Behind The Scenes On The Weekends

Sometimes I hear, "You just sit there and read the teleprompter, right?" I wish! As a Weekend Anchor, just as any other anchor at our station we have multiple job duties and although it seems quiet on the weekends, it sometimes gets a little hectic but we have a great weekend crew which you will see in the below pictures.

So, let's start! Here is a look at behind the scenes on KRBC Weekends!

I usually go into work anytime from 1 to 2 p.m. to prepare for Saturday 6pm and 10pm newscast as well as Sunday's 5pm and 10pm.

The first thing is, I find out what the weekend reporter has for the day, what else he/she could do, what kind of story it could be, and for which newscast it will be ready for.

This particular weekend, Tim Johnston was our weekend reporter and in this picture he was working on a couple of stories for Sunday's 5pm and 10pm.

I then sit down and start producing the show. Meaning, I get all the local stories we have, look up other sources locally and statewide to see what is going on in Texas and start building my show.

Trust me, it's not easy, when the weekends are slow story days. After finding local or statewide news, I start looking for national headline news, and even go international at times. I edit some stories, I write, and add them to my show.

At times I even run out and be reporter, as I am trying to produce the show. Those days get a little crazy, when I am running out to a scene of an accident or checking on a structure fire, getting footage and interviews when I should really be back at the station trying to get my show organized, my timing, and stories accurate.

Anyways, as I am stacking my shows together or running around getting more local stories, Tyler Edwards the Weekend Sports Anchor is also getting his sports headlines together and editing compelling highlight video for you. He does a great job of keeping viewers entertained with his sports videos and his energetic attitude.

When my show is all stacked ready to go, I go over scripts, make any necessary adjustments and then.... I print. Big relief!

I then head to the dressing room to get changed and do my make up. Even on the set, sometimes I touch up and our production crews are always laughing about it.

We do our mic checks, our camera crews set up shots. I usually
give the guys a hard time, I am jittery before the news cast, drinking my water or pop, adding last minute touches to my make up or moving around looking at my scripts and laptop but the guys are really great about it!

As we do our last minute preparations we are ready to roll!!


Oh yeah, did I mention I run my own teleprompter as well? Ha, it's not so bad because if I mess up or something goes wrong I can slow it down or stop it. (It's a foot pedal by the way)

Now, we are now underway with our newscast but how do all the video, audio, and graphics come up? We have a great crew for that as well!
There is someone on audio to turn our mics on and off when needed.

Once, our director thought we were on, it was after a football game and since we don't have an accurate time we kind of have to go with the flow. So, after the post game show, our news channel went to black so my mic was turned on because she thought we were going on but actually a commercial was about to run and at the time I didn't realize my mic was turned on and the 695-1181 commercial came on, normally I always bust out singing it and being silly during commercial times... luckily this time I didn't!

I'm not going to lie, when I am cued to start the top of the show, my heart starts pounding but there is no turning back!! The worst part of it is, when you don't go over scripts in full detail, because if there is a misspelled word.. or the sentence that was written doesn't make sense, it could trip you up completely!! As you are trying to make sense of what in the world you just said.. you need to get back on track but you lose your concentration and sometimes it gets ugly.

Then, after the newscast is done and over with, Tyler, Randy, and I, or if it's a Saturday with Clemente we get together with our production crew and we discuss things that went wrong in the newscast. For example, video didn't come up at the right time, or they have "Mary Jo's" name on "Joe Smith's" soundbite, or maybe a tun time for a story wasn't on the script. This makes us (both production and talent) make sure those errors aren't made again and sometimes it happens but we try to improve each newscast.

These Are My Confessions.

Maybe one day I should roll an extra camera during the newscast so you can get a real look at what happens before, during, and after the newscast!

I love anchoring! It's my favorite part of my job at KRBC. I'm not even close to those big time anchors you see on CNN or MSNBC, but this is where I start, where I grow as a reporter/anchor, and as a person. I am really glad that Abilene is my first TV job. Every day I learn more and more.

There are amazing anchors at KRBC. Downing, Kyna, and Stephanie, which I don't come close to their knowledge and expertise but this is why I am here. I am here to learn from them and become better as each day goes by.