1 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: Hello, Strictly Business listeners. This is host Cynthia Littleton. Today 2 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: we're queuing up a Strictly Business rerun of our very 3 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: special extra long episode examining how the pandemic changed television 4 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: production forever. I spoke with ten industry insiders, most of 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: them in TV news, and wove their perspectives together into 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: a chronicle of how TV stayed on the air during 7 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: those difficult early months of the lockdown. This episode ran 8 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: March twelfth of this year, around the five year anniversary 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: of the stay at home orders that rocked our world. 10 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: We're sending this out again today to shamelessly brag that 11 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: this episode has been nominated by the Los Angeles Press 12 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: Club for a national Arts and Entertainment Award. I worked 13 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: really hard on this, so I hope you'll give it 14 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: a listen. Thank you, and we'll be back next week 15 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: with another fresh episode of Strictly Business. 16 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 2: Our show Prime launched on February tenth of twenty twenty. 17 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 2: We were making all these plans about how we were 18 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 2: going to be collaborative. We had a brand new team assembled, 19 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, within a month. 20 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 3: We weren't ready for a virtual control room we had 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 3: no real infrastructure in place. 22 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 4: The day I realized it was real is the day 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 4: the Big East Basketball Tournament was canceled. 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 3: It felt like one of those movies where you're like 25 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 3: one you wake up and you're wandering through the streets 26 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 3: and a place that's normally bustling is absolutely lifeless. 27 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Varieties weekly podcast featuring conversations with 28 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 29 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety. We don't 30 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: typically do a cold open on this show, but this 31 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: isn't a typical episode of Strictly Business. We depart from 32 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: our standard solo interview format to take a long look 33 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: back five years ago when Covid sank its pointy Corona 34 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: fangs into New York and soon after the rest of 35 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: the country. We didn't know it then, but March twenty 36 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: twenty marked a huge inflection point for the television business. 37 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 1: Stay at home orders, masks, and antigen tests. It all 38 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: seems so distant and not so distant all at once. 39 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: The story of how Covid helped supercharge the streaming business 40 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: and the streaming wars has been well documented in recent years, 41 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: but another big TV story unfolded during the early months 42 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: of lockdown that hasn't gotten as much attention. Old fashioned 43 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: linear TV rose to the occasion to keep local national 44 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: news outlets on the air. The same was true for 45 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: daytime and late night talk shows and live to tape 46 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: entertainment such as ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos. The first 47 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: few weeks of the pandemic spurred more seated the pants 48 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: innovation to broadcast operations in engineering than had been done 49 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: since the days of Sid Caesar and Milton bur in 50 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 1: the early nineteen fifties. In our business, the show must 51 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 1: go on, Ethos Israel. The last thing TV pros wanted 52 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: to do was serve America dead. Air times were hard enough. 53 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: By the end of twenty twenty, the death toll from 54 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: COVID in the US alone had reached a staggering four 55 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: hundred thousand. The social distancing conditions imposed forced producers and 56 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: crew members and technicians to create virtual control rooms on 57 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: the fly. They had to figure out how to recreate 58 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: networks for communications and video collaboration tools in a matter 59 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: of days. They ordered a whole lot of digital video 60 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: equipment from Amazon to assemble home bureaus in a box 61 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: for anchors. Talk shows quickly moved to create virtual studio audiences. 62 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,159 Speaker 1: I've been wanting to tackle the story of the great 63 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: scramble of the early COVID months for several years. I 64 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: had the privilege of being a fly on the wall 65 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in June twenty 66 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: twenty one, as Colbert returned to filming shows with live 67 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: audiences at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In those interviews, it 68 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: became apparent how much daring do and experimentation had been 69 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes at a time when production 70 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: staff was spread far and wide. I knew there were 71 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: great stories there, but I didn't know how good they 72 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: were until I started interviewing the ten sources that you'll 73 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,280 Speaker 1: hear in this episode. They shared stories that captured this 74 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: fraut period with moments of humor, moments of meltdowns involving 75 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: both tech and tykes, and some true moments of heartbreak. 76 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: And in the end, what changes really mattered, what innovations 77 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: stuck around Beyond the crisis, we examine the lasting legacy 78 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: of pandemic era workarounds. I'm extremely grateful to the sources 79 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: for their time and their candid thoughts on a most 80 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 1: extraordinary time in their careers. My guests are Lindsey Davis, 81 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: anchor of ABC News Live Prime and World News Tonight Sunday, 82 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: Vin de Bona, executive producer of one of TV's longest 83 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: running series, ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, Chris Dinan, executive 84 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: producer of ABC News World News Tonight, Tony de Koppel, 85 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: anchor of CBS Mornings, Bill Hemmer, co anchor of America's 86 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: Newsroom on Fox News. Jason Kurtz, executive producer and showrunner 87 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: of The Drew Barrymore Show, Simone Swink, executive producer of 88 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: Good Good Morning America, SHAWNA. Thomas, executive producer of CBS Mornings, 89 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: John Tower, Senior broadcast producer of CBS Mornings, and Scott Wilder, 90 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: Executive Vice President of Production and Operations for Fox News Media. 91 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: Their stories are coming right up after this break, and 92 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: we're back with the story of how TV rose to 93 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: the occasion to stay on the air during the pandemic. 94 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: I started each interview with the question, when did it 95 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: sync in that COVID was going to change the way 96 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: you were here? We'll hear from ABC's Chris Dinan, CBS's 97 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: John Tower, and ABC's Lindsay Davis and Simone Swink. 98 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 5: When it first began, it seemed somewhat unreal because of 99 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 5: the extent and scope of what people were saying was 100 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 5: going to happen. The idea that America would essentially shut 101 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 5: down was just shocking. 102 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 3: It didn't quite feel real until the day that somewhere 103 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,360 Speaker 3: up in corporate they had decided to and we were 104 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 3: over in uh West fifty seventh Street over in the 105 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 3: CBS Broadcast Center, and there were sort of rumblings that they're, 106 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 3: you know, they're they're they're talking about something. We know 107 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 3: that they're they're something's happening. And then at the end 108 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 3: of the day we had we had gone home after 109 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 3: the show and I I remember I was on my 110 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 3: way home and I got a call from a colleague 111 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 3: saying they're shutting the broadcast center down, and and it 112 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 3: was it was that abrupt. It was like we were like, okay, 113 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 3: And so immediately the question was where are we going 114 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 3: to do the show from? And it wasn't like we're 115 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 3: going to send everybody home. It was again the pandemic 116 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 3: was New It was just like and so somewhere it 117 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 3: was a it was almost like a corporate decision, like 118 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 3: having the virus around this particular building is not a 119 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 3: risk that we want to take, and so you have 120 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 3: to find another building to broadcast from, which you know, now, 121 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 3: in hindsight, seems ridiculous because you're just moving, You're just 122 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 3: moving to another risky space. 123 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 6: But that's what we did. 124 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,559 Speaker 3: And they decided that we're going to go to DC 125 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 3: because you know, as you just remember, in like New 126 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 3: York was sort of like a hotbed. 127 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 2: I remember the night that it really became real for 128 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 2: us and the NBA canceled a game, and it was 129 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:42,680 Speaker 2: just a moment unlike anything I've ever I've been reporting 130 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 2: for about twenty five years, and I have not you know, 131 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 2: it was just I remember texting even you know, friends 132 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 2: of mine about it and they were like, wait, no, 133 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:54,560 Speaker 2: that can't be happening, you know, and then it was 134 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 2: just a domino effect of you know, people just I 135 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 2: think the governor of Pennsylvania started telling people don't go 136 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 2: to work, you know, don't go to school, and it 137 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 2: just became really real very quickly. 138 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 7: I think the moment that the company and the show 139 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 7: started creating protocols for how people would be tested and 140 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 7: how people would come to work. And when it really 141 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 7: sank in is that people would have to quarantine. Because 142 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 7: right around that mid March date, about fifteen of us 143 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 7: had to quarantine at home and couldn't come to work. 144 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 7: Right then, everybody else was like, what do you mean 145 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 7: you can't come to work? And how is this going 146 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 7: to work? And how are we going to do it? 147 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: CBS is Tony du Koppel remembers taking a fateful call 148 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: at the gym. 149 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 8: The moment I realized this was going to be different. 150 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 8: When is when I was at the gym and I 151 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 8: got a call this two or three weeks later from 152 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 8: Diana Miller, our former executive producer, and she was like, 153 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 8: they've found COVID at the Broadcast Center. They're shutting it down. 154 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 8: We're doing the show from Washington tomorrow. You got to 155 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 8: get on a train now. I'll limit your contact And 156 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 8: I was like, what this is? Limit my contact? I mean, 157 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 8: I'm in a room of one hundred people at a gym. 158 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 9: We go to DC. 159 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 8: It's a super weird show because we have no news 160 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 8: reason to be in DC. We have this crisis reason 161 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 8: for being in DC. And then I go back to 162 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 8: the hotel room that night, and in my memory anyway, 163 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 8: that's the night when I'm watching TV talking to my wife, 164 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 8: the news breaks at the NBA shutting down the season. 165 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 8: Tom Hanks and Rita, his wife are coming forward and 166 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 8: saying we have it, and Cuomo and Trump and every 167 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 8: other leader you might turn to to. 168 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 9: Say something stabilizing. 