People used to ask me what’s it like to work in tv. I would say, it’s just like any other job, but when we make a mistake 100,000 people watch us do it.
It’s live tv, things happen, Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels likes the occasional goof up because, “it reminds people we are live.”
When an anchor would beat themselves up after an on-air mistake, I would tell them, it’s OK, it makes you more human to the audience.
In my years in tv, I made plenty of mistakes. Putting wrong cameras on the air, sitting in black too long, having the wrong graphic, and those are just the director mistakes!
The one on-air blooper where you see me dates back to my KWCH days. It was winter of 1996.
At end of the morning show, a camera would show a wide shot (the entire studio) where you could see the cameras and the floor crew.
The floor director would approach the desk and say something to the anchors. The show ends.
It was my first-time floor directing, I was excited to be on tv.
I missed the step and landed sprawled out on the anchor desk. My butt pointed straight at the camera.
To be honest I am glad it was my butt, because my face was bright red.
Kristy Tedesco, the morning anchor, smiled and said, “Congratulations, you just made an ass of yourself across the state.” I just stayed there for a moment, not sure what to do. A moment later we were off the air. I regained my composure and went back to work.
Later that morning, a women called in to the station to ask if I was OK. The receptionist said, “He’s fine, just a bruised ego.”