So much fun!!

Phew! We did it!

(Edited to add: now you can see it on Andrea’s blog! Go watch it, and tell me what you think!!)

I have to start out by telling you that the people who work at CJOH TV are the nicest. people. ever. I would so quit my day job and work with them if they asked me. And not even because I am a media junkie, but just because they are all so unbelievably NICE!

I got to the studio and Andrea was already there, with a coupon for a well-appreciated complimentary coffee. Coffee, as you will see if you read any of my archives, is my beverage of choice for mental lubrication – and me on wine (or any other alcoholic beverage, for that matter) is probably not for public consumption. And I met Kristina for the first time. Okay, you’re probably going to think that I really am drunk, because I have to tell you that Andrea and Kristina are also two of the nicest, plus clever and witty and likeable, people I’ve been lucky enough to meet, through blogging or otherwise.

Leanne (we’re buds now, so we’re on a first-name basis) brought us from the cafeteria to the studio, where I was appropriately humbled by it’s vastness. I watch the news at noon whenever I’m at home, and I was really surprised by how cavernous the studio is – I was expecting something much more compartmentalized, and much more intimate.

Leanne abandoned left us to our own devices briefly while she took care of some last-minute TV person business, and I couldn’t help but be a little bit alarmed as the clock ticked past 11:55 with no sign of the on-air talent. With barely minutes to spare (I guess it’s not as nerve-wracking when it’s your day job) anchor Michael O’Byrne breezed in and said hello. (Is this an inappropriate time to mention I’ve always had a kind of star-struck crush on him? Just be glad I restrained myself at the time!)

We got settled on our stools (sidebar: stools!! What’s the one position you LEAST want to be in while being filmed? How about sitting on a stool with nothing in front of you to hide the unsightly bulges? Although at least I didn’t almost fall off my stool, like a certain TV news co-host who shall remain unnamed) and were wired for sound. Those earpieces, for the record, are terribly disconcerting. I have a hard enough time processing once source of information, let alone two or more in simulcast.

Before I had a chance to work up a good lather of fear, we were rolling. Leanne is so charming and easy to talk to that I have no idea what I actually said, and since it went live, I still haven’t seen it. I know Andrea and Kristina sounded brilliant and pithy and well-informed, so I only hope I could soak up some of their glow.

The part I was most anxious about, the taking of calls from the viewing audience, never happened. There was some sort of technical glitch that prevented any callers from getting through (a small voice in my head insists we were so uninteresting that nobody in the viewership of 60,000 people found us compelling enough to bother dialling the phone) to which I was blissfully oblivious until all of a sudden Leanne was wrapping up the segment and apologizing for the glitch.

“Fame” is more fleeting than I thought!! Although the segment was apparently nine minutes long, it seemed more like three. There is so. much. more. that I wanted to say. Then again, I guess that’s what blog is for, right?

So if you happen to be here for the first time as a result of the CJOH news, welcome! Pour yourself a complimentary beverage and stay a while. There are some amazing blog in the links on the left-hand side of your screen ——-> over there, including a few of my own favourite posts. (Ahem, edited to correct, I mean the RIGHT side of my screen. I say left, because it’s on MY left as I peer out of the screen at you. Yah, that’s it. Ugh. Thanks, Nancy, for catching that!)

I had a whole big thing written on blogs and the blogosphere, but then I saw that Kristina has posted a great primer on her blog. Here’s a piece I wrote a while back on the wonderful world of weblogs, which you might find interesting if you’re not too familiar with blogs. And since the whole point of blogging is about opening conversations, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a note at danicanada (at) gmail (dot) com.

Whew! Even though we didn’t get the chance to interact with the viewers, this was more fun than anybody should have on a random Wednesday. If you missed it, I should be able to score a digital copy, or Andrea will post it even if I can’t. I’ll let you know.

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante. View all posts by DaniGirl