Betwixt and Between

So Thanksgiving was two weeks ago. And Christmas is two weeks ahead. We're in the tweens. Recovered from all the turkey and fixin's and settling into getting ready for Christmas.
This will be the first Christmas for our grandchild, so we're looking forward to that. And most of our children are out of the "expecting lots of presents lined up under the tree" phase. We're more pratical now.
And, besides, with an expanding family base, grandchild, two daughters married, their husbands and their families, its becoming a big group. But one, big happy family so far.
The best part of this time of year, is getting to see our grown children. They may not all make it for Christmas on the same day, but its okay as long as I get to see them sometime. They all made it for Thanksgiving, altho we saved the big meal for Saturday when work would allow everyone to be here.
I wish for you the most joyous Christmas. A holiday is just like any other day, with some tinsel added. Even if family and friends are not part of the picture for you, remember, you are never really alone.

I Missed It

I meant to write this on October 6th. That was the date in 1979 that KTAB-TV first signed on the air. But here it is now.
As I've mentioned, Bill Terry was the moving force behind KTAB. While manager at KRBC-TV, he hoped to be a part owner, but the family owned business declined to make that offer. So, Bill started his own TV station. It took less time and less money than most new operations. And he made money and ratings from almost the beginning. He was a real broadcasting whiz.
And he surrounded himself with good employees. So with his brains and our brawn, we had a winner. That first Saturday (October 6, 1979)we signed on with CBS children's programming, sports in the afternoon, followed by prime time programming.
And at 10pm, NewsTAB32. Larry Fitzgerald anchored, Bill Chaney did the weather and I did sports. Those are the positions we had been filling at KRBC-TV until mid-August, so the newscast looked very familiar to the viewers. I moved in to news and weather after that first night, with Bill Bourland doing sports. That was our on air line up for the next 2 years. David Bacon became sports director around Christmas of 1981.
In those early days we had a limited, but talented news staff, including Skip Watson senior reporter, with Frank Chavez and Jeannie Miller reporters, and Bobby Farquhar photographer. That was it.
We increased the size of the staff over the years, with as many as 8 reporters, 3 photographers and anchors for morning, noon, evening, night and weekend broadcasts.
But that size staff, just as the ratings, took time to build.
I will leave names off the list, so please send them along if you have one I don't.
Ron Rosseau, Monte Brock, Ned Austin, Fran Adkins, Frank Healer, Janis Cochran, Joel Fox, Kevin Palivec, Loren Halifax, Diane Dotson, Jennifer Douglas, Byron Webre, Buzz Lopez, Dan Edwards, Randy Turner, Bill Saunders, Jeannie Blaylock, Rusty Rhodes, Bill Carter, Elaine Martin, Paul Serrel, Artie Ojeda, Paul Osman, Brad Burns, Julie Adams, Lisa Aquafredda, and the list goes on. I'll do some research before I do this again. There are many I haven't mentioned, including the more recent and current team members. If you're one I missed, it must be the 30 years taking a toll on me. Forgive me, and let me hear from you.

Thanks Dan

People come and people go. It is part of life, part of any company. But, when you visit thousands of people in their homes every night, departures are much more obvious. So when we said so long to Dan Edwards the other night, we got calls and e-mails. There is a lot of turnover behind the cameras, in all parts of the KTAB building, but it's those of us who are on the air that people know and react to when there is a change.
Dan was with us for more than 2 years, doing his weather thing at 5, 6 and 10pm. And doing the overnight severe storm coverage thing which has been a staple of KTAB since we signed on the air. Any type of weather is important to those of us in the Big Country, but when it gets nasty, we really pay attention. Dan had the technique of sitting at the computer, moving us around the area getting different views of the storms and then walking back to his position in front of the radar image. Talking (and making sense) the whole time. Very smooth.
Dan also enjoyed working with various maps and charts, to create something which would visually show the weather he was talking about. He called the forecast more accurately than most meteorologists we've seen come and go over the years. His goal was to make his air time meaningful, educational, even fun. He did that.
Here's wishing Dan and his family well. Thanks, Dan.

