Sometimes you have to be Ms. Know-it-all.

Last week I had the pleasure of producing the morning show. The live shots got up at 6.30 a.m. Why was that a problem? The show starts at 4:30a.m. I went through two full hours of dropping live shots from block to block. Each block included frantic exchanges with the truck live operator on the other end of the telephone line, “Are you set up yet?” Unfortunately, good news didn't come until 6:30am.

The live truck operators were generous with the details as to why things weren't working despite our combined efforts. I remembered 100% of what they've told me and understood roughly speaking, 25% of it. The information would then be passed to the director and the director would have to tell me what to tell them.

The moral of the story so far: I need to know how to run live trucks. Nothing was more devastating than having to sit there waiting for the magic to happen. I told the live truck operators to call Master Control if the problem persists and grow but that morning, telephone-based instructions weren't sufficient. We had to send another live truck operator to save one of the live shots.

The same challenges re-appear when it comes to the production assistant's responsibilities. My lack of experience as a PA brought about difficulties with grasping of how the system works. I shadowed one a long time ago but the knowledge had grown rusty. The PAs would bring me questions and I've had always directed them to someone else. If I were to come equipped with full knowledge of the editing system, it'd help make the newsroom become even more efficient than it already is.

The questions brought about would be counter-balanced with more precise answers instead of re-direction. Conclusion to the moral of the story: The more you know about every aspect and structure of the newsroom, the stronger pillar you'd be as a producer.