Scanner talk


Active member
we all "love" an assigment manager/editor who loves to send out photogs on first calls on just about anything! Just thinking of a new topic to discuss. How does each desk react differently to scanners?? At our station we've had too many overraction to the scanners. For one we don't have an overnight desk so the producers listen to the scanner, and we've been called out to some bogus scenes. Someone got called to a fire that turned out to be a gazebo fire! I've gotten called to an accident that was cleared up by the time I got there! So I'm sure we've all been in the same boat!would like to hear what bogus calls you've been called out to!


PRO user
Two of my favorite instances were when I was in Dallas.The first was a breathless report of a " mysterious death".I race to the residential scene.Cops and M.E. are there.I'm running around with the sticks shooting our "exclusive".Cops are looking at me funny.They start questioning a young male.I'm shooting,thinking he's a perp.Again, the funny look from the cops.I call the desk for more info.Desk says some old guy has been burned to death and young male is suspect.Wow.STILL no other stations here.Shoot Shoot Shoot.Finally,a nice cop saunters over and asks why I'm there.I tell him about the "terrible crime" that the desk has told me about.He chuckles and shakes his head.Seems the poor old gent expired while trying to defecate on the throne,tipped over onto a space heater,and his robe caught fire.Young male was care-giver who discovered him.Imagine my chagrin.
Next was an assignment person who kept misdirecting us.She would regularly send us to the opposite side of town from the fire,shooting,whatever.Then we would have to scramble to catch up to the other crews.The crews were ready to kill her. Finally I sat down with her and talked about it.She was dyslectic,but was too ashamed to admit it.Once we knew that,we would ask her to re-read the information a second or third time,then it would come out correctly.She did a fine job after that.


Well-known member
Unfortunately this is the nature of news today. Everyone is under pressure to be first and too often the housecats have no experience in news let alone on the streets.

EVERY day we send crews to check stuff out that shouldn't make air. We have the luxury of a large staff but still waste man hours chasing nonsense because someone hears or mishears stuff on the scanner or takes a tweet as a legitimate news source. Adding ears to the desk does nothing if there is nothing in between them.

Good luck finding people with a clue to do a stressful job that will not make anyone a star and offers little thanks or reward. I have worked with half a dozen outstanding Asssignment EDITORS and myriad deskies. It's a position that deserves so much more attention than it's often throw away staus.