I can't pinpoint exactly when I started believing in the Broadcast Gods, but now that I'm a working reporter who turns nothing into something at least once a day with obstacles and road bumps along the way, I know they're real.
I know they're real, and I know they're on vacation this week. Well, they must be. That is the only satisfactory explanation for the obstacles and road bumps of this particular week.
If you're not in the field of journalism, you might be dubious of their existence. But here's what I'll tell you - they are real and they control nearly everything around us. If they stop acting in your favor, it's probably because you haven't been giving them enough credit.
Here are some examples:
-Yesterday, it was pouring rain all day. Weather doesn't stop you from needing to shoot footage outside and make television out of it. Those aren't the Weather Gods; they're the Broadcast ones.
-Once I was out on a story with a reporter about a local fire station, and who pulls up but someone she did a story on a few years back whose house caught fire when the firefighters failed to respond. That's the Broadcast Gods.
-If the first time you get recognized is in the grocery store when you're not wearing makeup or a bra, it's the Broadcast Gods. They can be. The worst. I'm sure they'll do this to you and you will have to live to write it in your memoir. (This hasn't happened to me, I've just thought about it and prayed to them that they don't make it happen. So far, so good.)
While we're on the topic of the memoir, I've considered renaming my future one, "An Ongoing Conversation with the Broadcast Gods" instead of the name I actually have in mind for it. The good news there is it's much easier to rename a future memoir that doesn't exist than it is to rename one that's already been published and on the shelves.
I can't go through every single example of how the Broadcast Gods have controlled many aspects of my day because we'd be here for a while, but I'll recap the past two days, and maybe you'll become a believer too.
I know they're real, and I know they're on vacation this week. Well, they must be. That is the only satisfactory explanation for the obstacles and road bumps of this particular week.
If you're not in the field of journalism, you might be dubious of their existence. But here's what I'll tell you - they are real and they control nearly everything around us. If they stop acting in your favor, it's probably because you haven't been giving them enough credit.
Here are some examples:
-Yesterday, it was pouring rain all day. Weather doesn't stop you from needing to shoot footage outside and make television out of it. Those aren't the Weather Gods; they're the Broadcast ones.
-Once I was out on a story with a reporter about a local fire station, and who pulls up but someone she did a story on a few years back whose house caught fire when the firefighters failed to respond. That's the Broadcast Gods.
-If the first time you get recognized is in the grocery store when you're not wearing makeup or a bra, it's the Broadcast Gods. They can be. The worst. I'm sure they'll do this to you and you will have to live to write it in your memoir. (This hasn't happened to me, I've just thought about it and prayed to them that they don't make it happen. So far, so good.)
While we're on the topic of the memoir, I've considered renaming my future one, "An Ongoing Conversation with the Broadcast Gods" instead of the name I actually have in mind for it. The good news there is it's much easier to rename a future memoir that doesn't exist than it is to rename one that's already been published and on the shelves.
I can't go through every single example of how the Broadcast Gods have controlled many aspects of my day because we'd be here for a while, but I'll recap the past two days, and maybe you'll become a believer too.
Two days ago I was in Lamar, South Carolina for a story about schools there. This was not the original story I was going to cover, and it was not my usual shift. I was working dayside which meant my story had to be ready for the 6 p.m. newscast. I found this out at about 9:45 a.m. in my bed in my pajamas. Now, every day starts with a healthy dose of stress if your life is about meeting deadlines, but I was totally freaked out by this new one. When I work my normal shift, I know exactly what time I need to be back at the office, have my script approved, and send it over to reach deadline. I wasn't as comfortable or familiar with the earlier shift. I did make deadline, but I had many issues with editing my piece for length and I laid down four separate voice tracks as the clock ticked. I was called to a shooting 30 minutes away from me to grab video of that for the 7 p.m. show amidst my editing process. My phone was ringing every 30 seconds. I was really struggling to send my package over with the firewall on the public wifi I was on because I wasn't editing from the office out of fear of missing deadline. It was just one thing after another. I ended up sending it over using the personal hotspot on my phone while I was driving to the shooting. I'm certain the Gods were nowhere to be found.
