Team 3 Rundown Rationale

By Kevin Belbey (NCC News)

November 17, 2010, 3:30 pm

Team 3 consisted of myself, Kevin Belbey, as producer, Kimberly Caruba as anchor, Ethan Kwassman as a reporter with a recorded wrap, and Chet Davis as a reporter with a live wrap. We had mostly local stories, but also had three national stories to end A block. As far as pacing, I made sure there was at least one reader in between each set of stories that had soundbites.

A1: Headlines

For the Headlines, we teased three stories spaced out throughout the newscast. The three stories we teased were A2, A4, and A7.

A2: Flu

With no breaking national or local stories, I decided to lead with Ethan Kwassman’s recorded wrap story about the Onondaga County Health Department encouraging residents to get the flu vaccine. Ethan was able to interview the Medical Director, Quoc Nguyen, and get the latest updates on the number of Syracuse residents with flu. Great story, Ethan.

A3: Cigarettes

Keeping it local, we went to a reader about Cayuga Indian Nation receiving over 7,000 cigarette cartons taken away from them two year ago when they got in trouble over tax evasion charges.

A4: Budget Gap

The next story stayed local but went back to a story with soundbites. Kimmie did a terrific anchor-actuality story about the Syracuse School District facing a possible 50 million dollar budget gap for the next school year.

A5: Weeks Renovations

In A5, we transitioned back to a reader about Weeks Elementary School. The school was originally supposed to have renovations this winter, which would have forced students to relocate during the school year, but the renovations have been postponed. It had a good flow from the last story by staying education-related.

A6: Clean Up

Next, we stayed local and went with Chet’s live wrap about Honeywell International agreeing to spend millions to clean waste beds in Camillus and Geddes. Chet did a very good job with the story.

A7: Four Loko

From there, we went with a Four Loko reader which I thought could bridge the gap from local to national because it is a beverage used by those in the Syracuse area, and has also been a hot topic in New York state. In response to the FDA preparing to ban their drink, Four Loko has decided to pull caffeine from its drink to make their drink safer.

A8: Speaker of House

Heading back to a story with soundbites, we had Kimmie’s second wrap which was about John Boehner, as he was expected to be voted Speaker-to-be.

A9: Republican Resignation

We closed out the block with a reader in case we needed to drop something if we were over on time. We wound up being good on time, so Kimmie read the story about a Republican National Committee strategist who quit and left a scathing letter of resignation on his way out.

A10: Tease

We had a quick tease, mentioning the kicker story and the weather

B1: Kicker-Harry Potter

We had a 20 second reader about the release of the seventh Harry Potter film Thursday night. Regal Cinemas in Carousel Mall has already sold out 13 midnight showings and even added a 3 am showing due to such high demand to see the movie on opening night.

B2: Weather

Kimmie finished up the newscast with the weather by reading tonight and tomorrow’s weather forecast and the current temperature and conditions. Preparing to time out perfectly, the extra weather didn’t need to be read and Kimmie did a good job of checking out the clock as time ticked down.

End of Show

Kimmie read the close and finished our newscast on time.

Floater1: Camillus Hunter

The first floater was a 20 second reader about a 79 year old man from Camillus being found dead after going missing on a hunting trip. The floater didn’t need to be used.

Floater2: SU Hoops

The second floater was a 10 second reader in about the results of yesterday’s Syracuse University basketball game and a couple stats from the game. This floater also didn’t need to be used.