����vlog

<My name is Bill Riley, KRNT-TV, of course, channel 8 in Des Moines.> <Come on and have fun at the fair.> LEGENDARY VOICES. <How are you?> <This is the sixth consecutive year...> DEEP IOWA ROOTS. <This is TV8. > > <Live and in color.> <Good Morning and welcome.> IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE 70 YEARS. <Snow busters!> <Connie said it would be like this!> <Pete Taylor.> <Jeanette Trompeter.> <Here at the White House.> WE'RE GETTING THE TEAM BACK TOGETHER-- <Hello, Heidi. It's good to see you.> UNEARTHING A TIME CAPSULE-- <Connie, Rick and Pete, thank you.> AND RESURRECTING A CLASSIC. <That's dad's handwriting, yeah.> 70 YEARS. <TV 8 NEWS.> <����vlog News Channel 8.> <Iowa's News Leader.> THIS IS IOWA. 9TH AND PLEASANT IN DOWNTOWN DES MOINES. TODAY, IT'S AN EMPTY PARK. BUT 70 YEARS AGO, THIS WAS áTHE CORNER. K-R-N-T RADIO THEATER WAS THE LANDMARK UP THE STREET, AND RIGHT HERE, AT 10AM ON JULY 31ST THE DOORS WERE ALL PROPPED OPEN ON 1955'S HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. A RED LIGHT CAME ON. CHANNEL 8 WAS ON THE AIR. < It was It was 109 degrees that day.> GUY KOENIGSBERGER PRODUCED THOSE FIRST IMAGES THAT BOBBY CANNON SHOT. <It was of a local minister who gave a benediction and blessing for the company.> BILL ROHDE WAS THERE TOO. <We would set our lunches on our camera pedestal because we wouldn't have time to even leave.> BECAUSE EVERYTHING WAS LIVE. AND SWEAT WAS DRIPPING. <Our floor crew would wave newspapers to keep the flies off the cottage cheese while Russ did the commercials.> RUSS VAN DYKE. WHO'D ALREADY EARNED IOWA'S TRUST ON THE RADIO. <When you want news, you want it fast, you want it complete, you want it reliable. These men bring you that brand of total news every day on KRNT Radio and KRNT Television.> RUSS AT TEN O'CLOCK. PAUL RHOADES AT SIX. <This is the sixth consecutive year that KRNT TV has come to the fair.> AND THE REST OF THE DAY, PERSONALITIES. <Come on and have fun at the fair.> LIKE MARY JANE CHINN INTERVIEWING CELEBRITIES. AND THE FUTURE MISTER STATE FAIR FINDING STARS. <My name is Bill Riley, KRNT-TV, of course, channel 8 in Des Moines.> CARTOON CLUB AND DISC JOCKEY DANCE KEPT IOWANS ENTERTAINED. WHILE A STAFF OF EIGHT KEPT THEM INFORMED ON ELECTION NIGHT. FIRST HANDWRITING TOTALS ON A BIG WALL - AND LATER USING FANCY DIALS FOR VOTE COUNTS. <We would put Polaroid pictures on the air if it was a late breaking accident because it took about an hour to get the film developed and on the air.> THE NEW CHANNEL WAS THE TALK OF THE TOWN. <You sat around and you experienced it as a community. As a family. Everybody talked about what was on last night. Everybody saw it at the same time.> ESPECIALLY IF IT WAS RUSS VAN DYKE. WHO AIRED 5-THOUSAND SHOWS CALLED 'WHAT DO YOU SAY?" <How are you? These are your two youngsters here. Johnny is how old? He's four and a half.> AND ANCHORED 6-THOUSAND NEWSCASTS. <That FBI probe of Congress may grow....> COLOR CAME TO TOWN IN 67. AND IN 1974-- <This is TV 8. ����vlog TV Des Moines.> KRNT BECAME ����vlog. <TV8 News.> AND ORANGE SHAG CARPETING SET THE STAGE FOR WHAT CAME NEXT. <Drums. Live and in color from the TV 8 News Center in Des Moines.> AN EIGHT SO HUGE, RICK FREDERICKSEN SAT BEHIND IT. <Good evening, Russ Van Dyke is off for a couple of nights.> ALMOST FIFTY YEARS-- <My journalism career started right here. I haven't been back here since 1982.> BEFORE THE NOW-RETIRED JOURNALIST RETURNED TO NINTH AND PLEASANT WITH ENGINEER STEVE HOUG-- <This was the studio back here and the newsroom was over here.> WHO BOTH WORKED HERE - <HyVee.> WHEN 9 CENT GRAPEFRUITS CAME WITH A JINGLE. <Where there's a helpful smile in every aisle.> AND AIRING EVERY A-E COMMERCIAL-- <One of the convenience foods from Anderson Erickson dairy.> AND EVERY NEWSCAST TOOK A TEAM EFFORT FROM THE STAFF WHO SAT BEHIND TYPEWRITERS, WEARING BIG COLLARS. THERE IN THE BACK ROW? <It was awesome.> ALMO HAWKINS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST FEMALES OF COLOR ON ANY LOCAL NEWS. <Well. It was very competitive. And everybody wanted to get the top story.> <The talent was not only on the set, but behind the scenes, too. So much.> <I'm really proud of what we did there.> WHEN RUSS VAN DYKE RETIRED IN 1982, THE NEWSROOM LEADER EXPLAINED WHY THE THIRD STATION ON THE AIR IN DES MOINES HAD BECOME NUMBER ONE. <Our people don't try to over-dramatize the news. They don't try to be actors. They try to get people information and that's what it's all about.> BY THE MID-80S-- <Now more than ever. TV8. It's ten o'clock.> THE JINGLES AND SLOGANS HAD CHANGED. A FEW TIMES. <We're TV8. We bring Iowa home to you. It's ten o'clock.> BUT THE FAMILIAR VOICES REMAINED. <This is TV8 News Live at Six. Good Evening...> PAUL RHOADES, KEVIN COONEY AND DAVE BUSIEK AT THE NEWS DESK- <This is the area just south of International Falls where they had five inches of rain.> CONNIE MCBURNEY WITH 80S WEATHER GRAPHICS. <A busy day and night in Major League Baseball...> AND PETE TAYLOR'S SPORTS. BY THE 90S-- <It's Six O'clock.> RATINGS DOMINANCE CONTINUED. <Good Evening and thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Kevin Cooney. And I'm Jeanette Trompeter.> WHILE JOHN MCLAUGHLIN PIONEERED RADAR TECHNOLOGY NO ONE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY HAD -- <Let's take a little big closer look at what's going on over the immediate central Iowa area.> AND HEIDI SOLIDAY BECAME THE COUNTRY'S FIRST FEMALE SPORTS DIRECTOR. NEWSCASTS EXPANDED TO FIVE O'CLOCK-- <Good Afternoon, thank you for joining us today. NewsChannel 8 was first to bring you live pictures.....> AND EVENTUALLY, AROUND THE CLOCK WITH A WEBSITE THAT TOOK ����vlog WORLDWIDE. TECHNOLOGY KEPT CHANGING. BUT THE STANDARD SET EARLY NEVER DID. BECAUSE LIFESTYLE SHOWS, CBS PRIMETIME HITS AND THE BIGGEST GAMES HAVE BEEN KEY. BUT THEY'RE NOT THE CORNERSTONE. <The news is the foundation. It's who we are. And it represents who we serve.