Blogs

Our Morning Mad Scramble

By Hannah Storm

August 8, 2007 / 11:07 AM EDT / CBS News

(CBS)

Wow! What a morning we had here at The Early Show! Less than 40 minutes before we were scheduled to go on the air, our studio, control room and newsroom all started to flood after torrential overnight rains. Water was literally pouring out of our newsroom ceiling and the power went off. Then it was a mad dash across town.

The entire gang -- anchors, producers, cameramen, stage managers, and techs -- went racing several blocks to the CBS Evening News studio. It was pouring outside as we frantically hailed cabs and piled in, clutching scripts and research packets we grabbed at the last second.

The Early Show crew raced across Manhattan with the clock ticking... and most of us arrived by about 6:40 a.m. Our amazingly calm folks in the control room and our great team on the floor actually got us on the air at 7 a.m. sharp. Even then, we didn't have full TelePrompter or audio capability, but we pulled it off as a team, explaining to the audience along the way!

It was actually an adventure. Russ stood at the side of the CBS Evening News desk to deliver the news, and Dave raved about the ginormous weather wall that he got to use! Harry and I fit into Katie Couric's usual spot and we just made it happen!

We did everything from fence and lighting demo segments to interviewing NBA star Stephon Marbury to, believe it or not, holding a fashion show for Chic on a Shoestring! That's definitely a first for the Evening News set.

We may just be back in Studio 47 tomorrow... who knows? But it sure made me proud today to be part of such a focused and dedicated team. Instead of all the scrambling being stressful, they actually made it fun.