30 Years Ago, Part II

Maybe you were watching the 10pm news tonight. Parts of it were about me. I don't know that I agree with the decision to devote valuable newstime to cover me, but they didn't consult yours truly. It turned out to be great, and I'm humbled by the kind words that Angela, David, Dan and Victor Sotelo had to say about me.
There were other nice things said, at a gathering at The Grace last Saturday. My family was all there, along with KTABers and friends from the community. From my bosses to current co-workers to former teammates it was a very flattering evening. And some of what they said may be true. Besides David Robinett, "kind" words from the past by former Sports Director David Bacon, former co-anchor Fran Adkins, Chief Videographer Andrew Carlson, General Manager Eric Thomas, and News Director (and soon to be stand up comic) Austin Kellerman. The "social" was not a roast, altho the Bloopers you saw on the air were played and stories about me and us (which some found hilarious) were told.
What I've been able to do for the last 30 years (+8 at KRBC) is to tell stories about you. Some were sad, some were uplifting, some were funny. But our reporters and photographers have been on many of the back roads of the Big Country to find out what's going on.
We've traveled the world together, you and me. I've been to several places in Europe and Africa covering Dyess missions. Co-anchor Jennifer Douglas and Jason Kumalo also reported from Africa. I have reported live from Las Vegas and the MDA Telethon, from Fort Worth after a tornado tore thru downtown Cowtown, from College Station when the Bonfire collapsed, and from around Abilene and the Big Country. Our crews have covered elections, Super Bowls and special events from across the country.
And it all started from a very nice studio on South 14th in Abilene, Texas.
Our total number of employees has never been large, but founder Bill Terry lived up to his original hiring goal: hire good people, work them hard, pay them well. (All true, except for the pay part). He did a great job of selecting and hiring good talent.
Next time, I'll bring back some names that you old timers might remember.

30 Years Ago, Part I

August 20, 1979..... A date to remember, at least for me... That was exactly 30 years ago... It was my first day as an employee of KTAB-TV... We didn't actually sign on the air for a month and a half, but it was a brand new tv station in a brand new building... Like any new business, we started with nothing... When I walked into the newsroom that day, there were no desks, only folding chairs, and the phones were on the floor... News Director Larry Fitgerald and I went about the task of putting together a news department... NewsTAB 32... But owner and GM Bill Terry was the spirit of KTAB.... He had given those of us who applied, the unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new tv station... That rarely happens... Most tv stations signed on in the 1950's or a little earlier...
Here we were in 1979, putting on the third tv station in the Big Country... A majority of the crew had followed Bill from KRBC where he was station manager... I'm the only one still around KTAB that made the move, although chief engineer Glen McCandless started work on the same day, August 20th...
Larry Fitzgerald taught me about the news business... Bill Terry taught me about the broadcasting business and how to manage and work with people... It was a real family atmosphere... Both of these great leaders and broadcasters are no longer with us...
I was the assignments editor, selecting the stories the reporters were to cover... Of course, they also came up with their own ideas... And Larry as news director guided all of us in what and how to cover the Big Country...
As a new tv station on UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channel 32, we were a strange duck... The other local channels were VHF (Very High Frequency)channels 9 and 12...
It was very similar to the confusion surrounding HD tv in 2009... Many tv sets didn't have a UHF dial, and if they did, nobody knew how to use it because they had never had to...
To promote the station, Bill put together a traveling caravan which took us to almost every community in what would be our viewing area... We had the opportunity to talk with people who would be in our tv audience... We had a booth at the West Texas Fair, handing out free antennas and explaining how to receive channel 32.. Working in our favor to attract viewers, besides good CBS network programming and a well known local news team, was the Dallas Cowboys... In 1979, CBS televised the Cowboys games and people would do almost anything to figure out how to watch the Cowboys... And they did...
We signed on in October, and in the November ratings period, we were the number two station in a three station market... We became the number two station in less than a month... It took a while longer to be rated #1, but we did that in 1984 and '85, and that's where we've been ever since...
Bill Chaney was our first weatherman (he moved from KRBC too).. Bill Bourland was sports director for a year until David Bacon joined us...
Fran Adkins and I co-hosted NoonTAB 32... Natalee Powers joined me at noon when Fran became pregnant... And Fran rejoined us later... I did news and weather at noon, plus the 5 minute cut-ins in the CBS Morning News, along with co-anchoring the news with Larry and the weather on NewsTAB 32 at 6, and assignments... It was a full day...
When I started, the transmission tower was in pieces on the ground... It had not been erected... The control board to select the studio cameras or video tape or commercials had not been delivered... The studio was like a big barn with no lights, no news set, no cameras... The cameras ended up being old ones which had been used and used and used to tape the Grand Ole Opry on WSM in Nashville... It took every engineer we had to coax true color out of those cameras, we often looked green or red... But everyone worked together... All the departments: news, production, engineering, sales... All to help make KTAB The Spirit of the Big Country...
I've rambled enough... But thanks to all of you many loyal viewers who have been so nice to invite me and my co-workers into your homes these many years...
There are many stories to tell, and I will in future postings...
I would like to thank my family, too, for putting up with news calls in the middle of the night, family outings cut short by breaking news or weather, and most of all, the police scanners which are constantly on at my house and in my car..... I Love You...
To Be Continued.....

