The Sunrise Lowdown

1200 Miles Makes A Big Difference

  FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AT LEAST 7 YEARS: I did not have to work on Christmas, since we did not have a Sunrise newscast.  Thus, I decided to do a surprise visit back to my hometown of Minneapolis, MN.  My wife is from a suburb of Minneapolis so it was a double surprise visit you could say.  So it was a wonderful time to be with family at Christmas, a treat I haven't gotten to experience for quite awhile working in the glamourous world of TV news. 

THERE'S A REASON WHY I'VE SPENT THE BULK OF MY CAREER IN THE SOUTH: Folks often ask me what it is like in Minnesota and if people can actually function in the winter.  It sure is different when the high tempature on Christams was in the 20's and folks there said "oh, it isn't bad at all."  Well, I'd prefer 60's instead. 

MINNESOTA AND SOUTH CAROLINA, SOME BIG DIFFERENCES:  Perhaps the biggest differences between South Carolina and Minnesota came when I attended a Christmas gathering with my cousin's, Sue and Kelly.  Sue is a big outdoors person and had her wrist in a cast when I saw her, the reason, a snowmobile accident!  Yep, don't have too many of those in the Palmetto state.  As for Kelly, she and her husband hosed down their backyard and made an ice rink for their 2 kids, a 60 foot long by 30 foot wide rink no less!  Hey, if you can find me an outdoor rink in South Carolina I'll personally lug a camera to your joint and put it on TV.  Probably won't find any winners though?

THESE PICTURES WILL GIVE YOU A BETTER IDEA WHAT THINGS ARE LIKE THERE:

This is the back yard of the house I grew up in (mom & dad still live there), as you can see, the yard is complete with a full foot of snow.   A device you won't find in many garages in SC is a snowblower, dad says he used it last week to clear the sidewalk and driveway.  Yes, shoveling snow, another annoying task we don't have to worry about down here in SC!

Here's a better look at how much snow there was on the ground on Christmas.  The pile of snow I'm pictured next to is what my dad used his snowblower to get out of the driveway.  The brick building in the backgroud is my old high school, it was sure nice being 4 doors down from school!

The pix on the left is a cold and dreary Minneapolis skyline.  The little wood figures are things my dad carves, nothing really newsworthy here, but I thought they were cool!

To the left, inside the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena, one of the most historic college basketball arenas around, complete with a floor that's raised at least 2 feet above the first row.

The pix on the bottom right is part of the Mall of America, in Bloomington, MN.  The mall has an indoor amusement park and is the largest indoor shopping and entertainment complex in the entire US! It is at the site of the old Metropolitan Stadium, home of the MN Twins and Vikings until they moved to the Metrodome in 1982.

Ok, I'll be a softie and save the best for last. This is little Clara DeRoy, enjoying her first Christmas on the front lawn of her grandparents house.  Oh wait, there is no lawn, it's covered up with a foot of snow!  Clara tells me to wish all of you a Happy New Year, the first full year of her life!

Now it's your turn, send me your fun Christmas pictures and I'll post them on my blog.  And if you really have a neat pix, I might even put it on our WIS Sunrise TV newscast! 

Simply email me at bderoy@wistv.com with your picture. 

'Ol Ben Is At It Again...

HAVING TO START WORK AT 4AM: sure isn't easy some days.  Take last Tuesday for example, I stayed up late the night earlier to watch my Minnesota Vikings win an ugly nationally televisied game against the Chicago Bears.  When you're sleep at work, it's always nice to have something that picks you up.  At this place, Ben Tanner fills the bill.  His personality off air is quite similar to how you folks see him on TV. 

THE MUSIC POLICE TELL US: we can only play :15 seconds of any popular type music on TV, or else the station will have to pay big bucks to the folks who license music.  In essence, musicians want to get paid if their tunes are playing, even if it's on a morning newscast.  But recently Ben Tanner has made the most of these precious few seconds to begin his weathercast.  Sure, the WIS Sorm Alert music is ok, but we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about hearing some fun music when Ben begins his weather.  Today was a great example, we heard Michael McDonald's Mowtown salute during one segment, and also got to hear some old skool Rum DMC. 

HERE'S THE MOMENT OF TODAY'S SHOW, NOW BEING SEEN AROUND THE WORLD ON YOUTUBE.COM: 

Click below, this will make your day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4VZP_xrwWA

I'll be off a couple of days Christmas week, so here's wishing you a Merry Christmas (Mike Huckabee told me it's OK to say that)  Safe travels and may Santa bring lots of joy during your holiday!

