Anchoring Live Local News: Michelle Khare's Week at CBS8 San Diego
Michelle Khare
In this episode of Challenge Accepted, Michelle Khare joins the news team at CBS8 in San Diego to learn what it takes to produce a broadcast seen live by roughly 30,000 viewers. Over a few days she trains in desk anchoring, green-screen weather, and field reporting. The week ends with her co-anchoring a live morning show and delivering the forecast with no retakes. Along the way, the journalists who train her explain why local news matters, and her field assignment turns into live coverage of a wildfire. The filming also overlapped with the start of California's devastating fire season: the video notes that a few weeks later, major fires broke out in Los Angeles.
Breaking News Five Minutes Before Air
Michelle's first look inside the newsroom shows how quickly a planned show can fall apart. About five minutes before the 11 a.m. broadcast, the staff learned that police had a suspect in custody in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO the previous week. The whole top of the show changed. Michelle remarks that viewers at home see an anchor delivering information fluidly, but the process behind it is rarely that orderly.
Anchor Erik Kanhert describes how this feels from the desk. Sometimes he looks up and the teleprompter is empty, and all he knows is that there has been a shooting and someone is telling him to go. His co-anchor Neda Iranpour describes the role in those moments: the world can be falling apart around you, in complete chaos, and the anchor's job is to keep the train moving smoothly down the track. On air, the pair reported that the NYPD's strong person of interest was 26-year-old Luigi Mangione and promised updates throughout the day.
Learning the Desk: The Prompter, the Pedal, and "CIA"
Erik then takes Michelle around the studio: the weather center, the main set, and the large panoramic screen. Seating is fixed in advance, he explains, because the show is already formatted around who appears in which shot and whose name shows in the lower thirds. At the desk, the anchors control the teleprompter themselves with a very sensitive foot pedal. That leaves their hands free, which matters because, in Erik's view, people naturally use their hands when they talk and it looks more natural on camera.
He sums up anchoring in three qualities: credible, informed, and authentic. The initials spell "CIA," which he offers as a way to remember them. He also corrects what he sees as a common misconception. People assume anchors simply read the prompter, he says, but that is a very small part of the job, and anchors who stuck to it all the time would be in big trouble. The prompter is a guide, not the show. If a line doesn't sound right, anchors can rephrase it to sound more like themselves. During breaking news the prompter may say nothing more than that the show is going to a fire, and it keeps changing as the broadcast goes on.
Michelle's first practice read did not go smoothly. Reading a story about Merriam-Webster naming "polarization" its 2024 word of the year, she said polarization meant division into two "distinctly sharp objects" instead of "two sharply distinct opposites," started laughing, and lost her place. Erik reminded her that on live TV there is no do-over and you have to keep going. Her earpiece also fell out, and the mistakes became a running joke.
Losing the "News Anchor Voice"
Michelle asks about something she thinks she lacks: the commanding cadence that anchors seem to have. Erik attributes it to confidence, but he warns against imitating it. In his experience, new anchors often believe they have to sound robotic and overly commanding, and the result is the opposite of what they want: they come across as trying too hard, uncomfortable, or unconfident. "We don't want to have news anchor voice," he tells her. "We want to have Michelle and Erik's voice."
Neda says the biggest obstacle for Michelle will be simply being herself, which is easier said than done. An anchor has to juggle every part of journalism while knowing that 20,000 to 30,000 people are listening to every word with no chance to redo anything. With experience, she says, anchors learn to absorb all of that in critical moments and still feel like someone having a conversation in the viewer's living room.
The Secret Mission
Michelle tells the camera, though not Erik, that she plans to go off script during the final live broadcast to announce a "secret mission." This was the seventh episode the team had filmed in San Diego, and she wants a story good enough to catch the mayor's attention and maybe earn a key to the city. The video explains that a key to the city is a symbolic award given to people who have made significant contributions, with past recipients including soccer player Alex Morgan, Taylor Swift, and the Beatles. Michelle suggests her show's many San Diego episodes could count as a positive, friendly contribution. First, though, CBS8 has to trust her enough to put her on air.
Weather on the Green Screen
Meteorologist and reporter Evan Noorani trains her on weather. The simplest way to understand it, he says, is as a PowerPoint presentation: a center button on a handheld remote advances the graphics. The presenter faces a green screen and can see themselves on monitors, but the image is mirrored, so they have to learn to orient themselves and point in the right direction. They can also walk forward and back but have to watch their headroom.
Weather differs from desk anchoring in one key way: there is nothing on the teleprompter. The meteorologist improvises from whatever graphics come up, which Michelle calls "literally choke-worthy." Evan makes those graphics himself, choosing fonts, colors, and moving arrows, and sometimes builds them during commercial breaks. Part of the job, he explains, is combing through layers of data and deciding what people need to know before they head out the door. During training, Michelle was shown a pressure map with an H for high pressure and an L for low pressure.