169 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 8: Suddenly, in my view as just a citizen of the country, 170 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 8: looking at people and being like, they don't seem like 171 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 8: they have it under control anymore. This seems scary. We 172 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 8: don't have a broadcast center, we don't have a sports league, 173 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:52,839 Speaker 8: we don't have leaders that seem to know what's going on. 174 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 8: I don't know what happens from here. That's when it 175 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,720 Speaker 8: really landed, like we're going somewhere hard. 176 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,440 Speaker 1: As Covid descended and Drew Barrymore was in pre production 177 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: getting ready to launch her daytime talk show that September. 178 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: Showrunner Jason Kurtz remembers the nervousness of the moment. 179 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 10: It was my first in person Withdrew in March. 180 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:18,839 Speaker 11: It was early March. I had come on. 181 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 10: In feb so it was our first I was at 182 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 10: our apartment and we were like kind of like talking 183 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 10: about staffing and structure and getting into the bodies that 184 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:29,680 Speaker 10: we were going to bring on and all these great people. 185 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 10: And it literally was the day that things started to 186 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 10: heat up, and we were both looking at each other 187 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 10: like wait, and I was like, I got a text 188 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 10: that the bridges and tunnels are closing. It was like, 189 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 10: you know in New York, like the rumor started, and 190 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 10: I was like, that's strange, and we both kind of 191 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 10: were looking at each other, getting a lot of texts 192 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 10: from people, and I was like, maybe we should just 193 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 10: hit pause and figure out, like what's going on in 194 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 10: the world. 195 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 11: And then literally like three days later, everything shut down. 196 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: Another question I asked all ten sources was what was 197 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: the first things your teams did to build alternatives to 198 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,680 Speaker 1: your studio and technology setups. Here we'll hear from Fox 199 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: News's Scott Wilder, ABC's Lindsay Davis and Simone Swink and 200 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:14,680 Speaker 1: then Wilder again. 201 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 12: So it became clear immediately that we were going to 202 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 12: need to start broadcasting from locations outside of our building. Really, 203 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 12: the premise at the time was that we weren't going 204 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 12: to be able to broadcast from here. At all, like 205 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 12: we were going to need to be cleared from this building. 206 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 12: And so that was the moment that it hit me 207 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 12: that we were going to have this immediate need to 208 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 12: start broadcasting from someplace else. And does that mean that 209 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 12: we're going to go find the location where we send 210 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,560 Speaker 12: all of our people or what actually happened where people 211 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 12: start broadcasting from their homes. So you know, that was 212 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 12: the immediate order, and right away we went out and 213 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 12: just started contacting and working with all of our talent 214 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 12: and going to their own and figuring out what we 215 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 12: can do at each one of them. There was none, 216 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 12: no two that were the shame. They were all a 217 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 12: little bit different. 218 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:10,760 Speaker 2: My husband, who at that point was working from home 219 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 2: as well, doubled as then my engineer. So he set 220 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 2: up a hole and I'd posted a picture of it 221 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 2: on Instagram at the time. We set up a little 222 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 2: we made our TV into kind of it over the 223 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 2: shoulder that had the graphic that said ABC News Live Prime, 224 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 2: and set up a desk. And at the time my 225 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 2: son was six and so we were in the basement 226 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 2: and we did not ever put a lock on that 227 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 2: door or anything, so he just kept coming down during 228 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:46,719 Speaker 2: the broadcast like whispering, you know, as if that was 229 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 2: okay while we're trying to you know, run this teleprompter 230 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 2: remotely and do the broadcast. So needless to say, we 231 00:13:54,480 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 2: only ever did it one time remotely, and the rest 232 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 2: of the times I just said, look, it's just it 233 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 2: just makes more sense for me to come in. 234 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 7: We really sort of hit the deadline, Like on Friday, 235 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 7: we were still putting the rundown together the usual way, 236 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 7: and by Monday we you know, you actually can do 237 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 7: a lot of things from home. It's not ideal. It 238 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 7: added five steps to every part of the process, but 239 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 7: it's possible. The one thing I will say is that 240 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 7: we had a group of people who came in every 241 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 7: single day for three four years into the control room. 242 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 7: And without that group of people, you couldn't get the 243 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 7: rest of the show on. So ninety eight percent of 244 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 7: the staff could be from home, but that two percent 245 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 7: kept it on the air every day. 246 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 13: You know. 247 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 12: It was like zone defense. We were just trying to 248 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 12: get people, and we tried to look where people live. 249 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 12: I have a news photographer who lives in New Jersey 250 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 12: and an anchor who lives in New Jersey. Marry that 251 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 12: team up together. I have a new photographer who lives 252 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 12: on Long Island, or an anchor lives on Long Island. 253 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 12: That's a team Westchester, Connecticut, and you know, so on 254 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 12: and so forth, keep going. And that's how we started 255 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 12: going back to the edict that it looked and sound 256 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 12: like Fox News for the viewers. You know, the hardest 257 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 12: part of it. You know, listen, there's no guest, right 258 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 12: these anchors and contributors were in their home. You're really 259 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 12: talking about a glorified live shot. It's one camera, you know. 260 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 12: But now they're anchoring programs. Yeah, you need tell a prompter, 261 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 12: you need return video. They're taking press conferences all day long. 262 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 12: They need to interact, and so you know, really we 263 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 12: just relied very heavily. I'm talking about in the immediate 264 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 12: days and those you know, I really call it a 265 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 12: ten day period. I think we set up over forty 266 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 12: home studios within ten days. And you know, we were 267 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 12: relying on the anchors home you know, internet connection again. 268 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 12: You know, there's a story that I know it's been 269 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 12: told before, but you know, we had an anchor who 270 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 12: was on TV and their children were playing video games 271 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 12: and we saw degradation in the video quality immediately. So 272 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 12: you know, we had a team of like four people 273 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 12: who were just driving from place to place, repairing, fixing, advising, 274 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 12: setting up in addition to the people who were running 275 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 12: those So but again, you know, that all came Honestly, 276 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 12: it may sound cliche, but it came from the top. 277 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 12: We had our leadership who never left the building. They 278 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 12: were here every single day, Suzanne and Jay in particular, 279 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 12: along with several you know others, But they were in 280 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 12: the building every single day. Kind of you know, not 281 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 12: kind of action, steering the ship and giving the guidance 282 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 12: of how we wanted to, you know, make it through 283 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 12: this pandemic that nobody had had any experience, no blueprint. 284 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 11: Yeah. 285 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: Vin de Bona, the maestro of AFF, had only one 286 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 1: more show to tape for the twenty nineteen twenty twenty 287 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: TV season when lockdown orders upended TV production. Here he 288 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: explains why he was one and done with the idea 289 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: of doing AFF with Alfonso Rivieriro hosting from his home. 290 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 14: We realized that if we didn't figure out a way 291 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 14: to make it work for the show, you know, who 292 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 14: knows what would have happened with broadcast. So the first 293 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 14: thing that happened is we did one show called at 294 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 14: Home with AFV and literally it was at home with Alphonso, 295 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 14: who was running his own camera, running his own prompter, 296 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 14: did his own lights. I directed through Zoom, but we 297 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 14: really directed together. 298 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:43,720 Speaker 12: And he was. 299 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:50,120 Speaker 14: The sole person on the show, and we did wraparounds 300 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,720 Speaker 14: in different areas of his house, the kitchen, the living room, 301 00:17:54,560 --> 00:18:00,400 Speaker 14: the pool by his RV. And we put the first 302 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 14: show together, all on Zoom, all linked together with each 303 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 14: of our staff members, and then we would look at 304 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,680 Speaker 14: the playback reels that we're going to go into the show. 305 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 14: We would build them and then view them as a team. 306 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 14: Everything was teamwork, really teamwork, and. 307 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 6: It was. 308 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 14: It was actually fairly easy to get it all together. 309 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 14: The toughest part wasn't the video. The toughest part was 310 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,200 Speaker 14: making sure audio was great. It's sometimes hard to hear 311 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 14: the nuances, you know, when you're on Zoom. 312 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,199 Speaker 1: Let's drill down on the ingenuity that Cruz techs and 313 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: engineers demonstrated under pressure. Here we'll hear from John Tower, 314 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: Simone Swink, Vin Dea Bona and Tower again. 315 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 3: Over the course of fifteen hours, they had to set 316 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:03,719 Speaker 3: up an entire workable control room and show for the 317 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 3: next day, and under probably normal conditions. I'm just using 318 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 3: like an example that would you maybe give a team 319 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 3: like that a week maybe two to do that, and 320 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 3: they had. 321 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 6: Literally the night. 322 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 7: One thing that the News division did very quickly was 323 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 7: figure out and build at home sort of kits that 324 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 7: a team could swoop in and set up and so 325 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:32,560 Speaker 7: that everybody could broadcast from home, and then as long 326 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 7: as we could work it out from the control room, 327 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 7: you could actually have all three main anchors from home 328 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 7: in a given broadcast. And that being able to do 329 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 7: that so quickly and realized that we could get on 330 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 7: the air and just sort of adjust the shots from 331 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 7: there gave us a lot of flexibility. It also meant 332 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 7: that we didn't have to substantially change parts of the show. 333 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 7: It was just a few were a viewer. The aesthetic 334 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 7: changed a little bit because people weren't next to each 335 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,479 Speaker 7: other physically, but they were next to each other in 336 00:19:58,560 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 7: boxes at times. 337 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 14: God Story, our set designer created an idea to build 338 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:10,119 Speaker 14: these stacks, and by stacks, I mean vertical columns with 339 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 14: three flat screens in each column, and the total amount 340 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 14: of Zoom audience members would be ninety six and they'd 341 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 14: be broken up into these three columns. So Al would 342 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 14: walk around studio and he'd walk by a column or 343 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 14: two columns, and the audience saw him live to studio 344 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,199 Speaker 14: by a zoom. And it was quite an undertaking. We 345 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:49,479 Speaker 14: wound up having four additional technicians in the process. So 346 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 14: basically what we had was each operator had two computers. 