I’ve never tried posting a blog with my phone, so here it goes!
Ever since a dog bit our friend and colleague Kyle Dyer live on TV two weeks ago, many of us in the newsroom decided to reeducate ourselves on the proper ways to deal with dogs.
The management at KUSA brought in Dr. Suzanne Hetts, an animal behaviorist who is based out of Littleton. She’s well respected in her field.
Hetts blew us away with her knowledge. She knew so many little things about dogs we had no clue about. Especially when it comes to what sets a dog off.
We were so inspired by Hett’s seminar we decided to do a series on canine behavior. My News Director tapped me to file the four-part series.
Throughout the week we focused on different topics, ranging from the proper ways for babies to interact with dogs to dogs interacting with other dogs.
The information Dr. Hetts provided in the reports was fantastic.
Wednesday night we held a special Petline 9 so viewers could call in and ask a panel of Colorado’s best vets specific questions.
Overall the series was a success and I’m glad it helped educate our viewers.
I’m always up for a new adventure. Especially when it involves visiting a place I’ve never been to before.
I’ve passed through Dallas on a connecting flight once, but I never had a chance to actually visit the city – or state of Texas (for that matter).
That changed this weekend when I flew out to Dallas/Ft. Worth to visit my buddy Ray.
Ray recently accepted a job as a Reporter at the NBC station in Dallas (KXAS-TV). Ray and I have been friends since our days in Syracuse, NY when we worked at WSYR-TV.
I had a nice time in Dallas. I made some new friends, saw some beautiful landmarks and experienced a city I’ve only seen on TV.
My favorite part of the trip was visiting WFAA-TV, Dallas’ ABC affiliate. It’s a great television station. The picture associated with this blog is me dorking out about touring the station.
This upcoming weekend I’m heading to Lexington, KY (a city I’ve never visited before either) to give a lecture at a journalism/photography conference (KNPA).
I fly out after work Thursday evening and return to Denver Saturday evening. Quick trip!
On Friday I’m going to help judge some awards, and then on Saturday I’ll give my lecture in the early afternoon.
Once I return to Denver I have a few days to rest up before I head to Seattle for another journalism conference.
I’m heading to the NPPA’s Northwest Workshop in Seattle, WA the last weekend of January.
I’m really excited about that trip. I’ve always wanted to go to an NPPA conference. My buddy and colleague, 9NEWS Reporter Nick McGurk is going as well.
I’m glad I’m getting a chance to visit some new cities, but I honestly can’t wait until February. Traveling is exhausting!
In the last 7 years, I’ve interviewed a lot of strange people. Too many to count… On Monday, when the Grand County Sheriff told me Jerod Reeves and Kimberly McCaffrey agreed to an interview, I had no idea what I was in for.
You’ll recall the story of the father who shot and killed his son last month, before taking his own life near Kremmling. Their bodies were found in a van in a remote area of Grand County.
Reeves and McCaffrey stumbled upon the bodies before anyone else. Instead of reporting them to police, the couple decided to burglarize the bodies; they even sawed the frozen fingers off of the father so they could pawn the gun he was holding on to for cash.
When I arrived in Hot Sulphur Springs, the Sheriff told me Reeves would meet with me shortly. About 15 minutes later the Sheriff called me in to his office and said, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but they decided to back out of the interview”.
“Are you serious?” I responded.
“Yeah, they’re a bit nervous because their bail was raised to $150,000 and they want a lawyer to be present,” the Sheriff said.
“Can I talk to them quickly, without a camera?” I asked.
“I’ll see if they’re up to it…” the Sheriff said.
Reeves agreed to meet with me. After a brief discussion, he changed his mind and a decided he would do an on-camera interview.
We spoke at length for about 20 minutes. Reeves explained how he used a hacksaw to cut off the father’s fingers and how desperate he and McCaffrey were for money.
Every question provided a loaded answer I wasn’t prepared for.
“For those who say you don’t have a heart for not reporting a dead child, how do you respond?” I asked Reeves.
“I did what I had to do to survive,” he responded.
Once Reeves left the jail’s library, deputies brought McCaffrey in.
She was a little more timid and obviously shaken up by the whole thing.
“Why didn’t you report this to police?” I asked her.
“We were scared,” she said.
McCaffrey told me she has two kids around the same age as the boy who was found. They’re living with her ex-husband. Once he found out about McCaffrey’s role in the crime he decided not to let her talk to her daughters.
Through tears, McCaffrey told me how much that upset her.
Once our interview was over I left the jail and shot a quick set up story for our 6pm broadcast. I sent that back to the station over the internet while I produced my full story for the 9pm/10pm newscasts.
The thing that struck me most during the interview is the answer McCaffrey gave me when I asked him if he would ever do that again.
“If I was put in that same situation, yes, I would, “ he said.
Most days I arrive at work an hour early. I do this so I can check my 9news e-mail, browse through some local newspapers online and read through some of our newstips.
I work the night-side shift Sunday-Wednesday. This past Wednesday, I was sitting at my desk when an e-mail popped up saying something along the lines of, “Cole Rhodes, a popular High School student from Sterling was killed in a car accident on his way to school this morning”.
“There must be more to him than that,” I immediately thought. I hit ‘Reply to All’ and said, “I’ll look in to this” so my colleagues knew someone was working on the story.
I opened up a web browser and started researching for Cole online. I couldn’t find a facebook page for him, but I did find a few articles about him playing football and basketball.
It was clear Cole attended Caliche Junior/Senior High School near Sterling, so I picked up my phone and dialed the school’s number.
Having been to Sterling and Northeast Colorado for other stories, I knew what sort of town Sterling was. It’s like the town I grew up in: small. Very small.
That was evident the moment I called Caliche High. The first person to pick up the phone at the school was the principal. I can assure you, that never happens in Denver. You’ll be lucky to get a hold of the principal after being tossed around to 2 or 3 other people.
I said to the principal, “I’m so sorry for calling you this afternoon, but I’m sure you’re well aware why I’m calling”. “It’s okay,” he said. “Cole was a special kid”.
We talked for about ten minutes before I asked him if he would help me put together a memorial piece about Cole if I were to drive out there. After all, if I was driving 2 and a half hours away from Denver, and my producers would expect me to have someone on camera.
The principal agreed and said he could provide me with a picture of Cole from the school’s yearbook. I asked him if he knew who Cole’s parents were and he said yes. “They live near me. Cole’s Aunt is the secretary at this school”. The principal was able to get me Cole’s parents names.
I searched for their number quickly online and found it. To be completely honest with you, sometimes reporters wish a number would come up unlisted so they wouldn’t have to go through with the next task.
The worst part of a Reporter’s job is having to call the parents of a kid who was just killed. Even before you pick up that phone, a pit forms inside your stomach and twists it in knots. No matter how many times you call parents in this situation, that feeling never goes away.
In the last seven years as a Reporter I’ve probably called more than a hundred parents asking them to do interviews. One out of every ten of them agrees to it.
I dialed Dave and Terri Rhode’s number. The phone rang.
After three or four seconds a man picked up. With a hollow voice he said, “Hello?” Having heard that tone of voice before, I knew it was Cole’s father. The only time someone sounds like that is when they’ve lost a loved one.
“David?” I said. “…Yes,” he responded. “I’m sorry for your loss … and I’m sorry for calling you… This is Kevin Torres, from 9NEWS in Denver. We heard about the accident and what happened to your son.”
There was a pause.
“But…” I continued. “I also heard about how great of an athlete he was and how much his classmates and community loved him.”
“He was a well liked kid,” his father responded.
“There’s no doubt your community knew that about him. But he was a special kid and the entire state of Colorado should know that. I would like to put a memorial piece together about your son for our newscasts tonight and I’m heading out to Sterling shortly. Since you and your wife knew your son best, I was hoping you two could help me tell his story”.
“I’ll have to ask my wife,” he said. Dave proceeded to hand the phone to Terri.
“Hello?” Terri said.
I explained to Terri what I explained to Dave and said, “You knew Cole best. I’d like to put together a memorial piece about your son. Let’s tell Colorado his story”.
After a brief moment, Terri agreed to do the interview.
My Executive Producer, who manages our 9pm/10pm newscasts was in a meeting. I pulled him out of it for a minute and told him about the story.
He agreed and said we should go out there. I packed up my gear and hit the road.
A little more than two hours later I was at the Rhode’s home. A family member brought me inside.
About 50-60 people were inside the home at the time. They were quiet. They listened closely as I introduced myself to Cole’s mother and I asked her a second time if it’s okay if we talked. Again, she agreed.
We walked out back to the family’s deck and conducted the interview out there. Surrounded by her other son and nephews, Terri told me all about Cole.
“He would kill me if I told you this, but he cried the whole first semester [of kindergarten], because he didn’t want me to leave him. But I gave him an angel for his pocket and told him that he always had his guardian angel with him,” Terri told me. “And one day I was taking him to school and he said, ‘Mom, I forgot my angel.’ He wanted me to turn around and get it. But I told him his angel is with him all the time, he doesn’t need the little angel he puts in his pocket”.