Two constraints raise the pressure. The first is the "hard out": a timer, run by a staffer named Kaz, counts down, and when it reaches zero the show goes to a break regardless of where the presenter is. The second is the audience. Evan says people get very angry if their town is not mentioned, so a two-minute forecast has to touch on many communities. Someone in Fallbrook had called that very day to complain about his forecast. During one warm stretch, he says, he kept calling the weather "toasty," and viewers wrote in daily asking him to stop. People call, email, and even mail physical letters.
Michelle's first 90-second practice run fell apart. She stumbled over visibility figures, claimed incorrectly that the pressure changes meant rain, and never reached the wind-gust graphic. By the time she got there, she had run 20 seconds into commercial time. Evan told her the main goal for the real broadcast would be fitting everything into 90 seconds. Her second attempt came in on time, but she turned it into a mock forecast for the episode's sponsor rather than a weather report. Evan said he had no idea what that was, though she had technically done what he asked. Michelle concluded that she needed to do a lot more research before the live forecast.
Pitching a Story in the Editorial Meeting
Reporter Shannon Handy runs Michelle's field-reporting training, beginning with the daily editorial meeting of reporters, anchors, and producers. The top searches that day included power outages, San Diego wind, and a red flag warning, along with the UnitedHealthcare suspect and a Jamie Foxx Netflix special. Shannon says Michelle would be treated like any other reporter: expected to collaborate and pitch ideas, and to get put on the spot.
Michelle's pitch came from an earlier Challenge Accepted episode filmed at a fire academy. She had learned that firefighting a structure fire and fighting a wildfire are very different experiences, in the gear firefighters wear, their approach, and the risk to the firefighter. She proposed physically showing the difference between structure-fire gear and wildland gear. The idea was approved. A colleague texted a Cal Fire public information officer during the meeting, and he agreed to help. The location was about 20 to 25 minutes inland.
Michelle was paired with veteran photographer Kenny McGregor. Together they had six hours to write, shoot, and edit the whole story.
Expect the Unexpected
Before leaving, Shannon took Michelle to collect fire gear. On a day like this, she explained, a big brush fire was a real possibility, and crews often get pulled from an assigned story to cover something else. Shannon says she keeps fire gear, rain gear, riot gear, gas masks, and bulletproof vests in her car. In the van, they turned on police and fire scanners. Shannon says she likes to know what she is going into and which areas to approach or avoid, particularly in an active-shooter situation.
The warning soon proved accurate. On the way to the interview, word came that a serious wildfire had broken out nearby, and the crew went straight there. Because they were the closest news team, they would be first on scene, not knowing how big the fire was or how dangerous the conditions were. On the drive, Shannon pointed out a brown haze on the horizon, which she identified as smoke from a fire dispersing through the atmosphere.
Why Local News Matters
During the drive, Michelle says she thinks of police and fire as first responders but sees local news as a kind of response service too, informing communities when homes, jobs, and lives may be at risk. The journalists agree. Local news, one explains, is the outlet in the community digging up stories, talking to residents, and covering what affects everyday life. In a fire, that means reporting on evacuations and helping families get out safely, coverage that may never appear on network news. Reporters often live in the communities they cover, the journalist adds; they are the voice of the people there and sometimes the first voice residents hear telling them how to keep their families safe.
Michelle connects this to her own experience a few weeks later, when the large Los Angeles fires broke out. She says she was glued to local news, watching to see whether her neighborhood would be evacuated. Even the updates she saw on social media, she notes, were usually sourced from local news, because local crews were the ones first on the scene.
Reporting from the Border Fire
At the fire, Shannon told Michelle to get everything from the Cal Fire contact: acreage, evacuation orders, and the structure-versus-wildfire comparison. The PIO reported a 40-acre vegetation fire on the northwest side of Tecate Peak, 0% contained at the time. Asked about the difference, he explained that a house is usually a box, so a structure fire can usually be kept inside it. On a hillside, the fire isn't contained to a box, and crews also have to deal with wind and other weather. His evacuation message was blunt: anyone in a zone under an evacuation order should leave right away. Off camera, Shannon urged Michelle to make the story more visual, for example by showing the brush itself.
Michelle admits she found the pace overwhelming. The news approach, as she describes it, is to move fast and capture something, which is very different from how Challenge Accepted is usually shot, and interviewing for news felt different too. She says she was sprinting to keep up and make sure the right questions got asked.