News Takes No Vacation

We are a news gathering organization. We have reporters who work beats, an assignments manager who checks emails, faxes, phones, and photographers, producers, news management and anchors who take calls, get messages and talk to people. And police scanners are constantly chatting away.
That's the way we find out things. But one of our best sources is you. When something happens, we often get phone calls or emails either telling us what happened or asking us to find out. That's the kind of help we really need and value. We can only hear so much on the scanners, or talk to so many people. But with all of you out there acting as our eyes and ears, we can pass along information that the rest of KTAB Country needs to know. We always verify information that we get from non-official sources.
I bring this up because some of our tipsters are really loyal. I got a call today from a woman on vacation in Michigan. She had heard about an incident in the Big Country and called to make sure we knew about it. That was the lead story on NoonTab,and KTAB News at 5, 6 and 10pm.
News takes no vacation. Its 24/7. A newsperson is on duty all the time. But we can't be everywhere. You don't have to be on call for us 24/7, but when you see something out of the ordinary, keep KTAB in mind. Remember, what happens a minute from now could be "The News That Hasn't Happened Yet."

This Time It Was Four

Tragedies come in threes.....not this time. David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. That's four. The biggest name in the recent string of deaths of entertainers, of course, is Michael. Carradine did tv and movies. Ed was the sidekick on the Tonight Show and did lots of commercials and Star Search. Farrah Fawcett was extremely popular for her tv shows and toys and dolls and her courageous battle with cancer. Any death is tragic, and these four leave families, friends and fans distraught. When you see or hear someone as often as we did these people, they can become a part of our extended family. Their passing can be emotional. And it points out our own mortality.
Of these four, though, Michael Jackson was the star. A Super Star. I played The Jackson 5 music when I was still a radio disc jockey. And, of course, followed his career from the news desk when he ended up in court.
It took 40 years to build his impression in our minds. Hard to believe that's all we have left (plus a record or cd and a poster).

Heat Hits Hard

Is it a bad sign when there is a loud squeal from under the hood of your car as you accelerate? Yes, it is. But I'm afraid to have it checked out. Will probably be very expensive to fix. Most things on a car are. But, not fixing whatever it is now, will probably cause more damage, making it more costly to repair later. "rock and a hard place"
My daughter's car needs some fixing up too. Changing the oil, the technician pointed out one or two things which might "last awhile" or might "break anytime." So to a repair shop that can do the work. The parking lot at the shop is full. Owner says, "hot weather makes things break", so with temperatures around 100, auto repair stores are seeing more business. Meaning a slower turn around.
But in this economy, many folks are having little things fixed, instead of buying a new car or truck. Although, there are pretty good deals on cars and trucks right now. Dealers are wanting to sell.
By the way, the noise in my car only happens when the air conditioner is on. And the a/c can be really expensive to fix. Just have to drive with the windows down.

