[BC] President Ford dies

[Alan Kline]

It was two hours before the first feed of "Up To The Minute", and there 
wasn't even a skeleton crew available?

It was the "UTTM" crew that did the interrupt at the very end of 
prime-time one night two years ago when Yassir Arafat died. That was the 
night when the stuff really hit the fan, because it was at the end of a 
"CSI New York" episode. That was an hour earlier than this situation 
(11PM vs midnight), and the crew was available. And I clearly recall a 
late Saturday night/early Sunday morning where a developing story was in 
progress (one of the recent mine disasters) when CBS was able to get 
someone in front of a camera, at a time when the network was otherwise 
down.

So it sounds less like a staffing issue than simply a problem making the 
call.

ak

Robert Meuser wrote:
> Think about this. It is more than having a camera ready reporter 
> available. You also need at a minimum one video technician, a camera man 
> at least one  (probably two) audio people, a lighting director, an 
> electrician, a producer, a director, an AD and possibly some graphics 
> people. That is a big staff to carry for no planned show. Would you pay 
> 12 or more people the appropriate salary to sit around all night doing 
> nothing?  Then double that for the two shifts needed.
> 
> Re Ford, he was a good man with a great heart.  RIP