Logging, Writing, and Editing Against the Clock
Back in the van, the crew ingested the footage and "logged" the interview, listening through it and writing out usable sound bites. Those bites became the skeleton of a two-minute story due on air in under two hours. Shannon's edits focused on structure. Instead of running one long PIO sound bite, she suggested inserting Michelle's voice between bites to set them up. For example, Michelle could note that it hadn't rained since October before the official spoke about conditions. Writing took about an hour, followed by voice-over recording.
Editing ran up to the deadline. At 3:11, Michelle was still balancing audio and smoothing a jarring break between clips. With Kenny, she decided to end the piece on the line that the fire "is not contained to a box." She also called the station to ask for B-roll of a generic structure fire, which they hadn't been able to shoot. Kenny explained that news attention spans are short, which shaped how they cut the piece.
Going Live in the Field
With minutes to go, Michelle and Kenny set up the live shot themselves and confirmed the connection with the station. Kenny told her to start talking the moment she heard her name in her earpiece, to avoid an awkward pause. Michelle said she was nervous. Shannon had told her that it was live, and if she messed up, she messed up. Michelle said she wanted to get it right so the public would feel informed about the fire in their backyard.
The studio anchors, Carlo and Heather, introduced her. Live from the Border Fire, Michelle described watching more than 175 firefighters work for hours to keep the fire contained and set up her question about how firefighting in metropolitan San Diego differs from fighting fires in the open during Santa Ana winds. The pre-recorded package covered the PIO's "box" explanation and showed that structure firefighters wear a heavy jacket and a respirator, while wildland gear is far less protective. Michelle closed with the latest official update: the fire was 50% contained, and crews would be working through the night. Shannon reported that the boss, Dana, had called it perfect. Michelle reflected that it was striking how many hours went into something that was over so quickly. Shannon added that tomorrow they would do it all again.
The Live Morning Show
The next morning, Michelle co-anchored with Erik, learning the news as it happened. The rundown included a county board of supervisors vote on whether to let American Airlines fly out of Palomar Airport, which would be the first commercial service there in 28 years. The show opened on fire coverage: a red flag warning had expired, but thousands of people were still feeling the effects, a second fire had broken out in Ramona in the same spot as the day before, and many residents were still without power. Michelle read her lines with Erik and the Palomar story without trouble.
During a break, the producers added a segment and asked her to write the "toss to weather" herself. On air, she brought up her reporting from the Border Fire the day before, said the wind had been so strong she couldn't keep anything straight, and asked Evan whether more was coming. He said the winds were slowly dying down and the red flag warning had expired.
One Take on the Weather Wall
Next came green-screen weather, which Michelle expected to be the hardest part. She had not seen the graphics in advance, and she would get one take. She delivered the forecast: the Santa Ana winds would die down, temperatures would be above normal under filtered sun, showers were likely later in the week, and the seven-day outlook showed a high of 69 and a low of 63. She joked that the outlook was nice because "it's San Diego."
The video notes that going over time had been her biggest problem in training. This time the opposite happened: she reached the last graphic with 30 seconds left and had to fill. She mentioned king tides arriving later in the week, told beachgoers to keep them in mind, and said Evan would have the details later before handing back to him. Evan told her she was giving him a run for his money. Neda called the broadcast informative and friendly and said Michelle had passed with flying colors. Michelle said she was amazed that meteorologists do this fully improvised every day and thanked the team for keeping the community informed during a week of wind and fires.
Announcing the Key to the City
At the end of her time on air, Michelle revealed her secret mission live. She said she hoped to one day find out how to get a key to the city of San Diego from the mayor, asked the mayor for the protocol if he was watching, and said she had heard that in other cities the key is a sign of friendship. The anchors said Mayor Todd Gloria tends to watch the show and promised to pass the message along to him or his staff. The episode ends without an answer to whether she will get the key, which she frames as the next question to pursue.
Michelle Khare here live on scene at the Border Fire. Over 175 firefighters fight to keep this fire right behind me contained.
This week, Michelle is going to try and anchor the live local news. In front of San Diegans, tens of thousands of people are going to be hanging on every word she says. There's breaking news happening right now.
Earlier this year, California experienced some of the most devastating wildfires in its history. Three major wildfires are burning out of control in Los Angeles. 24 people are dead. Thousands of homes destroyed. And during the filming of this episode, we were there when one of the first of those fires broke out. Everything is happening out here. The wind is blowing. This is crazy.
This week on Challenge Accepted, I'm joining the news team at CBS 8 to see what it takes to produce a broadcast for 30,000 live viewers. From desk anchoring to meteorology. I ran out of time. I've been in a commercial. To field reporting live on scene at a wildfire.
All righty, here we go. Stand by. Ready? Three, two, one. Live. Challenge accepted.
They are actually right now five minutes away from going live for the 11 a.m. news. All things considered, everyone is very calm considering we're about to go live in just a few minutes.