> <This is a very, very special place. I'm very proud to have worked here.> <It's in your blood. The people are in your blood. They're family. And it is it's home.> <People have stuck around, and there are faces that you see year after year that you trust and you know, they're telling you the right story.> <I hope that that tradition will continue.> WE'RE JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE - OF ����vlog'S 70-YEAR HISTORY. <. Next news tonight at ten. Be with us. And Russ. > > STILL AHEAD - WE TAKE YOU THROUGH A DAY IN THE LIFE WORKING FOR CHANNEL 8 - BOTH THEN AND NOW. <The first peak of my day is 6:00. > THEN - SEE TODAY'S JOURNALISTS, LEARN FROM A LEGEND. <Some will be mean to me and many will be nice to me. And I have to learn how to accept them both.> AND HEAR THE STORIES FROM THEM WOMEN, WHO BROKE BROADCASTING BARRIERS. <When we were growing up, there weren't any women on TV as anchors. It was all men> THAT'S AHEAD... BUT FIRST, WE'RE HEADED STRAIGHT FOR 1981 WHEN THIS JINGLE SHOWCASED THE TV-8 TEAM... Now when you want it, you know you can get it. When it's important to you. Now more than ever, we bring it together. Your world is here in the news. News, now, now more than ever. TV-8. ever. TV-8. TV-8. <ON CAM> OVER THE LAST 70 YEARS, THOUSANDS <ON CAM> PEOPLE HAVE WORKED AT ����vlog. A FEW OF THEM ARE TRUE PIONEERS. <Hello, Heidi. It's good to see you.> THIS SUMMER - <Mollie hugging Judy.> <Guys, we look good. I've seen the others.> SOME OF THE WOMEN WHO BROKE BROADCASTING BARRIERS LET US LISTEN IN-- <How's your summer? Good.> <Judy, they have decaf chai. If you like it.> AS THEY GRABBED A DRINK, CAUGHT UP - <Heidi Ho. How's your boy? He's almost 30.> AND SHARED STORIES OF BREAKING IN TO JOBS THAT, WHEN THEY STARTED, WERE DOMINATED BY MEN. <What year did you start? Working at ����vlog? I think it was 1976> <I started in news. I was a news didn't know that for. Yeah. Oh, wow.> <So we all started in 76. Yeah, yeah, it was 76 part time, though. I can't remember when I went full time, maybe like 77, 78, I don't know. I mentioned you were 81. Okay. I was and I was about then too. Right. So you had to be in engineering in 76.> <You were the first woman engineer? Engineering, yeah. And how how you were accepted? Just Just with open arms. You guys all worked with those engineering guys. They were all about my father's age. Exactly. Yeah. And a lot of those guys put the TV station on there for the first time. Yeah. So they birthed a TV station. 55. Yeah. And 55. It was KRNT at that time, but they just accepted me with open arms and taught me everything they knew.> <And this was in the old building underneath 9th street and we had no windows in the newsroom or anything. So the only way we know it was raining outside is if the roof leaked. Laugh.> <I so I started in 83 and there were two female chief photographers before me. I just I didn't realize until later. I always felt that everyone at channel eight, in every department wanted to help you and make you better.> <Yeah. I came in at 18.> <I spent more Christmases with you. Yeah, exactly. Than I did my on family.> <Everyone, from Rick Swalwell, who was the anchor, to Dave Busiek, who was an anchor at the time, to everyone, especially the guys in the back. The engineers in the back were not going to let me fail. I know they always yeah, they always felt tickled about put two babes in the directors seat. So yeah. Yeah, they just supported me and us and cheered us on. Yeah, yeah. That was so awesome.> <When we were growing up, there weren't any women on TV as anchors. It was all men. Yeah, white men. And if there were women on, they were doing weather like Connie, I'm not a meteorologist. I remember somebody said, oh, I don't watch her because she's not a meteorologist. I'm like, I'm not a doctor, but I report on the health.> <I got asked a lot, about why I was so stoic or straight on the air when I'm kind of not in real life. And I said, And I said, because I felt like if I acted like a clown or hokey and, and did things like that, which I did sort of eventually I wouldn't be taken seriously because I was a woman. > > <I was told when I wanted to TV that women can't do that job because it's so stressful. I would just break down and cry. It'll affect your period. Laugh. Sorry. Raising kids is not stressful? Yeah. I don't think I ever cried once. > <Did you always want to be a photographer? I knew I wanted to be a photographer since the fifth grade.> <It was out in the field when I'd be the only woman.> <there'd be these scrums chasing candidates and there'd be all men. And I just felt like, I can't screw up. I can't make a mistake. Yeah, they're all watching so they can see women can't do this. Yep. So, you know, so I always said yes to everything. I didn't want to do. I don't want to really get on that roof because it's really high or or do this, that thing. But they did it because I didn't want anybody to ever see women can't do this job.> <When I started in engineering. All of the guys who are white shirts and ties, and I went into the chief engineer's office because I wasn't going to wear a skirt. You can't climb up on a ladder, right?> <What did you do in locker rooms? Well, I've got some off color stories but you know, locker rooms? There were times where I was tested for sure. But I grew up. I have 7 brothers. One older, the rest younger. And I was kind of a tomboy. So being around men was not a big deal.> <I was interviewing one of the guys playing, He came up and he was stark naked, and he. And there was something right there by my face. Think microphone, OK? And and I just ignored it. But I wish I always wish I would have grabbed it and said so. So because he obviously was trying to intimidate me.