive back. That made for some long days.

In these five years, I've covered plenty of meth labs, murders, three Hurricanes, September 11th, the death of one soldier, several others who were hurt, the shooting death of a police chief, was live on the air as a tornado passed right over the bureau, a presidential election, a visit by the vice president, a governor's race(soon to be two), the innauguration of Governor Riley, more high school football games than I can count, a year long court battle over who would be the mayor of Guntersville, five Poke Salat festivals and I've read to about 50 different classes of kids, some of which are now in high school.