Just found the shooter of the healthcare CEO. Wait, there's breaking news happening right now. They have just found the shooter in the CEO healthcare shooting last week. Oh my God. The entire top of the show is changing.
Breaking news. You don't know what's going to happen. At home, you see a news anchor giving you fluid information. That's not how it always goes. All right, we got about 15 seconds. Camera one's going to move. Sometimes I'll look up and there's nothing in the teleprompter. All we know is that there's a shooting and they say, "Erik, go." Am I Erik's cue?
So glad you're with us here on this Monday, everybody. I'm Erik Kanhert. And I'm Neda Iranpour. Let's move now to our top local story here. We're following breaking news. New York City police saying they have a suspect in custody in the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO.
The world is falling apart around you and there is complete chaos. You're there to make sure that the train keeps going down the track smoothly.
NYPD says this strong person of interest is 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. We'll be sure to bring you the very latest updates throughout the day.
Well, thanks, guys. That was great. And for Michelle's final challenge, she's going to sit next to me as my co-anchor. She's going to do the news live in front of San Diegans. Tens of thousands of people are going to be hanging on every word she says. But first up, I got to fill her in on some key points.
Hi. Hi, Michelle. How are you? Nice to meet you. I'm Michelle. Nice to meet you. We both got the blue blazer thing going. We're matching. That's a sign of a good anchor team right there.
This is incredible. There is so much happening here. I thought the lighting setup is amazing. Your skin looks amazing. Well, there's a little war paint on here, too. That's how we call it. So, this is the studio. This is where it's all happened. Our weather center over here, the main set here. We have the pano over here. Wow. Oh my gosh. You ready to be a news anchor? I mean, you tell me.
And the first step to becoming a news anchor is learning how to manage the infamous teleprompter.
All right. So, this is where you'll sit, in this seat right here. And this is my seat. It has to be that way because they already have the show formatted as to who's going to be in what shot and which chair and everything. And your name's going to pop up on the lower part of the screen here, and mine. Yeah, I think so. She knows. Do you know what lower thirds are? Boom.
When you're sitting here, you ready for it? The driver's pedal. See it down there? What? Yep. We're going to be driving the prompter. Did you press on it yet? Oh, it's a very sensitive pedal. Oh, yeah. You can go very quickly and you can go as slow as you want. So, when we're at the desk, that frees up our hands. And the reason that's important is because we use our hands when we talk because it feels more natural that way.
And if the show is to open, I'd say, "Hi, everyone, I'm Erik Kanhert. Welcome to your Monday morning. Sure hope you had a really nice weekend." And then you would say your name. Go ahead. Hey, I'm Michelle Khare. Sorry, bad. Do that again. Hey, I'm Michelle Khare. Perfect. And today's my first day on the job. Boom. There we go.
Now, the three keys, I think, to news anchoring, you ready for them? Credible. Credible. Got to be credible. You got to be informed. You got to be informed and you have to be authentic. Credible. Informed. Authentic. Yeah. CIA. See, that's how you remember it.
Should we practice? Okay. You ready to practice a little bit? This teleprompter. Just remember the teleprompter is not the show. It's just a guide. If you don't like the way something's written or is said on there, you can just change it how you want to change it so that you're more authentic.
I think what people think is that news anchors just are teleprompter readers. That is a very small portion of our job, and if we stuck to the teleprompter all the time, we'd be in big trouble. The White House reception committee greeted the prime rib roast minister and I Leica do the chaa.
Oftentimes it'll say we're going to breaking news now of a fire, and that's it. So the prompter is changing as the show is going. Absolutely. Okay. You ready to do that? Yeah. Okay. So one step at a time with the prompter. We'll start with reading the prompter to start. Okay.
This is CBS 8 News Live at 11. All right, you're on. 30,000 people watching. Here we go.
Miam Mary, I'll take it from here. Michelle named polarization as the 2024 word of the year. Let me do that again. I'm doing it in. This is my rehearsal. Okay, here we go. Is this it right here? Okay, here we go.
Oh, you can't laugh during it. No, especially with this word, polarization. Okay, here we go. You can't have the giggles on live TV, Michelle. It's got to be serious. Okay. All right.
Merriam-Webster has named polarization the 2024 word of the year. Polarization means a division into two distinctly sharp objects. Oh God, no. Wait, that isn't totally wrong. Even if that happens, it's live. You just got to laugh. I'm sorry. Let me say that again. The people at home will be like, "Okay, okay."
I completely lost my place. So that was my face and the ticker underneath says polarization named word of the year. What the heck? Okay. Merriam-Webster has named polarization the 2024 word of the year. Polarization means a division into two sharply distinct opposites. Polarization. I think we heard that quite a bit during the elections. Don't you think? Fortnight also a popular one. Uh-oh, your IFB just popped out. We are having technical difficulties up here, folks. It's okay.