> <It was something different every day. I couldn't imagine coming up with any other profession that the worst of the people we met, the best of the people. And then we told their stories. And that was our job.> <You know, there is an exceptional quality about ����vlog. I'm proud it continues. It's about people. It's family. It always has been. We've been at baby showers. I was going to say, We were in each other's weddings. We had each other's baby showers. We love to party. We like the good work and we still are. We're retired, but we're still together. > > <Were you on the noon when I? For a while. When your water broke? No, Third child. You'd think I know? But, Yeah, I was doing the noon news. I finished at 1230, and Liz came at 130. Wow. Yeah. So did I was on. Yeah, I was on the air. And, you know, how were you having contractions? I was doing the weather, and I was writing down the contractions four minutes apart. I'm like, I believe the hospital was right across the street, but I had to drive myself over there. > > <I think one of the extraordinary things about ����vlog - and I know we always think our place is the best - and that our years were the golden years. The best years. But ours really were. They were.> <I would also add that it changed and adapted because we were there, and we proved that we can do the job really well and continue the excellence, which is what everybody cared the most about, and that we could treat people better or differently because of our experience and because in fact, we were in management positions. I'm very proud of that.> <there remains something really extraordinary about the ����vlog legend that we all have our place on that timeline, and it is sacred. And we're grateful for it. And it's nobody messes with it.> <You are rewarded for your work and you are appreciated and, I can't think of a better place to work ever.> A YOUNG VAN DYKE IS CARRYING ON HER FAMILY LEGACY - I, unfortunately, never got to meet him. So it's really cool to be this close to him MEET THE IOWAN FOLLOWING IN HER GREAT-GRANDFA THER'S FOOTSTEPS. PLUS - SEE WHAT OUR ����vlog REPORTERS DO áEVERY DAY. <6044 Todd 11:07:29- 36"Would you mind if we asked you a question about the trail? No. Okay, thank you, have a good day." Todd walks back toward Cortney.> BUT FIRST - <It was fun. Yeah. I could dress up in my little... .> .> MARY BRUBAKER TAKES US BACK - TO COOKING WITH PRESIDENT CARTER - AND CLIMBING INTO RACE CARS AS WE CELEBRATE 70 YEARS. In journalism, hard hitting questions come with the territory. But one ����vlog legend preferred spreading joy in each interview, like she still does today. <Live from TV 8 Center in Des Moines, the Mary Brubaker show....> FOR 14 YEARS, MORNINGS IN CENTRAL IOWA DIDN'T START UNTIL MARY BRUBAKER SAID-- <Good morning and welcome. What a show we have for you today.> FROM HER ORANGE COUCH, IOWA'S BEST FRIEND INVITED VIEWERS TO JOIN HER FOR DAILY CHATS. <Every high school senior will come across that stage....> NEWSMAKERS AND MOVIE STARS STOPPED BY. <I clasped both of my hands together and I took a step forward...> SO DID MUSICIANS WHO ARE WORLD FAMOUS-- <Music has always been my life.> AND LOCALLY CONNECTED. <What a super group. We'll be back to talk with them 'Right after this.' .> .> MARY WAS ALWAYS APPROACHABLE AND JOYFUL. JUST LIKE MARY IS TODAY. <Couldn't have been better. Could not have been any better. It was wonderful.> FOR 30 YEARS, HER CAREER FOCUSED ON THE BIGGEST STARS AND NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS. <Well, you know, I was never shy with people.> EVERYONE IN CENTRAL IOWA WANTED TO SPEND TIME WITH MARY. <The people were absolutely terrific. And I got to know them just as though they were family. And it was their family. It really was.> <And it was just heaven.> BUT WHEN SHE RETIRED IN 1995, THE TOLD US A LIFE IN T-V WAS NEVER THE PLAN. <I got this job without any experience in television or journalism and maybe that was it, I didn't know what I was getting into.> SHE STARTED AT CHANNEL 8 AS MARY JANE CHIN'S EXERCISE GIRL. <Well, it was fun. It was fun. Yeah. I could dress up in my little... EVENTUALLY BECOMING THE STAR WHO MADE MEMORIES WITH PRESIDENTS WHO WANTED TO BE SEEN WITH MARY. <And you marinate them? You marinate them. With Heinz 57 sauce. Can't you just see him in the White House now. The chef will go out to lunch and Jimmy Carter will pop in to fix some catfish. And then I'll shake hands with the ambassador from Russia.> MARY CLIMBED INTO RACE CARS, HOPPED OFF HORSES, DANCED WITHOUT INHIBITIONS AND STOLE KISSES FROM HORSES. AND THEN RELIVED IT ALL ANYTIME IOWANS STOPPED HER IN THE PRODUCE SECTION AT DAHL'S. <We could talk about that stuff or they would ask me, well remember that day you had so-and-so on and they said such and such.> AND FOR 24 YEARS, LABOR DAYS WERE SPENT WITH MARY AND JERRY LEWIS, RAISING MONEY FOR KIDS WITH MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY. <Welcome back to the TV8 studios and our version of the silver celebration telethon.> <Oh my gosh. It was so wonderful to be able to be in that situation and be able to help them.> 30 YEARS AFTER SHE RETIRED-- <Laugh watching the laptop. SHE CAN'T BELIEVE THE OPPORTUNITIES SHE Oh, What fun. Oh what fun.> AND THE FRIENDS SHE MADE. <Absolutely. Honey. Absolutely. I was so gifted. I, I appreciated that job so much. I mean I felt why me. But boy am I glad it's me.