Raw, but c*nsored blabbing and blogging of a young journalista
and local news producer in Southern New England.
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Saturday, September 17, 2005

Your employer's emergency plan

The AP's Alan Sayre, on Nola.com: NewsFlash - New Orleans TV outlets face tough challenges:

...after Katrina, the center [of the New Orleans television market] — Orleans Parish and its 480,000 residents — is largely a ghost town, while the immediate suburbs suffered heavy wind and flood damage of their own.

Businesses that advertise are flat on their backs and hundreds of thousands of viewers have evacuated far out of broadcast range. Many are not expected to return for at least months.

All of the major TV news outlets say they are committed to either getting back or staying on the air, but the companies largely say it's too early to tell what the long-term financial implications will be.

In many cases, reports the AP, (possibly thanks to the "hubbing" system of television station groups) NOLA's TV stations are using other facilities to put their newscasts on the air.

Does YOUR television station have a plan in place for alternate ways of staying in business? At a previous station I stumbled across the plan in a dusty looseleaf binder stuck at the bottom of a bookshelf of under-used books at the end of the assignment desk. You might want to ask your supervisor what's going to happen if The Big One comes creeping at your door -- use the local PBS station? Set up shop at the transmitter and everybody becomes infertile? Share services with a 10:00/9:00 news station you have partnership with? (of course, in this competitive day and age, does anybody have that sort of friendly partnership anymore beyond sharing pool camera tapes?)

Then of course, what are YOU going to do when The Big One hits your house? Head for work and camp out... or head for the hills?

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 9/17/2005 01:18:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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