Monday, February 26, 2007

 

Calling a TV Station

Check out this from ewink's blog. Winky and I worked together at USSB. He's now a news photographer in Las Vegas, NV and writes a very humorous and well written work related blog.

I still work on the fringes of the professional TV business and while these don't all apply to me and my current situation (thank God I don't EVER have to deal with the public anymore), but if you've ever worked in local TV, you'll find these somewhat amusing:

  • Make sure what you are calling about actually aired on the station you are calling. If you want to know about something that aired on Contact 13, and you call Channel 8, you're not going to get anywhere fast.

  • On a related note, just because we call come out of the same TV set does not mean we all come from the same building.

  • Please know what the hell you are talking about before you call.

  • I cannot give you a copy of the script. Sorry. You're going to have to order the story from the recording service. I'll give you all the info in the script, but I will not print you a copy. Not because I don't want to, but because I am pretty sure I can't.

  • On a related note, no, you may not get a copy of our raw tape.

  • Commercials are not news. Do not call the newsroom to ask about a commercial. We don't have a clue. (Call M-F 9-5 and ask for traffic. Not Skywitness Traffic, just traffic.)

  • The schmuck answering the phone, 99.99999% of the time, had absolutely nothing to do with the story you are calling to complain about. Please save your hate filled rant for the person who does.

  • Do not call and ask to talk to a reporter at 2AM.

  • If you do, I reserve the right to forward you to a random reporters voice mail. If you call back, I'll just do it again.

  • If no one died, no kids or seniors are involved and it's not part of a greater story, we did not cover it, nor will we. (This is subject to change based on the moon's orbit and the distance to sweeps.)

  • Managers don't work weekends. There is a reason they become managers, and it's not to hang around the station on a Saturday evening.

  • If the power is out, call the power company and then call the news. They can probably tell you more than we can, considering we ask the same people.

  • 99.9999999% of the stuff that is not local was not covered by us. Please take your complaint to the network.

  • I do not know Katie Couric's phone number.

  • I will not give you the phone number to another station.

  • 411 is 4 digits easier to dial than the newsroom, will get you the number faster and will not get you on my shitlist.

  • tvguide.com knows more about our stations lineup then I do. Check it first.

  • I will try and help you out as much as you can, but just because I work for a TV station does not mean that I know everything and that I can answer any question for you instantly. Most of the time I use Google. You should try it too!

  • If you call with a great story idea, but then refuse to go on camera/speak with someone off camera (or in silhouette)/at least give your name, the story will probably never see the light of day, and I will be very frustrated.

  • If the story doesn't involve more than just you, it better be good.
  • I reserve the right to add more things as more people call with just plain silly issues.


  • There's more, check out Otakuphotog.

    BOJ

    Comments:
    A station I worked at, that didn't have news, had their main phone number answered by an answering machine during non-business hours (yes, in 1998, still using a 2 full-size cassette answering machine). When I worked Sunday evenings, I'd go out there and take a listen to the messages... what EWink wrote is SO true.

    We'd get calls about news stories on other stations (again, we didn't have a news department), complaints about infomercials phone numbers being busy or non-working numbers, asking people who don't work there to call them back, etc.

    The weirdest of all, was a phone sex call... yes... some drunk guy thought the lady who hosted our >nameless affiliated network< Kids Club events was hot, and decided to leave her a message (apparently thought the spots were done LIVE or something at 11pm) on the machine while he was "handling his business". She was hot... but that phone call got him put in jail and slapped with a restraining order! The idiot left his name and number.

    People are dumb.

    Quinn
     
    At most local stations I worked at, the calls to the main phone line were transferred to master control, making the master control operator the de facto receptionist from 5pm to 8am.

    Hell, I never minded answering the phones, tried to do as much as I could around the place. One place I found out that the recptionist made more money than me. For most of my shift I was doing her job in addition to mine, doing two jobs and making less than someone who was only doing one.

    Yeah, I don't do local TV anymore.
     
    Well the two local stations I worked for, the main number was never routed to Master Control or the News Room. That number was for general inquiries and to contact various office staff during the week. The News line at my first station had it's share of weird calls too, but I never dealt with those morons.
     
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