Holiday Cheer and a Holiday Chump

LET’S TRY TO START IN A HOLIDAY SPIRIT: Our morning news is usually an interesting reflection of what is going on in our world and today was no exception.  Fortunately our show has Lucas McFadden to spice things up and give us a break from some of the bad news that we have to report.  Maybe I’ve become a softie since I’m the dad of a 9-month old girl, but one moment in our show really seemed memorable to me.  Since we’re in a visual medium, it’s much easier for me to simply show you the image instead of trying to describe it.

This is Lucas holding little Abagail during his liveshot, apparently little Abagail wandered in front of the camera, so the best way to give her some airtime was to pick her up

AS PROMISED ON TV, IT’S HANNAH’S HOLIDAY MEMORY TIME NOW: My co-anchor Hannah tells me her big Christmas memory comes at the expense of her dad.  Yes, back in Hannah’s youth, her pops apparently was under the tree trying to make some adjustments with the tree stand when he got a little too close to the pine needles.  Yes, for 2 years in a row, he poked himself in the eye on that darn Christmas tree.  Even worse, Hannah’s dad had to go to the ER!  So those Christmas pictures always had Hannah’s dad highly squinting or even wearing an eye patch.  In case you’re curious, Hannah’s dad is a sheriff’s deputy, not a forester.

FROM HOLIDAY CHEER TO A HOLIDAY CHUMP: As mentioned at the top of this posting, our newscast has the good, bad and ugly.  I literally had to bite my tongue this morning when we profiled the story about the 85-year old Manning woman who was attacked by 37-year old Burnell Brock.  Witnesses say the man stole the woman’s purse while she was at a Dollar General store.  This Brock character (I don’t want to get in trouble, so I’ll just call him a “character”) then punched and beat the elderly woman and also threatened her with a box cutter.  Fortunately his lack of wisdom continued and he ran into a nearby hospital where security guards nabbed him, still holding the purse to boot. 

PERHAPS FOR GOOD REASON, WE CAN ONLY REPORT STORIES, NOT EDITORIALIZE: during our morning show.  Back in grade school, there was a saying on the playground about “picking on someone your own size.”  That’s all I’ll say about this incident since I am truly a believer in anchors reporting news and not preaching. But this is where you come into play!  What do you think should happen to Burnell Brock, the man accused of beating up and robbing a 85 year old woman?  And a reminder, points will be awarded for creative punishments!  Click on the comments below!

A REMINDER, KEEP THOSE HOLIDAY MEMORIES COMING TOO!

A Hannah Sinus Update & Holiday Memories!

HANNAH’S BACK: My newsreading load was back to normal today since my colleague, Hannah Horne, returned to work.  If you did not have a chance to tune in last week, Hannah was having a sinus infection and had a less than perfect sounding voice early last week.  I was due to have last Thursday and Friday off, but my phone rang at precicely  5am last Thursday.  The fellow who puts our show together, Blake Clancy, told me Hannah was sounding horrible and asked if I could come into work.  So I slowly got up and showered and flipped on the TV, and yep, Blake was right, Hannah sounded awful.  My throat was hurting just listening to her.  So I was glad to give her a break and do the show solo for the 6am hour on Thursday and the Friday shows too.  Our job is interesting in that if one or two people can’t make it, it can really throw things out of whack.  One would think at the Wal Mart if a person or two is sick the store is still open, but if somehow Hannah and I both come up lame on a given day, the morning show would need to do some last minute scrambling and someone will be getting a late night phone call, that’s for sure.

THE INSIDE SCOOP HERE: is you might not know what we do to prepare for the morning show.  Typically I show up at 4am and read through all our shows and then help tweak the stories to my writing and reading style.  I also volunteer to our producer, Blake, to help write any remaining stories that need finishing up.  But for the most part, the show is entirely written and I use the 1 hour before the show to prepare and know what material I will be presenting.  But on Thursday, I had to jump on set with no preparation.  It is an interesting experience to go on live TV and read news on the fly.  Hopefully I didn’t sound too out of place!

MORE HANNAH NEWS: she was able to recover enough from her throat difficulties to perform in a play over the weekend at the First Baptist Church of Lexington.  The church offered to pay Hannah for her time, but she declined and instead asked for folks to pitch in cash and it would go to Sistercare, a Columbia-based facility that helps abused women.  Well, I’ve just been told folks dug into their wallets and raised $3,200 for the charity!  Good work. 

