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Watching KREX turn to ashes was tough
One of the problems with being the editor of a newspaper is that editors tend to become office-bound. We have to force ourselves out occasionally to see what’s going on in this town.
And then there are days like Sunday, when the news came to my house. Kathy and I happen to live right across the street from KREX-TV. So when smoke began to pour out of the roof of Grand Junction’s oldest broadcast outlet Sunday morning we were among the first to see it. Our yard and driveway quickly became the gathering place for all the media in town and a lot of people who were simply curious about what was going on.
I found it interesting because I got to see firsthand (rather than hearing reports from my reporters) how the other media in town operate. And for the most part (more about that in a minute) I was impressed with what I saw.
Perhaps because I live there The Daily Sentinel was the first on the scene, arriving about the same time as the Grand Junction Fire Department, a group of men and women, by the way, who did an extraordinary job under difficult conditions Sunday.
Within a couple of hours we had eight people working the story and were filing updates, photos and video to GJSentinel.com more times than I can count. The other television and radio stations were also quick to get to the scene and they, too, were filing almost at once.
I found it curious, but not particularly surprising, that the little paper that says it can but really doesn’t have a clue didn’t show up until mid-day — and then didn’t do much. The reason, I suspect, is that the rest of us knew that we were watching the destruction of a Grand Junction institution. We knew it was an important story for this community and we had a responsibility to readers, listeners and viewers to cover the story and cover it well. I’ll pat my staff on the back and say that I think they did. It was the digging for the little nuggets about people like Angela Hegstrom, who baked muffins for all the people standing around, and doing the story about young KREX reporters who had to watch as their archived stories went up in smoke, that made the coverage more than just another fire. Likewise, KJCT and KKCO were finding their unique angles.
But the toughest part wasn’t covering the story. It was watching KREX staffers as they stood in the cold and watched their place of employment be destroyed. They may have been in a state of shock, but my guess, after talking to many of them Sunday, is that General Manager Ron Tillery was absolutely correct when he said KREX will be back.
Let’s all hope so.
Comments
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By Haute Mama Robin
January 22, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this
I was glued to the GJSentinel.com all day Sunday. Gretel’s video and photos were amazing. Great coverage of a sad event.
By Richie Ann
January 22, 2008 4:08 PM | Link to this
I too came first to our Website because I KNEW we’d have the story, the video, and the slide show. I knew it would be damn good because you live right across the street. I checked it several times Sunday just to find out the latest and I was never disappointed because new information was up each time. Way to Go Sentinel!
By John Linko
January 22, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this
I’ve posted some of my own observations
as well.
Just as KREX’s inception as KFXJ over 50 years ago began a transition in media for the Western Slope, the building’s demise signals the true arrival of Internet media to our area.
The Sentinel’s staff, including yourself, did a magnificent job getting the words and pictures out online. Your pictures of the smoke conditions just as firefighters were arriving, combined with the content submitted by both civilian and professional photojournalists on multiple websites, showed the speed and fury with which the building was consumed over a short time frame. A chronological slideshow would be pretty cool.
The leveraging of digital technology and the speed of the Internet made itself known to Grand Junction in a way not seen before.
Your not-so-subtle dig on the Free Press is beneath you, especially when other competing media outlets are displaying compassion and humility in their response to KREX’s immediate need. Considering that the Sentinel was once itself a fire victim, one would have thought you’d have outgrown those kinds of comments, no matter what the “little guy” is trying to do or say. WWJD?
There’s a bit of irony in all that. The Free Press is to the Sentinel as KREX is to its’ Denver counterpart, KCNC News 4. One has a lot more resources than the other, but both have intrinsic value and a place in our community.
I for one am excited about the future of KREX, and of Grand Junction TV and media. Best of luck to the KREX team, and congratulations on a fine job in bringing this to the people.
By NewsBlab.com
January 22, 2008 9:26 PM | Link to this
Nice story, thanks for sharing! - Mike