When Things Go Wrong

It was a horrible day at work. Something terrible happened - a terrible technical something - and suddenly we were sending program feed back to the network along with the microphone feed. We had Martin Anderson in the chair - nice man, former senior advisor to President Reagan among others - and suddenly CNBC says, "You're sending our signal back to us. We can't use what you're sending to us. Cut it out." Or words to that effect.

Both Gordon and Ryan are gone - the guys who know this technical stuff - Gordon out sick, Ryan gone home because he had come in at 4:30 that morning. (It was about 2:30 in the afternoon.) President Reagan died this past weekend, so Martin Anderson is a popular guy on all the talk and news shows. We have a feed to NBC Nightly News scheduled for 3:15. Meanwhile, this feed to CNBC is supposed to happen now. It isn't happening.

Me and Miguel are madly troubleshooting. Miguel, a reliable and knowledgeable freelancer, at the audio board, me unraveling microphone and IFB cords in the studio. Martin sitting placidly in the chair. Jack is there too - Jack our media guy - chatting with Martin while he (Jack) sweats bullets. This is the stuff you want to go right - an enormous media opportunity.

At one point, six people are talking to me. I have Ryan on a headset in my left ear, trying to talk me through a possible troubleshooting sequence. I have CNBC's producer on a headset in my right ear, trying to talk me through a possible troubleshooting sequence. I have Jack over my left shoulder, trying to suggest a possible workaround. I have Catherine over my right shoulder, trying to ascertain the status of this troubleshooting as well as wondering what else can be done. I have Miguel in front of me on my left, trying to talk through a possible troubleshooting sequence. I have Karen in front of me on my right, conferring with Miguel and trying to work through a possible troubleshooting sequence. All of these people are talking to me at once:

Ryan: "So you should switch out the director mic to the hits input and..."
CNBC: "Our technical guys say the problem is on your end so you need to check the main mix to the Gentner..."
Jack: "We can dial them. Why don't we hang up and dial them? That might solve..."
Catherine: "What else can we do...?
Miguel: "We can send the program feed to 1/2 and the mic to 3/4 then figure the main mix is..."
Karen: "What about the IFB we borrowed for UK, maybe it can..."

All at once. In my ears, in my head. ALL AT ONCE, IN MY HEARS, IN MY HEAD!

You just never appreciate how nice it is when things go right until things go wrong.

It's 7:10 pm. and my shoulders and back are still tense and painful from the stress and adrenalin.