“You’re going to the Outer Banks tomorrow.” From my boss.

Less than 24 hours later, I was en route to Chocowinity, a small town in eastern North Carolina. CBS19′s sister station, WITN, needed a few extra hands to cover Hurricane Irene as the storm prepared to make landfall. Within one week, I covered a national headline-grabbing earthquake, and now I’m reporting on what’s supposed to be the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in a few years.

I left Charlottesville early Friday morning to embark on the four-hour drive to North Carolina. Upon arriving, I was almost immediately sent to interview the interim county manager for Beaufort County. And then I shot a quick story on the supermarket running out of milk, bread and eggs as people began stocking up on supplies.

I left my hotel room shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, apparently just minutes before it lost power. Hurricane Irene was in full force. I was first sent to a car wreck that was 20 minutes away from the station. After an hour and a half of navigating rural roads I’ve never seen before, I still can’t find the scene. I hit many roadblocks (literally) in the form of downed trees and power lines, flooded roads or some sort of combination. By the time I get close, a firefighter tells me the scene was cleared, but I interviewed him on the condition of the roads. The rest of the day was spent covering the storm itself before spending 12 hours in a powerless, humid motel room.

The busiest day by far was Sunday. The town of Washington, just north of Chocowinity, was covered with water the day before. I covered the damage — a toppled gas canopy, a few missing roofs, countless trees and power lines in the roads — before searching for the Belle of Washington. For that remarkable story, check out the video below.

After three days of 12+ hour shifts, I took had one final sleep in my air condition-less motel and headed back to Charlottesville. It was an eye-opening weekend spent in Mother Nature’s wrath, and I managed to return home relatively dry and with experiences many reporters dream of. (And yes, I did shoot a standup where I am getting dowsed by Hurricane Irene’s heavy rains while trying to maintain balance with the winds. You have to check that one out here.)

From the epicenter of the earthquake to the eye of the hurricane. Maybe the Weather Channel has an opening… (Kidding.)

I looked around, and no one seemed to react. I wasn’t sure what I had just felt, so my natural reaction — I tweeted. “Did I just feel an earthquake!?” My phone then exploded with texts from my brother and friends asking if I was OK or alive.

I rushed home, saw the CNN coverage and tried calling work. Couldn’t get through.

I swapped my shorts for jeans, put on my newly purchased Old Navy flip-flops and ran out the door to work. Within 30 seconds of stepping into the newsroom, I was sent to Mineral, Va., the epicenter of the earthquake.

What amazed me most about covering the earthquake was how eerily normal everything appeared. Sure, there was damage from the earthquake — two homes were destroyed, many others heavily damaged — but you had to look hard for the damage. Still, it was very easy to empathize with those who lost a lot, like the Brunson family I interviewed (in the video below).

Mineral is a small town between Charlottesville and Richmond. There aren’t many tall buildings, if any at all. That might not provide much comfort to those with damaged homes, worrying if insurance will cover the cost of repairs, but should something have happened closer to a metropolis like Richmond, there might have been more than the zero fatalities or serious injuries Central Virginia saw.

As far as news goes, it was exciting to cover a major event in our own backyard that had a national impact. But even one week after the quake, the cleanup continues.

The fate of those commercials has been announced.

Many Billy Mays commercials will be pulled until July 6, the day of his funeral. After that, they will air once again, including new ones premiering July 11.

Here are a few videos from FOX 29. The first features an interview with Billy Mays from June 2008. The second is consumer reporter Michelle Buckman’s memories of meeting the infomercial king.

• A June 2008 visit by FOX 29 cameras to a Billy Mays commercial shoot
• Consumer reporter Michelle Buckman’s reflections on her interview with Billy Mays

Two legends and personal favorites — Bob Barker and Betty White — are apparently in a bitter feud. The bitterness has extended to the upcoming 2009 GSN Game Show Awards, which will air Saturday.

Betty White was supposed to be in attendance, but Barker refused to show and receive his Lifetime Achievement Award (which he will win along with Mark Goodson and Monty Hall) if the two were in the same room. White caved and opted to tape her presentation so Barker would show.

The battle began over Billy, an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. Barker wanted to move the elephant to another zoo to give it more roaming room, while White wanted to keep it at its currnet location and upgrade the facilities. Ultimately, White’s side won, causing controversy to ensue.

