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Local TV, radio stations expand news broadcasts
Thursday, March 02, 2000 By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
It was made-for-TV terror.
Live coverage of the Wilkinsburg shootings started during yesterday's noon news and -- depending on your choice of channel -- stretched into midafternoon. The sorts of images that typically float into homes from distant points were being introduced by familiar names from recognizable places.
WPXI and WTAE launched their helicopters for live neighborhood shots, which grew increasingly grayer and rain-drenched. WPXI had the best of all worlds, resuming NBC programming at 2:30 p.m. and directing viewers to its cable station, PCNC, for more news.
WPXI news director Jennifer Rigby said the decision to bump regular programming -- never popular with daytime viewers -- was based on several factors. "The fact they had a suspect that they were searching for, who had shot several people and who was still on the loose, certainly makes it critical for the public to know what's going on."
Word that hostages might be involved upped the ante. "The story was ongoing and certainly impacting a large community," she added, with MSNBC and CNN picking up Channel 11's coverage.
The story unfolded in the back yard of Wilkinsburg-based WTAE. "We threw everything we had at it, obviously," said news director Bob Longo. He emptied the newsroom of staffers who had started working early and called in those who were to work late, not knowing how long the story would play out.
" There was really no thought to not covering it in its entirety from start to finish," Longo added.
He, in conjunction with General Manager Jim Hefner, decided to stick with coverage until roughly 2:25 p.m., about 15 minutes after the suspect was taken into the Wilkinsburg police station.
KDKA, meanwhile, chose not to offer nonstop live coverage, a decision the station termed "responsible" and a competing station called "very surprising." Channel 2 had strong early footage and reports from John Shumway at noon, but the station chose to switch to regularly scheduled soaps at about 12:30.
"We were concerned that things were in a state of flux and that not all information had been confirmed," said Jeff Weissbart, Channel 2's news director. "We didn't want to continue on the air that way. We felt we were better off giving ourselves a chance to check back in with accurate information, which is what we got from John Shumway."
John Poister, assistant news director at WPGH, thinks his crew was first on the scene because they had been in Penn Hills for another story and heard the reports over the scanner. But, after a newsroom decision not to interrupt regular programming and possibly scare young viewers, Channel 53 opted to feed reports to the Fox News Channel, which also picked up WTAE footage.
On the radio front, news stations KDKA-AM (1020) and KQV-AM (1410) provided continuous updates on the tragedy shortly after the siege began.
KDKA broke into its regular news and talk format with longer newscasts at the top of the hour and updates every quarter hour. All-news KQV carried continuous coverage and updates during its 30-minute news cycles.
The print media became a source for news outlets outside the immediate area. As word of the shootings spread, the newsroom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette fielded calls from television and radio stations, networks and other newspapers. Calls were logged from as far away as Ireland and Australia, and one Post-Gazette reporter provided information in French to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Staff writers Adrian McCoy, Johnna Pro and Allan Walton contributed to this story.
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