A newsroom can be a hectic place, especially when a big story breaks. But Friday added a few more obstacles to the usual chaos. The outbreak of storms started out fairly small, virtually exploding as it hit the Four State area. At one point during the morning, most of the area was under a thunderstorm warning. Not a watch, as is common, but a warning as the storm roared through the area.
GMFS had ended, but we were still in the studio finishing our taped segments. In between these segments, we'd break into Good Morning America for a weather update. In the middle of one update, I was trying quickly get the information on the air, in the midst of flashing lights. You could sense the power would soon disappear, and just as I finished talking about the tornado warning... poof. KODE was in the dark.
Word of the collapsed tower had filtered into the building as did members of the KSN morning staff. Over the next hour, reporters, management, and other co-workers began to appear. Even though the station was without power, a plan was being organized for the storm coverage. Cell phones and flashlights lit up the newsroom as calls were made to emergency management personnel around the area. Reporters were sent to various areas in Joplin, Carl Junction, Southeastern Kansas and beyond, with a helicopter also employed with the help of St. John's. The number of reporters was starting to outnumber the amount of available cameras. But every staff member that was available made their way into the station.
By about 9:30, through the magic of a resourceful engineer, we had 4 computers and a small table lamp operating from the generator of our live truck. The phone system was back up to receive the sea of phone calls that would follow. But even with all this effort, the station was still without power.
A short, one minute news insert was created, but as the reporters returned, that number slowly inched toward five minutes. A portable editing machine was added to our lone power strip as tape was assembled as quickly as it was arriving. Still, there was no prospect of when any of this would ever air.
By 1:00, attention turned to putting together a 5:00 p.m. newscast, which was an easy task given the amount of material. Storm damage, flooding, personal stories were all part of the plan. At 3:00, another live van was brought in to power our edit bays, thus giving us more opportunity to put stories together. By the time I left at 4:00, the window of opportunity for even a 6:00 p.m. was closing quickly.
And as luck would have it, the station would not regain power until Saturday afternoon, meaning we were unable to air any of these stories on Friday. Many of the stories would be seen on Saturday while several would find the website. Truly a team effort between two stations in some bizarre circumstances.
.jpg)