Salute

I know I'm not getting older, but my children are. Kathryn graduated from University of North Texas in mid-May. Tommy from Abilene High School in early June. Rebecca and Sarah graduated from Texas Tech 2 to 3 years ago. Christopher is moving up, so my wife and I have one more high school and maybe two more college commencements in the future. This does not count daughters and sons-in-law post graduate degrees which are not planned for now, but you never know, plus grandchildren, in-laws' children, other relatives and friends.
College and high school graduations are different. At the college level, you know your child who is getting the old sheep skin, and a friend or two. And that's about it. That's almost not worth sitting thru an hour and a half of name reading. But you can't leave. It is not polite. And they all have worked hard to get there, so they deserve your time.
High school commencement is different. Not just that it took 13 years to get there. It includes a lot of youngsters our children grew up with. Some back to kindergarten, which doesn't seem all that long ago. So even in a class of 500 or so, there are quite a few names even I recognize. Memories of the years gone by.
But a bright future for all the grads, even tho things are a little rocky right now. I'm very proud of what my children have accomplished so far and will do in the future. But that's just a dad talking.

Goodbye Channel 32

I was at our transmitter site the other evening. It's about 15 miles outside of Abilene, and not a place I am required to go very often. In fact, the most recent visit was my third in the last 30 years. The first two were just before KTAB signed on the air in October of 1979.
The first found the Channel 32 antenna on the ground. The 75 foot antenna weighing thousands of pounds would later be lifted to the top of the 500 foot tower where it is bolted in place..free standing up there. No wires to hold it in place. It has seen a lot of lightning, strong wind and ice in those years.
The second time I was at "the mountain", was the morning KTAB signed on the air for the first time...October 6, 1979. I had just recorded the sign-on for the station. (A very last minute deal when I asked, "Has anyone recorded the sign-on?" No one had). In those days, before 24 hour broadcasting, we would use the sign-on as the official welcome. "Good Morning. KTAB-TV in Abilene, Texas, now begins another broadcast day..." followed by the National Anthem. At night, the sign-off. "This concludes another broadcast day..." followed by the National Anthem. Both included some legal requirements which the FCC mandated we (and all radio and tv stations) include. The sun was just rising over the eastern horizon, when the transmitter officially started broadcasting the KTAB-TV signal on analog Channel 32. Back in '79 we didn't think twice about an "analog" signal, that's all there was.
My return to the mountain 30 years later was because there isn't just analog, there is also digital. And the government was ordering us and all telecasters to stop our traditional analog transmission and go digital. (The feds sold off the analog frequencies to cell phone companies so there could be more cellular phone traffic than there is now. Some tv's won't turn off the analogs until June 12th.)
On May 12th, KTAB turned off its analog transmitter for the last time. Chief Engineer Glen McCandless had the honor. Glen and I are the only two remaining original KTAB employees still on the payroll. We both joined KTAB-TV on August 20, 1979. It was appropriate I think that Glen and I were there to turn off the transmitter, since we were both there 30 years ago when it was turned on. We did live reports from the transmitter site on May 12th during the 5 and 6pm newscasts. Photographer Danielle Reeves did a great job with the camera, showing what was going on.
Glen turned off the transmitter at 6:15pm while we were doing a live shot.
So, on October 6, 1979, my voice was the first heard on KTAB..."Good Morning...." And on May 12, 2009, my voice was the last heard on KTAB analog... "Goodbye Channel 32"....

