ATIR

Rita spelled backward is Atir...

That phrase nearly came out of my mouth this morning during our coverage. We began wall-to-wall coverage at 12noon Friday and just ended - throwing to ABC who is all over the storm (VERY impressive coverage thus far).

My shift began this morning at 2:00am. From 2:00am to 2:45am, we had no avails - meaning no PKG's, no reporters, no phone interviews, etc.

We TALKED for 45 straight minutes, until we finally had a PKG, which only amounted to a 2 minute break.

The odd thing is this - during our 45 minute ad-lib, a hurricane is getting ready to come ashore. You often hear of the "calm before the storm" and I think a bored news anchor may have invented that phrase because there is just nothing happening. NOTHING!