AS FOR BRIAN NEWS: While Hannah was out singing, raising money and providing all around good holiday cheer, I fell asleep on the couch Sunday afternoon!  But maybe that’s a good thing, if I were to try to sing, the play-goers would probably demand $3,200 from me for enduring them to such pain. 

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE, I AM OFTEN ASKED HOW I LIKE COLUMBIA: Well, the truth is I can’t think of any better neighborhood to be part of than the Elmwood Park neighborhood (north edge of Downtown if you don’t know).  Some folks opened up their homes to the entire neighborhood on Sunday and invited everyone to come by and meet their neighbors and enjoy some holiday cheer.  Thanks to Peter, along with Ed and his lovely wife (sorry folks, forgot her name, but everyone there referred to her as the “petite brunette” which I guess is a good thing!)  for warming up the holiday on a Sunday night.  It is a true mark of a place when neighbors can be neighbors and come together.  Now if we can just get to working on folks to become fans of the Columbia Inferno hockey team than I’ll really warm up to this town!

SINCE WE HAVE A HOLIDAY THEME, HOW’S THIS FOR A QUESTION, TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MEMORY?  We’ll share them on Sunrise all this week if you send them in.  Remember, I always award points for the wild or wacky (see back to the Thanksgiving posts from viewers) 

TO GET YOU STARTED THINKING, since I’m asking you it’s only right to share.  My best memory is proposing to my wife. I put the ring in a box that also had a big rock to weigh it down so she wouldn’t think it was a ring.  I simultaneously had the romantic “Music of the Night” from the Phantom of the Opera in the background and we also had the fireplace stoked up.  Then I took our dog, Sandy, in a room and put a sign around her neck that was written if Sandy’s mom would marry me with an arrow pointing toward me as I sat near our dog.  Since Mrs. DeRoy was in veterinary school at the time, I thought it best to include the dog to get her attention.  Well, more than 8 years later, must have worked!  There, your gruff but loveable newsman is really a softie at heart!

HEALTH INSURANCE FAT CAT TO PAY BIG BUCKS BACK!

WOW, THERE GOES MY CO-PAY UP AGAIN: Are you like the increasing number of people who get steamed whenever you have to go to the doctor or dentist?  The reason we’re getting angry isn’t because of the medical folks, it’s the paper-pushers with big insurance companies.  It’s a fact that health care costs have been going up rapidly and we little people are footing the bill.  I have found out the reason why, the details below are from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

FORMER UNITED HEALTH CEO TO PAY BACK $600 MILLION DOLLARS TO COMPANY: This ruling just came down from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the case of William McGuire.  The Minnetonka, MN based company is one of the big players in health insurance, and their head guy was pulling in mucho-bucks!  The feds claimed over a 12 year period, McGuire pocked money in a complicated stock option scheme, far too detailed for an average stiff like me to explain in this forum.  But the big news here is this guy made certainly more than $600 million dollars in a short period of time, and guess where his dough is coming from?  Yep, you and me medical patients, that’s who!  Oh, by the way, this settlement has another fat cat giving back $50 million dollars and even the company’s lawyer has to pony up $30 million. 

SURE, IF YOU’RE GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO, YOU DESERVE A GOOD PAYDAY: Folks, myself included, get worked up when we see pro athletes salaries these days and wonder if they’re greedy.  My hometown Minnesota Twins are trying to trade perhaps the best pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana because after next year he’ll be a free agent and rumor has it he’s already turned down an offer of $20-million a year for 4 years.  Somehow Santana’s salary demands seem cheap compared to this health care CEO.  And there’s another big difference between Santana and this health insurance guy, we all need health insurance while attending a major league baseball game is not a life necessity.

NOW I WANT YOU TO SOUND OFF, HOW CAN WE REDUCE THE RISING COST OF HEALTH CARE?  Click the comments tab below and we might use your ideas on WIS Sunrise!

Network Coverage of Murder/Suicide and Coach Cashing In!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE CLASSES IN COLLEGE: was a media ethics course during my junior year at the University of Minnesota.  My professor, Bill Babcock, would often open up the class for freewheeling discussions on big topics that would be in the media.  Shocking but true, yours truly would often voice up about how the media would handle certain events.  So it’s with memories of my journalism ethics class that I want to get your thoughts on the coverage of the mall shooting in Omaha, NE.

