Not the end of the world. Just my career in TV news. Never thought I would get laid off, they call it "not transitioning to the new format". Whatever. My last day at work is today, Halloween. Fitting? Maybe. It's definitely not a horror story for me. I've often thought I work at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. On the 31st, Alice is leaving Wonderland.
What has been enjoyable in this line of work is I've gotten to do things that I never would have in another line of work. The surprise of not knowing what I will do until I step into the newsroom was something I liked. Sometimes seeing what I would be doing for the day made me frown, usually it's been that I would have to spend the day in a courtroom. Cue Homer Simpson: "Boring". Like every job, it has moments that are exciting and moments where the clock is not moving fast enough. I've worked with a variety of people and it's taught me how do handle the difficult as well as the not so difficult ones. I've made friends and had some good times outside of work. More so in Abilene and Wichita. Dallas is so big and people live spread out it's not always easy to meet up after work. But now the Tea Party is running out of tea and I reflect on the things I've experienced.
It all began in Abilene. Not a whole lot going in Abilene, TX. Abilenians shouldn't get a burr in their butt because I said that, they live there, they know it's a bit slow there. 2002 did have some exciting stories happen. A large flood caused home damage and got the network news reporter in town. It was my first big weather event. The first time seeing how weather can effect hundreds of people is something that stuck with me. The second event was during what seemed like "The Summer of the Child Abduction" and one happened in the Walmart parking lot. A woman nabbed a baby out of the grocery cart as mom was putting groceries away. Happened fast. Take notice new moms out there. This one had a happy ending. The baby was found alive and well with the abductor a few counties north of Abilene. She was passing the baby off as her own, but her relatives weren't buying her story. They called authorities and the child was brought back to Abilene. The day before the baby was returned it was just photographers and reporters from the three stations in town. I drove to the police station the next morning to see nine satellite trucks parked all over the police station parking lot. My first media circus.
Most of that day was spent outside the doors to the police station waiting for the police who had custody of the baby. A lot of waiting. Two long lines of photographers, video and still, paralleled the sidewalk to the entrance. It was agreed upon to not get in each others way so we could get our shot of the police carrying the baby inside. That agreement seemed to have been forgotten when the baby did arrive as most of my video was photogs in the foreground and the police holding the baby walking by.
Not much else happened in Abilene. Oh, I did meet my wife there.
My next stop and where I had the most enjoyment was in Wichita, KS. Never thought I'd live in Kansas but I spent just over four years there. It was there that I improved in my work and I had to. News there was a faster pace than in Abilene. I had to learn how to edit on Avid, a nonlinear editing system on a computer. I resisted for a while, but learned. One of the first things I remember shooting was video of a MiG-17 that Red Bull had painted up in their colors of red, blue, and silver. It was in town for an air show and aircraft are one of my favorite things to get video of. But the really cool thing about the shoot was that I was going to get air to air footage shooting from Bob Hope's airplane. Red Bull had bought it after he passed away and used it as a support plane. It was a Lockheed Jetstar and they haven't made those in a long time. The interior was a typical of a private aircraft, wood paneling, large leather seats, and had Bob Hope's golf handicap as its ID number:18. Quite an experience. But, one story has everything else beat. A serial killer who terrorized Wichita came back into the spotlight.
He went by BTK. Bind, Torture, Kill. His name was Dennis Rader. He was a code enforcement officer in Park City, Kansas. A glorified dog catcher to some. If I recall, he made friends in town by bothering people on the height of the grass on their front lawns. In 2004, the newspaper ran a story on the thirtieth anniversary of BTK's first murder, he killed a family of four in their home. The oldest son returned home to find his father, mother, brother, and sister murdered. He killed many others between 1974 and 1991. Then he disappeared. No one heard from him. As it happened, my station received mailings from BTK at the height of his grip on Wichita. The Chief of Police at the time came onto the news talking to him, pleading for him to turn himself in.
I came into work one morning in a reporter had said to me, "We got a letter". I figured it was from an angry viewer but she said it was BTK himself who sent the letter. He was back and he wanted the spotlight again. He sent more letters from him and that sent the station into Strategic Air Command-type readiness. Photographers were in their vehicles, ready to head out to where ever BTK had said he had left a "gift". The "gift" was usually some sort of clue that we had to decode. He liked making word search puzzles and other types of brain teasers. Some of the "gifts" were more sinister.
My wife was the morning show producer at this time and received a phone call late at night from a man who found a box at a park propped up against a tree. He took the box home, opened it, and found a Barbie doll that was bound and gagged. And a drivers license. My wife pondered if this was legit and made a call to the news director, who went ape-poop whenever we got a letter. I shot video of him carrying a letter into his office wearing rubber gloves. Can't contaminate evidence. Anyway, the on-call photographer was sent to the house to shoot video before police arrived. He shot the creepy doll and the driver license which belonged to a woman murdered in 1986 and originally was not attributed to BTK. There was a memorable morning when the Chief of Police and lead detective on the case came by the chat with the news director. The doors were closed and we could not hear what was going on in there, but the detective was not very pleased with the media.