347 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 14: Each computer had sixteen people that they were culling from 348 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:09,160 Speaker 14: the zoom audience to control. So the total was each 349 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,479 Speaker 14: person had thirty two people times three, which wound up 350 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 14: being ninety six. And so the three technicians operating the 351 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:24,360 Speaker 14: computers would make sure the signal was strong. We sent 352 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 14: out a three page memorandum to audience members. Audience Plus 353 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,399 Speaker 14: was the company that secured audiences for us, and it 354 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 14: wasn't just LA, it was all around the country. They 355 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 14: put out a blast and people would write in saying, yes, 356 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 14: I'd like to be on the show. Yes, I can 357 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 14: guarantee you four hours of my time. Don't wear any 358 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 14: identifying T shirts, no licensed art on the wall, so 359 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 14: all of that had to be taken care of and 360 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 14: then these ninety six accumulated audience members. Then it was 361 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 14: assigned to one producer who would say you up in 362 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 14: the upper corner, be more attentive, you know, or we're 363 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 14: going to go to a break if you guys want 364 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 14: to take a bath, all that stuff through another producer, 365 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 14: and actually we wound up having al talked to the 366 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,640 Speaker 14: home viewers asking them, you know, how many you want 367 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 14: to go to raise hands? And it was it was 368 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 14: kind of fun. So we really had as complete an 369 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:45,440 Speaker 14: audience situation with laughs and reactions as we had in studio, 370 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,880 Speaker 14: and it was. It was actually a great look and 371 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 14: and we kind of missed it when we into studio. 372 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 14: But it was a lot of work, and of course 373 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:02,680 Speaker 14: the other thing was we had to pretest the crew 374 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,159 Speaker 14: two days before they would show up in studio, and 375 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,239 Speaker 14: we had to pay them for the test, so it 376 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 14: was a full day to test them, and then on 377 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 14: studio day we'd have to back up key crew members 378 00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 14: like lighting director, technical director, and probably one cameraman and 379 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,320 Speaker 14: a few other studio people just to make sure on 380 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,600 Speaker 14: that last day when they came in and tested that 381 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 14: they were fine. 382 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 3: So eventually we made our way to at Solvent Theater 383 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 3: and because Stephen Colbert was off and that was sort 384 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 3: of like our last that was the last space that 385 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 3: was available to use that they were comfortably using. It 386 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,399 Speaker 3: took very very minimal amount of crew at that point 387 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 3: they had This was probably a couple of weeks in 388 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 3: to the actual lockdown, the start of the pandemic, and 389 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 3: we had started a wrapperhenser around masking, which seems late 390 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 3: and quick now looking back, but like we'd started wrapprehension 391 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 3: un masking, and so we were we were a few 392 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,679 Speaker 3: of us. It was like probably four or five of 393 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 3: us with a director and a t d uh in 394 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:17,159 Speaker 3: a in a uh insulivent theater control room with our 395 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 3: anchors remote, all just putting the show on. 396 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,120 Speaker 6: All the producers were remote. 397 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 3: People had started to like they'd been using uh they 398 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 3: had developed a system for saving for remote editors, firing 399 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:37,120 Speaker 3: up remotely dating videos onto you know UH drop boxes 400 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 3: that again we did we were not using often or 401 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 3: ever before the pandemic, and so the technologies that we 402 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 3: sort of still use now where people are you know, 403 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 3: it actually makes you know, obviously clips and in material 404 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:58,919 Speaker 3: available in a in a like sort of a much 405 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 3: more remote way. But all those all those systems were 406 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 3: being built on the flot by trying to figure out 407 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,159 Speaker 3: how to get you know stories in the air. There 408 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 3: are a couple of shows where we really really didn't 409 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 3: have many elements at all. We were just sort of 410 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 3: like doing the show on a very minimal basis. Uh So, 411 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 3: when we were in ed Solvent Theater, I remember when 412 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 3: we first got over there, there was a there's a 413 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,199 Speaker 3: moment when they kicked us out of DC and we're like, so, 414 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 3: where we're going to go next? And so they had 415 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 3: come up with a solution with ed Solvent Theator because 416 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,360 Speaker 3: it was really one of the only control rooms left. 417 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 3: There were questions of whether or that was going to 418 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 3: be We're going to use a freelance control room, like 419 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,480 Speaker 3: some sort of like hired control room somewhere, and then 420 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 3: they had decided on ed Solvent Theatre. And the reason 421 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 3: why they had to signed ED Solvent Theator, I think 422 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 3: is because they it still had the connectivity of our 423 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 3: other available control rooms. You could still patch into, like 424 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 3: you know, whatever they needed to patch into what. 425 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: Stands out in your mind now as a memory. Then 426 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: that reinforced for you the scope of the crisis. The 427 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: answer were intriguing. We'll hear from Chris Dinan followed by 428 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: John Tower. 429 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 5: We had an internal intelligence briefing from a former member 430 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,119 Speaker 5: of the government who was very high ranking and very knowledgeable, 431 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 5: and he very matter of factly laid out what was coming, 432 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 5: and it all seemed it all seemed to be a 433 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 5: little unreal, but he was so even keeled and how 434 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 5: he presented it. 435 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 13: It seemed like it was a rational explanation of what 436 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 13: we could expect. 437 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 5: And then at one point he mentioned a number seven 438 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 5: hundred thousand, and that number was what he was predicting 439 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 5: and experts were predicting would be fatalities, would be the 440 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,360 Speaker 5: number of Americans killed. And I remember sitting back and 441 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 5: really being struck by that number because it was such 442 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 5: an enormous figure. I mean, that's the number of people 443 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 5: who died in the US Civil War, the bloodiest conflict 444 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 5: of the country's history. 445 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 3: While we were in the very deep, deep parts of 446 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 3: the early pandemic that ed Sullivan Control room, our my 447 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 3: Land producer Rachel had set up a very analog board 448 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 3: with cases and deaths and the cases in Death's Ball. 449 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 3: She'd update every day when she came in and the 450 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 3: new cases, and it took on a very it was 451 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 3: a very present reminder for us of like how dangerous 452 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 3: this thing was because at some point it was the 453 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,760 Speaker 3: numbers were unfathomable for how many people had died and 454 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 3: how many people were getting sick, and they were when 455 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 3: they were really tracking it, when they were really starting 456 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 3: to track it. But like right in the early days, 457 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 3: when like we were starting to get numbers, and part 458 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 3: of our broadcast was singularly focused on, like what's the 459 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 3: new number, what's the new cases, what's the new death number. 460 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 3: And so that was just a very real present thing 461 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 3: on the show. But also like right behind us in 462 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,119 Speaker 3: the wall in the control room, it was just cases 463 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 3: and death, death number, and so the it was just 464 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 3: always over our shoulder literally. 465 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: For they came into work in Midtown News, the city 466 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: affectionately known as Zoo York was a ghost town. Chris 467 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,439 Speaker 1: Dinan shares a vivid memory, as does CBS Mornings Shanna 468 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: Thomas and ABC's Lindsey Davis. 469 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 13: It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. 470 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 5: Certainly in Manhattan, I maybe saw two dozen people during 471 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 5: the course of that very very long bike ride, when 472 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 5: you would normally see hundreds, if not thousands. Fine, and 473 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 5: it was in every way like a classic sci fi 474 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 5: movie post apocalypse. 475 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 13: There was you know a few people that draggled on 476 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 13: the streets. 477 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 5: And nothing else, so that really I still remember how 478 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 5: that felt. 479 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 6: It was. 480 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 13: Memorable. 481 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 6: New York City was a ghost town. 482 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 3: It was an actual It felt like it felt like 483 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 3: one of those movies where you're like one you wake 484 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 3: up and you're wandering through the streets and a place 485 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 3: that's normally bustling is absolutely lifeless. 486 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 6: And it was actually exactly like that. 487 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,080 Speaker 2: It was strange, you know, I would feel like I 488 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 2: was in this move you know, a movie where you 489 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 2: almost they're like turning the radio channels and you know 490 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 2: you don't hear anything on it, you know, when those 491 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 2: like kind of end of days movies, yea, and people 492 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 2: are just kind of looking for a signal to say, 493 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,560 Speaker 2: you know's anybody out there, because the highways would just 494 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 2: be empty. I mean there were It was not uncommon 495 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 2: for me to leave my house and go into Manhattan 496 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,960 Speaker 2: and maybe I'd see five cars that whole trip, you know, 497 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 2: I mean it was and even once you got into Manhattan, 498 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 2: it was desolate, you know. 499 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: Uh. 500 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 2: And and we actually had gotten some passes printed out 501 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 2: I remember uh from the city basically saying that we 502 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 2: were essential workers in case there was you know, it 503 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,040 Speaker 2: never got to that point where I had to show 504 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 2: anybody that paperwork. But I think it was so unknown 505 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 2: that ABC just wanted to prepare for any scenario in 506 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,600 Speaker 2: case you got pulled over or whatever might happen, that 507 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 2: we could prove that, you know, we had to still 508 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 2: be on the road and go to work. 509 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: How did your colleagues adjust to radically different working conditions. 510 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: Chris Dinan, Jason Kurtz, and Tony D. 511 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 15: Koppel discuss it was interesting how quickly people adapted. They 512 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 15: just had ways to work around issues and work around 513 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 15: problems and make something happen. And I always look back 514 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 15: at that time as a very innovative time or you know, 515 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 15: an industry that had never operated like that. Nobody generationally 516 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,040 Speaker 15: had experienced anything like this, so it was completely new. 517 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 10: At one point, it was like, you know, we found 518 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 10: out there was definitely not going to be a studio audience, 519 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,959 Speaker 10: so we were like, let's save the money, not build 520 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 10: half the set since we're not even going to have 521 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 10: a studio audience, and we can put that money towards technology. 