Icy Conditions Cause Semi To Overturn

I've always been a very cautious driver, but this past Wednesday night no matter how cautious some drivers were they weren't able to stay on the road. The freezing rain and icy conditions made the roads extremely slippery. On my way to my liveshot, I saw a few cars off the road. Salt trucks were out, but it didn't really help until the morning. When I got to my liveshot location I discovered a tractor-trailer overturned. It had been carrying new cars and many were scattered about the road. Police, ambulances, and firetrucks were at the scene attempting to clean up some of the mess while the rain continued to come down.

Before the 9 show, I had a few minutes to prepare and go live for the first time. It was just as exciting as I've always imagined it. Although I did learn a valuable lesson: always speak clearly with producers to let them know what you're going to do. I wanted to explain where I was, what had happened behind me (the overturned truck) and then explain road closings. Since there wasn't much time the communication between the producers and I, the graphics about the road closings were up when I was explaining what was going on behind me. Another thing I've learned is always be prepared. My hair tends to curl up in the rain, in a very unpleasant way, and I couldn't find my hair tie. I also should have brought boots along so my feet didn't freeze. I was in such a rush because the liveshot was a last minute thing that I didn't really think about these things. Next semester my main focus is liveshots. I hope to continue to learn more ways to improve them then.

Afterwards, while waiting warmly in the livetruck before the 10 hit, a woman came by asking us if we had any tools to get her vehicle unstuck after she had slipped off the road. About an hour later we saw a tow truck drive by carrying another different vehicle. There was also a large backup near the exit our liveshot was set up. Unfortunately it cleared before the 10 hit. So instead we tried to find a different angle of the overturned semi. Since the liveshot didn't really show much because we couldn't get near the scene, I included the VO I wrote, shot, and edited for the morning show below. I also included a slideshow I put together for KOMU.com.

Liveshot:


VO for the morning show:


Slideshow of the overturned semi: