Team 4 Rundown Rationale

by: Lauren Fabrizi (NCC News)

Oct. 17, 2010, 2:56 p.m.

Our two-person team consisted of myself, Lauren Fabrizi, as producer and Marquise Francis as anchor. We used reporter wraps from Tim Killian and Andrew Kanell.
Music & Heads:

I teased a local (A2), national/international (A7), and state (A9) story to cover multiple aspects of the newscast.

A2 Syracuse Budget:

Our first story was about the Syracuse school district budget. I chose to lead with this live wrap from Andrew because it was a local story, and very newsworthy as the projected $50 million budget gap for next year is a record high. Andrew got a nice sound bite from the vice president of the Syracuse School Board.

A3 SU Transfers:

Our next story was an anchor actuality on an Onondaga Community College and Syracuse University program that will allow OCC students to easily transfer to SU after two years. A similar program was also established between SU and Georgia Perimeter College. I used this story after the school district budget story because the 'school theme' flowed nicely. Marquise obtained a good sound bite from a Georgia Perimeter College admissions officer.

A4 Laundry:

Keeping with local news, the following story was a reader on a Syracuse Housing authority accountant who stole $176,000 in laundry machine token money over the course of 17 years. I used a reader here to keep the pace going well.

A5 Honeywell:

Another local story covered Honeywell International and how it plans to clean up hundreds of acres of polluted wastebeds near Onondaga Lake in Camillus and Geddes. The story was a recorded wrap done by Tim. I decided to use this story next because it kept with our 'local' flow. Tim obtained a good sound bite from the public affairs director for the Department of Environmental Conservation.

A6 Catskills:

Moving from local news to state news, our next story was about a casino in the Catskills. To keep up with good pacing, I used a reader to cover this story. It discussed how New York Gov. Paterson is working to approve the construction of an Indian-owned casino in the Catskills.

A7 Cholera Outbreak:

Transitioning from state news to national/international news, Marquise's anchor actuality on the cholera outbreak in Haiti was next. This was a newsworthy story as the cholera outbreak is a timely occurrence, and also, because it has killed over 1,000 Haitians, with over 17,000 hospitalized. Marquise used a sound bite from an International Relations spokesman, found on ABC newscall.

A8 Four Loko:

The next story went from international news to national news. A reader was used to cover the alcoholic beverage Four Loko, and that its manufacturers will be removing caffeine and two other ingredients from its content. This was a newsworthy story in that Four Loko has been in the news recently.

A9 Empire State Games:

Our last story before the break returned to state news. Another reader was used to cover the cancellation of the Empire State Games because of New York's $9 billion budget gap.

A10 Tease:

I teased a story on the engagement ring that Prince William gave his fiance along with the weather.

B1 Royal Wedding Ring:

A reader was used for the kicker, which described how a jewelry store in Manhattan is making replicas of the engagement ring that Prince William gave to his fiance, Kate Middleton. I used this story for the kicker because it is timely as Prince William has recently proposed to Middleton, and because it is a light-hearted human interest piece.

B2 Weather:

The weather covered today, tonight, tomorrow, and weekend weather. But in order to end the show on time, only the current weather condition was needed.

B3 Music & Close:

After reading the current weather, Marquise finished his close just as the music came up, finishing the show very close to on time.

Z1-Z3 Floaters:

Three floaters about cigarette sales in Caygua County, a Buffalo school cafeteria manager, and an amateur golfer were not needed.

Overall, the show ran very smoothly. We printed our scripts before the deadline, and made it to the control room with over 5 minutes to spare. Because A5-A7 ran longer than estimated, I dropped the A8 reader on Four Loko, and Marquise read only the current weather condition to get us out on time.