����vlog

AT ����vlog. OUR STATION HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN BROADCASTING FOR 70 YEARS, AND FOR THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, WE’VE BEEN TAKING A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS ON AIR AND SITTING DOWN WITH THE FAMILIAR FACES WHO HELPED BRING THOSE STORIES TO LIFE. TODAY. ����vlog ERIK HANSEN SHOWS US HOW OUR STATION HANDLED SEVERAL CHANGES THROUGHOUT THE PAST 15 YEARS, INCLUDING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC. A DECADE INTO THE 2000, ����vlog PICTURE HAD STRETCHED INTO HIGH DEFINITION. THIS IS ����vlog NEWS CHANNEL EIGHT AT SIX. IN HD WITH KEVIN COONEY STACEY HORST CHIEF METEOROLOGIST JOHN MCLAUGHLIN AND SPORTS DIRECTOR ANDY GARMAN AND JOHN MCLAUGHLIN. WEATHER TECHNOLOGY KEPT GETTING STRONGER TOO. A LITTLE BIT OF RAIN. STILL VISIBLE. LIVE SUPER DOPPLER HD ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN SECTION OF THE STATE, KEEPING IOWANS SAFE DOWN TO THE STREET. BUT SINCE BLACKBERRIES AND EARLY IPHONES WERE BECOMING POPULAR, OLD FAVORITES HAD TO GO. THE IDEA WAS SPIRIT WEATHER BEACON, RED WARMER WEATHER IS AHEAD 52 YEARS AFTER IT FIRST LIT THE DOWNTOWN DES MOINES SKYLINE. ����vlog WEATHER BEACON HAD BECOME MORE OF AN EYESORE THAN USEFUL TOOL. SO IN 2012, THE NOSTALGIC FAVORITES 350 FORECASTING BULBS CAME DOWN. BUT INSIDE THE BUILDING, ����vlog PHOTOJOURNALISTS WERE SETTING THEMSELVES APART, WINNING EIGHT NATIONAL PRESS PHOTOGRAPHERS ASSOCIATION STATION OF THE YEAR AWARDS FOR THEIR WORK ON DEADLINES. SO WE’RE AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY FROM OUR 5:00 NEWS STORY. OUR LEAD STORY. IT’S AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY. WE’RE GOING TO START TO SHOOT ANOTHER INTERVIEW, WHICH IS NO BIG DEAL. WE JUST DO IT REALLY FAST. AND FOR CAPTURING MEMORABLE MOMENTS, I WANT THE VIEWER AT HOME TO SEE WHAT I SAW, TO FEEL WHAT I FELT, TO FEEL LIKE THEY WERE THERE, LIKE THE UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT JUST A FEW HOURS AFTER TWO POLICE OFFICERS WERE AMBUSHED AND KILLED. I WANT YOU GUYS TO BE HYDRATED AND NOT BE HUNGRY, AND I WANT YOU TO GO HOME TO YOUR FAMILIES BECAUSE I WANT MY DAD TO COME HOME TO ME. THOSE MOMENTS FILLED ����vlog AIRWAVES. I JUST GOT A PIECE OF ASTOR. SO I GOT PART OF MY DAUGHTER BACK RIGHT NOW FROM THE FIRST BREATHS IN A HOSPITAL DELIVERY ROOM TO THE LAST IN HOSPICE, IT ALWAYS FELT LIKE THEY WERE ROOTING FOR ME. BEHIND THE SCENES THERE, AND LIFE’S BEST SURPRISES. WHAT? OH MY SON. EVEN WHEN THEY UNFOLD IN THE MIDDLE OF TULIP TIME PARADE AFTER A SEASON OF INCREDIBLE LONGEVITY, MORE ����vlog LEGENDS REACHED RETIREMENT. I’VE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO BE IN YOUR LIVING ROOMS, GOING ON 33 YEARS ON THE NEWS AT SIX AND TEN. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I CONSIDER US ALL FRIENDS. IN 2015, KEVIN COONEY SIGNED OFF. TWO YEARS LATER, MOLLY RETIRED TOO. IT’S LIKE LEAVING FAMILY. I’M LEAVING THE NEST. FINALLY, REPORTER MICHELLE PARKER PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY AFTER 29 YEARS IN THE NEWSROOM, SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAY THEY WANT TO SEND A STRONG MESSAGE. AND IN A BUSINESS WHERE MOST MANAGERS ONLY LAST A FEW YEARS, YOU CAN RUN THAT AT NOON. AND WE COULD RUN IT AGAIN AT 5 OR 6. NEWS DIRECTOR DAVE BUZEK RETIRED AFTER 43 AT ����vlog. DAVE. WELL, PRESIDENT REAGAN HAS JUST BEEN INTRODUCED. I MET INTERESTING PEOPLE. I MET HORRIBLE PEOPLE. I SAW FASCINATING THINGS. I SAW TRAGIC THINGS FROM TRAGEDIES AND TORNADOES TO CELEBRATIONS. AND CAITLIN CLARK, ����vlog SIX DECADE HAS BEEN FILLED WITH BIG MOMENTS, BUT COVERING IT ALL TURNED CRAZY IN 2020. GOVERNOR REYNOLDS HAS JUST CONFIRMED ANOTHER CASE OF CORONAVIRUS HERE IN IOWA. I WAS ON VACATION AND CAME BACK TO A STATION THAT WAS EMPTY. WE ESSENTIALLY EVACUATED THE NEWSROOM ONCE COVID HIT, AND SO EVERYONE WAS ON THEIR OWN ISLANDS. AS YOU WERE LANDING. WE WERE IN A PANDEMIC. SO TALK TO ME ABOUT THAT. EVERYTHING KIND OF CHANGED WHILE I WAS GONE. GREAT TO BE WITH YOU. BASEMENTS AND BEDROOMS BECAME STUDIOS. STEVE. STORES SAY THEY ARE RESTOCKING THOSE SHORES. THOSE SHELVES, EVERY DAY. YES, STACEY, THEY’RE DOING THE BEST THEY CAN. HARD WAY TO DO THE NEWS, BECAUSE IT’S HARD FOR ANCHORS TO PLAY OFF OF ONE ANOTHER. AND, YOU KNOW, YOU’RE USED TO WORKING AS A TEAM WITH YOUR CO-ANCHOR, WITH OUR CELL PHONES AND OUR LAPTOPS. I SPENT TIME IN A SCHOOL ROOM IN AN EMPTY SCHOOL. NOW THE STATE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER WILL BE FULLY UP AND RUNNING. WE WERE LITERALLY REINVENTING THE WAY THAT WE DID OUR BUSINESS ON THE FLY. WE HAD TO WORRY ABOUT THE HEALTH OF ALL OF OUR STAFF AND THE MASKS AND THE TESTING, AND PEOPLE WOULD GET TESTED, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY’D BE POSITIVE AND THEY’D BE OUT FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS. SO WE WERE MISSING PEOPLE BECAUSE OF COVID. I MEAN, JUST THE FACT THAT WE WERE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO PRODUCE NEWSCASTS EVERY DAY, I THINK IS A TESTAMENT TO THE PEOPLE WHO THE LEADERSHIP OF THIS STATION TO FIGURE THIS OUT. THE STATIONS FOREFATHERS WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED WE’D BE BROADCASTING IN LIVING COLOR, LET ALONE TAKING VIEWERS LIVE ALL OVER THE WORLD. BUT 70 YEARS IN, WE HOPE. RUSS VAN --, PAUL RHOADS AND THE REST OF THE LEGENDS WOULD BE PROUD THAT WHILE NEWSCASTS LOOK A LOT DIFFERENT, THE MISSION IS EXACTLY THE SAME. WHAT PEOPLE TUNE IN NEWSCASTS FOR IS THE SAME THING THAT THEY DID BACK IN 1955. THEY WANT INFORMATION AND INFORMATION THEY CAN DEPEND ON. ER