Don Scott was anchoring the noon news from a rain-swept street corner when a truck ran over a power cord and left only his voice on the air. Marianne Bannister and Rod Daniels anchored the 6 p.m. news from a makeshift set the color of Aqua-Velva. Kai Jackson and Sally Thorner did the 5 p.m. news from the studios of competitors.
That's how Baltimore's TV news looked yesterday, as personnel at WBAL, Channel 11, and WJZ, Channel 13, soldiered on with 12 tons of metal dangling precariously above their studios.
Along with residents of a nursing home and about 100 houses in the Television Hill neighborhood, staffs of the two stations were told to evacuate their buildings.
"This is definitely a first," said WJZ's Jackson, looking back over his 6 1/2 years on Baltimore television, "and I hope a last."
The daylong exercise in televised improvisation began about 9 a.m., when officials at WBAL and WJZ were told that a construction crane and 100-foot antenna had begun to pull away from their moorings atop Baltimore's 900-foot "candelabra" television tower.
Both stations operate from studios on Hooper Avenue, atop Television Hill and at the base of the tower.
Although engineers and technicians made periodic visits to the buildings throughout the day, to ensure that the stations' remote broadcasts were not interrupted, both buildings were effectively emptied by 9: 30 a.m.
WJZ broadcast its noon news from a nearby street corner, using microwave trucks and other mobile facilities.
WBAL opted against broadcasting a midday newscast, instead airing an episode of "Murphy Brown."
"We never want to be the story," Bill Fine, vice president and general manager of WBAL, said as he stood underneath an umbrella at his station's makeshift outdoor studio alongside 41st Street.
"We could have done a show; everybody wanted to do a show. But I didn't want to make a wrong decision and put somebody's life in jeopardy."
Evening newscasts
Both stations were back on the air for their 5 p.m. newscasts.
WJZ moved its operations into a corner of the 41st Street studios shared by WBFF, Channel 45, and WNUV, Channel 54.
WBAL split its operations between a blue van parked across the street from WBFF and the Maryland Public Television studios in Owings Mills.
"I came into work this morning thinking it was going to be a quiet day," said a drenched WJZ Vice President and General Manager Jay Newman.