> We're blessed with dozens of proud alums who've checked in for our celebration... I'm Jeanette Trompeter. I'm Sarah Jarvis Hey everybody, I used to be John McLaughlin. Laugh. So many great memories from my time in Iowa. I'm super grateful for the standards at that station. ����vlog will always hold such a special place in my heart It was a wonderful time working there. The people of that station and that state made it feel like home. So many great people at ����vlog It really was a magical part of my life. Happy Birthday, ����vlog. Congratulations on 70 incredible years. FIND ALL OF THE FLASHBACKS TO OUR FRIENDS A LOT HAS CHANGED ABOUT TV-8... BUT THE MISSION REMAINS THE SAME. < You have to You have to know what's important to your city and to your area. In this case, it's Des Moines and it's central Iowa > > <6056 Heckle 13:24:51- 55"what are people going to This is the place. Somehow you've always known. Together through the years, you know we've really grown. Together. You'll feel the spirit. Come help us celebrate. The Iowa Spirit on TV-8. Let's get together. The feeling's oh so great. The Iowa Spirit on TV-8. For about 25-thousand straight days, our reporters have been covering Iowa. Before we show you a day in the life of our newsroom in 2025, we'll let Connie McBurney show you a day at ����vlog, as it aired in 1980. Good evening. Just over 20 years ago, those twice nightly newscasts we all take for granted didn't even exist. The first regularly scheduled newscast was on CBS in August of 1948, titled Douglas Edwards with the news. It lasted 15 minutes and was little more than an announcement of the headlines. > > <TV news has, in fact, covered nearly every subject but itself.So this is a look at the side of the news you don't usually see one day with the people at TV 8 who assemble the newscasts. > > <Good morning. This is the morning television, ����vlog, TV, channel eight, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now signing on the air. > > <There are no buzzers, horns, or bells to signal the beginning of another news day at TV 8. But like always, Bill Johnson and George Wiley are the earliest to arrive. <Others, like Brooks Humphries, arrive around 9:30. By mid-morning, the news machine is running on all cylinders, with assignment editor Mike Reynolds calling the shots. <12 reporters will work alongside four photographers, covering everything from Vice President Mondale's visit to a fatal accident on southeast 14th. The news staff will report, film, edit and produce 13 stories for tonight's 6 p.m. newscast. You have to know what's important to your city and to your area. In this case, it's Des Moines and it's central Iowa > > <Almo Hawkins and Michelle Morrissey Burgad are sent immediately to the airport to cover the vice president's arrival. With the advent of ENG, that's electronic news gathering. Most TV photographers now use videotape cameras. That means more cables, batteries and other equipment compared to a film camera. I I would like for cameras to be more light sensitive, so we don't have to drag so much gear. > > <During the noon hour, the unexpected and the tragic do occur. George Wiley and Mark Swanson rushed out the door for probably the least favorite assignment - a fatal accident. This one on southeast 14th. Set him down there 21. > > <Today we had a traffic accident during the day. And something like that happening at any time, and you have to go out on it. It and you have to go out on it. It just leaves you with a very, very bad feeling about the whole day. > > <The next hour in the newsroom will be busier than the previous eight combined. Most are working on stories will air at 6 p.m., but Kevin Cooney he is editing a covering Iowa film story that will be used at a later date. My My particular stories, for the most part, on covering Iowa, deal primarily with the human interest. The, the man with the collection of 500 violins or the, the man with the, bowling alley in his barn. > > < II would II would say like, like numerous other Iowa farmers. You know. They elected to hold their grain. <Enter Doug Cretsinger, director for the six and 10:00 news. During this time period, Doug is busy marking scripts and consulting with Paul Rhoads. Meanwhile, in the editing room, photographers and reporters are still working on three stories. And I And I have very, very. Little time to work on. It will serve to make the story easier to understand, because I don't have time to sit around and agonize over whether to use this word or that word. > > <Co-anchor Rick Frederickson now enters, and he and Paul make last-minute preparations for the <When all the stories have been written, all the different film edited the script in the newscast or in the hands of news production director Doug Cretsinger. His job is to put it all together. > > <The first peak of my day is 6:00. The second peak is 10:00. And then, you know, it builds up to those two times and I get used to it after a while. I've been doing a long time.> <It's 6 o'clock. . . Paul will throw us Victor five sound. Ready to wipe, camera 2. Ready rose. > > <Connie, Rick and Pete, thank you for joining us. Next news tonight at ten. Be with us. And Russ. > > <Now the whole process begins all over again in the hands of a late shift after an early dinner, Russ Van Dyke joins the staff. He has already been here most of the afternoon, working on his weekly special report. Now, he and Rick Fredrickson have three hours to cover evening news stories and get ready for the 10 p.m. newscast. > > < The big problem The big problem at 10:00, is that we've got to cover the world. At 6:00, Paul Rhoades and the rest of the news team cover Iowa because it follows Walter Cronkite. So we have to get everything in, 30 minutes, including the weather and the sports. So, it's really tough to cut it down. <And if everything seems to happen almost without effort. It's only because everyone depends upon everyone else, and everyone does his job. Considering that every newscast is live and unrehearsed, that's a lot of cooperation. And it happens in hundreds of stations very much like this one seven days a week all over the country. And as they say, we do it all for you. > > That was 45 years ago. Today, as Beau Bowman shows us, the goal is exactly the same. Even though the technology is very different. <ambient nat. wide shot of the station, car drives by. CUT to tighter shot of ����vlog sign> <5986 Laura 9:23:06-07 "Good morning!"