“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.

In fact, if you scroll down on the home page of this blog, you can see all six of them and, as an added bonus, a few from 2009.

I know. That’s absolutely pathetic. Fellow journalists and social media experts should be, and I’m sure are, disappointed. Therefore, in 2011, I resolve to do more. I write that knowing that was likely my New Year’s resolution in 2010, as well.

I recently celebrated (commemorated?) my one-year anniversary of joining the Charlottesville Newsplex (yep, that’s the first blog post of 2010). This has ignited a fire in me to blog a bit more. It’s a shame I keep a fire extinguisher in my back pocket.

It’s an unwritten rule (that’s written down on a blog somewhere, I’m sure) that journalists should have a blog. It’s part of our evolving world of multimedia. But what are we supposed to blog about?

There’s a fine line (especially in jobs where contracts are involved) about what journalists are allowed to express opinions about. Typically, it’s nothing. My goal here, as it was for posts here and here (yeah, you could’ve scrolled down), is to give the behind-the-scenes account while I’m out on a story.

Is that the right path?

I’m a believer that any writing is good enough. Just because one person is a “broadcast” journalist doesn’t mean writing isn’t involved. Words are at the core of the profession. That’s why I can be sued for libel, and not slander. In any case, I’m a writer at heart, from my days on my Xanga blog (no, I’m not linking to that) to my days as a legit journalist.

So, as I begin this new blogging trek in 2011, please share your thoughts on what you want to — or should — see on this blog. We’re only getting started.

(P.S. I started this post more than a week ago and saved it as a draft. Hopefully, not a sign of things to come.)

A side effect of this is temporarily being short staffed. Such was the case on Saturday, in which I obtained video for seven separate events. Fourteen hours later, I was ready for bed.

The day started with an emotional tribute to those who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. People gathered outside the Albemarle County Office Building at 8:30 a.m. It was a very musical event, as you can hear below.

Following the memorial was the 2010 Memory Walk for the local Alzheimer’s Association, then the Midtown Festival, then the 2010 Beer Fest. When I finally think there’s time to rest, there’s a gun found outside an elementary school. As I head to shoot exteriors of the school, I find the road is closed. Turns out the house directly across from the school is on fire. So I got two birds with one stone.

The good news here — no one was injured in either incident.

I get back to the station with 20 minutes before the anticipated start of the 6 p.m. newscast. At 6:30, I leave to cover my final event of the day — a 7 p.m. black tie affair for the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia. When I return back to the station after the event, I learn the 6 p.m. show never happened, thanks to the U.S. Open.

While I had no lunch break and got to bed immediately after returning home, it’s days like this why I love what I do. You never know what’s coming up next.

Posts have been sporadic (or nonexistent) as of late thanks to my move to Virginia to work at CBS 19 and the Charlottesville Newsplex. Tomorrow, I’ll begin at the station as a Web producer and reporter.

Charlottesville is an interesting place, from my brief experiences so far. It’s a small, friendly city known for its Downtown Mall, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and the University of Virginia.

My station is also pretty unique. The Newsplex is a group of network affiliates housed in one complex — CBS 19 (the flagship, WCAV), ABC 16 (WVAW) and FOX 27 (WAHU). The station is just more than five years old, and it’s the only country to have that combination of affiliates under one roof.

And that’s that. The plan is to try this out for a while and to determine what I’d like to do with my life. I’ll update every once and a while with behind-the-scenes information from Charlottesville.

For now, that’s the story. We’ll see how it finishes soon.

Courtesy Mainline Magazine | Dave Roberts (pictured with his grandson and son, actor David Boreanaz) announced his retirement from Channel 6 after more than 30 years at the station.

And the call from AccuWeather is… A goodbye from longtime Channel 6 weather guy Dave Roberts.

6ABC promoted a “big decision” that Roberts made and wanted to share tonight on the 11 p.m. newscast. That decision was to retire from broadcasting after more than 55 years in the business.

The 11 p.m. newscast featured Jim Gardner’s one-on-one interview with Roberts. The show had no commercial breaks until after the tribute to Roberts, coming 23 minutes after the hour. When asked what he’d miss most in retirement, Roberts responded:

It’s the people… That’s what I’m gonna miss and I don’t know how I’m going to deal with it.

The Buffalo, N.Y., native began his career in Syracuse before moving back to Buffalo. The 73-year-old joined WPVI-TV Channel 6 in 1978 and began reporting the weather in 1983. With today’s weather technology and green screens, it’s not hard to forget Channel 6′s magnetic weather board, in front of which Roberts was a staple.

Thomas is the father of Bones star David Boreanaz. His last day on Channel 6 will be Dec. 11. Gardner said more features on Roberts’s life and career will be featured leading up to his final broadcast.

The Web site for the Inquirer and Daily News, philly.com, recently launched its mobile Web site.