I think the biggest obstacle for Michelle is just to be herself. Easier said than done because you're taking all of these facets of journalism and then you understand that on the other side there's 20,000, 30,000 people that are listening to every single word, and there's no redo. I think with experience, you're able to take all of that in those critical, tough moments and still be relatable, still be the person that's having that conversation with you in your living room.
Okay. You know what you guys have that I need to improve? I feel like there's a news anchor voice or cadence. You guys can command. I think it's confidence. It's a confidence command. I feel like me saying, "Hey, the weather is here," versus, "The weather tonight." You know what I mean?
Yeah. I think getting back to that authentic thing, I think the beginning news anchors want to feel like they've got to talk like this and be a little more robotic and be super overly commanding, which actually has the reverse effect. They're either trying too hard, they're not comfortable, they're not confident. We don't want to have news anchor voice. We want to have Michelle and Erik's voice.
Okay, I like that. You ready for live TV? I'm going to review the prompt a couple more times. We can do this. Let's do it. My co-anchor. Let's do it. Wait, that sounds really cool. Yeah. Is there a secret handshake when you're co-anchors with somebody? We can make one. What do you want to do? Ready? Breaking the news.
And for my final challenge, I will be co-anchoring the news with Erik live. But what I didn't tell Erik is that I will be going off script, and in front of 30,000 San Diegans, I will be revealing my secret mission.
This week marks our seventh episode that we are filming here in San Diego. And my plan here is to capture a story so good it catches the attention of the mayor of San Diego. And perhaps he presents me with a key to the city. Is it a literal key? And if it is, what does it open?
A key to the city is a symbolic award given by a city to an esteemed individual that is presented to people who have made significant contributions to the city. Some notable recipients: Alex Morgan, soccer legend, Taylor Swift, and the Beatles. I think with all of the episodes we have made here in San Diego, one might argue we have made a positive and friendship-like impact. But for all of this to work, I need CBS 8 to think I'm actually good enough to go live in the first place, which takes us next to learning the weather.
Michelle, come on in here. This is where the magic happens. This is our green screen. I know you can see yourself on the air. My name is Evan Noorani, and I'm a reporter and meteorologist at CBS 8. I'm going to be handing over my precious remote so that Michelle can take the reins over and try a forecast for herself.
The simplest way to break it down is it is a PowerPoint presentation. So that center button right here is going to change, like, advance graphics. So click it there and look at that. Now you have visibility. Oh wait, it's backwards. Yes. So you need to flip yourself around accordingly. So if you come over here and look that way, you can point to the numbers. So it looks like I'm looking at the green screen, but I'm actually cheating, looking at this.
You can also walk up and back, but remember your headroom. Could we do something like, surprise? That's how I... I'm sure there's a green sheet somewhere to utilize. You can press play. As you can see, we have a big H coming. Back to you. That's it. That's all.
Well, press it. Press the play button again. Okay. And now an L. So the L is... Can I tell you, or do you want to... The L, I can... What I'll tell you is this is a pressure map. High pressure. There we go. And low pressure. Exactly.
There's a lot of layers to it. A lot of data that we comb through. It's going to be Michelle's job to look at all the data and decide what people need to know as they head out the door.
So, in contrast to desk anchoring, you're improvising based on whatever graphics come through. Yeah. And you have nothing on the teleprompter. No. So it's literally choke-worthy. Who makes these graphics? Me. So, what? Yeah. I can adjust the font, the color of everything, the arrows that you see that are moving. So, you make all of this before the broadcast or during? You make graphics during the commercial breaks. Yeah.
So, should I do a practice two-minute? See that zero-zero on the bottom right? Kaz is going to set a timer for a minute 30. That timer is what we call a hard out, meaning when that timer hits zero, we automatically go to break.
People get really angry if you do not mention their town. So think about if you're given two minutes and you're asked to touch on every single one of those cities. It's an added challenge. Someone in Fallbrook called today and said that they hated my forecast or were so mad at me for something.
I remember there was one time where it was a warm stretch of weather and I was saying every day, "It's getting toasty out there." And there were literal—this happens every day—viewers writing in being like, "He needs to stop saying toasty." People pick up their phone and type a message and submit that saying he's saying toasty too much. They call, they email, they physically write letters, everything. I'm nervous. I'm nervous that people are going to call in upset about me. They might.
So, for this practice run, I have 90 seconds to deliver all the weather, to make sure all of the small towns are also covered and make sure that I cleanly go to commercial. Yeah. So, that time will start counting down. Stand by.
Oh my God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Can we try that again? Yes.