> 9:37:23-24"Alright here's what we have going on today."> But from the got Tyler floating..."> There's no telling the direction the day could take us. <6056 Heckle 13:23:59- 03"I think the morning <6056 Heckle 13:18:05- 08"My name is Michael Heckel. I'm the assignment manager here at ����vlog."> <6009 nat Heckle typing on keyboard> <6056 Heckle 13:24:43- 48"That morning editorial meeting, it needs to be where we figure out, okay, what are the stories of the day"> <5997 Rivas 9:32:27- 30"Flash flood warning is still in effect until 10:15 "> <5997 Rivas 9:32:54- 01"In fact, walnut creek in Des Moines at 63rd Street is expected to hit moderate stage "> <6056 Heckle 13:24:51- 55"what are people going to remember about this day, five, ten years down the road?"> <6005 Todd 9:39:32- 36"But it's the deep as I've seen it for the last couple years."> <6011 Shannon 10:00:16-17"Todd you pitched flooding, you want to do flooding?"> Once reporter assignments are handed down.. <6013 nat of people walking out of meeting-- keep shot rolling> The crews start their game plan. <6013 Todd 10:02:24- 25"Yeah Where do you want to go?"> <nat of cortney packing up tvu case> Each story presents its own challenges. <6016 Cortney 10:04:52-56"I'm going to guess we're going to be live at noon, 4, 5, and 6. "> <6018 Cortney 10:06:16-22"The problem with flash flooding, is that it's flash flooding and it's gone by time we get there. So..." Cortney laughs and walks away.> <6027 nat of Cortney walking out> <6028 nat of Cortney getting in the car and slamming the door > <6028 nat of car leaving the garage> <6029 nat of them arriving at the park> <6031 Todd 10:40:51- 53"The story today is about flooding."> <6031 Todd 10:40:34- 40"I'm Todd Magel and I have been at ����vlog since January of 1983 <6031 Todd 10:41:38- 55"So my job is to sort of find out who we need to talk to, where we need to go, what we need to take pictures of, what the story is and make sure we get it wrapped up into a tight little bundle at the end of the day so we can do what we call a package on so that's the eventual story "> <6033 10:49:48-51 CORTNEY: "Contact." TODD: "Okay first lets get the right name and spelling for you."> Interviews with officials to give us the facts... <6034 Todd 10:50:53- 56"So right now, how would you sort of describe the level and are we in any danger at this point?"> ..and video used to fill out the story. <6038 Cortney 10:58:58-00"Just need to shoot some B-Roll"> But the hardest part of the news gathering process can also be the most important. <6044 Todd 11:07:29- 36"Would you mind if we asked you a question about the trail? No. Okay, thank you, have a good day." Todd walks back toward Cortney.> <6045 11:07:58- 11"MOS stands for man on the street. Which is kind of an old fashioned term. But basically it's a way for us to interview people that are real. Not officials, or police officers, it's like people who are affected by the news."> <6045 11:10:03-06 TODD: "And hopefully it won't be closed for too long." DUDE: "I doubt it will be long."> <6048 nat of Cortney pulling wagon> At noon-- it's time to bring the whole thing together... <6049 Cortney 11:56:28-30"We've got 4 minutes until our live shot"> on LIVE TV. <6069 Amanda V 10:58:08-09"About 30 out now"> <6051 Todd 11:58:28-"30 seconds!"> The communication is constant. <6069 Amanda V 10:59:38-39"Standby for boxes."> <6051 Todd 11:58:51- 52"Standby!"> <6069 Amanda V 15"Yeah Jodi it's been a while since we covered flooding here in Central"> <TODD NOON HIT 0:04-13"Iowa and we got plenty of it this morning. take a look behind me. We're just next to I-235, in Windsor Heights Colby Park is right next door to us."> <6051 Todd 12:01:57- 03"Very often we stand in front of an empty building at night and nothing is happening and today we've got the creek full, we've got water bubbling up."> <6051 Todd 12:01:52- 56"The whole idea of a live shot is to show you what's happening LIVE."> <cut to clip 6051 Todd 12:00:33-41"In fact it's not just... ope .. we're going to have to step away here sorry. We've got crews coming through from the city of windsor heights."> And when the trucks roll through the frame... you have no choice but to roll with 'em. <6069 Amanda V 11:00:25-29"Well that's live TV right there." laughs <6051 Todd 12:01:31- 35"We're live in Windsor Heights Todd Magel ����vlog 8 News Iowa's News Leader."> <6069 Amanda V 11:01:21-23"Thanks you're clear, what an active live shot! Way to go."> <6051 12:01:40-43 Todd gives a thumbs up and laughs. CORTNEY: "That couldn't have worked out any better!"> <fade to black and hold for a sec or two> <6052 12:59:55-07 garage door opens > Back at the ranch.. the news crews are returning from their shoots... <6052 Glen 13:00:49-51 "I'll load it as soon as we get upstairs."> just in time for lunch... <6053 Nicole 13:04:31- 32"Would you like some?"> And to edit the video for their stories. <6053 Glen 13:06:11- 19"So now I have to take my card and load it into the computer. "> <6068 Nicole 14:15:03- 06"This is one of the treatment plants servicing the city."> Once video editing extraordinaire Glen Biermann has his reporter's voice track-- <6068 Nicole 14:15:39- 43"That means following an odd/even house number schedule for lawn watering"> ..his keyboard becomes a piano-- <nat keyboard clicking> playing the perfect notes needed to piece together the story they shot just an hour ago. <nat sequence of glen editing> <6105 Glen 16:16:40- 46"In order to send it to the show, I have to hit one button. F4 and OK."