“No other outfit in the world, pull out of a winter battle, move a hundred miles, go into a major attack with no rest, no sleep, no hot food. God, God, I’m proud of these men.”
With apologies to the late George C. Scott and the film Patton, I am about to draw a parallel between Patton’s pride in his Third Army troops and my feelings for the people here at SNN.
A combination of COVID-19 and the flu flattened the SNN newsroom in the last two weeks of 2021. At one point five of our anchors were ill or quarantined. Others behind the scenes also impacted. That’s why you had Marco in for Kathy, Kathy and Annette anchoring for Emma, Don and Cynthia out several days, Leslie seemingly working every shift, Justin and Jenn in when they should have been on vacation, and Samantha working seven days straight.
In the midst of this game of 3D chess, we managed to break the story the Ed Smith COVID-19 test facility failed to open last Friday. We brought you the New Year’s fireworks live, and continued to bring you the local news, weather and sports of the day.
With nearly 50 years in the business, I will tell you there is not a better job on earth. Still, local TV is not for the faint of heart. The news never stops. It doesn’t happen on a schedule. An eight hour day can easily turn into 12 or 18. We often plan our day’s coverage, only to have it get blown out the door by breaking news.
Last Friday, we learned hundreds of cars were in line at a test facility that did not open. Reporter Samantha Sonner went to Ed Smith, interviewed people on line, including one guy who had been there since 3:00am. She went live, shot video, more interviews and in between for nearly two hours, patiently and patiently letting people know the site was closed; adding they should go to Robert L. Taylor or the dog track for a COVID-19 test.
At some point in every job interview, I will tell a prospect: if you want this job, you have to want it more than anything else. And I mean anything. You want structure, set hours, eat healthy food, a life? Go work at Home Depot.
Just thought you’d like to know why the faces of SNN were popping at odd times day and night. Just thought you’d like to know how proud I am of their extraordinary effort to do whatever it takes to bring you the news.