BTK's downfall came by a mistake by him. He sent a mailing to the Fox station. He had written it on a computer and it was being analyzed to find the computers location. BTK had written the words "en case" instead of using "in case". There was a software called Encase and it was used to find the computer's location. Where, do you ask? A church. A church! BTK was president of the congregation at his church. Police and FBI conducted their hunt and nabbed Dennis Rader on his way home for lunch. Was he brilliant? No. Not having a good grasp at spelling lead to him being arrested and now sitting in a prison for life. The media rolled into town, thirteen satellite trucks were parked outside the courthouse. It surpassed the number of sat trucks for President Bush's visit to Manhattan, KS by one truck.
In 2007, our station began a 4 pm newscast and my wife was tabbed to produce. A few months into it she told me of a meeting with the news director, another one, not the one during BTK. Anyhoo, she mentioned that the idea of a movie segment came up and my name was thrown out to do it. I had always thought of just staying behind the camera and I was not a reporter. I thought about it and decided it could be fun. Matt at the Movies was born. I planned all week on how to let people know what would be showing on Fridays. The format was usually movie clips and movie goer reactions bookended by me attempting to do something funny. I don't like the sound of my voice or seeing myself on TV, but it was a good learning experience. I did ten or so of them before leaving Wichita for my news career's graveyard of Dallas, TX.
My wife had gotten a job at the ABC affiliate in Dallas, so off we went. It was actually harder to leave Wichita than I thought it would. I mostly missed the people there and I still do. Wichita wasn't a bad town when you got used to it. In Big D I needed a job. The sports director in Wichita was friends with a sports reporter in Dallas, who told him of a photographer opening. I met with the chief photographer and news director and was hired. If Wichita news was fast, Dallas was the Autobahn. It took awhile to find my way around the Metroplex and what highway lead to what town. I had experienced tornadoes in Kansas, here I experienced two hurricanes in two weeks.
In 2008, Hurricane Gustav looked like it would hit New Orleans. I was chosen to go with a reporter to the Crescent City for storm coverage. We drove from Dallas to New Orleans the day before the hurricane was to make landfall. Hurricane Katrina still fresh in the minds of the locals, most people left town. The streets were empty of cars and people except for the National Guard and police. We checked into the Crown Plaza on Bourbon and Canal streets where the media was staying. It was then off to our sister station to meet with the news director there to get our marching orders. We were to shoot a package for the network. With the city to ourselves, we went by local hospitals and the tourist areas to see how prepared they were for the storm. With the package shot and edited, it was fed by satellite to the other stations to air that night followed by live shots of what Bourbon street looks like with no people there. We went to sleep and the next day Gustav made landfall. New Orleans didn't get the full brunt of it, but it got plenty of wind and rain. I remember the wind blowing through downtown New Orleans making a howling sound. Quite eerie. My reporter, Jim, had hurricane experience and he mostly told me to watch for flying debris. Kinda hard to shoot your reporter in the driving wind while watching out for your skull. But, we did it. A side note, it was suggested to protect the wireless microphone transmitter with the use of a condom to keep water out. Insert your own joke here. Anyway, I had put the condom over the microphone instead, and all the people we talked to who stayed in town spoke onto a condom covered mic. Always practice safe interviewing.
Because it still drives me to profane language, I will leave out the part of the trip where our satellite truck was moved from Bourbon street without our knowing. It was moved to some levee where the water was high. It was like a freaking monsoon. All wind and forty-five degree rain. And at night. We tried to feed out of the truck but the operator couldn't get a signal established due the rain. We hauled ass to the station to feed the package out to the network. Didn't happen for the east and central time zones. Was I mad, yes. Miraculously, the sat truck, my reporter, and myself made it back to Bourbon street to do our live shots with about five to ten minutes until news time. Every time I saw the bonehead who moved the truck without telling us, I grit my teeth. But, I'll leave that part out.
Two weeks later, Hurricane Ike was bound for Houston. Another reporter and I, it seems I was a hurricane veteran, made the five hour drive south. We checked into our motel and rested for the next day. Our assignment was to go to the coastal town of Freeport for hurricane preps. Ike wasn't due to make landfall for several hours, but the winds and high waves proceeding it were foreboding. That night, we did our live shots at a high school where the reporter stands in the wind to show people at home that, yes, the winds were high. I was out of the elements with the camera and lights strapped to a railing to ensure that they didn't blow away. I tried to sleep that night inside the sat truck but only got a few hours worth. The winds were shaking the large truck too much to get any rest. Galveston took a direct hit and Ike tore up that town and others pretty good. We spent two more days there to cover the damaged areas. Seeing hurricane damage on TV is far different from seeing it firsthand.
Sorry, this is longer than I thought, my apologies. This is just a tiny fraction of what I've been through.
Today, on Halloween, it is over. I turned in my laptop and work badge. I have yet to line up another job. The five years I worked in Dallas are a bit of a blur. I said "see ya" to those who remained in the newsroom and lit a small cigar as I drove off. Those of my coworkers left with some sadness, me, it was probably time for me to go do something else. I guess being let go is an opportunity to do something that I find more fulfilling. What that is, I don't know. I have time to think about what the near future holds in store. There is trepidation mixed with hope as I stare into the dark cloud of the future. Wow, that sounded melodramatic.
P.S.- For those interested, Matt at the Movies can be found on youtube. Search Matt at the Movies.
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