70 percent

They say about 70% of what a television reporter or anchor projects into a camera actually comes across on TV. Watch a news anchor on TV and they're talking normally. Watch the same show, live in the studio, and the anchor seems to be shouting at you. Emotions, voice, and projection are all diminished in the journey through television. After tonight, I've decided that might be a good thing.

I had my first real laughing fit on television tonight. I've had one before but I was never on camera and was only laughing while our sports anchor did his thing. Tonight was different. It's a little scary to know that I can't control my giggling fits even when I know I'm live on television with thousands of people watching at home.

We were in the middle of our show. Our weather guy was showing people the forecast while Melissa and I patiently waited for it to be our turn to talk. Tara, our camera operator for the night, said something funny and set both Melissa and I off. We laughed and laughed and then APPEARED to pull it together before the weather guy tossed it back to us. Then Melissa flubbed a line, and for some reason...we lost it. She couldn't get the rest of her sentence out. I lost it and muttered something incoherent about cigarettes in an upcoming story. And that was that. Melissa decided it was best if she left the desk because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get through the next segment. It was pretty damn funny.

Probably funnier to us. We watched the tape after the show, and while it was very noticeable and very funny, only about 70% of the idiocy we projected, actually showed up on TV. So I figure that 30% of material left out might be a good thing.

Linco