I’VE WATCHING THE TODAY SHOW RIGHT NOW: after our Thursday morning newscast and it seems much of the show is being devoted to the what the show is calling a “mall massacre” in Omaha, NE where a disturbed fellow killed at least 8 people before turning the gun onto himself. The shooter, 20 year old Robert Hawkins had been recently fired from a McDonald’s and broke up with a lady friend.  He also left a note prior to the shooting saying he “wanted to go out in style.”

OUR 6AM SHOW GAVE EXACTLY :26 SECONDS TO THIS STORY: which for my tastes is about as much as I need personally.  For starters, our WIS Sunrise show is primarily focused on local news, and Omaha is not in South Carolina.  But here’s another thing to think about, does media coverage of this event, particularly the national media descending upon Omaha, add fuel to other people who may be disturbed and crave attention?  Even the shooter himself said he wanted his death, and the death of numerous innocent shoppers to be big.  I can’t get into the head of a disturbed person, but one could certainly reason that knowing you’ll get a lot of national TV time, including having high-priced network anchors being flown into the crime scene, it might just give an unstable person yet another reason to do something bad. 

IF I WERE IN CHARGE OF THE BIG NEWS NETWORKS: I think the big networks should limit the amount of time spent on this story.  As I look up at the newsroom TV’s, I see CNN’s John Roberts and NBC’s Natalie Morales both live at the scene.  I’m curious what you think of network coverage of a tragedy like this, is it too much, just enough, or not enough?  Remember, I’m only talking about the network coverage of this, since the aim of a local station like WIS is to cover local news.

IF THIS TOPIC IS TOO HEAVY, LET’S TALK SOME COLLEGE FOOTBALL: how about Clemson coach Tommy Bowden getting a big fat pay raise and contract extension, just because there was speculation he was going to talk with Arkansas.  One must wonder if Bowden’s “people” didn’t plant that story just to get a pay hike, about $600,000 a year.  Do you think if in the private sector and you worked for a company and spread a rumor of leaving that they’d cough up a bunch of cash in a hurry?

MAYBE I SHOULD TRY THIS TACTIC?  Let’s see if I can cash in by having newspaper rumors.  Here are some possible rumors that my “people” would spread so I can cash in: “Reports: DeRoy & Jennifer Anniston steamy love scene sure to heat up theaters.” Or how about this: “NBC possibly booting Brian Williams, considering some Brian guy out of Columbia, SC instead.”  Other headlines I could plant include: “Could O’Reilly Factor soon become DeRoy Factor?”  “Move Over Wayne Newton, DeRoy does Vegas,” “Spurrier considers paying WIS anchor $1-million just to be headphone caddy,” or finally, “Men of WIS Speedo Calendar so popular, McFadden, Tanner and DeRoy considering leaving station to accept multi-million dollar male modeling contracts.”

TELL ME YOUR BEST HEADLINE TO TRY TO LAND A PAY RAISE?  POINTS DEFINITELY AWARDED FOR CREATIVITY!

BCS Headed to Town That Still Needs An SOS

SINCE WE ALL LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL HERE: I thought we could provide an update on the city where the BCS National Championship is being played, New Orleans.  In case you missed it, the Today show was in a place I refer to as my “favorite American city.”  I say this because very places in American have the history, culture and downright interesting characters as New Orleans.  I have made several trips to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit and it is amazing to see progress is some areas, and darn near nothing in other areas, this despite billions of federal money being pored into the region. 

ACTOR BRAD PITT SHELLS OUT 5 MILLION: of his own dollars to help New Orleans blighted lower 9^th ward area.    He and a group have put up big pink structures to look like houses and he’s hoping they’ll become houses someday again.  Just imagine one big neighborhood swallowed up by the flood waters, that’s how the 9^th ward STILL looks today.  When you see it in person it remind you of a third world country, but it’s actually the US.

Here’s a pic of what things looks like from the Today Show.

SINCE WE HAVE NEW ORLEANS ON OUR MINDS: let’s again switch back to college football, where New Orleans will host both the BCS National Championship along with the Sugar Bowl game.  We all know USC won’t be going to any bowl games this year, a 6-6 record is tough to get around.  But how about LSU, a team that has lost twice and is still playing for the national championship?  Did LSU get some favoritism in this vote?  On the flip side, a good argument can be made that LSU did lose its 2 games in OT.  Plus, the LSU – Ohio State matchup makes good TV, and in the end, TV is what wins out. 

NOW’S IT’S YOUR TURN, let me know if you think LSU deserves to be in the national championship game.  Same goes for Ohio State, they lost a home game to Illinois who isn’t exactly a national power either.