Posted by none on 09/30/05 07:44

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 15:33:14 -0700, TandA <TandA@cox.net> wrote:

>How do you get intelligble sound with all that wind?
>Tom
>
>Steve Guidry wrote:
>> Ok, if you're not yet bored with hurricane stories, here's another . . .
>>
>> I worked Rita as a soundman for ABC in Lake Charles, which turned out to be
>> the dirtiest of all the reporting spots. Our live footage and stories aired
>> on GMA, as well as World news Tonight and Nightline. Here are some
>> impressions :
>>
>> - It was my first hurricane to actually be IN the storm, so I didn't have
>> much to compare it with. However, the other guys (all 30+ year veterans)
>> all agreed that it was the worst one they'd ever been in. Our live shot for
>> Nightline was only about an hour before the "eye wall" hit. The wind gusts
>> were about 80 mph. It was exhilarating !
Your vets weren't that experienced then, 80mph is pretty tame.(I grew
up in the keys in the 50's and 60's and saw much worse.)
I covered Camille on the gulf coast, that was a real hard one.(when
you actually see tug boats weighing tons flying by overhead you know
you're in for it.)
>>
>> - Most sat truck dishes are only rated for 35-40 mph winds. But our sat
>> truck operator (Matt with the Freebird truck) was a genius : After our 5 PM
>> liveshot, he cruised around and within about an hour and found a U-shaped
>> cluster of buildings with the open end to the Southwest. It even had a tree
>> in the background so we could place our correspondent in front of it. This
>> sheltered us somewhat and allowed us to shoot out when others couldn't.
>> Now, if he could have just had time to erect that awning to keep the rain
>> off . . . <grin>

>>
>> - Before this, I wondered how folks could be stupid enough to place
>> themselves in harms way for a news story. I've come to the conclusion that
>> no one goes in thinking that it's going to be so bad. You go in believing
>> that "the producers won't ask us to do anything dangerous." Wrong. Still,
>> you don't just decide to do it. Instead, you're making a series of small
>> decisions along the way which eventually lead to being in the eye of the
>> storm : which city to cover . . . where to set up . . . where you're going
>> to ride out the storm . . . what time to pack up and head for shelter, etc.
It's called the big bucks. That's why ANY of us ever put ourselves in
near death situations just to get a few seconds of footage.
>>
>> - News producers who take care of their crews are prized. Ours had us
>> sleeping in our cars and scrounging MRE's from the rescue workers when
>> hotels were available only an hour away in Lafayette. All while the
>> producers and correspondent ate cooked meals in their RV. Grrrrr . . .
>>
I got out and shot a bit of the tale end of Katrina as it went through
New Orleans and the surrounding parrish's.(I'm long since retired but
thought it'd be nice to have a bit of footage even if I never got to
sell a second of it.)
And while I stayed to ride out the hurricane and did prepare for it I
as many failed to anticipate how fubar'ed the relief effort was going
to be. As a result my canned goods ran out after day three and in my
parish they'd pretty much forgot us all together.(Jefferson parish)
I went nearly three days without any food and just a gallon of water,
so I know how you feel. (I just came back this Thursday evening from a
trip to Baton Rouge where I loaded up on essentials that the few
grocery stored in my locale won't stock.(To busy gouging us on high
mark up meats and other essential food items.)
Sounds like you got the same treatment so many of us got.
Next time you'll be better prepared after having suffered through this
one.( Just as in the military the name of the game is CYOA, you can be
sure the white collar bosses aren't going to do it for you.)
Bring your own automobile and load up the trunk with as much canned
goods and water as possible, as well as soap/shampoo and any other
camping survival gear you can think of.

>> - I've never been so wet in my life for so long. I have to believe that
>> this is what it was like (in small part) to be a soldier in Vietnam's rainy
>> season.
Worse, much worse. I'd run my share of LRRP's in my youth to know.
>>
>> All in all, I think I might stick to shooting the aftermath in the future.
>> I want to live a bit more. Still, it _WAS_ exciting . . .
It IS pretty much a young man's game.( What little I did I handled OK
physically but more that once it went through my mind that I was too
old to put up with this sht.)


On an aside, the hurricane's weren't for many of us that much of a
calamity, it was all the FEMA afterwards that really put us through
hell.(I went 12 days without power or water in an area that suffered
little more than fallen trees and downed power lines. )
All my conversations with the volunteer line crews that came in from
out of state were virtually the same. They couldn't understand why
FEMA was having them move so slowly on the repair work.
All stated they could've had our grid area up and running in 3 days,
yet we had to suffer the heat and humidity for nearly two weeks.
(Thanks to no power for those twelve days I had to sit up every night
guarding my section of the block from the gangs that were coming
through breaking into all the houses. No fun at my age and in my
condition.)

After all this shakes out more than a few heads will likely roll what
with all the political game playing that went on during the relief
effort.
>>
>>

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