Now, THIS is a vintage AE shift

This has been a W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L week!

Not too many cooks stirring the broth!

Afternoon editorial meetings have been short, sweet, to the point and VERY productive.

It's funny, we are asked to bring multiple enterprising stories to the table, and we always do! I think we all bring innovative, exciting, and informative stories from where we live. We may not always sell them properly or they may not appeal to folks living in 'other' burbs. At least for me, I know the ideas I bring are viable because when I log the competition each night, I finally see my ideas materialize on the other stations 3, 5 or even 12 days later! In my heart of hearts, I know we had the idea first!

However, usually 3 out of 5 days when we walk in, a wire copy story or newspaper article or press release has been taped to one on my reporter's computers directing them to their day ahead! Even before we meet?!?! Most of the time, we don't necessarily believe the story is pertinent or interesting to the customers watching, but "you can't fight city hall!"

Not this week. So far, we have been able to do every single story we have desired. The shows have looked phenomenal! We have excelled at 'breaking news' stories because that's what we do!

Thursday was a 'vintage' Assignment Editor dream day!

From the minute I walked in, I knew it was going to be a challenging, yet satisfying day!

Literally moments after I sat down, a fellow co-worker called me with breaking news. There was a fatal fire in their neck of the woods and they wanted to make sure we knew about. Fortunately, we had the luxury to spring into action immediately. No waiting for crews to come back. No plethora of live shots already planned. I had the crews, I had the insight, I had the drive to kick a little booty.

I sent my reporter, his camera crew and a live truck out with the details. I then informed the producers and web what we had and that we were on top of it! The crews in the field really busted a move. Dave, Craig, and Randy blanketed this story by covering the nuts and bolts of the main story but also immediately getting the 911 call, amateur video of the fire shortly after it began, and all the updated details that were available...

A job well done!

Concurrently to the breaking news, the first faux pas of the day. I answer the phone "Good afternoon, Channel 3 News!" And on the other end I hear, "Good afternoon, this is the Senate!" Not that I am awestruck but definitely not expecting to hear from 'The Senate!' Well, slight miscommunication problem, but in the end it all worked out. We were supposed to be conducting a talk back with our senior political reporter Tom Beres and Sherrod Brown. Information did not get disseminated to everyone or to the proper people. I had not been told anything. You make it happen, you make it work, you don't have time to point fingers or discuss where the breakdown occurred because the clock is ticking. You just get the job done!

There was 'breaking news story' after 'breaking news story.' I thrive on days like these. Sadly, we had a juvenile shot in Maple Hts. Oftentimes as an assignment editor, it is very difficult getting information, especially depending on what time of day, the situation, and the temperament or mood of the police dispatcher you are bothering! Today was a dream day. I not only received information from my pal at the Coroner's Office BUT I actually had the Police OIC call me back with every single detail before our deadline! A win-win situation.

Another breaking news story that seemed viable--bomb squad called to The Best Inn on Brookpark Road. And when my crew arrived, there was a scene and something unfolding. We eventually got the details on this as well.

But wait, there's more. Later in the day, there was another bomb threat call. A suspicious package of sort at the Amherst Turnpike Rest Stop. Sure enough, not a bogus call. Confirmed and chock full of details. I was able to send a crew out to this story as well.

The only other faux pas of the day actually turned out to be a HUGE WIN! We had details that a Marine was coming home from Afghanistan. A number of people spoke to the people involved yet not a lot of details were left. I did not have the Marine's name, where exactly he lived, where he was coming home to, when he would be arriving or any background information?! I was not about to let this put a damper on our coverage.

I left a message for the woman who apparently had the answers to all of my questions. She did not call back. I sent my camera crew out to search high and low, nose around and get to the bottom of this. Finally, the woman called back and gleaned a bit more information. I relayed this to my crew in the field. From not even having enough information to cover a story, we ascertained enough details for a tv story, a web story, and a future follow up story in 2 weeks!

And to top it off, I was Web Girl! How I had the time, the energy and the swiftness to accomplish all of this and more, I am still trying to figure out?! I cranked out so many web stories, national, local, entertainment and health while attaching video to current existing local packages.

It all came together. It truly WAS a dream day for an assignment editor. At the end of the day I was exhausted but proud--proud of how we all worked as a team and pulled it all together and the product we shared with our customers, our viewers!