Almost every Thursday morning you will see me making a mad dash up the hill from the Cook County News- Herald office to WTIP Community Radio about 9:30 a.m. That is when I’m scheduled to go on-air to give a brief News-Herald weekly update.
I always misjudge the time and arrive in the studio to give the update, out of breath and distracted, editing my news on the fly. It’s a lot of fun.
Try as I might, I am never fully prepared to go on-air. It isn’t always my fault. Each week I select tidbits of news that I can share in just a few minutes. Then, I listen in to hear what WTIP news staff—Jay Andersen, Carah Thomas or Barbara Jean Johnson—are reporting on so I don’t repeat what they have just reported. Since we are a small community they inevitably end up talking to a county commissioner or city councilor or township official who covers the news I was going to share. So I quickly have to go to plan B and select another news story to share from the News-Herald pages.
Hence, the editing on the fly.
It is also hard to tell, from looking at a sheet of paper, just how long it will take to read those few paragraphs. Sometimes, in the midst of giving what I felt like was an abbreviated report of a meeting or an event or a disaster, I realize that I am running a bit long for radio and have to cut it short. More editing on the fly.
So if I seem to stammer or stumble a bit on air occasionally that is why. It isn’t always easy to cut a line or a paragraph— while you are reading out loud.
But I could also sound distracted because of something crazy that has happened on the way into the studio or just as the morning radio personality— usually Veronica—cues up the music that announces the News-Herald news spot.
For instance, last week, I was so very late that when I arrived, the studio door was being held open for me and Veronica’s sidekick, Marnie, was waving me inside. I was definitely out of breath as I started my report.
Sometimes I may sound a bit distracted because sidekick Marnie, or sometimes Barb, and I are chatting while we are off air and Veronica is working the switches and dials. Since I am on air right after the Pop Quiz, we are always talking about what we think the correct answer may be. We have been shushed a time or two. After being shushed, it is hard not to laugh as I launch into my news.
Sometimes the radio station equipment conspires to distract me. Once in awhile the headset that studio guests wear isn’t on or is on but the volume is far too loud. Last minute adjustments add to the excitement of going on air live.
One Thursday morning the furniture contributed to the chaos. As I dashed in and dropped onto the guest chair, it dropped about a foot, scaring me and giving me the giggles. Again, not conducive to dignified news reporting.
The most embarrassing moment— and one that hopefully wasn’t too obvious to listeners—resulted from my nervous fiddling with my pen. I have a pen handy to help with the on-thefly editing, but I tend to mainly use it as a stress reducer, jiggling it to and fro as I talk. For some reason—probably because I was frantically late that morning— the fiddling got out of control and the pen went flying.
I continued with my news report, trying not to laugh. I think I did fairly well. I’m not sure Veronica, with her eyes trained on the buttons and dials, noticed. I think Marnie did, but she was able to control her laughter. Neither of us wanted to get shushed.
So, tune in to WTIP Community Radio. You’ll catch me with our News- Herald update on Thursday mornings at a little after 9:30 a.m. But anytime is a good time to listen.
You never know when a chair will cause a chortle or writing implements will fly. You might just hear a shush now and then.
People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order, so they’ll have good voice boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say.
Kurt Vonnegut
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