Team 1 Rundown Rationale

by: Lauren Fabrizi (NCC News)

Nov. 3, 2010, 7:22 p.m.

Our team consisted of myself, Lauren Fabrizi, as producer, Marquise Francis as anchor, and Callan Gray and Dan Grossman as our two reporters.

Although ENPS was down for quite some time, our team was able to pull everything together and have the show run very smoothly!

A1: Headlines

We teased a national story (A3), local story (A6), and state/local story (A9) in our headlines as a way to briefly introduce multiple aspects of the 2010 midterm elections.

A2: Maffei Buerkle

As of this morning, the winner of the 25th Congressional District in New York was still undecided, so I wanted to lead with this story as the Maffei/Buerkle race has been very popular in local news for a while. Originally, Dan was going to do a recorded wrap on the race. However, he could not obtain a source, so for time purposes he changed his story, and a reader was done instead.

A3: Republicans

Another major headliner this morning was that many Republicans were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, so we made the transition from local news to a national story. Marquise did a nice anchor-actuality on the topic, and obtained his sound bite from ABC newscall.

A4: Cuomo

Going from national news to state news, we covered our next story, the race for New York governor, with a reader. Not only was Democrat Andrew Cuomo elected, but Cuomo's father held the position of govenor in the 1980s and 90s. So this story also had a 'human interest' effect.

A5: Schumer Gillibrand

Continuing with state news, our next story was another reader on the Schumer/Gillibrand race for New York Senate. The story briefly discussed that Schumer and Gillibrand were elected for the NY Senate term.

A6: Marcellus High

To change up the pace, an anchor-actuality was done on the voters present at Marcellus High School Tuesday night. Marquise obtained an excellent sound bite from a Marcellus resident about her reason for voting Republican. This story also marked a transition from state news to local news.

A7: Sheriff

Keeping with local news, a reader was used to cover the Onondaga County sheriff race. Kevin Walsh was elected to his 4th fifth-year term. The story was newsworthy because Walsh's victory will enable him to become the county's longest-serving sheriff. However, after the completion of A6, we were slightly behind on time, so I dropped it.

A8: Marijuana

Although it was a stretch, our newscast went back to national news with a voicer to spice up the pace. Dan went through multiple story topics trying to obtain a source. Although Dan was unable to speak with someone, he did a very good job on his voicer on Propisition 19, a law that if passed, would permit California residents to legally possess and grow the drug. The vote for Proposition 19 was Tuesday night, along with all the midterm elections, so it fit into the 'election' theme.

A9: Valesky Russo

Transitioning from national news to local news, Callan did an excellent live wrap on the victory of Onondaga County's senate incumbents David Veleskey and John DeFrancisco. She obtained her sound bite from Valesky's opponent, Andrew Russo.

A10: Roberts

Keeping with local news, a reader covered the 119th Assembly District. The story discussed how Democrat Sam Roberts easily defeated his opponent, Republican John Sharon. But with A8 and A9 going a little longer than estimated, it was cut, just to be safe.

A11: Tease

A story on a local family's diabetic daughter, along with the weather, was teased.

B1: Diabetes (Kicker)

Although our entire A-block covered the midterm elections, I wanted to change direction altogether for the kicker. So I used a reader to cover the story of a Camillus couple and their diabetic daughter. It was definitely a good human interest piece because it discussed how the couple wanted to buy a service dog that would be able to monitor their daughter's blood sugar levels.

B2: Weather

After Marquise read the kicker story, we were right on time. No filler-weather was needed, so Marquise read today and tonight's weather at a perfect speed and ended with the current temperature.

B3: Music and Close

After the weather, Marquise hit the close at exactly the right moment, and ended the show on time.

Although no floaters were in the Z-block, we had some lined up (Green Party Recognition and Oneida County Sheriff Race), but with time constraints due to ENPS being down and being the first group to go, I was unable to transcribe them into the rundown.

However, we had a total of 9 stories in the A-block, and with some stories going over the estimated duration in the "actual" column, I anticipated that we would most likely have to drop 1 or 2 readers, which is what happened.

Dropping both A7 and A9 before the break was a good move, because by doing so, Marquise did not have to cut anything from the kicker or rush through the weather. Despite the obstacles of the day, our team worked well together and came through in the end for a great newscast.