Hey, my name is Michelle. I'm not a meteorologist, but I'm going to do my best today. So, in the city of San Diego, you guys live here. You know it's always a day like this. Beautiful, sunny outside. Not this week. Let me tell you, we've got some drama in the weather. You wouldn't believe it. Click.
Outside, we have a lot of visibility. There are 10 miles. There are 10 miles out here. And we have some high pressure followed by some low pressure coming in. And you can see with these ridge lines, what that means is when the pressure changes, there's going to be rain. Oh my God, this is crazy. Okay. I will be better on Wednesday. I promise. Okay. Lastly, coming into the wind gust, which also pertains to our red zone area. Oh my God, I hit the time.
So, you've been in commercial time. I've been in a commercial 20 seconds and they didn't even hear about the wind gust. Okay, Michelle, it was a good start, but for your final challenge, the biggest emphasis is that you do it in 90 seconds. We're going to start it from the top. Are you ready? Yes. The news doesn't wait. Exactly. Neither do I. Okay, we're on in three, two.
Good morning, San Diego. I'm Michelle Khare, and this just in, I'm hearing we've got a severe business inefficiency warning. Let's take a look at the radar. So, for the folks in Ramona, you may be at risk of using old and outdated business management software, but there is hope on the horizon because Odoo is the sponsor of today's episode.
Is she just going rogue? Odoo is an all-in-one business management platform bringing clear skies to accounting, inventory, and even website building. Does anyone know where she's getting these graphics from? Just look at that beautiful five-day forecast. Sunny with a 100% chance of efficiency. No more juggling multiple apps, just one streamlined system to keep your business simple.
30 seconds left. And for those of you worried about the high-pressure system of building a website, forget it because Odoo's website builder lets you create a sleek, professional website in just a few clicks. It even includes hosting and a custom domain for an entire year. She's going pretty fast here. 20 seconds left.
So, if you at home are interested in watching exclusive deleted scenes from Challenge Accepted, you can watch them, too, on our super secret Odoo-built website below. So, if your business is caught in the storm, don't wait. Click a link in the description and you can start your free 14-day trial today. No credit card required. And thanks to Odoo for sponsoring today's episode. Now remember, stay prepared, stay organized, and stay classy, San Diego.
How was that? I have no idea what that was. I like the ending. You have some surprises for me. I got some surprises for you, Evan. I mean, you made it in the 90 seconds, so you kind of did what I asked. Really? Hey, here we go. Well, thank you so much. Of course. Thank you.
How do you feel? My homework is to do a lot more research for delivering. She's going to become a meteorologist in a matter of hours. I think you can do it.
My name is Shannon Handy. I'm a news reporter at CBS 8. And this week, I'm going to train Michelle on how to be a reporter. And she's going to come to our editorial meeting. And what that meeting is, it's a gathering of reporters, anchors, producers.
Top search today: power outages, San Diego wind, red flag warning. But two other things of note is our suspect in the UnitedHealthcare CEO killing and Jamie Foxx. He had a Netflix special that came out. We as reporters are expected to pitch stories. So we are
Going to treat Michelle like any other reporter. We are going to expect her to collaborate and bring her ideas.
Michelle, part of this meeting is being put on the spot. So now I'm going to put you on the spot. What story ideas are you pitching for yourself today?
And just like every other reporter, my story has to be intriguing and relevant enough to be greenlit.
Okay. So I was curious specifically for the take of the fires. Something that's very interesting to me when we did fire academy for an episode of Challenge Accepted is there's a huge difference for the experience of the firefighter when it comes to a structure fire versus a wildfire. Not only what they wear and how they approach it, but also the risk for that person. One idea I had was to physically show the difference between the gear that they wear in a structure fire versus out in the wildlands.
Which is more dangerous, wildfires? Yes. Yes. Wildfires versus house fires. Physically showing me the outfits that you have to wear and how it's different going in. And I don't think we've ever done that story. I think, too, we can get CAL FIRE to help you out with that.
That would be one you could... I'm just texting the PIO. Yeah, I texted him, and then when we're done I'll give him a call and see if maybe he can give us access to something.
Yeah, I'm also thinking I could probably also reach out to the PIOs of lifeguards and SDPD and even sanitation and be like, maybe we can... He said sure. Okay, great. He said sure. This is about 20, 25 minutes inland. Well, let's go. You guys got a 4:00, so we've got to wrap this up. So let's get you on the road.
With my story officially greenlit, I was then paired with a seasoned veteran cameraman to capture our story together. Kenny and I have to write, shoot, and edit our entire story in just six hours.
Okay. So we're going to go upstairs and get you fire gear right now because it's a good possibility on a day like today we are going to encounter maybe a big brush fire. You have to expect the unexpected. When we get our story assignments and we show up to a scene, it's common where we get a call because something else has happened and we have to pivot.