522 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 10: And we looked into the virtual audience that we we 523 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 10: call them the vffs, and we were able to build 524 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 10: this community. So we had that the best we could 525 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 10: in this new normal, like that audience, energy and interaction. 526 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 11: Then it was no one's traveling. 527 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 10: Guests aren't going to be able to come in, So 528 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 10: how do we now overcome that obstacle? And that's when 529 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 10: we started looking into green screen technology and virtual studios, 530 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 10: and luckily we were able to build a green screen 531 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 10: studio in Los Angeles and basically teleport guests into our 532 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 10: studio in a seamless way that you wouldn't even know 533 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 10: a lot of times Spiels didn't even know. And we 534 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 10: were able to get Drew and Lucy obviously in New York, 535 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 10: but then Cameron via the La Studio and that became 536 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 10: our premiere. So what long story short, We were just 537 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 10: constantly looking to create from ground, from scratch, and that 538 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 10: really benefited us because we weren't struggling looking backwards, we 539 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:00,960 Speaker 10: were only looking forwards. 540 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 8: I tried to convince myself I was like Gates least, 541 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 8: so I'd interviewed before, and who used to put a 542 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:07,640 Speaker 8: suit on to walk from the top floor was Brownstone 543 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 8: down to the basement to go to work as a writer, 544 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 8: And that was kind of like what I did. I 545 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 8: got up, I put a suit on, and I walked 546 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,960 Speaker 8: from the living room down one floor to the basement 547 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 8: and tried to be a professional. But it was a 548 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 8: very unfinished basement with water bugs let's call them, we 549 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,240 Speaker 8: won't say cockroaches crawling up out of the drain on 550 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 8: a nightly basis, and you had to throw vanity out 551 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 8: the window because you're doing your own makeup. The lighting 552 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 8: is the best it can be. Everything has a kind 553 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 8: of ghoulish severe quality to it, and you go for it. 554 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 8: It's amazing how quickly people got comfortable with. 555 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 9: Not really not crystal clear pictures and not crystal clear sound. 556 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 10: And that's also when we decided to sort of create 557 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 10: a hybrid live model, knowing the celebrity interviews were going 558 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 10: to be hard for us timing wise because we were 559 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 10: live at nine am in New York. So then we 560 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 10: started post taping and taping the celebrity interviews when the 561 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 10: timing worked out better, and we sort of created this 562 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 10: hybrid model of the top of the show, which was 563 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 10: Drew's News Live, a live segment after that, and then 564 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 10: we would drop in a pre recorded edit it celebrity interview, 565 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 10: and then we would finish the show. Yeah, I think 566 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 10: it was just being creative within everything that was coming 567 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 10: at us at once. 568 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,680 Speaker 1: Bill Hammer of Fox News simply could not stay home bound. 569 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 4: I found it very difficult to replicate the energy from 570 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,040 Speaker 4: a basement at shag Harbord, New York. And I'm a 571 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 4: people person, absolutely. I think I get energy from others 572 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 4: and hopefully I give them a little bit too, you know. 573 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 4: Having said that, we've reported on stories on wars, on 574 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 4: terror attacks all over the world for twenty thirty years, 575 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 4: and what you're doing in that scenario is you're out 576 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,320 Speaker 4: and you can hear the audio in your ear, but 577 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 4: you're basically talking into a round circle on that camera 578 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 4: for hours, for days, for weeks. But yet I felt 579 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 4: I was I had the energy to do that, but 580 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,360 Speaker 4: I just I couldn't do it from my house. I tried, 581 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 4: but it wasn't It wasn't doing it for me. I 582 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 4: don't know how else to say it. I wanted to 583 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,400 Speaker 4: be closer to the story and working remotely, I felt 584 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 4: as if it was just taking me further away from 585 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 4: understanding what was happening day by day. Now, that's not 586 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,800 Speaker 4: to take anything away from my colleagues either here or elsewhere. 587 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 4: At other networks, they make their own decisions. But for 588 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 4: me personally, I felt a strong desire to be in 589 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,320 Speaker 4: the building and it helped me with the human connection 590 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 4: to a story like that, which I think a lot 591 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,439 Speaker 4: of people, frankly were looking for. And I'd say too, 592 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 4: like our CEO, she did not outsource it. She was 593 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 4: here as well, Suzanne Scott. I made some fast friends 594 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:12,920 Speaker 4: with a bar restaurant over here on a street that 595 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 4: I will not name because I do not want to 596 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,719 Speaker 4: get them in trouble. And there was a period where 597 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 4: the city reopened for a week or two, do you 598 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 4: remember that, and everything slamming back down again. But during 599 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,839 Speaker 4: that week or two I made friends with them, and 600 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,920 Speaker 4: they said, you know, Bill, we've got a room upstairs. 601 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 4: It has no windows, and you're welcome to come anytime. 602 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 4: And that really became a refuge for me. You know, 603 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 4: I'm not married, and I'm either going home to an 604 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,320 Speaker 4: apartment or I'm going to what I called my COVID 605 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 4: speak easy. So on occasion, Cynthia, I would bring a 606 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 4: colleague or a friend and we would go upstairs in 607 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 4: this room, and you know, we could eat with them, 608 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 4: and you know, have a beer, and maybe it's just 609 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,360 Speaker 4: an hour or an hour and a half time, but 610 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 4: it gave us something to do. 611 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 1: Let's call this section anchor management. We'll hear from John Tower, 612 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: Simone Swink, and Lindsey Davis. 613 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 3: Managing anchors remotely is a challenge because they don't see 614 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,319 Speaker 3: or hear each other, right, so in the beginning, like 615 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 3: they're stepping on each other. They don't understand like the 616 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 3: Gale talks and then Tony talks, and then Gail stops, 617 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,560 Speaker 3: and then Tony stops and then you know, So getting 618 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,600 Speaker 3: them used to coordinating was something that I was used 619 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,360 Speaker 3: to coming from Rning Joe, where most of our anchors 620 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,799 Speaker 3: were remote saying who's next, who comes next, who does this, 621 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,960 Speaker 3: who does that? And so that was a that was 622 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 3: a huge learning curve for them because you know, remote show. 623 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:49,759 Speaker 3: Maybe having one anchor or remote on a remote show 624 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 3: is something that you like are used to, but like 625 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 3: having all three anchors who are bouncing scripts, who are 626 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,160 Speaker 3: like trying to interact with each other for every topic, 627 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,279 Speaker 3: like that's a that's a sort of like an knew 628 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:02,799 Speaker 3: it's left left brain, right brain for them, and so 629 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 3: getting it was about getting them used to hearing me 630 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 3: in their ear and like and like them being comfortable 631 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 3: with me being like, Gaiels talks next, Hey, Gail talks next. Hey, 632 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,799 Speaker 3: Anthony talks next. What do you mean the Anthony talks next? 633 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:15,880 Speaker 3: I have something to say. 634 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,360 Speaker 7: We almost always had at least one anchor in the studio, 635 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:21,759 Speaker 7: so even if they so let's say, if Michael was 636 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,600 Speaker 7: in the studio and Robin was in a box and 637 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 7: George was in a box, there was always a way 638 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,279 Speaker 7: to get the show on the air. And so like you, 639 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,959 Speaker 7: if you're used to being on deadline, you're probably also 640 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,279 Speaker 7: good at improvisation, even when you don't want to be. 641 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,280 Speaker 7: So there was always a way to have a plan, 642 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,520 Speaker 7: and worst case scenario, someone else's shot went down, then 643 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,080 Speaker 7: whoever was in the studio could take the reins and 644 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,400 Speaker 7: take us to the next reporter, or have the conversation 645 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 7: or do the interview. And there were definitely a few 646 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 7: times I was trying to think of them, but there 647 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,640 Speaker 7: were definitely a few times that somebody on remote Zoom 648 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,360 Speaker 7: was scheduled to do an interview and something went wrong, 649 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 7: and so someone else came took over and did the interview. 650 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 2: So Flavio Juar was my audio tech who also doubled 651 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 2: as my studio floor director, and it was just the 652 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:11,000 Speaker 2: two of us every single day. So then they started 653 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 2: doing two week rotations, so there would be teams basically 654 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 2: that would be in the office for two weeks and 655 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,360 Speaker 2: then at home for two weeks. Basically just kind of 656 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:25,600 Speaker 2: trying to figure out the incubation period so that you 657 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:30,920 Speaker 2: always had a plan B for I if that team 658 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 2: or multiple people on that team got sick, you had reserves, 659 00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:39,319 Speaker 2: so that essentially everybody wasn't going to get sick at 660 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:45,280 Speaker 2: the same time. So I was not seeing anyone except 661 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:50,239 Speaker 2: for Flavio. We were not you know, we would we 662 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 2: would meet on zoom. A lot was done through email 663 00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:58,879 Speaker 2: and text, but physically, well, I'm sorry. I would see 664 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 2: also a hair makeup team that they would you know, 665 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:05,319 Speaker 2: have gloves and masks and everything. But otherwise in the building, yeah, 666 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:07,760 Speaker 2: it was just it was just the two of us. 667 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,520 Speaker 1: It's hard to believe that this story hasn't been turned 668 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: into a sitcom or a Netflix rom com. Tony Dukoppel 669 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,080 Speaker 1: had an unusual situation at his home because he had 670 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:21,920 Speaker 1: to share his basement studio with his wife. NBC News 671 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:27,239 Speaker 1: correspondent Katie Tour occasionally hilarity would ensue. I understand that 672 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,359 Speaker 1: your basement doubled as the NBC bureau as well as 673 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 1: the CBS News bureau. Well was that were there any 674 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:35,800 Speaker 1: traffic jams for you and Katie at any time? 675 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 8: Huge now, because not only did it double as, but 676 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:43,239 Speaker 8: the NBC people came down and, as I recall, un 677 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:46,360 Speaker 8: ceremoniously moved some of the CBS stuff in order to 678 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,240 Speaker 8: get their pick of corners. 679 00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,480 Speaker 9: For their setup so they had a longer camera shot. 680 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 9: I was more squeezed. 