Op/Ed: Daring New Paths

I consider it a great running gag to have either a Magic 8-Ball or a crystal ball behind me when I do a weather or astronomy podcast. The idea being (in my not so humble opinion) that it is hilarious to see a professional meteorologist with supposed fortune-telling instruments in view. Mostly to see if anyone recognizes it for what it is. (“Ah! So THAT’S how he makes his forecast!” I also tried to include a few mugs of tea with the leaves on the saucer as a tasseomancy reference, but all I got was people who asked why I had dirty dishes on the set.)

I tried having one or two of the items behind me at one of my stations during the weathercasts, only to have public viewer complaints forwarded to me from the management that I was engaging in devil worship and as an anti-Christian was going to Hell for using the public airwaves as recruitment tools for the devil. Being in the southern United States, the managers were usually known to favor the viewers in anything complaint-worthy, as they were very fearful of losing even one viewer.

Tough room. So much for having a bit of fun from time to time. Did I try this type of personal whimsy often? Was it worth it? Yes. Only because I learned from the best about how and when to try something new and different.

Working a dovetailed schedule of a meteorologist on the weekend shifts and production department member on the weekdays from my time at KTKA-TV 49 in Topeka, Kansas, I gratefully picked up a great deal of knowledge and experience from many people. One of the newscast directors was Dennis Denger, of whom I wish I would have kept a few snapshots of his work as proof and inspiration of trying something new or inventing a new angle for a project of line of thinking. During the set-up for the very early morning newscasts, after I was done getting the studio cameras set and the audio board ready to go, Mr. Dennis would lead me through how to create a weather forecast graphic that included the forecast text from our chief meteorologist, included over a video capture from the station towercam which would be posted on-screen while the verbal forecast audio from ABC's Good Morning America played over it later in the morning.?A typical morning’s choice of a background picture would usually include the grassy embankment as Interstate 70 curves through downtown Topeka, a capture of a gorgeous Kansas sunrise through the buildings to the east of the station, or a close-up of the Kansas Capitol building in the same sunrise glow, or a look across the Kansas River which flowed just north of the station building.?

If there was enough time, Dennis would include something extra, using the special effects available on the director’s control board to fade in someone’s face to be just barely discernible if you looked hard enough.?My particular favorite was when he would hide David Letterman’s face in the Kansas Capitol building, or Kansas City Chiefs then-head coach Marty Schottenheimer’s face in the clouds over the Kansas River. Several noteworthy dignitaries of the day had their turn while Dennis was in the director’s chair on the daybreak shift. (A particularly indignant crusading preacher from a small Topeka church was one of the favorites, usually woven into the Montgomery Ward’s downtown parking lot.)?

In the days before widespread e-mail, we would get phone calls to the newsroom from people kindly asking if they had seen someone’s face in this building or that cloud, or if they were just imagining things. Occasionally, we would get an actual letter that would be passed along through channels to the production department, quizzically inquiring about what the writer may or may not have seen.

Whether or not word of these minor shenanigans ever made it to management’s level, I was never made aware. I would like to think that, had anyone up the chain of command noticed, we would have had a laugh about it as Just One Of Those Things That Happen In Broadcast Television circles. I have found that, in my not-so-limited broadcasting experience, there are a lot more upper level managers out there who have - and would rather have -?many more Think Smarter Not Harder Boss Training symposiums under their belt rather than a decent sized sense of humor. Anything that goes against the grain of making money and not disturbing the money-making pattern/formula, or - perish the thought - would reduce the viewing audience by one person who would find an on-air pun, a humorous mistake or a hidden face in the clouds offensive or silly, has been more and more an event worthy of sanction, remonstration or worse. Suggesting a new segment, a new story, a new line of investigation can all be equally challenging, especially when the answer happens to be “no” a good deal of the time.?Doesn't mean you should stop trying.

To my own history, to someone who has gone through the news business learning how and when (or if) to try something a bit whimsical, the level of daring that Mr. Dennis took upon himself to try. At my other stations, I would occasionally fade in a face or two, mostly to see if anyone was paying attention. It became a running gag of sorts between me and people at the stations who knew what was going on. (David Letterman in the rising moon for the nighttime forecast was my signature.)

At one of my last stations, during a particularly long summer season when the forecast in the area didn’t change from day to day over a several week period, I devised an animation with a pair of scissors that would “cut” the forecast wording out from one frame and “paste” it into another, closing out the weather segment with the proud statement that - at OUR station, being environmentally conscious - we always recycle everything, including the weather for our viewers’ benefit!?

For some odd reason, management didn’t find that funny at all. Tough room. (Conversely, and thankfully, the newsroom crew was hip enough to think it hilarious.)?

For the up and comers in today’s journalism classes who will be in the Newsrooms Of The Future, broadcast or digital, I would recommend having the backbone to try new things, challenge the status quo, make your mark in trying to be unique in your viewer’s/listener’s eyes and ears. This is sorely needed in a Don’t Rock The Boat You Might Lose Us A Customer! Stranglehold attitude in today’s media markets.

Don’t believe me? If you have access to one market’s newscasts, try watching each newscast flipping back and forth between them one evening. You will probably find that they follow almost the exact same formula, and quite probably the exact rundown of stories, to the point that their commercial breaks will air at very nearly the exact same time. What makes them different? What makes them memorable?

Maybe something a bit edgy, something that your competition isn’t doing? (Remember to stay within the bounds of reason: most news directors will not respond well to a suggestion of doing the weather forecast in interpretive dance.) Maybe adding a cartoon character or political figure to the fluffy clouds in a weather forecast graphic isn’t the best way to go until you have a good idea on how your Powers That Be might respond, but being the person to suggest a new idea, and to fight for that idea when it might be rejected at first, is one of the best struggles you can engage in. Over my time, my ideas that once were fine fell out of favor - no more words about climate change, no more science about why and how something in the forecast could occur to affect the viewers' day, no more astronomical events... nothing noteworthy. Just the same weather forecast that could be obtained from any other station in the market (or the National Weather Service without actually watching a newscast). Ho hum.

Bringing your idea to fruition (or at the very least, attempting to do so) is one way you can distinguish yourself in your new, or in any, career. Dare to be different, to be the one who walks off the path a bit, breaking trail for those who will follow you. Rocking the boat too much could cost you your position. Rocking it enough to make some much-needed waves when dedicated to course correction? Full speed ahead.

Just don’t use a Magic 8-ball as your guide as you sail into the future. The roaming charges are terrible and the map directions are not great. (Reply Hazy - Try Again Later)