I can’t remember the last time I shed tears during an interview, but that story got me. It’s easy to tell when a parent really loves their child. Terri loved her son unconditionally.
After the interview was done I thanked the family for taking the time to talk to me. I packed up my gear and drove to the nearest McDonalds in town.
I tend to work out of McDonald’s and Starbucks when I’m away from the newsroom because they have free, fast wi-fi.
I put my story together and sent it back to the station over the internet. Around 8pm I got back on the road and headed back to Denver.
The entire time I couldn’t help but think about that family. It’s never an easy situation. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
Here’s the story:
Here’s a video blog I did right after the interview:
Photojournalist Kevin Sullivan and I drove up to Fort Collins Tuesday to report on a house fire. Emergency Officials received a dozen or so phone calls from people who witnessed the fire, but none of them could give an accurate description of where the house was located.
Dispatchers told us it was a problem situation. They asked us to give a few tips to our viewers about ‘knowing your area’ better. They said detailed information from the callers would have helped responders get to the fire faster.
So that was the story.
On another note… by the time Sully and I got up to Fort Collins it was still pretty warm outside. Boy did that change quickly. Ten minutes in to our interview with a responder, the wind picked up and made the air chilly.
It only got colder as the night went on. Take a look at the picture of Sully posted above. That’s one freezing photographer!
Boring news is so… boring…
Posted: December 26, 2011 in 9NEWS, Creative, Holidays, Storytellers, Viewers
I’ve written about this before but it’s worth repeating… I’m not a fan of boring news.
What’s boring news? The sorta’ lame pieces that air during a newscast that make you want to change the channel.
Each night when I’m working I’m responsible for producing a 1 minute and 30 second story. If I’m lucky, my producers will give me 2 minutes.
During that period of time it’s my job to keep you, the viewer, tuned in. In an effort to do that I try to write creatively, find ways to tell my stories differently and to find the best darn characters I can possibly find.
Sunday night Photojournalist Kevin Sullivan and I were handed a typical Christmas Day story: to report on holiday returns.
Instead of going to the mall and interviewing random people, we tried something different. I love the way it turned out. You can watch it by clicking on the video box below:
Christmas Eve is the new Christmas!… at least it is at my house this year. I’m working Christmas night, so Dom and I decided to celebrate Christmas today (Saturday), since we’re both off.
When we woke up this morning we blasted some Christmas music, turned on the Christmas lights and unwrapped our presents.
I ended up with a bunch of new dress clothes for work, tickets to the musical Wicked and a few other things. Once we were done with opening presents we headed over to our friend Anne’s house. Anne used to be a photojournalist at 9NEWS before she became a Multi-Media Journalist at the Denver Post.
Each Christmas, Anne hosts a holiday brunch. We had a few mimosas, excellent food and some great conversations with good friends.
Now we’re back home, relaxing for the day. Later on tonight we’re meeting up with Jace Larson and his partner Eric for some more Christmas-time fun. Hope y’all have a Merry Christmas!!! See you on the news Sunday night 
Up until yesterday I have never received a Christmas gift from a viewer before. But last night when I returned from my live shot, a beautifully wrapped present was sitting on my desk. It came from 9NEWS All-Star Viewer Tee Karis and her family.
Tee is a good Facebook friend who always has great things to say. She used to be a DJ and is looking to return to the radio world soon.
Tee was kind enough to send me a bucket full of movie goodies and a Donald Duck figurine she happened to stumble upon. The new Donald (featured in the car) is the newest resident of my desk.
Thanks Tee! You rock!!!
Putting a Twist on a Bland Story
Posted: December 22, 2011 in 9NEWS, Creative, Holidays, Mountain Town
One of the reasons why I wanted to work at KUSA since I was a sophomore in college is because the station does things differently. And by that I mean the station is not afraid to tell stories with a creative twist.
Wednesday night I was assigned to the usual ‘hey, it’s snowing outside, put a piece together’ story. My beat was ‘mountain snow’. Two other reporters were covering flight delays at DIA and the Metro-Area snow in Denver.
Instead of interviewing people and getting the typical ‘The roads are really nasty’ response, I decided to shake things up a bit. I wrote my entire story in rhyme. I used ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ as a model.
I was a little bit nervous about trying something so ‘different’ at first, but at the end of the day I was glad I did. The response I received from our viewers and my managers was great. My General Manager even sent me a kind note saying he really liked it.
While most stations wouldn’t dare to try something so drastic, KUSA actually embraces it. And that’s one of the many reasons why KUSA is the best local station in the country.