H1N1

How are you feeling? Wash your hands lately? Think we're talking and doing too much about H1N1? We now have confirmed "probable" cases of swine flu. 6 children from Merkel. All the cases were mild and the children have recovered. Merkel and Trent schools will be closed until May 11th. The "probable" samples now go to CDC in Atlanta where a third test will confirm swine flu (or not).
Congressman Randy Neugebauer says altho it may seem overkill, the government has to plan for the worst and have everything in place in case the flu really does spread like wildfire. It would be tough to play catch-up. So, he thinks, better to be cautious.
Dr. Zane Travis of the Health District has had more air time than me, as we cover the swine flu. He still encourages not to panic. Even if you get it, its pretty much like any other flu. Not good, but most will survive.
Lots of school activities... concerts, end of year banquets, field trips, sporting events... all cancelled at some Big Country school districts. Merkel and Trent closed until May 11th. Can't remember anything like this, especially when not much has happened. Again, erring on the side of caution.
Our newscasts this Friday (5-1) were extremely interesting. Dan needed time to cover storms in the viewing area. News needed time to cover the flu. And David wanted time for sports. And we start and stop on time (most of the time). So, as they say in Hollywood, a lot of what we wanted to say "ended up on the cutting room floor." Altho, we tried not to cut any of the important information.
Producer Mark, reporters Victor and Megan and Manny, live truck operators Danielle and Andrew, director Russell, production crew all had a real workout. Shooting, writing and editing more stories than usual, chasing storms and setting up live shots, producing newscasts with ever changing content, putting a newscast on the air which was more "seat of the pants" than normal. This is another one of those days that confirms as correct, the decision to get into broadcasting. It is easy to walk away from an informative and entertaining half hour as we did at 6:30 and 10:40, and know we gave our best effort and provided the viewers with information they needed. Thanks all. Team work.....

What's In A Picture?

As I have mentioned before, one of the really great things about doing my job, is never knowing what will happen in the next second, which might become a story, or at least hot conversation in the newsroom. As an example, I was sitting at my desk writing the 6 pm news, while Victor Sotelo was editing video for a 6pm story at a computer about 10 feet from my desk. As we edit, the last frame of video is frozen in place, until the next video is ready to add on. When I happened to glance at the computer monitor, I was surprised at the image I saw. The frame I saw is below. What do you see? (It is actually a burning tree next to a house on fire in Abilene this weekend.)

I Want News

There are days, and then there are days. A large dry-erase board is on one wall of our newsroom. The day's assignments are posted there, with the reporters name assigned to the story, the story name and for which of our many newscasts it is expected to be completed.
As I may have mentioned before, there are days, and then there are days. Days are when the board is overflowing with projects completed or being developed but expected to be done. Days are when everyone also has an idea or two to toss into the mix about things we need to report, people we need to profile, story ideas to follow.
Days are when all the cameras are working, the batteries are all charged, the live trucks are all available, and people have remembered to put gas in all the news vehicles.
And then there are days. Like today. When the assignment board is about half full, there were not a lot of workable ideas presented, and one or two of those other things didn't fall into place. Sometimes, when it's a "slow" news day, there will be some stormy weather for Dan, or David has a new head football coach at a local high school.
And then there are days. Like today. Not a bad news day, just nothing really exciting, but still things you need to know about. We do our best to put together an interesting half hour of information, no matter what kind of day it has been in the newsroom.
But the wonderful thing about the news business is we never know what's going to happen in the next minute which will create our Top Story for a day like tomorrow.
That's when we'll be back with all the news that hasn't happened yet.....

Breaking News

Most evenings we can all take a dinner break between the 6 and 10 o'clock newscasts..
That's MOST evenings.. But when there are severe storms in the KTAB viewing area, or when there is Breaking News, its all hands on deck.. We listen to police and fire radios and scanners all day.. Accidents, fires, shootings.. Those are all incidents we may hear on the police/fire radios.. Of course, we get phone calls and e-mails from viewers about what's going on too..
I also have radios and scanners at home.. My wife has "good ears" to pick up what's happening.. My children hated the scanners, but actually have heard useful news over the years.. Obviously, we use the information only for news coverage..
Wednesday (04-08) I was home for a meal break when the Abilene Fire Department started broadcasting a fire at The Windsor, a multi-story retirement community at North 4th and Pine, downtown.. In news, we really (believe me) don't wish for bad things to happen, but when they do, we have to be prepared to cover them.. That fire call ended my dinner break.. My wife put my dinner in a plastic dish, and I rushed back to the station, just in case.. Altho there was significant smoke and water damage to several apartments, there were no serious injuries and this did not turn into a major event (unless you live in one of those damaged apartments)..
This will obviously lead our newscast at 10pm.. But things are under control, and we have a plan for the 10pm news..
So, that gives me an opportunity to write this.....