> <6105 Glen 16:17:13- 15"And shazam it's done."> It's up to this bullpen-- full of producers-- to decide where in the show, each story will air. <6066 KLT 14:09:40- 49"Right now I have my entire newscast stacked, ordered the way that I want it. Making sure it makes sense not only for our anchors but for the viewers."> <6066 KLT 14:09:10- 13"So my name is <6066 KLT 14:09:20- 21"I am the 5:00 producer."> <6066 KLT 14:10:09- 25"I think the biggest thing is that it takes a lot of time to put it together. You're watching it as a viewer and it's 30 minutes out of your day that come and go just like that. Whereas as the producer it's taking me almost 7 hours, 8 hours to put everything that you see on the screen together."> <6089 Laura and Jodi 15:07:22-28 JODI: "I feel like our framing is weird-- I'm like against this." BEAU: "be natural" Laura makes a funny face.> Kaitlyn's show is read by anchors Laura Terrell and Jodi Long. <6089 Laura 15:09:23- 28"We get ready for the 5:00 newscast together we kind of go through the rundown. And we get ready for the news."> <6089 15:09:58-21 JODI: "We can relate a lot of what goes on not on camera so that's really helpful for when it is showtime it's like okay.. we just have a good understanding of one another so it makes coming to work really easy." LAURA: "And I think we have each others backs, there is a level of trust there when you have a really good friend that you're sitting next to, you know if something goes wrong, or if you have a day where you don't feel good, you know your friend always has your back."> <6108 nat of laura and jodi laughing> And once the lights There's no going back. <6111 Jodi 16:59:04- 06"����vlog 8 news at 5 starts now."> <6089 Laura 15:13:04- 14"I look forward to coming to work. There's never a day where I'm like ugh I don't want to be here, with these people, I truly every single day am glad that I'm here and it's because of the people."> <6089 Jodi 15:12:38- 48"I think having a station full of people who care about you the person outside of the station, I mean that's huge."> <6051 Todd 12:03:18- 31"We have staff people who have been there for decades and they are familiar with you and so they trust you and so that is a big difference between us and everybody else. It's a weird legacy that ����vlog has had since 1955."> <6064 Shannon 14:04:51-58"You get little pieces of each other's lif"> <6056 Heckle 13:28:16- 23"It is a feeling of, kind of the satisfaction that maybe other people get from their jobs, but I would have a hard time imagining another job where you get that level of satisfaction."> <6071 Glen 14:45:23- 35"They never get to work in a place where there's family, and there's fun, and there's good hard work, and there is quality work done and it's all together. Because that's ����vlog."> IT WAS HOW IOWANS GOT THEIR FORECAST FOR NEARLY áTWO DECADES. <57 over in St. Louis, 45, Chicago.> NOW - IT'S AN IOWA ARTIFACT. < Yeah, it's part of Iowa history, not just our family.> JOIN US áINSIDE THE IOWA HISTORICAL MUSEUM, WHEN GROUP OF IOWANS WITH THE LAST NAME VAN DYKE... WALKED IN. <Like old times, huh? Laugh. A little different than it was when I was here.> BUT FIRST - IOWA'S FIRST BLACK BROADCASTER RETURNS TO THE ����vlog NEWSROOM. <And so it was a lot of things that I had to be the first, and being the first sometime is not as easy.> THE LESSONS HE HAS FOR JOURNALISTS TODAY, AFTER PAVING THE WAY FOR SO MANY. 35 YEARS AFTER MOVING ON, PULLING INTO YOUR OLD HOME'S DRIVEWAY áCAN FEEL A LITTLE WEIRD. <Slam.> UNLESS IT'S STILL - HOME. <It's good to be back. It seems like old hometown again.> DOLPH PULLIAM GREW UP AT CHANNEL 8. SO WHEN HE WALKED BACK INTO THE NEWSROOM-- <Oh wow. .> MEMORIES FLOWED. <Like old times, huh? Laugh. A little different than it was when I was here.> SURE, THE STAFF HAS TURNED OVER MANY TIMES SINCE HE LEFT IN 1990-- <Hi. Olivia Good to meet you in person. Good to see you.> <Welcome home. Thanks. It's good to be back.> BUT SO HAS THE PROCESS OF MAKING TELEVISION. <We had little cubicles there and manual typewriter. You're kidding. We did. We shot, with 16 millimeter film with the old Bell and Howell cameras.> MOST OF TODAY'S JOURNALISTS WEREN'T BORN WHEN DOLPH PULLIAM WAS ON TV-8. SO MEETING A GROUNDBREAKIN G BROADCASTER BECAME A HISTORY LESSON. <We put on our headsets, and then we go running through and we listen to it. We splice, take that out, tape it. Splice in another piece.> <It took a lot of effort and then probably made you appreciate the job in a different way. Right? You bet it did.> BECAUSE DOLPH LEARNED ON THE JOB. IN 1969, HE AND HIS TEAMMATES AT DRAKE UNIVERSITY SHOCKED THE BASKETBALL WORLD, GETTING TO THE NCAA FINAL FOUR. NUMBER FIVE BECAME A HOUSEHOLD NAME AND EVERYONE EXPECTED HIM TO HEAD TO THE NBA. UNTIL HIS PROFESSOR PULLED HIM ASIDE. <And then he said, now I want you to go back to your dorm, okay? Put on a suit and tie. What? And I want you to go down to channel eight. I want you to meet the station manager. Oh, my God, I want you to take that job, and I would. Whoa, professor, I said, I'm going to go play for the Boston Celtics. He said, no, I want you to go down to channel eight.> DOLPH HAD BEEN DREAMING OF N-B-A RINGS. HIS PROFESSOR INSISTED. <But Dolph, you do this, you do this. You will become the first African-American television broadcast in the state of Iowa.> HIS FIRST WEEK ON THE JOB, RUSS VAN DYKE SENT HIM TO A SHOOTING SCENE. HE GOT THERE BEFORE THE FIRST SQUAD CAR. <All of a sudden a window breaks and a shotgun comes through the window. And I'm still walking. And the police officer grabbed me just as the gun goes off, boom. And he says, how long have you been on this job? I just got it, man. You got to get killed if you're not careful here.