For this one, I'll let you pinpoint the Gods (hint: I'm not sure they were there): Yesterday, my first story fell through entirely when our second source became unavailable for an interview. Luckily, we were able to set up a second story for the day which turned out very well. I was leaving that story to head back to the office and edit it when I got a call about a fatal accident we needed video of. Let me take this opportunity to say I never get a call like this without first feeling grateful I wasn't involved in the accident. Truly. Anyway, I went to check out the accident and it was cleared by the time I reached it. At this point, I was about an hour from the office and knew I'd never make deadline if I went back to edit there. I drove. And I drove. And I drove searching for a place to pull over and edit remotely. In parts of South Carolina, you will drive for 20 minutes and see nothing but fields of grass. I cried in my car a little bit, which I've determined if you're not doing once in a while, you're doing something wrong. I drove past a street sign called "Journey's End" and had to chuckle that pulling over there to edit was a bad idea after the day I had. That's the devilish sense of humor of the Gods. As I got closer to I-95, I saw more parking lots where I could stop. I drove to one of the last spots in the Super 8 parking lot and proceeded to have my most glamorous night thus far as I edited, wrote and tracked my package from the car.
For this one, I'll let you pinpoint the Gods (hint: I'm not sure they were there): Yesterday, my first story fell through entirely when our second source became unavailable for an interview. Luckily, we were able to set up a second story for the day which turned out very well. I was leaving that story to head back to the office and edit it when I got a call about a fatal accident we needed video of. Let me take this opportunity to say I never get a call like this without first feeling grateful I wasn't involved in the accident. Truly. Anyway, I went to check out the accident and it was cleared by the time I reached it. At this point, I was about an hour from the office and knew I'd never make deadline if I went back to edit there. I drove. And I drove. And I drove searching for a place to pull over and edit remotely. In parts of South Carolina, you will drive for 20 minutes and see nothing but fields of grass. I cried in my car a little bit, which I've determined if you're not doing once in a while, you're doing something wrong. I drove past a street sign called "Journey's End" and had to chuckle that pulling over there to edit was a bad idea after the day I had. That's the devilish sense of humor of the Gods. As I got closer to I-95, I saw more parking lots where I could stop. I drove to one of the last spots in the Super 8 parking lot and proceeded to have my most glamorous night thus far as I edited, wrote and tracked my package from the car.
This story ends when I finish exporting my package but the laptop battery won't last long enough for me to send the file over to the studio. I was fine on time, so I drove the remaining half-hour to my office to send it from there. It was 9:45 p.m. and the show started at 10:00. But with the Gods gone, all bets were off. Which is why I first noticed I put in a clip of video that included me walking around in the background. Total amateur move that I've actually never done before. I took it out, re-edited quickly, and re-exported at 9:57 p.m. So I made it -- with about 3 minutes to spare.
It was that moment I realized I might've done those past two days without any help from the Gods at all. Honestly, this was a conscious thought I had. I was proud of myself for getting every single thing done that I needed to. I'm a strong believer this is my one job, and there are limited-to-no excuses for not doing it extremely well every day. I have high standards for my work, and no one is more disappointed than I am when they aren't reached.
After all, I think I still believe in the Gods. I've had many moments where I have no story to pitch or no source to interview, and too many days when I felt I manifested television from thin air, to not believe in them. But yesterday and the day before, I know I did it all on my own.
And though they're almighty, there's a reason the paycheck doesn't go to The Gods.
You heard it here first,
Jordan
It was that moment I realized I might've done those past two days without any help from the Gods at all. Honestly, this was a conscious thought I had. I was proud of myself for getting every single thing done that I needed to. I'm a strong believer this is my one job, and there are limited-to-no excuses for not doing it extremely well every day. I have high standards for my work, and no one is more disappointed than I am when they aren't reached.
After all, I think I still believe in the Gods. I've had many moments where I have no story to pitch or no source to interview, and too many days when I felt I manifested television from thin air, to not believe in them. But yesterday and the day before, I know I did it all on my own.
And though they're almighty, there's a reason the paycheck doesn't go to The Gods.
You heard it here first,
Jordan
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