One would think media outlets in large markets — such as Philadelphia — would be ahead of the curve in mobile technology. However, as in many aspects of life, Philadelphia is trying. We’re one step closer with philly.com‘s mobile Web site.

Before the launch, mobile users viewed the regular Web site for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News on mobile devices. While it’s fairly navigable on a computer’s Internet browser, philly.com was not so easy to navigate with an oversized finger.

As with many mobile sites, not everything found on the regular site is accessible on the mobile philly.com. For example, you cannot separate what appeared in the Inquirer or Daily News on the home page — you’ll find out by the article’s byline. But with larger links and quicker loading, it’s a welcome sacrifice for an easier way to get Philly news on the go.

Fox 29 is the only other local media outlet in the city to have a mobile site, though it’s bare and doesn’t offer links comparable to what you’d see on myfoxphilly.com. NBC10, however, does have a free iPhone application, the first of the market. But I still ask — where are the rest of Philly’s local news iPhone apps?

I appreciate the work of those at philly.com — I have no experience in creating mobile sites, let alone regular Web sites (hat tip to WordPress), and I’m sure much work goes into producing a mobile equivalent of a hefty Web site. Bare with them as they work out kinks, and I recommend following them on Twitter (@phillydotcom, @PhillyDailyNews, @PhillyInquirer) for continuing updates.

Source: Philadelphia Magazine | Dawn Stensland Mendte discusses her life and challenges in a Daily News article.

Former Fox anchor Dawn Stensland Mendte offered the Daily News a tell-all interview that appeared in yesterday’s paper.

Nothing was off-limits. She discusses her job at Fox, a miscarriage last year and her husband Larry Mendte’s relationship with his former co-anchor Alycia Lane.

Despite the turmoil of the past two years, Stensland still appears to be optimistic about the future. She says she loves her husband more than ever, and she hints at a possible new career for the two.

Any thoughts?

Fox is not renewing my contract. I wanted you to hear that directly from me. Thank you for all your love and support over the years.

Stensland, who has been the main anchor on Fox for eight years, anchored the 10 p.m. news Tuesday night and followed it up with special post-midnight coverage of the Phillies’ NLCS clinch.

That broadcast would be her last. After gossipers reported that a timeframe for her departure had not been determined, it was announced on Wednesday, one day after her tweet, that she had been released immediately.

Kerri-Lee Halkett, Emmy Award winner for Best Anchor, will take over the 10 p.m. newscast.

As evidenced by Stensland’s Twitter page, many fans are outraged by the ousting. Her husband, ex-anchor Larry Mendte, called out Fox 29 in one of his tweets:

The amount of Love that my wife @DawnStensland is getting on her Facebook Page is insane – R U seeing this @Fox29Philadelphia

This week, King of Prussia-based company Banyan Productions announced its pitch of Coming Clean, hosted by Mendte. The syndicated show, which is being pitched to programming directors across the nation, would be a day-and-date show that would examine national and local headlines and “be an advocate for the truth,” according to the demo.

CHRIS STOVER
Editor in Chief, 2008-2009

I never aspired to become the editor-in-chief of The Temple News. As an unassuming freshman in 2005, I did what I was told. I wrote whatever the editors needed, covering topics from SEPTA to ramen noodles.

Little did I know these stories would prepare me to cover slightly more notable events, including a World Series run and a historic presidential election.

As a broadcast journalism major, I was a rarity at the paper. Peers always asked me why, as an aspiring broadcaster, I chose to spend my time writing and editing articles instead of shooting stand-ups. When I inherited the editorship in 2008, these questions made me realize that The Temple News should no longer be seen solely as the school newspaper. Rather, it should be considered Temple’s media organization. This thought always remained in the back of my mind.

Entering my senior year at TTN, I had the pleasure of leading 25 like-minded individuals from various backgrounds. And when you shove those 25 people in one newsroom under immeasurable stress, failure is a distinct possibility. It was a possibility I thankfully never experienced.

Instead, the staff channeled that energy into creating fantastic copy, design, video packages and Web products. Our hard work week after week paid off, as evidenced by numerous Keystone Press Awards, an ACP Online Pacemaker nomination and, perhaps most impressive, an Editor & Publisher EPpy Award for Best College Newspaper Web Site.

The TTN experience will always be a highlight of my life. Not only did I have the opportunity to refine my own multimedia reporting skills, but I was also able to witness the incredible talents of my peers.

To think that a job I initially had no desire to pursue would become one of the defining moments of my life continues to amaze me. It never crossed my mind that the irreplaceable experiences – and the lifelong friends – were part of the deal.

TTN has had a rich history in 88 years, and I’m privileged to have played a small role. In this evolving multimedia world, I look forward to seeing the accolades and achievements of TTN’s future generations