What You Get May Not Be What You Want

So, "gang initiation is calling for shooting 3 women shoppers at Wal-mart." The phone is ringing off the hook around here. Reporters are being questioned at every story they cover. Abilene Police hold a news conference. People are really worried.
But its all a HOAX!! A message that was first sent more than a year ago by e-mail, is being recycled now by text message. And it is spreading coast to coast. It is not just in Abilene, Brownwood, or Sweetwater where there are Wal-marts in the Big Country. It is wherever there is a Wal-mart.
In these days of violent gangs and terrorists, I understand the concern. But this message shows the skeptical eye which we have to use in this day of instant communication. Just because it is on the Internet or on your cell phone, doesn't make it real. Anyone can put anything out there and you have to be able to sift thru what you get to figure out what you may not want.....like a bunch of malarkey which is being used to hold us in terror.
That's why we're here. We can be had, just like anyone else. But generally, a news operation like KTAB has enough contacts to find out the story behind the story. We try to live up to "Coverage You Can Count On" everyday, on every story. (We mentioned Wal-mart threat was a hoax when we started getting calls Wednesday night.)
And something else worries me....postings on Facebook and myspace. But I'll get to that next time.

Time Passes

Not sure if it is just "getting old" or having a long memory. But either way, sometimes a story just happens to cross my desk that flashes me back in time. This day, it was the story of an Army soldier who wears and has special affection for a bracelet with a Texas soldier's name on it. The name is that of Sergeant James Casey Joyce who was killed in Mogadishu, Somalia in October of 1993. His grandmother was long time Abilene resident and loyal KTAB viewer Mary Galbraith. She passed away a few years ago, but was well known and very active in Abilene. Casey was part of the group of 18 Americans killed on October 3rd during a firefight in which a Blackhawk helicopter was shot down by gunmen of a Somalian warlord. Sgt. Joyce was a part of a ground unit in a Humvee. The movie "Blackhawk Down" is based on what happened to Sgt. Joyce and the 17 other soldiers who died that day.
I did not know Casey, but I did know his grandmother. The story brings to mind the many Americans who have served and died for their country. Proud of all of them.
My recollection is of Somalia. I was there with the 463rd Airlift Wing, Dyess Air Force Base a year before the Blackhawk Down incident. A group of journalists flew to Somalia at Christmas time 1992 to showcase the effort by the United States to save lives. Somalia was in a long drought and thousands of people were dying from starvation. The 463rd flew the C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft from Mombasa, Kenya, up the coast of the Indian Ocean to Somalia. Many flights were to the capital, Mogadishu, but others were to remote airstrips to drop off tons of grain and other food items. Pilots flew low over the runway to scare away animals and make sure the right people were there to pick up the supplies. Navigators made sure we were at the right place. The crew in the back sweated over the cargo, its loading and unloading. It was hot. On my desk in the newsroom, I still have a 1.5 litre water bottle (Kilimanjaro Mountain Spring Water)which everyone carried or kept near by. Drank a lot of water.
I have some great video of the Somalians carrying the heavy bags of grain and putting them in the back of trucks, then taking a break, dancing and singing. Video was used for individual news stories and a half hour special which aired right around Christmas, 1992.
Probably most of the people in those tapes are long gone from the Air Force... That was nearly 20 years ago. Operations Provide Relief and Restore Hope, may have been the name of the operation. The journalists, I was the only one from Abilene television to go, flew there and back in a C-141 from the New Jersey Air National Guard. Altho, on the way home, I hopped on an American Airlines DC-10 at Frankfurt/Rhein-Main and flew non-stop to DFW.
That trip to Africa was one of the many great opportunities I've had to work and travel with the fine folks at Dyess.

Welcome

What's it like having your first grandchild visit for the first time? It is great. It happened this weekend when his parents needed to travel on business. The three month old stayed at our place. It has been a long time since we have had a baby in the house. I had forgotten what that's like. It was really neat, what with the smiling, and looking all around, and finding objects to concentrate on, like the ceiling.
It was a joy just to watch. It was nice to have our two sons around to help with their nephew. Feedings every three hours, sleep but not quite on a regular schedule, diapers. My wife and I knew all of that well with our five children. But it is different when it's not your child. Special care required. It's fun to see his joy as he learns about the world around him. The world won't always be so pleasant, but he can enjoy it now.
I miss all our children being gone, although I know that's what happens. Same for the newest member of the family. He's been gone just a little while, but I miss him already.

