BZ During the hostage situation.....

[Donna Halper]

At 04:59 PM 12/1/2007, Dave in Boston wrote:
>I got to pull in BZ right after sunset in order to hear what I 
>thought would be the best coverage of the Clinton campain hostage situation.
>
>I was very dissappointed.
>
>At first I heard nothing for awhile (maybe 20 minutes)...then the 
>anchor (Diane Stern?) would give a "quick update"...and thats about it.

WBZ was all over the story all day, but largely thanks to the TV 
side.  The TV reporters got the story even before the Associated 
Press had the details moving on the wire.  I was at a meeting at WBZ 
radio when the story broke, and the TV side broke in with the story 
at once, switching to their NH affiliated colleagues for video.  WBZ 
Radio got the story onto its website (I was there when they did it) 
and then sent Lana up to cover it, but WBZ-TV already had coverage-- 
then they too sent their own reporters up there.

Interestingly enough, WBZ TV and Radio, which really did put forth a 
good effort all day, seem to have been beaten to the story by 
NPR.  Thanks to having an affiliate radio station in Rochester NH, 
WBUR had somebody there right away and knew the local market well 
enough to feed not only WBUR but also NPR.  WBZ Radio got a reporter 
to the scene fairly quickly, but NPR seems to have been first with it.