I know some of you are wondering what the heck was up @NPRWeekend today. It was a day unlike any I've experienced. Simple answer: multiple system failures, including audio routing and playback, scripts, email. Things started melting down in the 30 minutes leading up to the show.
Slowly, we lost our computer capabilities. We had no ability to access the stories the show had been working on all week. Five minutes before the show, our producer said, "What do we do?" I said, "Start calling our reporters and get them to talk about what they're covering."
I applaud Lulu for picking the perfect Sunday to be off. I almost didn't work today- it was my son's high school graduation day. NPR had offered me the day off, but I decided I'd go in and do the show, then head off to graduation. Little did I know what was to come...
While our IT and engineering teams scrambled to keep us on the air, the news team answered the call. @scottdetrow, who was filling in for Lulu, started doing impromptu interviews with reporters and correspondents all around the world, with editor @dparvaz literally at his side...
We spoke to reporters all over the US, plus Europe, Africa, India, the Middle East & more about the diverse topics your support of public radio allows NPR to tackle. People jumped right up to help. At several points, we had far more reporters calling in than we had phone lines...
The day was not without a few unfortunate glitches, but to me, the goal is always to keep our meters moving, and we did that to a vast extent. New challenges popped up as the day progressed, and everyone rolled with them, because in the end, that's all you can do...
When I left for graduation (two hours later than planned), we had started to find our groove. Systems were all still down, but with bubble gum and scotch tape, America got a pretty decent show (I think so at least... I want able to listen to one word of content)...
I know the systems are still being worked on, but the best in the business will prevail. And I managed to get home, put on a suit, and get to graduation in time. Kudos to my many colleagues who rose above to stay afloat & to those who came in on their days off just to help out...
And if you've been thinking about it, today would be a fantastic day to support your NPR station. Thanks for rolling with us! #nprlife #NPRAF
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