Election Night Means All Hands on Deck!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:46 pm by Jacquie Walker under Jacquie Walker's Newsroom Notebook
The newsroom is rarely busier than on election night. News 4 Buffalo draws station employees from other shifts and other departments to join us nightside as we collect vote totals, interpret the results, and present them on News 4, CW23, and WIVB.com. The preparation actually takes weeks – researching the ballot, collecting the names and positions of candidates, loading computer data, drawing up a newsroom game plan, testing remote locations, and making contact with those who will be key players on election night. When the polls close at 9 p.m., it’s like turning on a fire hose! Information comes pouring into the newsroom and it’s a race to get it all on the web, on the air, out to our teams in the field, and into all the right hands. You can see why we need so many ‘hands on deck’ to help wrestle with one or two hours of ‘breaking news’ on election night.
Computers in the newsroom are key sources of information on election night. Much of the data is coming from the Board of Elections website.
Producer Vic Baker and News Director Joe Schlaerth have decades of experience covering local elections.
Newsroom Operations Manager Nancy Sanders and Nightside Assignment Editor Martha Meegan oversee coordination of our news teams in the field.
Director Tony Battilana, Engineer John Fellinger, Technician Dave Brown, and Technical Director Mickey Clemons handle the extraordinary volume of graphics and remote video feeds on election night.
News Four Political Analyst Joe Crangle and Ken Kruly, former Erie County Budget Director, examine vote totals.
A small army of volunteers gathers vote totals from the phone bank in News Four’s Election Center. This is information Political Analyst Joe Crangle uses when deciding whether to “call” a race.
During the Ten O’clock News on CW23, Political Analyst Joe Crangle shares his insight on the election. News 4 Videographer Craig Cornwell captures the action.
