About blog wars and “Francine”

 I like to think my blogs are interesting. As you can tell, I have not been the most faithful blogger through the months. Until this recent set of blogs, which started in late December, the last blog I wrote was in September upon the death of Iowa broadcasting legend Jack Shelley.

 When I get out of whack on my blogs, there is someone who usually kicks me back into rhythm; sometimes intentionally and sometimes accidentally. His name is Paul Yeager.

This picture, taken at the 2009 Iowa Broadcast News Association convention shows KCRG's Shannon Booth, IPTV's Paul Yeager and myself. We were all taking part in a forum on the use of social media in newsgathering.

 Paul is an experienced Iowa broadcaster, having worked in Des Moines, Mason City and the Quad Cities. He is currently a host and producer for Iowa Public Television.
 Paul writes a frequent blog that I read called “Public Paul & Media“. His blog is about everything under the sun: his kids, the weather, news reporters who wear hats (I’m not kidding about that) and local happenings in the world of Des Moines media.
 Sometimes I will see his blogs and they will spark an idea in me that I just have to put down. Sometimes he will notice that I haven’t blogged in a while and he will hit me up about it. He apparently enjoys my ramblings the way I enjoy his.
 I refer to this pattern as “the blog war” and finally I scored a point. In his latest writings , Paul says that one of my blogs actually spurred him on to write a blog. I saw this and wanted to open a window and yell “I inspired Yeager!” but people would either think I was talking about astronaut Chuck Yeager or they might think I was promoting people taking shots at the bar. (That was a Jagermeister joke, friends).
 Anyhow, Paul Yeager is an exceptionally good writer whose blogs are thoughtful and heartfelt. Check them out sometime. It’s good stuff.

The Iowa Broadcast News Association Board of Directors. Back row from l to r: KWWL's Lauren Squires, KJAN's Ric Hanson, IBNA Executive Director Dr. Jeff Stein, IPTV's Paul Yager and KCAU's Carla Kreegar. Front row l to r: KASI's Trent Rice, myself and KROS's Dave Vickers.

 If he is a guy, why do you call him Francine?

 This portion of the blog is to tell you about a guy named Troy Timmerman. You may never have heard of him, but without him my work would not be nearly as good.
 Troy is a photojournalist who works with me at KSFY Television here in Sioux Falls. He is amazingly talented. He has a good eye for composition of shot. He thinks in terms of nat sound. He is a traditional wide-medium-tight shooter but is never afraid to put the camera on his shoulder if he thinks it will bring the viewer more into the action.

 But his greatest talent may be having the patience to put up with me.

 Troy and I are frequently paired together on important assignments for KSFY. Most of the pieces are investigative in nature where I am asking tough questions and he is hoping someone isn’t just waiting to hit us with a crowbar or some other type of unpleasantness.
 But what he most frequently has to do battle with is my total lack of patience. I suffer from that horrible reporter disease of thinking that as soon as the interviews are shot, we are done. It is Troy who patiently has to tell me (time and again) that I have to schedule in time for him to get the cover video we need for these stories. Keep in mind, most of these stories have tape times of 4+ minutes, so thar requires a lot of cover video.

This picture is of Troy Timmerman and myself along the Big Sioux River during heavy flooding in the Spring of 2010.

 Troy and I have known each other now for 10 years. I have seen him grow from a college student working part-time running a studio camera to becoming a full-time news photojournalist.
 So what is up with the name “Francine”? I don’t really know. We were out working on a story one day and I wanted to get his attention and out of my mouth came “Hey Francine!” and it just kind of stuck. Now, every once in a while, I throw it in for good measure. He is awfully good-natured about it. I would have punched me by now.

Me and the guy who always has my back on the big stories, photojournalist Troy Timmerman. This picture was taken in early January of 2011.

 Troy and I have been particularly busy over the last couple of months, working on both in-depth investigative pieces and interesting long-form features.
 The feature below is a story that Troy and I started working on in late-September of 2010 and we didn’t finish working on it and take it to air until late-November of 2010. It is called “The Secret Of The Tree”. It is about people’s growing interesting in researching their family histories. Sometimes, those people find big surprises in their family trees. I found such a surprise and wove it into this story.

 I have been fortunate in my 21+ year broadcasting career to work with many talented photojournalists. I would put Troy at the top of that list. For his work ethic, for how much he cares about the product and for his willingness to constantly work on big projects with me and deal with all my concerns, worries and everything else that can make me a pain to work with.

Picture of Troy Timmerman hauling equipment out of our satellite truck during a live newscast in the Summer of 2008. Troy is a hard worker and very rarely complains. When he does complain, it is usually about working with me.

  Troy also has to put up with my sense of “humor”. I think the following story is hysterical. He does not.
 In the Summer of 2010, Troy and I were working on a story in the Rapid City area. We stopped at a fast-food place to pick up some lunch. Before we ordered, we hit the restroom. I was done first and as I left the restroom, I turned the light off. I then stood in front of the ordering counter, trying not to melt with laughter. Here comes Troy, definitely not happy. This happened about three months ago. He is still sore about this. I still think it is funny.
 Thanks for being a good sport Timmerman. You’re the pride of Rock Valley, Iowa. (An inside joke, he is really from Rock Rapids. I always get the two mixed up and it annoys him to no end. Again, I think it’s funny. He does not.)

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