More Great E.P. Decisions

Since I posted last about the wonderful idea of our EP here's another one of his lame-brained ideas. It was last July and I was called to relieve the crew that was at a fatal drowning. A group of three guys decided to go fishing in the Cuyahoga River. Since it was in the mid 90 degree area and the humidity as about the same, they decided to go swimming. Even the guy who couldn't swim jumped in and well, you guessed it, he drowned.

So, I relieve our crew that was there waiting for the rescue crews to find the body. Around 2:00 a.m. the divers find the body and bring the victim out. I shoot the interview with the local fire chief and call back to the desk to tell them that the scene is cleared and that the body has been recovered. All the other crews stations have left and the last police vehicles are leaving.

The desk tells this to our EP for the morning show. This is the what I'm told by the desk that the E.P. wants.

Desk: Hey, the E.P. wants you to stay at the scene.

Me: Why? I'm the only one here.

Desk: Well, the E.P. says he doesn't want to miss anything to another station.

Me: ANOTHER STATION?? I'm the only one out here. You did tell him that, right??

Desk: Yes. And he wants you to stay there in case the police or fire come back.

Me: What???? What are they going to come back for?? HE can't be serious!!

Desk: I don't know but that's what the E.P wants you to do. The Live truck will meet you there.

Me: He's an idiotout of his mind but, if he wants it, ok. I can waste an hour and a half.

Desk: Take a nap. I'll call whe the truck is on the way.

Now normally I wouldn't have argued but the fact was that the other editor had called off in the morning and we only had one editor to edit for our morning show. I was supposed to fill in but since I have take home gear, I was sent out to the drowning straight away.

So, as I sat there in an empty parking lot checking my eyelids for leaks, our morning editor had to edit our morning news show by himself.

This is a pattern by our E.P. he's so obsessed with missing something to the competition in this town that he doesn't listen to his crews in the field. Same thing happened at a murder-suicide just a couple of months ago. I went to relieve the crew there. When I got there, the scene was clearing up and all the police and detectives were leaving. No other stations were there. They had left earlier.

Same discussion ensued. Stay there..we can't lose any information to the competition, etc.

Well, if I was sleep deprived, I'm making up for lost sleep with this E.P.