Look, Up In The Sky.....

For those who don't remember, the title for tonight's theme is the opening line from the "Superman" tv series of the 1950's. I would write the entire opening announcer voice over if I had time and there wasn't some copyright infringement probably lurking.
What brings that to mind is several phone calls and emails to KTAB. "What were those lights in the sky?" I have checked on unusual lights in the sky for years. Usually, its the sun reflecting off a weather balloon launched from Marfa and climbing to 100,000 feet plus. Or a B-1 or C-130 doing patterns at Dyess or tracking the VOR. Or a jetliner cruising at FL350. But calling the police, sheriff, DPS and feds as I have just done, usually gets you the "Huh? and stifled laughter" treatment. Same this 1/29 when lights displaying an unusual, intermittent pattern were reported generally to the southeast of Abilene.
The last time the lights were called in from roughly this area, a blimp with unusual anti-collision lights was making a nighttime landing at Abilene Regional Airport. The tower reported no blimp or any other unusual aircraft tonight. No calls from panicked citizens to local law enforcement. But calls and emails to us.
A callback from one of those folks had the answer. The military was doing some training near Brownwood. There is special military air space near Brownwood where lots of military training from helicopters to jets is done. This night, they were dropping flares from aircraft. As the caller told me, he had seen flares at night in Iraq, and they are brilliant. And that's what folks saw, as we reported on KTAB News at 10. Flares from military aircraft as part of an exercise. No UFO..... Sorry.....
"....it's a bird, it's a plane.. No it's Superman... Superman, strange visitor from another planet with powers and..."

The Winter of Our Content

So how did you make it thru the Deep Freeze, as we called the ice event at KTAB? A few weeks ago, we had ice form on bridges and overpasses early one Monday morning. It was one of those things that there wasn't a whole lot of talk about on the newscasts the day before. And the ice just sort of appeared between 5:30 and 6 that morning.
This time Dan, Sam and Kira talked about the possibility of first, rain, then somesort of freezing precipitation, for nearly a week prior to the event. So, not only were we prepared as a news agency to cover it, emergency agencies and road crews were on top of it, and so were our viewers. So the late Monday thru Wednesday morning ice/sleet event wasn't a surprise. The KTAB team turned in hours of coverage on the freezing rain, freezing fog (that's a new one), sleet coming, arriving and leaving, plus whatever else happened because of the cold weather. Almost every school district in the Big Country called us with late start times, busses running or not, school closures and events postponed. That's a lot of phone calls with a lot of information to put on the air and the web site. There were other changes too, for Dyess, businesses, churchs, social clubs.
We aired extended morning broadcasts for those whose work and school plans changed. We did live cutins thruout the day to keep our viewers updated on the latest developments and devoted evening news programs to that topic. Plus additional information at bigcountryhomepage.com. KTAB takes the approach that there is no such thing as too much information in a critical time like that. And people took our advice... staying off the roads, or at least slowing down and driving more safely.
Maybe that was our last winter event, altho it will be cold again. Now, KTAB will start planning on how to deal with spring storm season.

Flashing Lights and News

We’re an unusual group, news people. Just like some lawyers, we love to chase ambulances (and police cars and fire trucks… anything with flashing lights). Today for instance. When I showed up at the station, there was a list of fairly routine stories planned for our newscasts. Then grassfires started breaking out. And a bank was robbed. And a local religious group sent their attorney to talk with us. This all happened between 3:30 and our newscasts. It is stimulating to have your newscast planned, and then have it all go up in smoke and flashing lights.
We really don’t like bad things to happen. And I think if you look at KTAB newscasts for a week or a month, you’ll find mostly good positive stories about children and pets and schools and sports and weather. A majority of our stories are “good news”, even though people complain that we never do “good news.” But then there are days with fires and accidents and ice and high school football.
Again, we don’t want people hurt or property damaged. But our job is to report news… which is something that is out of the ordinary and that people are talking about. I could go on about KTAB news philosophy, but I just heard a fire truck go by.