681 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,719 Speaker 8: But on the other hand, the NBC crew, they're the 682 00:39:57,719 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 8: ones that took the made the investment of drilling the 683 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,680 Speaker 8: the enhanced Internet cable down directly from where it comes 684 00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 8: into the house into the basement, so they I guess 685 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 8: they felt they had license. But I do remember there 686 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:09,880 Speaker 8: was like a call that I was not on, but 687 00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 8: between our crew folks and the NBC crew folks to 688 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,759 Speaker 8: iron out who was disrespecting who on this, and then 689 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 8: there was like there. 690 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,399 Speaker 9: Were questions of like, well, what happens if they both 691 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:19,680 Speaker 9: need to. 692 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,160 Speaker 8: Be on air at the same time, And then a 693 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 8: moment later, we thought, well, if that's the case, something 694 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 8: even worse than this terribleness we're going through has to happen, 695 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:29,160 Speaker 8: So let's just pray that doesn't occur. 696 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 9: And it didn't. It didn't know. 697 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,719 Speaker 8: But sometimes the one thing that would happen, though, is 698 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:38,440 Speaker 8: I would have to I'd go off air, and then 699 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,839 Speaker 8: I would use the desk behind me as my work 700 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,560 Speaker 8: desk during the day because I'd have the baby upstairs 701 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:48,320 Speaker 8: and Katie would sometimes beyond, but i'd have a script deadline. 702 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,600 Speaker 8: I was still trying to be productive as I could, 703 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,759 Speaker 8: and the bathroom was across her camera shot, so it'd 704 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 8: have to sometimes army crawl threw her very serious life 705 00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 8: or death conversation to take care of the more mundane 706 00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:05,160 Speaker 8: acts of daily life. And then I'd be in my 707 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:06,719 Speaker 8: own head because I'd be thinking about a script, so 708 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:08,560 Speaker 8: I wouldn't think about whether she's on. So you know, 709 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 8: if you listen closely, there's probably toilet flushes in the 710 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:15,720 Speaker 8: background of kat Churit reports during those days, Sorry, honey. 711 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,560 Speaker 1: Fox News is Scott Wilder was not the only one 712 00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:22,400 Speaker 1: to point out the harmonic convergence that helped TV during 713 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,759 Speaker 1: COVID video sharing platforms and cloud based collaboration tools were 714 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,480 Speaker 1: hitting new strides just as the world needed to set 715 00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:36,360 Speaker 1: a virtual meeting or two. Wilder explains it, well. 716 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,160 Speaker 12: Listen, this pandemic happened five years earlier. We would not 717 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,160 Speaker 12: have had a satellite truck to send to each person's home. 718 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,240 Speaker 12: The fact that we were broadcasting largely using bonded cellular 719 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,960 Speaker 12: technology and the Internet that you have in your home 720 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:54,320 Speaker 12: and I have in my home without adding any services. 721 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:58,440 Speaker 12: Over time, we did bolster some of the Internet services, 722 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 12: but five years ago, three years ago, before the pandemic, 723 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:05,440 Speaker 12: three years prior to the pandemic, we would not have 724 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:08,680 Speaker 12: been able to do that. And so because of that technology, 725 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 12: we were talking about how we can do live shots 726 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:18,919 Speaker 12: and home studios and those things with equipment like live 727 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,239 Speaker 12: view and you know, your Verizon Internet that you have. 728 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:22,839 Speaker 13: In your home. 729 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,279 Speaker 1: Tech tools were the saviors of businesses across the spectrum 730 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 1: during lockdown, but inevitably there were snaffoos. Here's a string 731 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:37,120 Speaker 1: of fun anecdotes from John Tower, Lindsay Davis, Simone Swink, 732 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:38,400 Speaker 1: and Tony D. Koppel. 733 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:41,279 Speaker 3: There would be times when our anchor cameras would like 734 00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 3: just disappear right, so, like Gail's connection would go down ooops. Yeah, 735 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:49,680 Speaker 3: and then Tony's auld go down or anthems are going down, 736 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:53,360 Speaker 3: and you know those are okay. Our attitude about that 737 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:55,600 Speaker 3: is like, that's okay. We're in a pandemic, like we're 738 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,640 Speaker 3: managed to staying we like. Our personal approach was just 739 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 3: like say it on the air, say it, don't try 740 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,600 Speaker 3: to like, you know, don't be nervous about it, like 741 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,600 Speaker 3: have fun with it. And there was in whatever respect 742 00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:11,240 Speaker 3: you can. But there were moments when you lose somebody 743 00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:13,880 Speaker 3: and you know, there's a lot of scrambling bonds, scenes, 744 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,879 Speaker 3: a lot of people running around, but for the show, 745 00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,360 Speaker 3: you just you know, got picked up Tony script and 746 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:20,040 Speaker 3: you keep moving. 747 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,640 Speaker 2: There were definitely a few times where the packages were 748 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:27,239 Speaker 2: not sent or sent incorrectly, or maybe there was no 749 00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:29,879 Speaker 2: sound on them. I mean, because it was just such 750 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:34,359 Speaker 2: a and I and I felt our team really rose 751 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:36,920 Speaker 2: to the occasion. I think it was such a baptism 752 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:39,040 Speaker 2: by fire. Again, many of them, this was their first 753 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:43,120 Speaker 2: or second job, and they had looked to be looked 754 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:48,320 Speaker 2: forward to being mentored, and now that opportunity, they were 755 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:51,040 Speaker 2: just having to figure it out, and many of it 756 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:55,080 Speaker 2: by trial and error. You know, there were a lot 757 00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,960 Speaker 2: of glitches, but I think people at home understood, you know, 758 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 2: that was my belief anyway, that people knew what we 759 00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:05,839 Speaker 2: were dealing with because they were trying to piece things 760 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:06,920 Speaker 2: together themselves. 761 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,200 Speaker 7: When Lara Spencer went home, it was something we always 762 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:11,440 Speaker 7: called the jokingly the Gretitch Bureau, because she and her 763 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:13,080 Speaker 7: producer and a few other folks all of up in 764 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:17,719 Speaker 7: Connecticut and she broadcasts from her home for I think 765 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:20,560 Speaker 7: it was over two years. Did Pop News did Deals 766 00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:22,600 Speaker 7: and Steals. They would just be set up all over 767 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:24,319 Speaker 7: parts of her house, Like Deals and Steels would be 768 00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:26,200 Speaker 7: out in the yard, Pop News would be inside in 769 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:30,120 Speaker 7: the kitchen. One of our most memorable episodes or broadcast 770 00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:32,840 Speaker 7: during COVID is we really thought we had it nailed about. 771 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:34,879 Speaker 7: I think it was a year in her producer would 772 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:36,960 Speaker 7: drive over to her house because they were essentially their 773 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,160 Speaker 7: own COVID bubble, and she would run the prompter and 774 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,320 Speaker 7: the camera and Lara, as you may know from watching 775 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:44,759 Speaker 7: our show, loves to adopt dogs, and she had for 776 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,880 Speaker 7: sure she had adopted a rescue that was blind, so 777 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:49,839 Speaker 7: we had to keep he always had to be kept 778 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:53,480 Speaker 7: out during the broadcast, and one day Dandy got in 779 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,319 Speaker 7: and been walked into the tripod and live on air, 780 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:00,400 Speaker 7: you know, the shots like this and suddenly it's like this, 781 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 7: and Lara, to her credit, just kept broadcasting. And so 782 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:05,759 Speaker 7: that morning Pop News was just upside down, but it 783 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:07,960 Speaker 7: also spoke to the reality of what was going on, 784 00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:11,000 Speaker 7: like everybody was learning how to use this technology on 785 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,200 Speaker 7: air and in their lives, and it sort of helped 786 00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:16,759 Speaker 7: having these moments of humor that we just as a 787 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:19,640 Speaker 7: television show would keep going with. You know, we didn't 788 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 7: immediately cut it. It was just it was actually quite funny, 789 00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 7: and she's so great live that she just kept going. 790 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:26,719 Speaker 8: Oh and then I remember like all kinds of SNAPf 791 00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:29,360 Speaker 8: foos happened that would never happen before. Where I'm sitting 792 00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:32,560 Speaker 8: there in a commercial break, reading something on my lap 793 00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:36,279 Speaker 8: which is just out of camera shot, and somebody is 794 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:38,279 Speaker 8: trying to tell me we're coming back from commercial. But 795 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,120 Speaker 8: instead of Patty or our stage director being right in 796 00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:41,960 Speaker 8: front of me snapping her fingers being like, Tony, you're 797 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:44,719 Speaker 8: back A ten, I have no IFB it's fallen out, 798 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,600 Speaker 8: so they just come back to me live picture of 799 00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:50,320 Speaker 8: me just looking down. It appears as though I'm sleeping, 800 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:52,160 Speaker 8: like my chin is on my chest and I'm just 801 00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:54,840 Speaker 8: out cold. So it's just ten seconds of that with 802 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:57,800 Speaker 8: Jaunty Morning Show music and then it goes back to commercial. 803 00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,640 Speaker 9: Every was like, did we just catch that guy sleeping? 804 00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,360 Speaker 9: So it was a it was a it was messy. 805 00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:09,360 Speaker 1: You don't want to miss what's coming up next. We'll 806 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:12,480 Speaker 1: be right back with more tales of TV during COVID 807 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:20,680 Speaker 1: after this break, and we're back with more about how 808 00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:24,200 Speaker 1: TV stayed on the air during COVID. Did you ever 809 00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:27,160 Speaker 1: have a tech challenge so bad you feared you might 810 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:30,319 Speaker 1: miss your airtime or not deliver your episode on time? 811 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 1: Chris Dinan, Jason Kurtz, and SHAWNA. Thomas each paused a 812 00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:37,280 Speaker 1: bit before they answered, I don't. 813 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:38,920 Speaker 13: Think we ever felt like we weren't going to get 814 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:39,359 Speaker 13: on TV. 815 00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:42,760 Speaker 5: I think that there were doubts and on certaindays about 816 00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:45,640 Speaker 5: how exactly that would happen. But I mean, this is 817 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:47,799 Speaker 5: there is you know there really it's it's a zero 818 00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:50,680 Speaker 5: some dame that there is no alternative. We have to 819 00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:55,480 Speaker 5: get on television though not doing that, so I think 820 00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:58,120 Speaker 5: everybody was determined to find the ways to do it, 821 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:02,759 Speaker 5: as you know, as it wasn't there were moments where 822 00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:06,279 Speaker 5: you were uncertain where something would operate from him, whether 823 00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,080 Speaker 5: a piece would roll or whether you know, something like 824 00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:12,400 Speaker 5: that would happen, whether a live shot would pop up appropriately. 825 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:16,560 Speaker 5: And those were all individual scares, but in general, I 826 00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:20,360 Speaker 5: think that there was a real determination to you know, 827 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:24,239 Speaker 5: meet the challenge, do the job. And I would say that, 828 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:28,680 Speaker 5: you know, people really made sacrifices, and they really, you know, 829 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:31,800 Speaker 5: they chose to get the job done. I mean, David 830 00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:35,359 Speaker 5: could have stayed at home at a home studio if 831 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,480 Speaker 5: he had wanted to. Many people did, and that was 832 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:41,680 Speaker 5: an obvious choice. But he came every day to the 833 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:45,120 Speaker 5: set to just send a reassuring message that you know, 834 00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:48,279 Speaker 5: there were people here, people you could trust, people who 835 00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:51,719 Speaker 5: would deliver information that are back based and in context. 