Oh my gosh, you guys just have a stash of fire gear in case... There's a lot of things, especially with news, that we have to be prepared for. In my car, I have fire gear, rain gear, riot gear, gas masks, bulletproof vests. I have all these different things.
Okay, we're turning scanners on. These are police scanners? Yeah. Police, fire. I personally like to know where I'm going, what I'm going into. Either areas to go to or areas to stay away from, especially if it's an active shooter situation. Okay. Shall we get going?
But as we were heading out to meet with our contact, we got word that a pretty serious wildfire had just broken out nearby. We're changing course and going straight to the fire. Exactly. Can't predict the news. And because we happen to be the closest news crew to the fire, we will be the first crew on the scene. Meaning we have no idea how big the fire is, how dangerous the conditions are, or what exactly we are walking into.
As I look out at the horizon, I'm looking for this brown haze, and you can start to see a little bit of it. That's a fire somewhere that's dissipating through the atmosphere. See how brown it is out there?
When I think of first responders, I think of police department and fire department. But what's interesting is what y'all are doing is also a response service in a way to educate the community on what's going on, especially on a day like today when people's homes and jobs and lives could be at risk by these potential fires that are coming.
Local news is great because we're the ones in the community that are going out, digging up the stories, talking to local people about how they feel, telling the stories that impact your everyday life. When it comes to a fire, we're there for you. We're talking about evacuations. We're trying to get your family out safely. This may not be even as mentioned in network news. For us, we are invested in our community. In many cases, these are the communities where we live. These are our neighbors. We are the voice of the people in that situation. We are sometimes the first voice they hear on what steps they should be taking to keep their family safe.
Three major wildfires are burning out of control in Los Angeles, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds.
When the larger LA fires broke out a few weeks later, I was glued to the local news, watching to see if our neighborhood was going to be evacuated. Even when we were scrolling social media for updates, those posts and tweets are actually sourced from local news. And that's because they are the ones who are first on the scene.
Michelle is just going to have a few hours to get to the scene, do her interviews, log those interviews, write her story, edit her story, and then present it live on the air. And this story will be a prerecorded segment that I will have to present live on the evening news.
So what we first do when we get out here is make contact with our contact. Let's ask them about everything: acreage, any evacuation orders in effect, your idea with talking about the difference between fighting this versus, say, a house fire. So ask him everything across the board. Okay, great. Awesome. We're teamwork. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Oh, it's attack. Attack. Okay, I'm rolling. Amazing. What's going on today? We have a 40-acre vegetation fire on the northwest side of Tecate Peak. We're currently at 0% contained.
What is the difference between fighting a structure fire versus something like this? A structure fire, a house is usually a box. Usually, you can keep the fire contained to that structure. In this environment, we're on a hillside and that fire is not contained to a box. And then we have to deal with the wind and the different weather effects.
What do people need to know right now about evacuating? If you're in a zone under an evacuation order, that is time to leave right now.
And the one thing I was going to add, not for the interview purposes, if you can do any visuals, for example, show her the brush and the difference. It's right there. Or if you have anything in the back of your truck, it would help with your story because that's kind of where you come in, is showcasing, be more visual. That brush is a great example, if you want to walk over and show it. Yeah. Okay.
I'm going to be honest, the strategy here is extremely overwhelming because just move fast and capture something. It's very different from how we shoot Challenge Accepted typically. Also, interviewing for news versus Challenge Accepted is totally different. I find myself trying to struggle to sprint to keep up with everybody and make sure we get the right questions asked. So I'm learning all of those pieces as we go.
So basically, the interview that you did with the PIO, we're going to go over it. You're going to pull some sound bites and then they'll start writing your story. Great. Can we do that in the van? Yeah, we'll do that in the van. Yeah.
So when we do an interview, we ingest it in the computer. We often work in the vehicle and then we log the interview, meaning we listen to the interview. We write out various sound bites. That's called logging. And these sound bites will help me structure my two-minute story, which needs to go live in just under two hours.
Okay, here's what I'm thinking. Okay, but what's amazing about our local San Diego firefighters is how they take totally different approaches given the obstacle in front of them. Then we're in reality. A structure fire is going... Because instead of going from his long sound bite to that, in between I put your voice. I'd say, speaking of conditions, it hasn't rained since October. You're kind of setting him up for what he's about to say next, right?
And after taking an hour to finish writing the story with Shannon's feedback, I still have to record my lines of voice-over. Today, the Border Fire called 175 firefighters to the scene, but what is amazing is how our fire department handles each situation uniquely.
And finally, with all of our media captured, it was time to start editing. Everything is coming down to the wire. It's 3:11. I'm now running against the clock. But there is so much left to do, such as balancing the audio.
