Rocci Fisch

September 1, 2011

BAGS O’ WIND

… That’s what most of the reporters and anchors were during their reporting of Hurricane Irene. Windbags all, you never heard so much talking and predicting in all your life.
… Some reporters were hoarse on Monday from doing so much talking over the weekend.
… But then again, those types are never at a loss for words. Why, they’re our poet laureates, NOT.
… Every network, every cable channel and every local station that was capable of transmitting live pictures had scores of reporters up and down the East Coast enthusiastically speculating, intentionally exaggerating and dangerously illustrating what it takes to cover a “national emergency.”
… “We’re are all over this storm for you,” said eager CNN Saturday anchor T.J. Holmes, kicking off the coverage at a very early hour in the morning.
… REVELING IN IT. The Weather Channel’s (TWC) Stephanie Abrams was in Long Beach, Long Island (New York), standing beside and co-hosting Wake Up With Al with the Today show weatherman and anchor of the TWC program. Abrams seemed to be enjoying herself out there on the boardwalk, anchoring the show with the not-quite-roiling Atlantic Ocean behind them. In fact, she outstretched her arms like an entertainer to illustrate the whole scenic location where they were broadcasting from, like Diana Ross when she did her Central Park concert years ago (1983) in New York, welcoming and embracing her audience. Good Grief!
… At one point Mike somebody (Bettes ?), the anchor back in The Weather Channel studio, telling Abrams and Roker to “go out and get yourself a good meal,” which was a very uninformed piece of advice, considering that everything at the beach community WAS CLOSED.
… Stupid remark.
… Later Roker took advantage of an opportunity and stopped a police vehicle, which was driving along and inspecting the area; peeked in the car and asked the driver what was happening. The cop said, “The ocean is meeting the bay.”
… Sitting on the Dock of the Bay -- Otis Redding, on Volt Records, 1968.
… How many news conferences did New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have? I lost count.
… You woulda thought he was president of the United States.
… He liked to hear himself talk.
… All the discussion about the hurricane hitting the Jersey Shore and not one sighting of Snooki or The Situation was a disappointment to me.
… The storm was a slow mover. It was reported that Irene churned for 12 hours over the coast of North Carolina.
… Sounds like my computer every time I try to punch up a Web site or do anything of minor importance.
… Columnist George Will said on Sunday’s This Week program’s roundtable segment that the media created “synthetic hysteria” about Irene.
… It’s always doomsday.
… “It’s a much better FEMA than in the olden days,” said Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) in an interview on Meet the Press Sunday, praising today’s agency (in particular, agency chief Craig Fugate, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Obama), making a reference to the botched relief effort in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that was tied to former FEMA Director Michael D. Brown (“Brownie,” as he was called by President George W. Bush back then).
… “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” said Bush on his visit to the scene.
… Sunday night Fox anchor Geraldo Rivera was talking to Doug McKelway, a relative newcomer to Fox News (from WJLA/Channel 7 in Washington, D.C.), who was dressed in a leisurely Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts (somewhat festive attire, considering the assignment he was on) about what the situation was in Ocean City, Md.
… During his wrap-up of the two-way (interview) Rivera asked him whether he borrowed “that outfit from Jimmy Buffett,” and the Rivera started singing a little bit of Margaritaville.
… “Wasting away again in margaritaville …”
… It was a light moment but McKelway was taken a little bit off-guard and had a nervous laugh about it.
… The Weather Channel’s Eric Fisher, wearing those clear, plastic safety glasses, was covering Virginia Beach and called passersby in an SUV “stupid” for driving around in such dangerous weather conditions and not evacuating.
… How does Fisher know they weren’t just sightseeing but may have had to go to a doctor or something else emergency-related.
… Also Fisher, standing out in the elements and being wetted and blown all about, was mooned – and full frontaled -- by a young guy who was with a couple of friends gallivanting about in the storm.
… It was unexpected and actually a funny gesture but Fisher thought not, took it seriously and said it was foolish for people to be out and about when streets were flooding and cars were stalled in all the water.
… “I’m kinda running out of words,” he commented on camera.
… If he was, that would be the first time he would have been speechless. I’ve never heard someone talk as fast and as much as he did in his coverage. Shut up already.
… Another fellow Weather Channel meteorologist, Jim Cantore, in his tight, pecs-revealing dark T-shirt and often standing with his hands on his hips (a bit macho-ish and giving the impression that he was fully in control and at-the-ready to answer anything and everything that was asked of him), was down in Battery Park in New York City for his coverage.
… On Sunday night he (Cantore) was on NBC Nightly News talking with Brian Williams -- Williams big-footed usual weekend anchor Lester Holt due to the importance and scope of the story – and when Q&A-ed by the anchor the weatherman answered with the longest, most convoluted, overly detailed, inside baseball-ish meteorological crap I ever heard.
… He went on and on.
… It was TMI (Too Much Information).
… Rob Marciano, CNN meteorologist, was also dressed in a dark T-shirt (Cantore’s was more fitted) but later put on a yellow windbreaker to protect him more against the winds.
… This ground-breaking fashion revolution for on-camera, on-site reporters was trailblazed, of course, by Anderson Cooper, who, incidentally was in New York and sporting a burgundy “T” on Monday, a change for him because he usually favors blue or black.
… By the way, CNN has so much information on the TV screen that it was hard to see the main picture of the hurricane and accompanying reporter.
… All the cablers do that now but CNN uses microscopic type.
… I had to squint my eyes.
… The New York Times’s Brian Stelter said in a column that Mike Seidel, who was also wearing safety glasses to keep the flying sand and rain out of his eyes, reported that audio engineer Doug Suttle “wrapped his battery pack in a condom to keep it dry.”
… Resourceful. I guess he never knows when and where he might have sex. He’s always prepared.
… IMPORTANT PHONE CALL. “Would you excuse me for a minute? I have the president [as in Obama] the line,” said Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) to Wolf Blitzer on Monday’s Situation Room when the CNN anchor was about to interview the executive about the storm and flooding in his state.
… Wolf did excuse him by telling the governor to go ahead and take the president’s call and said that he (Blitzer) would speak to Shumlin after the call (which he did).
… It was nice of Blitzer to understand.
… Sometimes – but not often -- the press has to wait.
… It’s a good thing the governor had call-waiting or he may have dropped the president of the United States, like AT&T does with their calls.
… OH NO. Another tropical storm, Katia,is coming, say meteorologists, and it could also hit the East Coast. At this moment it is east of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean and is moving west-northwest across the Atlantic.
… It’s on its way to being classified as a hurricane.
… God forbid, not another one.
… UH … God Only Knows – The Beach Boys, on Capitol Records, 1966 (I think).