836 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:55,560 Speaker 13: And I think that the audience warmed to that. 837 00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,239 Speaker 1: Did you ever think about postponing the launch from September? 838 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:04,480 Speaker 10: There were conversations, but they were shut down very quickly. 839 00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:11,040 Speaker 10: We all just collectively, you know, executives at CBS, myself, Drue, 840 00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:14,399 Speaker 10: all the wonderful people that work here. It was just 841 00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:19,839 Speaker 10: this collective feeling of we're we're doing this, and we're 842 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:24,919 Speaker 10: focused and maybe the world needs this bright spot right now. 843 00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:26,960 Speaker 11: And hopefully we can be that. 844 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:31,320 Speaker 10: And that was sort of just collectively how we all felt. 845 00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:34,759 Speaker 10: It was never really said out loud. It was never 846 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:39,359 Speaker 10: this big, raw, raw mission. It just was this undertone 847 00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:41,879 Speaker 10: and feeling we all had together that this was we're 848 00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:45,120 Speaker 10: doing this and we'll see everyone in September. 849 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:47,680 Speaker 16: The thing is, and I know this is a cliche, 850 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:50,640 Speaker 16: but I also come from a theater background. The show 851 00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:52,840 Speaker 16: must go on no matter I always think about this 852 00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:57,200 Speaker 16: show as no matter what, at seven am Eastern time, 853 00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:01,640 Speaker 16: we're not gonna put black on it, like we're going 854 00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:05,799 Speaker 16: to do something right. So however we have to do that, 855 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,600 Speaker 16: we will make it happen. And I've never worked anywhere 856 00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:13,160 Speaker 16: CBS News or anywhere else where. Everyone does not have 857 00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:14,000 Speaker 16: that work ethic. 858 00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:17,920 Speaker 1: Simon Swink wasn't the only one to marvel in hindsight 859 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:21,160 Speaker 1: at how much they were able to achieve under COVID conditions. 860 00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:25,200 Speaker 1: Scott Wilder and Jason Kurtz also chime in on this subject. 861 00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:28,040 Speaker 7: But our menu actually didn't change that much. I would say, 862 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:31,000 Speaker 7: if you took any broadcast from four years ago at 863 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,440 Speaker 7: this moment and right now, it's probably the same number 864 00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:36,359 Speaker 7: of segments. Because what we found is we had enough 865 00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:40,080 Speaker 7: people that really knew how the show worked and could 866 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:42,400 Speaker 7: figure out, Okay, I'm going to add a few extra steps, 867 00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:44,000 Speaker 7: but the guest isn't coming, So we're going to do 868 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,160 Speaker 7: this on Zoom, or we're going to tape interviews on 869 00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:48,759 Speaker 7: zoom or whatever it might be. We can edit from 870 00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:51,680 Speaker 7: home and we can feed in this way over various servers. 871 00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:54,920 Speaker 7: We came up with enough workarounds very quickly because it's 872 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,720 Speaker 7: a smart creative group that it didn't change our segment number, 873 00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,680 Speaker 7: but it did really change our production number, and the 874 00:50:00,719 --> 00:50:03,920 Speaker 7: most noticeable. You know, we've always done a lot of 875 00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:09,520 Speaker 7: live performances on the show, live music performances, and we 876 00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:12,279 Speaker 7: couldn't do those. I mean, we had to kick off 877 00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:13,839 Speaker 7: our summer I think was to kick off our summer 878 00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:17,920 Speaker 7: concert series. We had we had a special crew tested, 879 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:20,560 Speaker 7: and we filmed Katie Perry in her backyard singing her 880 00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:23,520 Speaker 7: brand new song Daisies. And I would argue it was 881 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:26,200 Speaker 7: actually in many ways, it was very cool that we 882 00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:29,879 Speaker 7: had been forced to innovate into that because we were 883 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:32,960 Speaker 7: seeing a very famous pop star bring us a new 884 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,880 Speaker 7: song in a different kind of environment. You know, it 885 00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:40,200 Speaker 7: wasn't the usual slick stage production. So in some cases 886 00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:42,560 Speaker 7: the innovations forced I think some great television. 887 00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:49,000 Speaker 12: Our leaderships, specifically Susann Scott, he's our CEO, was very 888 00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:52,160 Speaker 12: adamant that we needed to look like we were in 889 00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,640 Speaker 12: television studios and needed to have a high bar of 890 00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:58,839 Speaker 12: being a professional television facility. 891 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:01,000 Speaker 6: That facility was. 892 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:03,800 Speaker 12: Going to be in an anchor's home, it didn't matter. 893 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:08,400 Speaker 12: It was very important from all leadership that the viewer 894 00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:12,040 Speaker 12: turned on the TV and feel like they're watching Fox News. 895 00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:15,840 Speaker 12: People were starving for information, right, These were scary times, 896 00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:20,160 Speaker 12: and so it just that was one thing that across 897 00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:22,399 Speaker 12: the board, our leadership knew that they did not want 898 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:25,040 Speaker 12: to change. Nobody wanted to turn the TV on and 899 00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:27,600 Speaker 12: look at you know, somebody's living room or kitchen. 900 00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:30,799 Speaker 10: My memory is that none of that. We just kept 901 00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:33,359 Speaker 10: moving and we just weren't giving up. And it was 902 00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:39,040 Speaker 10: just this really supportive, amazing group from CBS executives to 903 00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:43,920 Speaker 10: Drew to you know, Flower Films, Chris Miller and Amber Truesdale, 904 00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:46,239 Speaker 10: myself and everyone that just worked here. It was just 905 00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:52,760 Speaker 10: this collective and I sound Sacharine and but it really 906 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,560 Speaker 10: just was this beautiful group of people that just had 907 00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,200 Speaker 10: one common goal and we were focused and we were 908 00:51:58,239 --> 00:52:01,719 Speaker 10: just not stopping. So that's my memory, and that was 909 00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:04,479 Speaker 10: so nice and helpful, especially during such a dark time 910 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,440 Speaker 10: with everything happening, that it was just this really amazing 911 00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:09,640 Speaker 10: group of people that just got to work together and 912 00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:15,359 Speaker 10: just wanted to stay focused and bring Drew to everyone's 913 00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:20,160 Speaker 10: home and hopefully create like just a fun, bright little 914 00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:20,719 Speaker 10: place to be. 915 00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:24,680 Speaker 1: Of course, all of this work under extreme pressure is 916 00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:28,600 Speaker 1: being done while everyone is also dealing with personal struggles 917 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:32,640 Speaker 1: and health threats made worse by the pandemic. Jason Kurtz, 918 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:38,400 Speaker 1: Shawna Thomas, Simone Swink, and Lindsey Davis share hard stories. 919 00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:40,920 Speaker 10: There was a heaviness to what we were all dealing 920 00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:44,760 Speaker 10: with personally, and you know, we all that was another 921 00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:48,320 Speaker 10: you know, silver lining, and it is that our group 922 00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:52,280 Speaker 10: bonded very fast during those times because we were supporting 923 00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:54,360 Speaker 10: each other, not just professionally but personally. 924 00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:57,600 Speaker 16: CBS News, I believe, was one of the first COVID 925 00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:00,880 Speaker 16: clusters in New York City in March of twenty twenty. 926 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:04,840 Speaker 16: And I know that because while I was not working 927 00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:08,200 Speaker 16: technically for CBS News, I was working for Quibi the 928 00:53:08,360 --> 00:53:10,160 Speaker 16: now incredibly defunt quibi. 929 00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:12,759 Speaker 9: But I was a development. 930 00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:16,280 Speaker 16: Executive that was in charge of sixty and six, which 931 00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:20,640 Speaker 16: was like the sixty Minutes product, and in I think 932 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,440 Speaker 16: about a week before maybe a week and a half 933 00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:25,920 Speaker 16: before they had to shut down the Broadcast Center, we 934 00:53:26,040 --> 00:53:31,200 Speaker 16: had had a launch party there that it near CBS, 935 00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:34,640 Speaker 16: near the broadcast Center, in one of the restaurants that 936 00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:39,040 Speaker 16: I remember being there with Susan Zarenski and Billowens, and 937 00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:40,680 Speaker 16: everyone was like, we're going to do this new thing. 938 00:53:40,719 --> 00:53:42,440 Speaker 16: It's going to be on quibbi. We're making this like 939 00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:45,560 Speaker 16: mini version of sixty minutes with Seth Doane and these 940 00:53:45,600 --> 00:53:49,600 Speaker 16: other reporters and it's going to be fantastic. And I 941 00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:52,400 Speaker 16: remember looking at Zee, who I had known for a 942 00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:56,240 Speaker 16: while just through being in television news for many years, 943 00:53:56,800 --> 00:54:00,840 Speaker 16: and looking at her and we weren't wearing masks and 944 00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:03,160 Speaker 16: being like, am I supposed to hug you? 945 00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:03,359 Speaker 13: Are? 946 00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:05,160 Speaker 16: We hugged? Like what do we do right now? Is 947 00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:05,600 Speaker 16: this real? 948 00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:06,080 Speaker 9: Is this not? 949 00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:08,120 Speaker 16: It goes back to kind of what Tara was saying, 950 00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:13,000 Speaker 16: and she was like, I'm a hugger. And I personally 951 00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:17,359 Speaker 16: believe I got COVID from that party, because almost soon 952 00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:19,600 Speaker 16: after that I was going back and forth between New 953 00:54:19,640 --> 00:54:22,799 Speaker 16: York and d C because I was still partially based 954 00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:29,840 Speaker 16: in DC while working for Quibbi. And it did the 955 00:54:31,160 --> 00:54:34,640 Speaker 16: fears at CBS had started. Things in New York City 956 00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:37,759 Speaker 16: had were just starting to get worse and worse. And 957 00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:40,120 Speaker 16: I basically told my boss, who also used to be 958 00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:43,080 Speaker 16: the executive producer of CBS, this morning, Ryan kdro. 959 00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:44,360 Speaker 14: Ryan looking for Quibbi. 960 00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:48,960 Speaker 16: It's all very incestuous, really, that I was not going 961 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:50,680 Speaker 16: to come back to New York City. And then a 962 00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:52,720 Speaker 16: couple days after that, I came down with one hundred 963 00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:54,920 Speaker 16: and two fever that did not go away for ten days. 964 00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:56,960 Speaker 7: We had a colleague who was quite sick and in 965 00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:01,919 Speaker 7: the hospital and she didn't she didn't understand why nobody 966 00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:04,480 Speaker 7: would visit her. She didn't have COVID, she had something else, 967 00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:07,760 Speaker 7: and none of us could leave our rooms. And she died. 968 00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:13,680 Speaker 7: And it was like COVID is not only disrupting regular 969 00:55:13,760 --> 00:55:17,320 Speaker 7: day to day work, it's disrupting that all these people 970 00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:20,279 Speaker 7: can't go see a close friend and colleague. And then 971 00:55:20,360 --> 00:55:22,680 Speaker 7: we actually didn't have her funeral for another or couldn't 972 00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:25,200 Speaker 7: attend a memorial for another two years. I was not 973 00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,799 Speaker 7: only coming in every day at a certain point, but 974 00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:30,560 Speaker 7: that was like my only contact with the outside world, 975 00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,759 Speaker 7: it felt like, was to come to the studio. And 976 00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:36,440 Speaker 7: I had been dealing with a health battle because I 977 00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:39,520 Speaker 7: had found out I had quite severe cancer in the 978 00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:41,680 Speaker 7: middle of it. So to actually be able to come 979 00:55:41,719 --> 00:55:46,279 Speaker 7: to work during all that was a lifesaver because it 980 00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:51,440 Speaker 7: really gave me something to focus on, and everybody was 981 00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:54,080 Speaker 7: so caught up and how are we solving problems that 982 00:55:54,120 --> 00:55:56,680 Speaker 7: no one's looking at the cancer patients. So for me, 983 00:55:56,760 --> 00:55:59,040 Speaker 7: it was this unexpected boon in the midst of all 984 00:55:59,080 --> 00:56:05,279 Speaker 7: this miss, all this misery and you know, separation. So 985 00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:07,000 Speaker 7: I actually loved coming into work. 986 00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:09,920 Speaker 16: There was at least one or two times where we 987 00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:12,600 Speaker 16: got one of the Inchors results while they were on 988 00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:16,160 Speaker 16: TV and during a commercial break, I would come out 989 00:56:16,239 --> 00:56:18,400 Speaker 16: and be like, Hey, why don't you come with me. 990 00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:22,520 Speaker 16: Let's uh, let's go outside for a second. And I 991 00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:24,719 Speaker 16: think at least maybe once, I think I pulled Nate 992 00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:27,239 Speaker 16: like he was in a segment in one part of 993 00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:30,239 Speaker 16: the show and then suddenly not there anymore because I 994 00:56:30,239 --> 00:56:31,960 Speaker 16: pulled them and you put a mask on him, you 995 00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:33,479 Speaker 16: put in a car and you're like you gotta go home, 996 00:56:34,120 --> 00:56:37,759 Speaker 16: go home, We need you to leave immediately, and then 997 00:56:37,800 --> 00:56:42,799 Speaker 16: retest everybody in the studio. And it seems funny now, 998 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:44,239 Speaker 16: but then you're like, what are we going to tell 999 00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:47,000 Speaker 16: the audience this is his own personal medical business. What 1000 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:49,520 Speaker 16: do we do they're gonna notice? And then I think 1001 00:56:49,719 --> 00:56:52,759 Speaker 16: that one time we had to do two more segments, 1002 00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:56,239 Speaker 16: didn't say anything until the end of the show and 1003 00:56:56,400 --> 00:56:58,799 Speaker 16: said a little bit of something and then got off 1004 00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:00,640 Speaker 16: the air to start to figure out how we were 1005 00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:05,759 Speaker 16: going to do tomorrow. But there was it. It was 1006 00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:09,839 Speaker 16: constantly being thrown some kind of weird curveball about how 1007 00:57:09,840 --> 00:57:14,560 Speaker 16: are we going to make this work because this virus 1008 00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:16,840 Speaker 16: is still going around and I still have to figure 1009 00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:18,520 Speaker 16: out how to do the show and protect people. 