> <The things that go on that people never see, never see at all.> INCLUDING THE EARLY DEATH THREATS-- <I'm scared as hell! What's going to happen to me?> CALLED IN JUST IOWA'S FIRST BLACK BROADCASTER. <Some of your managers here were trying to protect you and keep you in house and you still decided to show up on air and do your job.> <By holding me back, they were hindering me from growing, experiencing life.> <So yes, I had to let them know, yeah, I want to get out there and I want to do this, so watch my back but don't hold me back. group And they did.> EVENTUALLY, DOLPH TRANSITIONED FROM NEWS AND SPORTS TO CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING- <Perhaps no show is more special or more important than Dolph and Company. TV8's locally produced children's show. No cartoons here. Just a show that lets a child think, question, experience and enjoy being a kid.> WITH SILLY MOMENTS FROM HIS HAIRY SIDEKICK-- <Harry the beast was the naughty little gorilla.> AND BIG QUESTIONS FROM LITTLE BOYS. <They had never met a man, a black person before. And but they watch you on TV and you become their friend because you talk to them and you smile and you're funny.> <During the show, he says, "Dolph, what kind of soap do you use? And I said, and I said, well, honey, the same kind of soap that you use. And he is oh, he said well Dolph, when I wash, my dirt come off. He said, but off your dirt not coming off. And that gave me the opportunity to explain to that kid, why our skin colors and how God had made us different. But we're still the same. He accepted it and he just stayed in my lap.> TEACHING PARENTS A LESSON TOO. <We all don't have the same skin color. Even if you're an African American, you don't have the same skin color, right? So the audiences finally get to know that. Iowa finally got to see that.> DOLPH LED FUNDRAISERS AT CHRISTMAS-- <Operation Santa Claus. Here at TV 8, it's been a proud tradition at Christmas time for 25 years.> ALONGSIDE MARY BRUBAKER. <Here we are again. Again. Did you get a little cold out there today? Just a little nippy.> AND EACH LABOR DAY, RAISING MONEY FOR JERRY LEWIS' TELETHON. <Back when we first started. Now we would go all night and, it was a, it was a gruesome task, but you had to believe. What were we doing in helping raise money to to fight muscular dystrophy.> BY THE 80S, DOLPH WAS A DAILY FIXTURE ON MID-DAY. <Mid Day Nats.> BREAKING BARRIERS WITH EVERY NEW SHOW. < As the first black As the first black person to do it? In such a forward facing role in this community in our state, what did Iwa give you? You know, You know, that's a that's a good question. And it's one that I didn't know about until I got in here. What was going to happen to me in the state of Iowa?> <I knew that everywhere I go, I was going to be the only African American in the building. In the room. In the meeting. And for the most part, I was.> <Some will be mean to me and many will be nice to me. And I have to learn how to accept them both.> < You were kind You were kind of a catalyst for for conversation, for change in the community. And were at a juncture where you could educate and help. Yeah. You have Yeah. You have to realize how powerful of a medium, what you all know now, how powerful a medium this is because people watch you and they judge you.> <And so it was a lot of things that I had to be the first, and being the first sometime is not as easy.> BUT IT OPENED DOORS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF BROADCASTERS. <I've had folks go into the broadcasting field, like African-Americans that said, I saw you on TV, and I figured that if you can do it, I can do it as well.> ALWAYS WITH - <Good Dolph Giggle.> THAT DOLPH GIGGLE. <And you ran the course and it was well done. Thank Thank you. It was fun. It was fun.> A PIECE OF IOWA HISTORY - <That's awesome.> IS ACTUALLY FAMILY HISTORY TOO. <That's dad's handwriting, yeah.> NEXT - THEIR LEGACY IS COMING BACK TO LIFE - AS GENERATIONS OF VAN DYKES GET TO SEE GRANDPA'S GLASS WEATHER MAP FOR THE áFIRSTá TIME. BUT FIRST, WE'RE FLASHING BACK TO CONNIE MCBURNEY'S WEATHER PROMOTION FROM THE 80S THAT HAD IOWA TALKING. Snowbusters! If you want to know if it's going to snow. Who you gonna call? Snowbusters! Got the winter blues and you need good news. Who you gonna call? Snowbusters! I ain't afraid of no snow. I'm not afraid of any snow. Come on, Iowa. Don't get slushed this winter. Get outside and conquer the cold. Be a TV-8 Snowbuster. ����vlog's tower has been a downtown Des Moines landmark for decades. But for most of that time, it was also a beacon so powerful, it could forecast the weather and make people rhyme. "Weather beacon white, colder weather is in sight. Weather Beacon Green, no change in temperature is foreseen." THE WEATHER BEACON LIGHTS GAVE IOWANS THE FORECAST AT A GLANCE BEFORE CELL PHONES. IT WENT DARK IN 2012 WHEN STRUCTURAL CODES CHANGED. But even the beacon isn't ����vlog's most nostalgic weather tool. A STORY BELOW GROUND LEVEL, JUST DOWN THE HILL FROM THE STATE CAPITOL, IOWA'S STATE HISTORICAL BUILDING IS PACKED WITH TREASURES. A FEW AISLES AWAY FROM CENTURY OLD WASHING MACHINES AND FURNITURE, YOU CAN FIND TINY TUBE TVS FROM THE 50S, ����vlog'S FIRST STUDIO CAMERA THAT CAPTURED LIVING COLOR AND -- <The gloves are to protect the artifact.> A BROADCASTING ARTIFACT SO LEGENDARY-- <Alright, slowly over the crack.> ITS FOUR TINY WHEELS RARELY ROLL. <Wheels.> BUT WHEN A DOZEN IOWANS WITH THE LAST NAME OF VAN DYKE SHOW UP IN THE LOBBY-- <Way back.> EXCEPTIONS ARE MADE. <I'll go right, you go left.> BECAUSE THE ONLY THING MORE POPULAR THAN THAT ARTIFACT-- <Is this the side we want out? I think so, yeah. OK> WAS THE MAN WHO MADE IT FAMOUS. <That FBI probe of Congress may grow.