Unflappable Reporters/Anchors/Presenters

Wow, very freaky hearing the caller talk about the second plane approaching before it hits.

I just timed the video, it was about two second difference. That’s probably the time it takes from the camera to make it back to CNN in NY and down to Atlanta. Fiber probably wasn’t in use much then and perhaps it was satellite backhauled or through other means.

The part of that video, that made me feel really uncomfortable was the last advert break before the second plane with the CNN Headline News trailer that's starts with "In the next 15 minutes..."

Especially when we all are now acutely aware what exactly was going to unfold live in that 15 minutes

Not to get too off track but wow, never seen that clip before. CNNfn and HN footage from those days is hard to come by.

After an initial yelp. The presenter smoothly continues to report a car has crashed 20 feet into windows of their studio.

Braking News.

Lot of old Headline News stuff here Justin, including half hours.

https://www.youtube.com/user/stuartfanning/search?query=headline+news

The Headline News channel and its experienced anchors were usually unflappable. When a breaking story happened they smoothly inserted the story and kept going. No deer in headlights moments. They kept it moving and nonstop. They were machines. News was the star. CNN really wasted a legacy channel. Now they ceded that space to other players and they will never get that cache back. They ceded it CBSN and other OTT operators. This should have been something could have easily dominated. CBS figured out a cost effective version of a rolling news channel that works in this modern age. Now all of CNN's Domestic output looks like personality driven talking head analyst programmes. What a Dumb move.

Here's a truly unflappable anchor -- Bill Close -- at the tail end of a hostage-taking in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1982. Because the gunman brought a portable TV set with him, the station was unable to go off the air without endangering the anchor. More than five hours and a televised reading of an incoherent letter later, the gunman finally surrendered.



You can go the 22:25 mark for coverage of the incident as seen on that night's news -- including the first minutes of the hostage-taking.

Here's another on-air hostage-taking. In 1987, the son of a former KNBC contributor who had been invited to the set as a guest pulled out a gun -- a fake one as it turned out -- during a newscast and demanded that the consumer reporter read out his statement. Because he did not have a portable TV set with him, the station was able to cut away before the consumer reporter calmly read out the text:

WSB Assignnent desk editor honoured by FBI after Bank Hostage taker called WSB Channel 2 Atlanta.


WCPO Cincinnati - Hostage situation


Russ Ewing

Russ Ewing WLS and WMAQ - Chicago had more than 100 suspects surrender to him in his incredible career. 100!!!!
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/6/25/18759244/veteran-tv-newsman-russ-ewing-dies-at-95-more-than-100-suspects-surrendered-to-him
The CBC in Canada did a story on him.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1559811139969

One thing about WSB is they made a promo said the hostage taker only called WSB. Like that’s some sort of compliment when in reality the station was the first thing that showed up on a google search, said the secretary. That just seemed bad taste to me.