Like a gigantic aluminum buzzard circling down to a fresh carcass, the plane bearing Matt Lauer and company veered away from JAC and into the landing pattern for OKC.
Matt Lauer: "...At least the storms will be moving in a more positive direction."Later:
Me: "What, towards New York?"
Reporter: "They're pulling tiny victims from the rubble..."Incidentally, I am given to understand that TODAY pulls in half a billion in revenue for NBC and that Matt Lauer, in turn, is paid 25 million of that, which is insane. That Willie Geist guy seems like a nice and personable young man and surely pulls in more viewers than that odious choad of a prima donna Lauer repels, and probably at a fraction of the cost. Ditch Matt and maybe I'll actually watch your show sometimes, rather than just occasionally listening to it from the next room.
RX: "There's nothing network news likes better than tiny victims. They're like child abusers by proxy."
Now you've got me wondering how much ol' Walter Cronkite made in his day, before every two-bit semi-celebrity demanded a million bucks, or else!
ReplyDeleteYou can hear the pleading in the voices of newsbots for dead children. They are, without a doubt, one of the most despicable forms of life on this planet ranking just slightly above child molesters and people who talk in the theater.
ReplyDeleteFound a partial answer, that WC was paid one million a year when he stepped down from "CBS Evening News." No details yet of before that.
ReplyDeleteIt's similar here.
ReplyDeleteI live in Newcastle, and I was raised up in Moore. The tornado path starts a few miles southwest of here, and it bullseyed my house. Fortunately, it was not well-formed yet when it hit, so we lost a half-dozen squares of shingles, one tree and part of another, and my stockade fence looks like it was attacked with a bulldozer. The house next door to the west is unscratched, as are the houses across the street.
The TV reporters simply drone on and on and on, repeating themselves over and over and over. I watch the coverage with the sound off. I scream at the coverage because much of the video is covered up by the station logo; apparently, it's more important that you know who is showing it than it is what is being shown.
My brother lost his house in the May 3, 1999 tornado, and this one makes that one look like a party. Reports are that this was an F5 tornado about 600 yards wide that crawled along at about 15 mph. The type is known as a "grinder" and that's what it did.
Your TV is tuned to them. That's all they care about.
ReplyDeleteWV: "netweryp says" is so perfect for this post....
I've turned off the news channel when they went on how great it was the camera ghoul was for videoing the locals digging out trapped children.
ReplyDeletePUT THE F'ING CAMERA DOWN AND HELP YOU PIECE OF SH%T!!!!!
Yes, there was spittle on my TV.
Gerry
A colleague shared an elevator with Matt Lauer. His only comment:
ReplyDelete"Of course they had to bring his ego up on the freight elevator."
Had I know of you then I would have awarded him a Golden Tam with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Any word of any flight crews telling the producer to STFU and offering themselves up to the incident commander for SAR/medevac duty?
ReplyDeleteBGM
I don't know about flight crews, but the National Guard is out in force. My neighbor from next door is one of them.
ReplyDelete"The TV reporters simply drone on and on and on, repeating themselves over and over and over. I watch the coverage with the sound off. I scream at the coverage because much of the video is covered up by the station logo; apparently, it's more important that you know who is showing it than it is what is being shown."
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it is. I once took a videography and news class from someone who had worked as a reporter. She told a story of a hurricane that hit somewhere on the East Coast and knocked out all of the TV stations, save for one, during sweeps week. Later, when the ratings came out, they showed that the local celebrity-reporter station (think Gary England) had the highest ratings for the week.
Trouble was, he wasn't on the station that survived.
Getting their logo, their station name, into the public (sub)consciousness is important, because it drives up their ratings, and thus their advertising revenue...which is, obviously, the most important thing.
It's all about point-of-view.
(BTW, I'm in NW Norman. I watched it cross Penn/72nd from Rock Creek. That thing made some serious noise, even a couple of miles away.)
Dave, I was at Rock Creek and 36th West Avenue when it hit. Small world, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteHey, gotta give the Today Show producers some kudos - they did get rid of Katie Couric.
ReplyDeleteNever watch it, either.
Correction: I was at 72nd and Franklin, two miles north. I live at (roughly) 72nd and Rock Creek. You'd think, after three-and-a-half years, I could keep that straight.
ReplyDeleteDJ: Small world indeed. Are you on OKShooters?
Tam: apologies for hijacking your comments section.
No, Dave, I'm not on OKShooters. I stay very anonymous, as it keeps whackos off my front porch and out of my mailbox. Been there, experienced that.
ReplyDelete