Re: WTAG coverage of Fire

[Dib9@aol.com]

I don't think this situation has anything to do with syndicated programming.  
The issue is the judgment and authority of local management.  WGAN in 
Portland runs Dr. Laura, Rush, and Howie Carr, but is quick to interrupt 
programming for local news coverage.  They do it on a regular basis for 
winter storms.  (Too much for my taste.  Including lengthy lists of event 
cancellations and business closings.)  When I worked there, the News Director 
had a pager and numbers for all news personnel were posted in all the studios 
in the building with instructions on who to call if there was a big local 
story.  I'm not sure what would happen on a Friday evening, but I would 
expect any news person worth their salt would come to work as soon as they 
heard about a big story like the fire in Worcester.  Its not just duty, but 
the chance to feed reports to the network can earn you a little extra money 
and some good material for your audition tape.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

In a message dated 12/12/99 11:36:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
dlh@donnahalper.com writes:

<< Unfortunately, one of the downsides of having fixed and scheduled 
 syndication is how difficult it can be to dump out of it for a breaking 
 news event.  >>