As she gathered her notes and sat down, it seemed Emjay was in the Commander's chair of the Starship Enterprise.
In front of her, 36 pots arrayed from left to right and each pot (potentiometer) has its own set of 10 small knobs. On first glance, it was pretty intimidating.
After a couple test flights watching disc jockeys on other shifts and doing one of on her own, but with Patty nearby if she needed help, the "board" was becoming an old friend.
She preferred to work standing up. Her choir director at church always said the best way to project is from a standing position, so she figured it couldn't hurt to do the same thing in a studio.
As taught, she arrived 15 minutes before her shift to make sure everything was ready; talk to the "jock" ending their shift to see if there is anything she needed to know; and review the forecast for the rest of her shift.
Patty said the afternoon was quiet. There were a few requests called in and questions about whether there was room at that night's LeRoy Butler's speech at the high school. By the way, Patty said, that answer is "No."
The last song came to a close as Emjay signed in the log book before hitting the station I.D. and opening the feed for the network news. As the news started, Patty wished her well and told her to call if she had any trouble.
There was a severe thunderstorm watch to the west and the forecast called for weather to roll in before too long, but Emjay wasn't worried. The spring storms hadn't shown up yet, and the odds of them rolling in tonight - her first night on air - well, she just didn't want to think about it.
A radio station at night is lonely. There is music and flashing lights in the control rooms. There are breaks to hit on schedule; commercials to play; introductions and requests to get on air. But, when the mike is off - it's just you. It's like the lights are on, but nobody's home.
In the control room telephones don't ring, lights flash. It was the third hour of her shift when Emjay noticed the flash of light out of the corner of her eye. "Hello?"
"Hi, Emjay? This is Kevin - how's it going?"
"Fine, sir. Just fine, thank you. Can I help you?"
"Well, I think I can help you, actually," came his reply measured with 30 years of storm experience, "in an hour we're going to get a pretty big storm. There's nothing to worry about now, but I'm coming in. Keep an eye on the computer and make sure you know the procedures for putting the stations together for a simulcast. I've called Pete - he's probably on his way in. Hang in there, everything will be fine."
"OK, Mr. Storm, thank you. I'll see you soon." she wondered if that was his real name, 'Storm' as the real last name of a meteorologist?
She hung up, noticing her hand shaking a little as the phone hit the cradle.
Bells started sounding in the newsroom and a bright amber light went on above the board. It's like these guys knew what was coming. She tidied up the control room and after aligning WRSE and WMJM in a synchronized station break, when the stations came out of the commercial, she was on the air with the time, temp, and the weather.
"It's 8:35 and 75 degrees at WRSE - WMJM. We have an update to the forecast. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for our immediate area until 9:30 p.m. That means conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms. To our west, Iowa and Grant Counties are under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning - which can produce high winds, hail, and dangerous lightning. Stay tuned to WRSE - WMJM for updates."
She started a Tim McGraw hit as Pete walked in the control room door.
"Nice job, Emjay. How are you?"
"Well, I thought everything was pretty good until 10 minutes ago."
"Don't worry about it - you are doing just fine. Kevin said he called you. He's on his way in and I'll help you tonight with the updates and warnings. You run the board, get me updates and answer the phone. If sheriff deputies or local spotters see a tornado or real dangerous stuff they'll call in and we'll need to get that information on air. If that happens, you become the producer. Get their name and type it so I can read it off the computer screen, and I'll get them on the air. Are you up for that?"
"I'll do my best!" She wasn't as confident as she wanted to sound, but sometimes you fake it until you make it.
Kevin Storm walked in moments later and two experienced hands were in place when the bells and lights went off again - the warning was in effect. Emjay gave the two men a heads up and was ready as the Kelly Clarkson tune faded out.
"Our area is now under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning - here with more - News Director Pete Moss and Meteorologist Kevin Storm."
"Thank you, Emjay," replied Pete, "Kevin, what can you tell us?"
Over the next 45 minutes - Kevin offered historical insights and timely warnings while Pete put the spotters and sheriff deputies on the air as quickly as Emjay took the calls and put them on air.
The storm blew through in a hurry. The lights flickered a couple of times, but the backup generator kicked in. If listeners had their portable radios with them and were in safe spots - everyone should have been just fine.
By 9:45, the station was continuing its storm coverage, with a focus on cleanup, recovery, and coordinating if necessary. Sheriff Stearns came in, effectively using the station as an on air dispatch center as trained spotters and volunteers spread out to check power lines and search for damage from hail or strong winds.
No tornadoes were recorded, so it seemed the area survived its first storm of the year.
Emjay answered the phone in the studio before the first ring stopped. "Uh, OK. Just a moment please, hold for news director Pete Moss."
"Pete?" she said quietly into the cue mike Pete could hear in his left ear while Sheriff Stearns talked with Kevin about the storm. "I've got John Bauer from the school - there is something serious going on."
"OK, Emjay, thanks. I'll get it." Pete caught the attention of Kevin to wrap up the on air conversation and started talking.
"We are getting reports now about a developing situation near the high school. As you recall, the athletic banquet was held earlier this evening. We have athletic director John Bauer on the line. John, what can you tell us?"
"Pete, we don't know much yet. There are deputies that just arrived on the scene and we had some off duty police and fire fighters at the banquet tonight. After the event, we encouraged people to ride out the storm here at the school. Virtually everyone did, but after we got the all clear we discovered two cars missing. We believe they left the school and took Glenn's Crossing over the Rose River. So far, no one has heard from any of the folks that left and there is a great deal of concern."
"John, this is Sheriff Stearns. We're getting patrol cars out in both directions on Glenn's Crossing and will get the Rescue squad out too. People, you can help the most right now, by staying off Glenn's Crossing as we conduct a search."
While the sheriff was speaking, Pete typed a message to Emjay to play a spot with the standard storm coverage commercial and then come back to Kevin with the updated forecast for the rest of the night.
Pete needed to regroup before going back on air - breaking news is one thing, but he knew playing this out in real time was only going to scare listeners.
The story continues with chapter 5 going live at 9 am tomorrow.
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