If you're going to be with us behind the scenes on this trip, you'll have to familiarize yourself with our gear.
Besides shooting video, I operate WAFB's satellite truck. It's how we get the coverage back to Baton Rouge. The truck is a big, heavy van with tons of complicated-looking electronics inside. Aside from our cameras and mics, it's the most important piece of equipment.
Along with the obvious, water, food (we've got MRE's coming out of our EAR's) when we hit the road to cover hurricanes, we take a lot of stuff you wouldn't think about.
Driving through missing roofs, and fallen walls, we're bound to pick up a nail or two, so before leaving town every crew stocks up on Fix-A-Flat. Rain-Ex ain't just for windshields. It helps keep our lenses clear and our shots in focus.
That hair dryer at the bottom of the picture isn't just to keep the reporters well-coiffed. It comes in handy to de-fog a lens or dry the humidity from our cameras as well as dry our socks.
And might surprise you to know that no storm chaser worth their Doppler would dream of leaving the station without a box of condoms . . . Now, now, you're getting ahead of me. They're not for a game of Beach Blanket Bingo. Condoms are the absolute best things we've found to keep our microphones dry and operating like they're supposed to.
And one thing not pictured, but equally important, is a giant tube of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. Perfect for those occasions when sand gets trapped in your sensitive parts. And there's a whole lot of sand blowing around Grand Isle.
- Rick Portier
This is all great, but I can't believe Ch. 9 doesn't see fit to break in on either the tennis on the main channel or even the SEC football game with an update on the storm - like when it hits Cat 4....and then Cat 5.....we're all trying to figure out what to do in Baton Rouge.
Posted by: Jim S. | August 30, 2008 at 12:58 PM