Sat Truck Crash on Black Ice

A Salt Lake City TV Station's satellite truck went for a wild ride when the driver hit a patch of black ice...

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Frankensticks Miller

Remember Frankensticks?



It's moved on to a new home.



I now have Miller. Solo, that is.



I carbon fiber beauty and I don't think it weighs but about 8 pounds.

Martinsville Ride Along

I had to go up to Martinsville Speedway on Tuesday for a Raybestos Brakes press conference about new brake parts the NASCAR guys will be using for the first time at Martinsville.

As I arrived at the track I took my news truck around the track to get into the pits.

But the best part was the ride along with NASCAR Rookie of the Year for 2008, Regan Smith. Smith took me out in the Toyota Camry pace car for some hot laps - as hot as a street car can take you anyway - and I captured it all on video...



That makes my video of leaving the track in my news truck look tame...

The Real ThingNCAA Cover Up

Remember in the 80s when New Coke came out and people boycotted and clamored for 'The Real Thing'.

Well the NCAA Tournament is coming to town again and they're bringing the 'Cover Up' with them. You know...they have to cover up any advertising in the arena, including all those Pepsi ads on the cupholders on all 10,000 some odd seats.

Both my station and our CBS competitor brought the "New Cover Up" to area viewers tonight at 10 and 11 but I'm here to tell you...nothing's better than 'The Original'...'The Real Thing'...the Emmy Award winning - "NCAA Cover Up"

But you decide if you wish...When the 2 new versions from WGHP and WFMY are online I'll post 'em here...

WGHP -



WFMYs version...I took away the EMBED because there was no way to keep it from rolling...STUPID -

And Now...enjoy 'The Real Thing' - ;-0

"Picking Cotton"

In the part of the state where I grew up that's something that happens every summer on the sun baked fields of Eastern North Carolina.

But now it's the title of a book and the subject of a 2 part series that I finished editing today and aired on our 10 o'clock news.

Jennifer Thompson was brutally raped in her Burlington, NC home in July 1984. Through her recolection, a composite sketch and a couple of police lineups she picked Ronald Cotton as her assailant. She was wrong.



Ronald spent 11 years in prison before DNA evidence and a chance prison yard encounter with the real rapist set him free.

Jennifer and Ron met each other some time after he was released...and now they are great friends...and they both take up the cause of helping those who are falsely accused.

Here is the 2 part Buckley Report - Picking Cotton...

Social Networking for Employment Twittering Your Way to a Job

Sometimes the backstory on a story is better than the story itself. The story I produced today is in the embed below. I think it's pretty good but how it came to be is pretty entertaining too.

Friday our Web Producer Jason (@jerseyfreeze on Twitter) pitched a story about how people are using Social Networking to help find jobs for themselves. I was given the task of making this idea a TV story so I immediately turned to my Twitter and Facebook accounts looking for ideas.

At about the same time Greensboro Realtor Casey Durango (@CaseyDurango on Twitter) Retweeted (reposted) a Tweet (<140 character message on Twitter) from Jennifer Ruggiero (@jruggiero on Twitter) that she was looking for a new job.

Then, as happens in the news business, my story changed.

The bosses directed me to try to get into a naturalization ceremony at the Federal Courthouse. Well they don't let cameras in the Federal Courthouse so as I waited for them to call me back I added Jennifer to my Twitter Friends and tentatively set up a shoot with her at a time to be determined.

The Feds decided to let me into the courthouse for the ceremony so I planned with Jennifer to meet on Monday.

Then more news altered my plans. A winter weather system dumped 4-6 inches of snow on North Carolina paralyzing putting us into weather coverage mode.

I rescheduled with Jennifer and finally arrived at her place at 1030 Tuesday morning. I had also put in calls with the local Universities to find a business expert to speak about using the internet to network for jobs.

Without a call back by the time I was interviewing Jennifer I was pleased when she announce mid-interview that she knew someone who had successfully hired people based on Twitter networking. And that person...was one of the newer followers on my Twitter List. (WOW)

So she called Scott Brewster (@jrmozart on Twitter) and we set up an interview for just after lunch.

After I finished up shooting the interviews and corresponding cover video I made my way back to the station to transcribe the video, write the story, and borrow the voice of our nightside reporter Angela Rodriguez.

Of course the edit process was less than fun when the PC decided to burp, chuckle and freeze. I had no sooner pushed the send button to transfer my finished edit to the playback server when Neill and Julie were introducing a story they didn't even think was done.

Snow Day 2009 - Pictures

I never take as many pictures as I should, usually because I'm focused on shooting video of whatever it is that I should also take pictures of.



Anyway, this was the backyard. My wife measured 5.5 inches of snow.



After grabbing just enough video for the noon show I drove to the station.









After a day of driving around, shooting video, writing and editing my story (see previous entry) I jumped back in the truck for one more shoot for sports. Is it just me or does my truck seem to have grown teeth-sicles.



By the time I got home the evidence of the wife and kids' hard day at home was plain to see.

Snow Day 2009 Gravity - A Kid's Best Friend

I always try to get up a litle earlier than normal on a snow day to get a jump on the action. I got up today, warmed up the news car, got enough video for the noon news and drove in. I kind of figured the bosses would want a feature type of story from me today.

As Lenslinger would attest, working primarily alone is the perfect way to steer clear of lead stories. (Not always - did this 2 weeks back as the 6PM LEAD)

But today I did draw the feature pick of the day....kids playing in the snow....and since this was the first MAJOR snowfall in almost 5 years some of those kids haven't ever seen a snow worth playing in.

Now they have.

Snow Day 2009 - A NC Blizzard (sarcasm)

On my way back from Raleigh today in the heavy rain that has now turned to snow, I was listening to the NASCAR race from Sunny LasVegas when one of the PRN radio announcers who call NC home mentioned the impending winter weather. He jokingly called it "the Blizzard of 2009, that's what you call 2 inches of snow in North Carolina."



To me, that was funny, if only because it's true. I'm from here, but I don't fret the snow. Maybe one day I'll post video I have from when I was 14 and we'd pile into the family car during a snowstorm and drive around looking at the snowy sights.



My dad was a trucker and he could navigate the streets with care and ease. That probably set me in a perfect position to be a News Photographer because now when it snows, not only do I want to get out and see what's happening, I'm expected to.



So I'm giddy that we're getting some overdue snow. It's been since 2004 that we've had a really good "Blizzard". And this still may not be it. It's expected to add up to 7 inches in spots and we've already got 2 or so.



I'm gonna get some sleep so I can get out early.