1010 00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:23,959 Speaker 2: Unfortunately, early on it was April. My mom then got 1011 00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:28,040 Speaker 2: COVID and this is before the you know, vaccine, and 1012 00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:31,720 Speaker 2: it was like older people and people of color, you know, 1013 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:36,920 Speaker 2: black people, my mom's a black woman, were dying, you know, regularly. 1014 00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:42,240 Speaker 2: So that was really hard for me reporting on this 1015 00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:45,160 Speaker 2: and to try to, you know, remove myself from the 1016 00:57:45,200 --> 00:57:50,040 Speaker 2: emotion of when we were talking about the disproportionate, you know, 1017 00:57:50,840 --> 00:57:54,960 Speaker 2: the elderly and people of color who were dying, and 1018 00:57:55,000 --> 00:58:00,960 Speaker 2: that was a really uh just the first anything in 1019 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:06,439 Speaker 2: that way was so personal, and it made it more 1020 00:58:06,600 --> 00:58:11,000 Speaker 2: urgent for me, you know, to almost inform people because 1021 00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:18,560 Speaker 2: I wanted to know as a real kind of you know, 1022 00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:21,960 Speaker 2: I don't want to say victim, but just the feeling, 1023 00:58:21,960 --> 00:58:26,200 Speaker 2: the impact personally, you know, on the home front really 1024 00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:27,760 Speaker 2: was was significant. 1025 00:58:28,480 --> 00:58:31,800 Speaker 1: News pros were driven by the knowledge that their work 1026 00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:36,440 Speaker 1: mattered greatly. Here's Chris Dinan and Simone Swink. 1027 00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:40,320 Speaker 5: You know, I've in network news for decades now, and 1028 00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:43,680 Speaker 5: I know that there's been the discussion the decline of 1029 00:58:43,720 --> 00:58:48,720 Speaker 5: the broadcast networks, but during the course of this pandemic, 1030 00:58:49,760 --> 00:58:54,360 Speaker 5: millions of people turned for their information to the broadcast networks. 1031 00:58:55,040 --> 00:58:57,280 Speaker 5: At one point, we were having thirteen million brewers a 1032 00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:02,280 Speaker 5: night and were the number one show all and broadcast came, 1033 00:59:02,840 --> 00:59:05,040 Speaker 5: which is a remarkable accomplishment. If you told me that 1034 00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:08,240 Speaker 5: any newscast would have that cided number and be in 1035 00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:12,360 Speaker 5: that position, I don't know that thought that was possible. 1036 00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:15,800 Speaker 13: But people turn in great numbers because. 1037 00:59:15,560 --> 00:59:17,560 Speaker 5: They knew that they would get reliable and sense of 1038 00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:19,040 Speaker 5: information that they could trust. 1039 00:59:19,200 --> 00:59:22,920 Speaker 13: And I thought that was It's always been reassuring. 1040 00:59:22,680 --> 00:59:23,120 Speaker 6: To know that. 1041 00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:26,160 Speaker 7: You just reminded me of one thing that I forgot 1042 00:59:26,200 --> 00:59:28,520 Speaker 7: that was a very big deal during the pandemic, which 1043 00:59:28,560 --> 00:59:32,040 Speaker 7: is that we kept doing deals and steals and Tory 1044 00:59:32,240 --> 00:59:35,480 Speaker 7: Johnson and the show got something like one hundred and 1045 00:59:35,520 --> 00:59:37,760 Speaker 7: fifty letters. She showed me a lot of them. The 1046 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:40,280 Speaker 7: number of small business owners in this country that wrote 1047 00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:42,600 Speaker 7: to Gma and Tory and said, you saved our business 1048 00:59:42,680 --> 00:59:45,680 Speaker 7: during the pandemic. This was the only way that anyone 1049 00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:49,080 Speaker 7: could learn what we were doing. And so that meant 1050 00:59:49,120 --> 00:59:51,640 Speaker 7: that if they were in deals and steals, and then 1051 00:59:51,760 --> 00:59:54,160 Speaker 7: Tory told their story and the viewers got a deal, 1052 00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:56,520 Speaker 7: so somebody bought a twelve dollars dishcloth. We literally had 1053 00:59:56,560 --> 00:59:58,640 Speaker 7: people writing to us saying we were able to keep 1054 00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:02,440 Speaker 7: everybody on payroll, could close payroll. People were able to 1055 01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:05,040 Speaker 7: get the healthcare that they needed in order to help 1056 01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:07,040 Speaker 7: the members of their family who had COVID. I mean, 1057 01:00:07,200 --> 01:00:09,480 Speaker 7: the ripple effect just on its own from deals and 1058 01:00:09,520 --> 01:00:12,680 Speaker 7: steals during that time was amazing. 1059 01:00:13,200 --> 01:00:17,920 Speaker 1: There were heroic efforts made by TV's frontline workers. Here's 1060 01:00:17,920 --> 01:00:20,920 Speaker 1: Scott Wilder, Chris Dinan and Bill Hammer. 1061 01:00:21,280 --> 01:00:23,920 Speaker 12: We asked our news photographers to kind of be the 1062 01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:25,960 Speaker 12: front line of the people who were doing that with 1063 01:00:26,080 --> 01:00:29,960 Speaker 12: our anchors and reporters and contributors, because they're the people 1064 01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:32,800 Speaker 12: who are used to really being at the front lines 1065 01:00:32,840 --> 01:00:37,480 Speaker 12: of adversity and dangerous situations and hospital situations, and so 1066 01:00:38,440 --> 01:00:40,960 Speaker 12: they I like to think that they put a lot 1067 01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:44,320 Speaker 12: of people at ease and they were comfortable continuing to work. 1068 01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:47,160 Speaker 12: You know, I have to go back and give a 1069 01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:48,360 Speaker 12: lot of praise to our talent. 1070 01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:51,440 Speaker 5: You know, we hadn't based anything this dramatic or to 1071 01:00:51,520 --> 01:00:54,920 Speaker 5: Tonian ever in terms of our ability to cover stories. 1072 01:00:55,280 --> 01:00:58,160 Speaker 5: And I would just say that there were heroic efforts 1073 01:00:58,200 --> 01:01:03,280 Speaker 5: by a reporter field producers who were actually out in 1074 01:01:03,360 --> 01:01:07,960 Speaker 5: the field, you know, in close proximity to this terrible pandemic, 1075 01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:11,600 Speaker 5: doing their jobs as best they could and doing spectacular 1076 01:01:11,640 --> 01:01:14,400 Speaker 5: work and bringing home the stories of you the terrible 1077 01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:17,520 Speaker 5: suffering that was going on, which I did think over 1078 01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:20,040 Speaker 5: time also took a toll on the people who were 1079 01:01:20,040 --> 01:01:23,080 Speaker 5: covering it and the producers who were here who day 1080 01:01:23,120 --> 01:01:26,760 Speaker 5: in and day out would see very heart wrenching videos 1081 01:01:26,760 --> 01:01:29,080 Speaker 5: and people suffering and in the last throws of their 1082 01:01:29,160 --> 01:01:32,200 Speaker 5: lives as they hard to deal with you know, the unthinkable. 1083 01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:35,200 Speaker 5: So it took an emotional toll on people, I'm sure, 1084 01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:38,920 Speaker 5: but to a person, everyone you know set that aside 1085 01:01:38,920 --> 01:01:42,040 Speaker 5: when they had to and made a point of delivering 1086 01:01:42,040 --> 01:01:44,720 Speaker 5: the news in the most objective way they could. 1087 01:01:45,280 --> 01:01:48,080 Speaker 4: But I would defer to my colleagues who also you know, 1088 01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:50,400 Speaker 4: you didn't see a lot of them on camera because 1089 01:01:50,400 --> 01:01:52,840 Speaker 4: they weren't behind the scenes, but so many of them 1090 01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:55,240 Speaker 4: that they weren't just writing from different states, you know, 1091 01:01:55,440 --> 01:01:58,000 Speaker 4: and producing for different states. They were in the building. 1092 01:01:58,200 --> 01:01:59,919 Speaker 4: And I mentioned Suzanne, and. 1093 01:02:02,160 --> 01:02:03,400 Speaker 11: That is really important. 1094 01:02:03,440 --> 01:02:04,240 Speaker 4: That means a. 1095 01:02:04,200 --> 01:02:06,560 Speaker 13: Lot when your leader is here. 1096 01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:09,400 Speaker 4: And yeah, I also think it means a lot of 1097 01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:12,240 Speaker 4: viewers when they know that you're still there for them 1098 01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:14,240 Speaker 4: every day, so you're. 1099 01:02:14,120 --> 01:02:14,880 Speaker 11: Doing what you can. 1100 01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:15,240 Speaker 12: Yeah. 1101 01:02:15,680 --> 01:02:19,880 Speaker 1: After more than a year of quarantines and PPE, the 1102 01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:23,920 Speaker 1: pandemic slowly began to loosen its grip. Their return to 1103 01:02:24,040 --> 01:02:29,040 Speaker 1: normal news gathering and production conditions was a process unto itself. 1104 01:02:29,360 --> 01:02:33,400 Speaker 1: Here we hear from Scott Wilder, Jason Kurtz, Vin de Bona, 1105 01:02:33,720 --> 01:02:34,560 Speaker 1: and John Tower. 1106 01:02:35,160 --> 01:02:37,680 Speaker 12: The majority of our staff cannot wait to get back, 1107 01:02:37,720 --> 01:02:41,200 Speaker 12: and it was can I please have my spare bedroom back? 1108 01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:43,800 Speaker 12: And I please have the space in my living room back. 1109 01:02:44,280 --> 01:02:47,240 Speaker 12: I really, you know, I just can't stand my kids 1110 01:02:47,280 --> 01:02:51,240 Speaker 12: are tripping over this equipment. So yeah, I mean, you know, 1111 01:02:51,520 --> 01:02:54,960 Speaker 12: those same teams who went and set them up, you know, 1112 01:02:55,240 --> 01:02:58,640 Speaker 12: would would take them back. So we have a plethora 1113 01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:02,560 Speaker 12: of sixty five monitors in this building somewhere. 1114 01:03:03,240 --> 01:03:06,640 Speaker 10: It wasn't until after the fact that Drew and I realized, 1115 01:03:06,680 --> 01:03:09,080 Speaker 10: like we never had the benefit of a studio audience 1116 01:03:09,080 --> 01:03:12,200 Speaker 10: giving direct feedback. Like we didn't even think that way 1117 01:03:12,440 --> 01:03:15,080 Speaker 10: until season two when we had a studio audience and 1118 01:03:15,120 --> 01:03:17,720 Speaker 10: we're like, oh, wow, they're laughing. It's not you know, like, 1119 01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:20,960 Speaker 10: oh my god, like they're emoting like we It was 1120 01:03:20,960 --> 01:03:23,640 Speaker 10: funny because we just didn't have it, so we didn't 1121 01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:25,200 Speaker 10: think about it. And then when we had it in 1122 01:03:25,240 --> 01:03:27,320 Speaker 10: season two, we're like, wow, we missed out on like 1123 01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:34,200 Speaker 10: real time feedback, and so that was interesting realizing that. 1124 01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:36,160 Speaker 10: But then we brought them back and we brought in 1125 01:03:36,160 --> 01:03:38,400 Speaker 10: the studio audience in season two and that sort of 1126 01:03:38,440 --> 01:03:42,320 Speaker 10: obviously changed the energy of the room and brought so 1127 01:03:42,440 --> 01:03:44,479 Speaker 10: much life to the show. Showed that side of Drew, 1128 01:03:44,600 --> 01:03:48,200 Speaker 10: that personal connection that she can get from you know, 1129 01:03:48,280 --> 01:03:49,840 Speaker 10: any individual. 1130 01:03:49,440 --> 01:03:51,280 Speaker 11: And just her love of the audience. 1131 01:03:52,120 --> 01:03:55,000 Speaker 14: Actually, we had to figure out how to reblock the show. 1132 01:03:56,160 --> 01:03:58,880 Speaker 14: What we did was, and that's a really good question. 1133 01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:03,680 Speaker 14: You know, we had a huge group of audience members 1134 01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:09,880 Speaker 14: in bleachers and that was sort of the camera left 1135 01:04:10,120 --> 01:04:14,120 Speaker 14: area of the studio, and we decided not to use 1136 01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:19,040 Speaker 14: the bleachers anymore. We were still trying to figure out 1137 01:04:19,360 --> 01:04:23,600 Speaker 14: if CODD, if COVID could kick back, you know, and 1138 01:04:23,680 --> 01:04:28,360 Speaker 14: so limiting the audience. We wound up using coffee tables, 1139 01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:34,920 Speaker 14: high school tables, high top tables and scattered around the 1140 01:04:34,920 --> 01:04:37,840 Speaker 14: studio and it was more of a kind of a 1141 01:04:37,880 --> 01:04:41,439 Speaker 14: community look than a bleacher look. And so we've kept 1142 01:04:41,480 --> 01:04:43,600 Speaker 14: that and it works quite well. 1143 01:04:43,960 --> 01:04:46,240 Speaker 3: I'm not a cranky, like get everybody back to the 1144 01:04:46,240 --> 01:04:49,440 Speaker 3: office kind of person. I'm not, but I do think 1145 01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:52,280 Speaker 3: that there's something lost when people aren't like actually physically 1146 01:04:52,280 --> 01:04:54,640 Speaker 3: present with each other, and so like that affects the 1147 01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:57,200 Speaker 3: news too, and that affects it the way we like 1148 01:04:57,360 --> 01:05:01,200 Speaker 3: tell stories interact, and you know, afects how the anchors are. 1149 01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:04,040 Speaker 3: You know, the show's much better together than when they're 1150 01:05:04,080 --> 01:05:06,560 Speaker 3: like remote. You still put a show on, but it's 1151 01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:10,440 Speaker 3: there's just there's something there. So I think figuring that 1152 01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:12,800 Speaker 3: out and get and you know, getting back to a 1153 01:05:12,920 --> 01:05:16,840 Speaker 3: world where we are truly together again. If that is 1154 01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:19,360 Speaker 3: even a possibility, I think that would that would contribute 1155 01:05:19,400 --> 01:05:20,560 Speaker 3: to sort of a better product. 1156 01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:23,840 Speaker 1: Now that we have the benefit of hindsight, what have 1157 01:05:23,960 --> 01:05:28,920 Speaker 1: been the lasting impact of changes implemented during COVID times 1158 01:05:28,920 --> 01:05:32,280 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. Once I did my fourth or fifth 1159 01:05:32,440 --> 01:05:36,120 Speaker 1: media hit via zoom, I knew that local stations and 1160 01:05:36,240 --> 01:05:40,680 Speaker 1: networks would rarely, if ever again send a full crew 1161 01:05:41,080 --> 01:05:44,720 Speaker 1: to our offices for a routine news interview. Here we 1162 01:05:44,800 --> 01:05:49,640 Speaker 1: get perspective from Simone Swink, Scott Wilder, Chris Dinan, and 1163 01:05:49,680 --> 01:05:50,320 Speaker 1: Bill Hammer. 