Alan Ludden would be proud.

Susan Boyle lost.

She became a worldwide phenomenon after her surprising performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Her YouTube video became one of the most popular in the world.

And Britain didn’t vote for her.

From my point of view, Boyle deserved the dropped jaws she received following her initial performance, but frankly, I don’t understand all the hype. But most of the world did — except Britain.

Frankly, I don’t take this personally; I just think it’s incredibly ironic and is a classic example of the media vs. the people. The media blew Boyle’s story incredibly out of proportion, and that may have carried some of her stardom through Britain’s Got Talent.

It’s fairly similar to this season’s American Idol. The media can’t say one negative thing about Adam Lambert, but he didn’t win. Kris Allen just can’t compete, they said. And then, there’s uproar once Allen wins.

Lambert, like Boyle, is a love or hate kind of performer. Either you get him or you don’t. I believe the media misrepresented what many thought about Lambert. I think most of America couldn’t stand him (like me).

Anywho, Boyle didn’t win, yet she’ll have a somewhat successful career if she can find someone who can make her more marketable.

I’m sensing a Boyle-Lambert duet. I’d buy that on iTunes.

Some shows/personalities featured: Desperate Housewives, Lost, (my idol) Tom Bergeron, Dancing with the Stars judges, Grey’s Anatomy and … is that Wipeout?

The funniest phrase TV has ever seen is from Seinfeld, Elaine specifically, with “Yada, yada, yada.” The show also made the list with “No soup for you” (#21) and “Hello, Newman” (#50).

The Office made the list with “That’s what she said” (#12), while Family Matters’ Steve Urkel made the list at No. 19 with “Did I do that?”

My favorite category, the best game show catchphrases, featured “Come on Down” (#3), “Deal or no deal?” (#2) and “Is that your final answer?” (#1).

Check out the full list of notable phrases here.

Why not gather a world-record number of Waldos in one room?

So… they did.

Rutgers gathered 1,052 Waldo characters, based off the Where’s Waldo book series — good enough for the Guiness Book of World Records. In the end, it was also for a good cause. The lookalikes collected 3,186 children’s books for public libraries in New Brunswick, N.J.

On Thursday, he’ll appear on The Late Show with David Letterman. We’ll see if he makes any predictions on this season while in New York City.

But more importantly, he’s featured in this commercial from Dick’s Sporting Goods. It gives a good laugh.

The Temple team who spent Spring Break 2007 sleeping on Fairfax Avenue just to see Bob Barker in 'The Price is Right.' From left, Kaitlyn Kurosky, Courtney Clarahan, Chris Stover, Amanda Laskoskie, Greg Nothstein.

Four years ago today, I experienced a life-altering moment.

I saw Bob Barker live.

So, to reminisce about this experience, my article about the experience which appeared in The Temple News is after the jump.

A ‘Price’-less experience
Published March 13, 2007

CHRIS STOVER
The Temple News

I lived on the streets of Los Angeles for nearly 30 hours during my spring break to hear three simple words: Come on down.

A group of five Temple students, including myself, went to Los Angeles with the goal of trying to get on one of America’s highest rated daytime game shows: “The Price is Right”.

There is an unwritten rule that that Americans are obligated to watch “The Price is Right” when they are home sick from school or work. But when host Bob Barker, 83, announced his pending retirement last October after serving as the show’s host for 35 years, I knew I had to fly across the country to see him in person.

We left Philadelphia en route to Los Angeles Sunday, March 4. As we landed at Los Angeles International Airport, we knew that the process of becoming a part of the show’s live audience was long and tedious, but we were prepared. By 7:30 p.m. that night, we had visited the CBS studio where the show airs to get our bearings. We planned to return to the studio around 3 a.m. to claim our spot in line.

But when we saw a line of almost 75 people already waiting, our plans changed.”Oh, we have to get in line,” I said with hesitance and excitement.

CBS pages told us that despite having tickets for the show, you are not guaranteed a spot in the audience until you are actually sitting in the studio.

The pages also said that prior to Barker’s retirement announcement, people typically did not line up more than 12 hours in advance to see the show.

Sunday at 9 p.m., we took blankets and pillows from our hotel, made a stop at 7-Eleven for caffeine and other necessities and headed back to CBS to take our places in line for a 15- hour wait until entrance to the studio was granted.

