He woke to a frantic beeper:
election night was not over

Originally published in Current, Dec. 18, 2000
By Stephanie Lash

On Election Day, a voicemail message greeted Jill Roberts when she came into work at WQCS, Fort Pierce, Fla. The call was from a voter in Palm Beach County — the edge of the station's listening area — saying that the ballot was confusing and asking Roberts to please make an on-air announcement. "If you want to vote for Al Gore, make sure you know there's a candidate in between them," she said.

Roberts made a few follow-up calls and included the concerned woman in her story that day about some voter problems in the area. She even pitched the story to NPR, which, in the midst of covering contests nationwide, was too busy to take it. But she didn't realize that the sound-bite from the confused voter would turn into one of the biggest post-election stories as attention turned to Florida.

"I had put it in as a small part of my story, but by the next day, it was a very big part," Roberts said.

In the aftermath of the Election Day debacle that has focused in on the electoral votes from the Sunshine State, many journalists have similar bewildering tales of being thrown into stories they never thought they'd have to cover.

Florida Public Radio's Buzz Conover was named news director 90 days before Election Day. The day after his promotion, a huge hurricane hit the state. Another followed. But neither has matched the frenzy that greeted him after Nov. 7.

Conover, who also heads the news department for WFSU, had planned a half-hour election show that evening. The show featured four reporters live at various spots around the state and finished at 9:30. After that, the news staff worked to produce a statewide feed for midnight.

"Everything seemed to be going just fine, and when the feed was over I remember sitting in our newsroom," Conover said. "We ordered pizza and we were sitting around watching TV and about 1:15 a.m. we still didn't know. I said, 'I can't do this anymore, I have to go home.' I went home and watched it, and at 2:15 they called it for Bush, and I said, 'Okay, I'm going to bed.' At that point I was so tired, I didn't care who won."

But the next morning, Conover woke to a frantic beeper and started a newsroom vigil that lasted five weeks.

Florida Public Radio provides coverage to public radio stations throughout the state, and Conover is charged with their news direction and also local coverage for WFSU. He set up a system after the election for each of the reporters (himself, reporter Susan Gage and assistant news director Danae Jones) to file approximately 10 stories each week. The local morning news anchor also acts as a reporter, as does the afternoon anchor. But since the afternoon anchor left on vacation for Ireland on Nov. 8 and the newsroom was already short-staffed because of Conover's promotion, staffers have been working double-duty to cover everything. Since then, "everything" has mainly been the election.

"So much of our local news here has absolutely shut down," Conover said. "It's become a grand quest to find anything that is not election-related. Every day I try really hard to come up with one or two stories that aren't election-related."

Conover also has been busy giving interviews to the CBC, BBC and Australian radio networks, answering questions about the electoral college system and daily court battles in Florida. Many foreign reporters have asked him about how life has changed in Tallahassee since the election, and he said he had fun regaling them with stories about the number of satellite trucks he's counted (46).

Their knowledge of the Florida legislature and courts has given WFSU reporters an edge over out-of-town journalists. Susan Gage said she's become an ambassador to reporters who have been transplanted for a month, telling them about local restaurants and locations of courthouses. Conover said knowing the key legislative players has netted interviews with the state's speaker, while some other networks got only a spokesperson, and receiving Gov. Jeb Bush's daily schedule has helped them pinpoint the elusive brother of the candidate.

"Being local has definitely paid off," he said. "I have stood in the courtyard of the Capitol and watched legislative people walk by national news people unhindered because they didn't know who they were. So I'll go and get them, because I recognize them. It's been a real advantage."

Although Conover and Gage have filed dozens of spots for NPR newscasts, they've had outside help. NPR's political editor, Ron Elving, estimates that at least 15 NPR reporters covered Florida in the past month. Debbie Elliot, who lives in Alabama, has been in Tallahassee almost nonstop for five weeks, he said, and her coverage has been supplemented by reports from Barbara Bradley, Melissa Block, Andy Bowers, Howard Berkes, Steve Inkseep, Wade Goodwin and others.

"Everyone has had a chance to go down there who's wanted a chance," Elving said.

Doug Phillips, a Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reporter who files stories for Florida Public Radio, NPR and others, said he was impressed with the NPR reporters' quick grasp of Florida politics. "I've noticed more minor gaffes on the [TV] networks than on NPR's coverage," he said, referring to inaccurate names, titles and other details. "NPR hasn't really made those gaffes."

Having NPR reporters covering action for Morning Edition and All Things Considered has freed Conover and Gage to concentrate on their local coverage while still filing spots for the network.

"I have to say I've been very happy to see many correspondents from the national network," Gage said. "I would have jumped out of a window by now if the national network had wanted me to file for their two major newsmagazine programs."

So far, though, the most that has been lost is sleep and sanity. It's one of the biggest stories Gage and Conover have ever covered, but both were looking forward to its end. Gage said she still has stories to tackle that she expected to get to after Election Day, and Conover has yet to completely move into his new office from his reporter's desk in the newsroom. Everyone has been working on overtime, with barely enough time to sleep or recover from what was already a busy pre-election season.

"We are ready for it to end," Conover said. "We don't care who wins."

 

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Web page posted Dec. 17, 2000
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