Media forced to do things differently these days
Working from home, social distancing makes radio and TV work much tougher
Live from his Griffintown condo — wearing, among other eclectic outfits, a Montreal Expos uniform — comes CJAD’S Aaron Rand.
Call it tele-broadcasting. In Rand’s case, it’s not a question of not wishing to deal with traffic or people in not going to the CJAD studio on René-lévesque Blvd. E. He is in self-imposed, 14-day isolation, having just returned from Mexico last weekend. So for the next two weeks, he will be broadcasting from home.
But Rand is the exception at CJAD.
Mcgill University’s campus station, CKUT, is being operated completely by announcers remotely. CKUT was locked down Monday night and will remain closed for at least two weeks.
Like just about every other facet of daily life these days, the media world is also having to deal with operating in this new coronavirus-impacted universe.
Many members of the print media are still able to perform daily duties by working out of our homes. It’s not ideal, but it’s at least doable. It’s far more complex to operate remotely in radio, and pretty much impossible to do on TV.
“But it’s going surprisingly well,” Rand said. “I thought it might be limiting. Anyway, the station already decided not to have guests come into the studio because of the coronavirus issue.
“Otherwise, it’s been business as usual from home. The first show went off without a hitch. OK, not entirely.”
Turns out Rand’s significant other, Val, had unwittingly knocked him off the air briefly, merely by turning on a light in the room.
“It was my fault. I had to hardwire my internet connection to my computer, instead of doing it wirelessly. It’s apparently a more robust connection when you hardwire it. So the light switch triggered the problem.”
Rand has many qualities. Wiring on any level is not one of them.
“The best part of working like this is that I don’t have to get dressed and don’t have to fight with other drivers on the road. And the coffee is much better at my place.”
Rand is also being cautious because he had the flu before heading to Mexico, and he’s still feeling the after-effects now. But he’s not planning to get tested for COVID -19 because he doesn’t have any symptoms.
“By not getting tested, you’re making a test kit available for someone else who might be a lot sicker than you are. I felt good enough to go to the gym in my building on Monday, but that will be the last time. They since decided to shut that down. Don’t think it was because of me.”
CKUT management didn’t want to take any chances, since its announcers, show hosts and their guests may travel all corners of the planet. Those with a capacity to upload material from home are now doing so and sending producers, also operating remotely, pre-recorded content.
“Our news team left with a bunch of portable recorders and will be uploading their stories remotely,” CKUT’S Louise Burns said. “Basically, the station runs 24/7, all with volunteers and with a lot of human traffic. We have no means of supervising where they’ve all been, so we just can’t keep the doors open.
“We tried a really diligent cleaning schedule, but we just don’t have the money or resources to do that by ourselves, and there are so many vulnerable people who are part of our community. Kids, older people, those with disabilities. We decided it would be better to be overprotective than not. So now the studio is locked.”
Incidentally, fret not for CHOM morning man Terry Dimonte, who posted a tweet noting he was in self-isolation in B.C. That’s not because of fears of COVID -19.
Dimonte is in isolated honeymoon mode with his bride, CJAD/CHOM/TSN promotions director Jessica Dionne. They were married last Thursday.
They had initially planned to head to California for their honeymoon, but decided against that because of health concerns and ended up in Whistler instead.
“Then the ski hills got closed here, so we’ve ended up in virtual isolation,” Dimonte said. “It’s like a ghost town. It’s been good in terms of keeping away from crowds. But this is a bit much. No one is here. The good news is we’re both fine.
“The situation is otherwise so fluid in B.C. It ramps up every day. We’re being extra cautious. It’s a different world than it was when we got married last week. Now we’re really looking forward to coming home Thursday.
TV is proving to be problematic these days. Particularly for those hosts with guests and live studio audiences. Pretty much all the late-night and many daytime shows in this category are off the air, thanks to coronavirus concerns. Which makes sense, but which is also unfortunate because we could use the guffaws.
Stephen Colbert went as far as doing a monologue … from his bubbled-filled bathtub Monday night. John Oliver did a show from gosh knows where Sunday night. But it could be weeks, maybe months, until all these shows are back on track.
CTV anchor Mutsumi Takahashi doesn’t have the luxury of working remotely. But she is now impeded by the fact she can’t bring outside guests into the studio or get too close to colleagues there.
“We’re trying to do as many interviews as possible via Skype,” Takahashi said. “It’s very tough on our reporters who are going out everywhere. They’re taking a lot of precautions, but there’s only so much we can do because we obviously can’t work from home.
“Our newsroom has been under crisis situations before — 9/11, the ice storm. But this is our job.
“If anything, it’s a good reminder that we do perform a public service.”