1164 01:05:50,640 --> 01:05:54,040 Speaker 7: It shook up people's idea of what was possible, and 1165 01:05:54,080 --> 01:05:56,520 Speaker 7: I think that's always good. This industry is always changing, 1166 01:05:57,240 --> 01:05:58,919 Speaker 7: and that was at least a positive thing to come 1167 01:05:59,080 --> 01:06:01,880 Speaker 7: out of it. I also think, at least for me, 1168 01:06:02,960 --> 01:06:07,080 Speaker 7: I think empathy at work is really important, and I 1169 01:06:07,080 --> 01:06:09,160 Speaker 7: don't think sometimes we talk about it enough. I think 1170 01:06:09,200 --> 01:06:11,680 Speaker 7: a lot of people are dealing with a lot of things, 1171 01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:14,200 Speaker 7: and certainly we're during COVID and you have to get 1172 01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:16,960 Speaker 7: the best show on the air. It's a very competitive environment. 1173 01:06:18,280 --> 01:06:21,480 Speaker 7: But I do think leading with empathy working with empathy 1174 01:06:22,240 --> 01:06:26,160 Speaker 7: and trying to assume or at least lead with the 1175 01:06:26,200 --> 01:06:28,280 Speaker 7: idea that everybody is trying to do their best work 1176 01:06:28,360 --> 01:06:30,400 Speaker 7: or figure out how to get them there. And that's 1177 01:06:30,400 --> 01:06:32,640 Speaker 7: not always going to work. But if you start from 1178 01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:35,480 Speaker 7: an empathetic but firm place, I think you're going to 1179 01:06:35,520 --> 01:06:40,000 Speaker 7: end up in a better place as a broadcast. And 1180 01:06:40,400 --> 01:06:42,440 Speaker 7: I also think I think COVID was a time of 1181 01:06:42,600 --> 01:06:45,160 Speaker 7: immense struggle for so many people. I think so many 1182 01:06:45,160 --> 01:06:48,360 Speaker 7: people had just so much they were dealing with family, 1183 01:06:48,840 --> 01:06:52,560 Speaker 7: personal struggles, the idea of just being in lockdown. It 1184 01:06:52,600 --> 01:06:55,200 Speaker 7: was such a disruption to the system in general. And 1185 01:06:55,520 --> 01:06:58,920 Speaker 7: I think that that meant that empathy and patience in 1186 01:06:58,960 --> 01:07:03,320 Speaker 7: so many ways emerged as key leadership characteristics in a 1187 01:07:03,360 --> 01:07:06,400 Speaker 7: way that I don't think they were held up that 1188 01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:07,800 Speaker 7: way prior to COVID. 1189 01:07:08,320 --> 01:07:11,200 Speaker 12: I think that we're prepared to respond to breaking news 1190 01:07:11,240 --> 01:07:14,920 Speaker 12: in a way that we never were because in certain 1191 01:07:15,320 --> 01:07:19,920 Speaker 12: instances where we've decided to keep or install or lean 1192 01:07:20,120 --> 01:07:22,800 Speaker 12: on something we've already done, we still have the ability 1193 01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:26,680 Speaker 12: to do that right. So that to me is the 1194 01:07:26,760 --> 01:07:29,919 Speaker 12: lasting impact that we can go You know, something could 1195 01:07:29,920 --> 01:07:32,360 Speaker 12: happen at three am, and I can call somebody and 1196 01:07:32,360 --> 01:07:35,400 Speaker 12: have them on TV within you know, fifteen minutes. 1197 01:07:35,200 --> 01:07:37,160 Speaker 1: As opposed to dispatch the van. 1198 01:07:37,240 --> 01:07:38,680 Speaker 13: Getting them into this building. 1199 01:07:38,840 --> 01:07:41,800 Speaker 12: Yeah, the art of learning where and when to do that, 1200 01:07:41,840 --> 01:07:42,840 Speaker 12: I think is the hardware. 1201 01:07:43,720 --> 01:07:46,560 Speaker 5: There have been many examples, of course the American history, 1202 01:07:46,600 --> 01:07:49,240 Speaker 5: where you know, the country has stepped up and found 1203 01:07:49,320 --> 01:07:53,320 Speaker 5: a way to deal with something challenging, and this was 1204 01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:56,040 Speaker 5: clearly one of the most dramatic examples of that. 1205 01:07:56,760 --> 01:07:59,680 Speaker 13: So I think, you know, it's changed the culture. 1206 01:08:00,040 --> 01:08:03,240 Speaker 5: As you mentioned, the phenomena of working from home is 1207 01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:07,560 Speaker 5: something that people very much embrace and it's allowed. 1208 01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:10,160 Speaker 13: I think it's also a lot of certain confidence. 1209 01:08:10,240 --> 01:08:12,920 Speaker 5: I think that with the advances and technology that we 1210 01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:16,120 Speaker 5: saw this time, and you know, with the kind of 1211 01:08:16,160 --> 01:08:20,040 Speaker 5: success in covering the news during this time, probably as 1212 01:08:20,120 --> 01:08:23,120 Speaker 5: challenging a time as there's ever been in being the 1213 01:08:23,160 --> 01:08:27,599 Speaker 5: journalists because very you're very reassuring that you can do 1214 01:08:27,640 --> 01:08:30,080 Speaker 5: almost anything if you know the will is there. 1215 01:08:30,680 --> 01:08:32,720 Speaker 4: You know, this is the birth of the live mobile van. 1216 01:08:34,280 --> 01:08:37,560 Speaker 4: You have anchors now who are doing entire entire shows 1217 01:08:37,640 --> 01:08:40,160 Speaker 4: from a van, like on the side of a street 1218 01:08:40,240 --> 01:08:42,439 Speaker 4: somewhere and you don't know where it is. 1219 01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:45,600 Speaker 13: So that's another change. 1220 01:08:46,160 --> 01:08:49,400 Speaker 4: I think it's enabled us, from a news gathering perspective, 1221 01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:55,240 Speaker 4: to reach guests who would normally not be available to 1222 01:08:55,320 --> 01:08:58,120 Speaker 4: us because I don't know, you name it, they're X 1223 01:08:58,120 --> 01:09:01,120 Speaker 4: amount of miles or hours away from studio, and now 1224 01:09:01,200 --> 01:09:04,960 Speaker 4: we could send them the equipment where we could broadcast 1225 01:09:05,000 --> 01:09:06,479 Speaker 4: their face and their. 1226 01:09:06,280 --> 01:09:07,680 Speaker 13: Image and their audio. 1227 01:09:08,320 --> 01:09:10,960 Speaker 4: So that's all changed entirely. 1228 01:09:11,280 --> 01:09:13,120 Speaker 7: And I think it broke some of the some of 1229 01:09:13,160 --> 01:09:16,240 Speaker 7: the broadcast norms of it always has to be a crew, 1230 01:09:16,320 --> 01:09:18,400 Speaker 7: it always has to be bun sticks. There's many, many 1231 01:09:18,400 --> 01:09:23,160 Speaker 7: ways to do things, and the combination of COVID and 1232 01:09:23,200 --> 01:09:25,160 Speaker 7: also the rise of the iPhone, which had already been 1233 01:09:25,160 --> 01:09:28,160 Speaker 7: going on for a while. I think viewers are much 1234 01:09:28,320 --> 01:09:31,000 Speaker 7: I think viewers just want to see whatever it is, 1235 01:09:31,760 --> 01:09:34,320 Speaker 7: and they are much more willing to put up with 1236 01:09:34,439 --> 01:09:38,120 Speaker 7: the aesthetics of a shot that before it might have 1237 01:09:38,160 --> 01:09:42,559 Speaker 7: been deemed not for broadcast. It sort of infiltrated big 1238 01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:45,560 Speaker 7: ways in small ways in terms of that switch over technologically, 1239 01:09:46,040 --> 01:09:48,040 Speaker 7: and I think it changed the esthetic for good. I mean, 1240 01:09:48,320 --> 01:09:50,400 Speaker 7: we use zoom interviews now and a lot of pieces 1241 01:09:50,439 --> 01:09:52,439 Speaker 7: in a way that we would not have five years ago. 1242 01:09:53,240 --> 01:09:55,679 Speaker 7: And I think viewers are adjusted to it. They're fine 1243 01:09:55,680 --> 01:09:57,479 Speaker 7: with it. I don't think they think, oh, that show 1244 01:09:58,040 --> 01:10:00,960 Speaker 7: looks too different or too low budget to watch. It's 1245 01:10:01,040 --> 01:10:02,760 Speaker 7: just that's how people talk to each other now. 1246 01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:05,559 Speaker 8: A lot of the time, when the undeniable lasting changes, 1247 01:10:05,760 --> 01:10:09,600 Speaker 8: everybody got used to and comfortable with really lower quality 1248 01:10:10,080 --> 01:10:13,280 Speaker 8: camera and sound that people are setting up themselves. It 1249 01:10:13,360 --> 01:10:15,160 Speaker 8: was now acceptable to be like, yeah, I'll be on 1250 01:10:15,200 --> 01:10:17,680 Speaker 8: your show, but I'm going to stay in Newton, Massachusetts. 1251 01:10:19,040 --> 01:10:20,880 Speaker 8: Or I'll be on your show, but I'm at my 1252 01:10:20,920 --> 01:10:23,040 Speaker 8: third house in Wyoming for the next week. 1253 01:10:23,120 --> 01:10:24,320 Speaker 9: Is that okay? Of course it is. 1254 01:10:24,760 --> 01:10:28,760 Speaker 8: Yeah, And that's just the reality of it. So that 1255 01:10:28,840 --> 01:10:31,400 Speaker 8: was both that's a double edged sword, because the good 1256 01:10:31,479 --> 01:10:34,320 Speaker 8: thing is you can do things more cheaply, but the 1257 01:10:34,360 --> 01:10:36,639 Speaker 8: bad thing is they realize they can do things more cheaply, 1258 01:10:37,000 --> 01:10:38,719 Speaker 8: and that always means jobs in our business. 1259 01:10:39,080 --> 01:10:41,799 Speaker 1: One big change that Vin de Bona and the AFB 1260 01:10:42,000 --> 01:10:44,360 Speaker 1: team made to the format of the show out of 1261 01:10:44,400 --> 01:10:47,599 Speaker 1: expediency has since been baked in for good. 1262 01:10:48,160 --> 01:10:51,160 Speaker 14: You know, up until that point, we brought audience members 1263 01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:58,400 Speaker 14: in winners, not winners, but participants in the contest in 1264 01:10:58,560 --> 01:10:59,480 Speaker 14: with their families. 1265 01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:00,920 Speaker 11: Right, I've noticed that. 1266 01:11:01,160 --> 01:11:06,160 Speaker 14: Yeah, and obviously we couldn't do that, so we sent 1267 01:11:07,439 --> 01:11:14,759 Speaker 14: for each show, we sent ring cameras and ring lights 1268 01:11:14,800 --> 01:11:21,639 Speaker 14: with cameras and instructions, and once again before tape date, 1269 01:11:22,320 --> 01:11:25,240 Speaker 14: we would make sure that the signal from their router 1270 01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:29,600 Speaker 14: was strong enough so that when we had the families 1271 01:11:29,680 --> 01:11:35,320 Speaker 14: come on, they wouldn't freeze, which they did sometimes and 1272 01:11:35,400 --> 01:11:39,880 Speaker 14: so but basically we were sending out cause three shows 1273 01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:43,120 Speaker 14: a day, we were sending out, you know, nine sets 1274 01:11:43,120 --> 01:11:45,680 Speaker 14: of cameras, and then they had to return them, and 1275 01:11:45,680 --> 01:11:47,400 Speaker 14: then we had to send them on to the next 1276 01:11:47,439 --> 01:11:50,920 Speaker 14: group of families. So all that was keeping track of 1277 01:11:52,520 --> 01:11:55,680 Speaker 14: not the easiest thing in the world, just good coordination. 1278 01:11:56,960 --> 01:12:03,760 Speaker 17: But what we found was because the the potential winners, 1279 01:12:05,080 --> 01:12:08,439 Speaker 17: we set up a system where they came in on 1280 01:12:08,560 --> 01:12:13,920 Speaker 17: flat screens, three separate flat screens, and Al would walk to. 1281 01:12:13,880 --> 01:12:16,120 Speaker 14: Screen one and chat with them, and go to screen 1282 01:12:16,160 --> 01:12:19,680 Speaker 14: two and chat. The chats were much better than they 1283 01:12:19,720 --> 01:12:23,960 Speaker 14: had ever been in studio, really so uh and and 1284 01:12:24,040 --> 01:12:27,160 Speaker 14: interestingly enough, I talked to one of the producers on 1285 01:12:28,439 --> 01:12:32,840 Speaker 14: American Idol and they had the same situation with their 1286 01:12:34,040 --> 01:12:39,439 Speaker 14: home audiences and home participants, where there were much more 1287 01:12:39,479 --> 01:12:43,040 Speaker 14: at ease. Al had more fun with them, so we've 1288 01:12:43,120 --> 01:12:45,479 Speaker 14: kept it and it's not part of the show, and 1289 01:12:45,800 --> 01:12:50,719 Speaker 14: and and it's always what's really funny is the kids 1290 01:12:51,320 --> 01:12:56,240 Speaker 14: are much more at ease and so you know, you'll 1291 01:12:56,240 --> 01:13:01,080 Speaker 14: see al'saketor when we had a little girl, uh last weekend, 1292 01:13:01,200 --> 01:13:05,160 Speaker 14: She's like this throughout the whole thing. She was so excited, 1293 01:13:05,320 --> 01:13:06,599 Speaker 14: and it makes for a great show. 1294 01:13:07,040 --> 01:13:11,280 Speaker 1: The television business was tested and tried during COVID. The 1295 01:13:11,400 --> 01:13:16,280 Speaker 1: industry showed up with creativity and ingenuity. The shows did 1296 01:13:16,360 --> 01:13:20,120 Speaker 1: stay on. Here we'll have Simone Swink, Vin de Bona, 1297 01:13:20,520 --> 01:13:24,439 Speaker 1: and Lindsay Davis reflect on jobs well done, at least 1298 01:13:24,479 --> 01:13:24,720 Speaker 1: for me. 1299 01:13:25,520 --> 01:13:29,320 Speaker 7: I think empathy at work is really important, and I 1300 01:13:29,320 --> 01:13:31,400 Speaker 7: don't think sometimes we talk about it enough. I think 1301 01:13:31,439 --> 01:13:33,920 Speaker 7: a lot of people are dealing with a lot of things, 1302 01:13:33,920 --> 01:13:36,439 Speaker 7: and certainly we're during COVID and you have to get 1303 01:13:36,439 --> 01:13:39,160 Speaker 7: the best show on the air. It's a very competitive environment. 1304 01:13:40,520 --> 01:13:43,719 Speaker 7: But I do think leading with empathy, working with empathy 1305 01:13:44,479 --> 01:13:48,559 Speaker 7: and trying to assume or at least lead with the 1306 01:13:48,600 --> 01:13:50,679 Speaker 7: idea that everybody is trying to do their best work 1307 01:13:50,760 --> 01:13:52,800 Speaker 7: or figure out how to get them there. And that's 1308 01:13:52,840 --> 01:13:55,040 Speaker 7: not always going to work. But if you start from 1309 01:13:55,680 --> 01:13:57,840 Speaker 7: an empathetic but firm place, I think you're going to 1310 01:13:57,920 --> 01:14:03,240 Speaker 7: end up in a better place aodcast, And I also 1311 01:14:03,320 --> 01:14:05,919 Speaker 7: think I think COVID was a time of immense struggle 1312 01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:08,200 Speaker 7: for so many people. I think so many people had 1313 01:14:09,120 --> 01:14:12,400 Speaker 7: just so much. They were dealing with family, personal struggles, 1314 01:14:12,720 --> 01:14:15,320 Speaker 7: the idea of just being in lockdown. It was such 1315 01:14:15,320 --> 01:14:18,320 Speaker 7: a disruption to the system in general. And I think 1316 01:14:18,360 --> 01:14:21,840 Speaker 7: that that meant that empathy and patience in so many 1317 01:14:21,880 --> 01:14:26,240 Speaker 7: ways emerged as key leadership characteristics in a way that 1318 01:14:26,320 --> 01:14:29,880 Speaker 7: I don't think they were held up that way prior 1319 01:14:29,920 --> 01:14:30,360 Speaker 7: to COVID. 1320 01:14:31,040 --> 01:14:35,759 Speaker 14: The poignant piece of that is that we kept people 1321 01:14:35,840 --> 01:14:44,160 Speaker 14: working and it was a very very difficult time, but 1322 01:14:44,280 --> 01:14:50,600 Speaker 14: we had work and hopefully we kept America laughing, and 1323 01:14:51,800 --> 01:14:52,880 Speaker 14: you know that's our job. 1324 01:14:53,360 --> 01:14:56,800 Speaker 2: Well, I think it's made us all more innovative. We're 1325 01:14:56,800 --> 01:15:01,400 Speaker 2: able to see what's possible, for better or for worse. 1326 01:15:01,800 --> 01:15:04,280 Speaker 2: You know. I think that there is a sense that 1327 01:15:04,960 --> 01:15:08,520 Speaker 2: if anything happens, we don't all have to be physically 1328 01:15:09,120 --> 01:15:11,559 Speaker 2: in the building. There are workarounds, you know. So it's 1329 01:15:12,080 --> 01:15:14,479 Speaker 2: it's just a way of rather than looking at everything 1330 01:15:14,520 --> 01:15:18,480 Speaker 2: as a problem, just looking at Okay, there are solutions, 1331 01:15:18,520 --> 01:15:23,519 Speaker 2: and we've seen these solutions happen, and you know, people 1332 01:15:23,600 --> 01:15:29,960 Speaker 2: needed to be clever. And I think that that has 1333 01:15:30,640 --> 01:15:34,720 Speaker 2: really been a big statement for and this is not 1334 01:15:34,840 --> 01:15:38,800 Speaker 2: just you know, for our team, but for the television 1335 01:15:38,840 --> 01:15:43,679 Speaker 2: industry as a whole, just that the news is will 1336 01:15:43,680 --> 01:15:49,639 Speaker 2: remain undeterred regardless of the scenario. And you know, hopefully 1337 01:15:49,640 --> 01:15:52,360 Speaker 2: we do not have to enduse something like that again. 1338 01:15:53,479 --> 01:15:55,679 Speaker 2: But I think we've learned a lot about what we're 1339 01:15:55,720 --> 01:15:58,439 Speaker 2: capable of. Sometimes you don't know until you've really been 1340 01:15:58,920 --> 01:16:03,320 Speaker 2: put to the test, and you know, we certainly were tested, 1341 01:16:03,640 --> 01:16:08,439 Speaker 2: and I think, you know, we given the circumstances, I 1342 01:16:08,439 --> 01:16:12,120 Speaker 2: think we all collectively really did a good job of 1343 01:16:12,240 --> 01:16:16,120 Speaker 2: keeping people informed, which really is you know, our number 1344 01:16:16,120 --> 01:16:16,679 Speaker 2: one mission. 1345 01:16:19,720 --> 01:16:23,479 Speaker 1: Well, that's our show. My deepest thanks to all who 1346 01:16:23,520 --> 01:16:27,919 Speaker 1: contributed to this passion project of mine that includes Strictly 1347 01:16:27,960 --> 01:16:32,759 Speaker 1: Businesses amazing editor Aaron Grenewald, So thank you for listening. 1348 01:16:33,280 --> 01:16:36,120 Speaker 1: Be sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts 1349 01:16:36,240 --> 01:16:39,960 Speaker 1: or Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please 1350 01:16:40,000 --> 01:16:42,559 Speaker 1: go to Variety dot com and sign up for the 1351 01:16:42,600 --> 01:16:46,880 Speaker 1: free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune 1352 01:16:46,920 --> 01:16:50,480 Speaker 1: in next week for another episode of Strictly Business. 1353 01:16:50,640 --> 01:16:53,839 Speaker 12: I think after whatever it was, ten eleven, twelve days, 1354 01:16:54,000 --> 01:16:56,080 Speaker 12: my family was ready for me to come back to me. 1355 01:16:57,040 --> 01:16:57,559 Speaker 13: We miss you. 1356 01:16:58,080 --> 01:17:01,320 Speaker 12: They were ready were ready for me to go back 1357 01:17:01,360 --> 01:17:04,759 Speaker 12: to work. Therese were hard times, you know you. People 1358 01:17:04,760 --> 01:17:08,799 Speaker 12: were doing schoolwork and and and working out of the houses. 1359 01:17:08,840 --> 01:17:11,920 Speaker 12: And how no matter how big your house is, and 1360 01:17:11,960 --> 01:17:12,800 Speaker 12: they don't have a big house. 1361 01:17:12,840 --> 01:17:13,519 Speaker 6: But no matter how big 1362 01:17:13,520 --> 01:17:15,000 Speaker 12: Your house is, it's not big enough.