> THE LEGEND WITH THAT VOICE - RUSS VAN DYKE. <That easy and yet at the same time very confident and trustworthy delivery made him stand out on camera.> <Russ just transferred what he had off of radio. I've never seen a guy, he had the local audience here and he took it right to television with him.> <He was a newsman who was a reluctant star. He was really the patriarch of not only TV 8 but central Iowa.> FROM 1955 TO 1983, RUSS WAS IOWA'S NEWS AUTHORITY. NOT ONLY DID HE HAVE THE MOST TENURE OF ANY NEWS ANCHOR IN THE UNITED STATES, ENDING NEWSCASTS BY DRINKING A GLASS OF SPONSOR ANDERSON- ERICKSON MILK, HE ALSO DID THE WEATHER. <57 over in St. Louis, 45, Chicago.> FOR CHANNEL 8'S FIRST 18 YEARS, RUSS' SEE-THROUGH GLASS WEATHER MAP BECAME áTHE SOURCE FOR IOWA FORECASTS. A HOMEMADE ARTIFACT THAT ALMOST LANDED IN THE DUMPSTER AFTER ITS FIRST WEEK ON THE AIR. <Russ got a message from Bob Dylan, the general manager of the station. He wrote a message, referring to the map as, "Get rid of it. It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen." Well, unfortunately, or fortunately, they didn't have any other map at the time so they had to continue to use the see-through map. And within a matter of days, the viewers began to respond and comment about how unique it was and how much they liked it. > > BY THE TIME RUSS RETIRED, HIS WALL HAD BECOME SUCH AN INSTITUTION, HE DONATED IT TO THE STATE OF IOWA IN 1988. <On behalf of ����vlog-TV, we present this to you and the historical museum...> WHERE IT'S SAT IN STORAGE - <Laugh.> UNTIL THAT ARMY OF VAN DYKE'S SHOWED UP WITH SOME ����vlog COWORKERS - <Door.> JUST IN TIME TO CATCH THE COLLECTION'S OVERHEAD DOOR ROLL UP- <That's awesome.> REVEALING THE STATE'S BEST-KNOWN BROADCASTING ARTIFACT. <Still got the numbers on it. Wow.> AND THE NUMBERS JIM AND BOB VAN DYKE IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED. <That's dad's handwriting, yeah.> THOSE NUMBERS WERE JUST LIKE THE ONES KEVIN COONEY WIPED OFF EVERY NIGHT IN HIS FIRST JOB AT THE STATION - AS A TEENAGE STUDIO ASSISTANT. <What kind of special cleaner did you have? Glass Wax. For a long time, I had a great aversion to glass wax.> BUT NO ONE EVER WIPED OFF RUSS' LAST FORECAST. <Yeah, you can see he's got the fronts here.> IT'S STILL ON THERE. <I can't believe this is the actual.....> WHEN THE WHITE GLOVES ROLLED THE CASTERS INTO PLACE AND PARKED IT IN FRONT OF A LIGHT WALL? <Yep, that's the way it looked.> GRANDKIDS AND GREAT-GRANDKI DS WHO'D NEVER SEEN IT IN PERSON SAW THE PROBLEM. <But wait. Maine is over there. California is over there.> FROM THE CAMERA'S PERSPECTIVE, THE UNITED STATES WAS - BACKWARDS. <People were fascinated by this. And for years, I'm sure you ran into this. They wanted to know how your dad learned to write backwards. I still get that question.> ESPECIALLY BACKWARDS WITH HIS LEFT HAND. IN THE BLACK AND WHITE DAYS, A SWITCH REVERSED THE SCAN, FLIP FLOPPING THE PICTURE. BUT WHEN COLOR CAME AROUND, THE SECRET WAS A 45 DEGREE MIRROR. <So if you, if you shot it that way you know right there obviously the map would appear backwards. But if you bounced it off a mirror, if the camera actually shot off a mirror, it reversed a double negative, so to speak, makes a positive. And and that's how it works.> <Once you explain it, then people would see that his handkerchief pocket was on the wrong side.> <Notice the high tech lighting. Two florescent bulbs.> <So laugh, it was it was high tech. It was really high tech.> SO WERE HIS NOTES, WRITTEN WITH A THIN WHITE PENCIL. <You can't see it on the camera, you know. But if you get in real close, you can see he's got a low pressure system here and a front and the lows. But in that direction you can see it. All his cues are here along with all the temperatures.> ALL STILL THERE FROM HIS LAST FORECAST - SO THE GREAT-GRANDCH ILDREN HE NEVER MET COULD EXPERIENCE HIS MAGIC. <I think that's really cool because it's fascinating to see his writing because I, unfortunately, never got to meet him. So it's really cool to be this close to him, just looking at this map.> ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING ADDIE VAN DYKE IS STUDYING - METEOROLOGY AT IOWA STATE. <I've heard all about it and it's really inspiring to be in classes and think about this and look at the computer models we have now and think about him doing stuff like this. It's really inspiring.> RUSS' SONS REMEMBER WHEN THE TWO-BY-FOURS AND GLASS WERE BUILT IN THEIR WINDSOR HEIGHTS BASEMENT. <Yeah, he was good woodworking. So part of this was Russ's original woodworking.> BUT TO HIS GRANDKIDS, LIKE - RUSS VAN DYKE - WHO GETS IT ALL THE TIME? <Yeah, like THE Russ VanDyke? Yeah, like the one you watched on the news.> THE WALL WAS ALWAYS JUST A FAMILY STORY THE KIDS HAD NEVER SEEN. < Yeah, it's part of Iowa history, not just our family.> BUT STANDING THERE, AS A FAMILY-- <Oh my gosh.> GATHERED AROUND A LAPTOP SHOWING HIS NEWSCAST - <Oh yes.> SOAKING IN HIS VOICE-- <Quick Russ nat audio only.> <That voice.> IN FRONT OF HIS WEATHER WALL-- <Silent tears.> IT ALL CAME BACK. < It got me.> It got me.> RUSS VAN DYKE DIED IN 1992. BUT HIS FAMILY SAYS SOMETIMES THEY CAN HEAR GRANDPA'S DELIVERY IN EACH OTHER'S VOICES. <It's still there. We all still do it. We grew up hearing that.> WHILE POSING FOR A PICTURE BEHIND RUSS' SIMPLE, CLEAR, REVERSED WALL, THEY SAW IT - UP IN THE CORNER, SCRIBBLED IN YELLOW. <Well somebody wrote up there. Don't forget me. That's dad's handwriting. Yeah.> RUSS' LAST MESSAGE PERSONALLY JOTTED ONTO HIS WEATHER WALL. DON'T FORGET ME? NOT A CHANCE IN THE FORECAST. <Good stuff. Oh my gosh. Memories. Memories.> We at ����vlog are proud of our Iowa roots and grateful for the legends who've come before us. And we're committed to serving you, our neighbors, whatever the next chapter of technology brings. So fr