“It’s not too bad being homeless in California,” said freshman Courtney Clarahan, one of the students who went along. “I feel like a celebrity. A really poor celebrity.”

We had figured that since we had a lot of time on our hands, we should meet others in line. We talked to the people waiting in front of us and behind us, people from Fort Lauderdale and Sacramento.

We met a couple from Lancaster, expecting their first child in five months. It was nice to see Pennsylvanians while being 3,000 miles from home.

The first woman in line, who had gotten there at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, saw the show live more than 30 times but has never been a contestant.

She said she was going to try some wordplay to get into Contestant’s Row.

“I’m going to tell them, ‘Do you know how long I’ve been waiting in line? When I got in line, I was 67. Now I’m 68.’ Today’s my birthday. We’ll see if it works,” she said.

But we won’t know until April 4 if it did because she attended a different taping.

Everyone in line had one common bond: We were all there to see Bob Barker in his final season on “The Price is Right”. We all got to know each other and in a way formed temporary friendships, ones we knew wouldn’t last beyond the show but would be fun until then.

The crowd became quiet around 1 a.m. as most people tried to get some sleep. By morning, the crowd was extremely rowdy as people ran down the bleachers in the audience holding area giving high-fives to everyone along the way.

Everyone received their handwritten name tag, which was a lot smaller than you might imagine it to be. For me, receiving the yellow price tag was 20 years’ worth of validation – I was about to see a show and a living legend that I grew up with since I was an infant.

Around 1 p.m., it was time to enter the studio. I expected that it would be much smaller than it appears on television, but
I was still stunned. I estimated that it was about the size of Founder’s Garden on Main Campus.

Rich Fields, the announcer, came out to warm us up for a few minutes, and then the show began. My ears have never had more damage done to them – the audience’s screams were unbelievable.

And then, Barker walked out. The screams got even louder as the audience chanted, “Bob!” He looked good for 83, at least with makeup.

Although no one from our Temple group got into Contestant’s Row, the show was amazing and some of our temporary friends from line even made the show. The camaraderie among the entire audience was so strong that we would genuinely cheer for the contestants.

During the commercial breaks, Barker talked to the audience and answered questions. Though he is hard of hearing, his sense of humor and wit are great.

When the show finished, the audience, speechless and exhausted, filed out of the studio and the CBS lot in a subdued manner.

After recuperating in our hotel for a few hours, we had an idea: “Let’s do it again.”

At 10 p.m. Tuesday, we got back in line for the taping of Wednesday’s show.

I thought the camaraderie was strong for Monday’s show, but Wednesday seemed so much more powerful. Chuck Dukas, the page who acted as a crowd warmer for Wednesday’s show, told us that we were one of the best audiences he had ever seen.

A girl named Laura Stinar from Michigan was behind us in line. She had the purest, most genuine excitement about seeing the show and meeting Barker. We all thought she would be selected as a contestant.

Steiner made it to Contestant’s Row and was selected to play.

When she got on stage, she pointed to Barker and said to the audience, “It’s really Bob!”

The entire audience stood behind Stinar as she played the Card Game for a 2007 Ford Focus. Everyone was pulling for her, giving her advice. Today, Stinar is the proud owner of the Taurus.

The highlight of Wednesday’s show was seeing Plinko in person. A contestant won $3,000 playing one of the most popular games on the show. I thought to myself, “My life is complete.”

Two women from Philadelphia were in the audience. One of them, Denise, got called down to Contestant’s Row. She made her way up on stage after winning some banjos and played the Balance Game.

Though she lost her chance to a new spa, the unexpected experience was still priceless, she said.

“I didn’t go expecting to get on,” she said. “I just wanted to see the show and see Bob.”

I was able to ask Barker what his most memorable moment was in his 35 years of hosting “The Price is Right”. He answered with no hesitation.

“Oh, it’s the tube top,” he said, referring to a contestant who was so excited to get called down to Contestant’s Row that she didn’t realize her tube top had slipped down a little. “She came on down and they came on out.”

I went to “The Price is Right” hoping to be a contestant, but by no means did I leave disappointed. I had an experience that not too many other people will have.

I saw Barker, a game show icon of mine since childhood. I met so many others who camped out on Fairfax Avenue to have the same experience. And I got to hear those three words in person – “Come on down.”

Chris Stover can be reached at chris.stover@temple.edu.