Before I begin blogging, I just wanted to say "thanks" for all the replies and e-mails I have received from you. I never thought anyone would read the ravings of a madman -- or a TV news anchor -- but you have in large numbers. Also, a big thanks to those who have replied and told me that they love contemporary jazz. My last blog indicated how passionate I am about listening to the likes of the Rippingtons, Paul Hardcastle, et al. It's nice to know that there are others who feel the same way -- and that it's not "elevator music" like some of my friends like to call it. Now, onto this week's "Adventures in Anchoring".


I actually have two jobs here at channel 4. From 4am to 9am, I co-anchor the morning news with Kelly Frey and handle cut-ins during Good Morning America. But after 9am, I just don't go home. Both Kelly and myself become reporters and are asked to produce stories for the 5pm news. Sounds easy, but I have discovered that being a news reporter is very different from being a sports reporter.

In sports, it's really very easy to cover something like a Steelers game. Everything is right there: the players, the action and the game has a set period of time and rarely do people not want to talk with you ( except Ben if he's had a bad game ). But news reporting is a different animal. There is no set beginning, middle and end to reporting a story. No halftime. There's no press box where they feed you and no game notes to tell you what the story could be. And how about this -- people sometimes do not want to talk to you!

A great example yesterday. I came up with an idea following the "Touch" nightclub shooting of seeing if club owners in the Strip were worried about the same thing happening at their clubs. Well, I called a couple of clubs and they told me, "No Comment". Can you believe that? All I wanted was an opinion and they showed me the hand ( guess I won't be going to Sports Rock Cafe anytime soon ). So I decided enough with the phone calls and drove down to the strip and started knocking on doors. I finally got a hold of the owner of a new club being built in the Strip called "Pure". It will open in August and the owner was happy to talk with me. Turned out to be a pretty good story that aired at 6pm Monday. Nice club, too although I'm wondering how the see-thru dance floor above the stairs on the second floor will go over with the ladies.

Point is, being a reporter and being an anchor are two different things and require two different skills. I think I have the anchoring thing down, but it will take me a while to become a good reporter so be patient.

Thanks for reading and if you have any suggestions on how to make this blog even better, please feel free to drop me a line.