Atlanta station explains ‘25 news box pileup’

TVNewsCheck

WSB-TV News Director Mike Dreaden tells TVNewsCheck’s Phil Kurz he’s not chagrined by the ribbing the station took for its coverage of the Atlanta snow disaster. The station at one point had 25 reporters on TV, something Jon Stewart called a “25 news box pileup.”

The reporters weren’t all live, Dreaden told Kurz: “We do not have the ability to do 25 live shots simultaneously.”

But the station had 25 reporters in the field ready to go live at any moment, Dreaden says. WSB used the news box to establish its presence in the field then switched to graphics with bullet points and text highlighting closings and other important storm news before anchors starting throwing the coverage to any one of the 25 reporters for a live update.

“I was proud of it because it showed the scope of our coverage,” Dreaden said.