The audio break between it is a little jarring. Can we leave the audio off? But I can take it off. Sure. See, the attention span for news is short. I make audio breaks at like week. Whoa. What was that?
Collaborating on the story. Maybe we just end it on, "It's not contained to a box." And that fire is not contained to a box. You're thinking now.
And calling the studio to request additional footage that we couldn't capture on site. So we're just curious if you might be able to lay on, when we submit our package to you, a bit of B-roll and just any general structure fire in a building. I will have that standing by. Perfect. The early heads-up. Thanks, Joel.
All right, you guys are clear for about a minute thirty. You're going to be hearing the show in your ear, and then they're going to say, "Michelle Khare is live on scene. Michelle." And right when they say that, as soon as you hear that in your ear, you start talking and you're going to do your intro. So that we don't have the awkward pausing. Exactly.
With only a few minutes before going live, Kenny and I have to create the entire live setup by ourselves.
Hey, it's Kenny. Hey, I'm on Alpha. I got Michelle here. Hey there. Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you. I got your picture. You look good. You still got some time, so I'll let you guys go for a little bit. Okay. Appreciate it. Just want to make sure you see us.
We're about to go live on air right now, and I'm a bit nervous. Shannon said to me right before this, "Listen, it's live, and if you mess up, you messed up." I really want to get it right to make sure that the public feels informed and that they're up to date on what's going on with the fire in their backyard.
We're about one minute out, Michelle. One minute to... We're less than a minute. Less than a minute. I know. I know. It's fine. You're going to do thirty seconds. Copy that. This is just the cue that you're on, that's all. All righty. Here we go. Stand by live.
Welcome back to The Four. I'm Carlo Cecchetto. I'm Heather Myers. We've heard a lot today about the Santa Ana winds and how fires are impacting our communities. But how does a wildfire differ from a structure fire when it comes to protection? Yeah. And a couple of minutes ago, we told you about Michelle Khare of Challenge Accepted. She's taking on the job of a reporter today and is live on the scene to tell us more about what's going on with that fire risk. Michelle.
Hey, Carlo and Heather. Michelle Khare here live on scene at the Border Fire, where for the past few hours we've had the immense privilege of getting to watch over 175 firefighters fight to keep this fire right behind me contained. And as you mentioned, something I was super curious about while we were out here was how these firefighters approach a structure or a house fire that we might encounter in the metropolis of San Diego versus something so out in the open here in these Santa Ana winds.
Today, the Border Fire called 175 firefighters to the scene. But what is amazing is how our fire department handles each situation uniquely.
They're in your package. This is delayed. You're going to see yourself. That's what you look like live on TV. That's me on the desk.
A structure fire is going to be a box. A house is usually a box, and there's four walls and a roof. About a minute back. In a structure fire, firefighters wear a heavy jacket like this and a respirator to breathe. But the wildland gear is far less protective. In the REI sound bite, all of this is why the men and women out here today are so brave to keep our community safe.
Last we heard from firefighting officials, the fire is 50% contained, but they will be working hard all throughout the night. Back to you.
How do you feel? Nice work. Gosh, we did it. We did a field report. And it's amazing how we spend so many hours working on this and it's over. Okay, so Dana is our boss. She said that was perfect. You guys tell Michelle great job. Oh my gosh. Woo. You always want to impress the boss.
You want to go home happy, too, every day, because tomorrow we're going to do it again. Oh my God. And again and again. We get to do anchoring tomorrow.
Today I am going to be anchoring the San Diego news. That's crazy. I can't believe they're letting me do this. I think some of the challenges this morning will be that I am learning all of the news as it's happening. I've also got to do the weather today, which was a bit challenging when I practiced, but I've just got to get it together. The news doesn't stop and the news doesn't sleep.
That's your rundown. So you'll start on desk with Erik, and then once we're into weather, we'll have you get off desk so you can head into Studio A.
Today, the county board of supervisors is voting on whether or not to allow American Airlines to fly out of Palomar Airport. Now, if approved, this would be the first time commercial flights fly out of the airport in 28 years.
And give me a mic check, Michelle. Hey, my name is Michelle, and I'm so excited to be here. I have her. She sounds good. All righty. We got forty-five. Hi. Hi, Michelle. How are you? You ready? Let's go ahead and get Michelle in that chair. What's up? Hey. How are you? I'm ready for your debut. Yes, sir. About ten seconds. Bam. Bam. Breaking news. All right, stand by two. Have fun and cue Erik.
Welcome back. A red flag warning in San Diego has now expired, but thousands of people across the county are still feeling the impact. Thanks for being here. I'm Erik Kanhert. And I'm Michelle Khare from Challenge Accepted. We have team coverage this morning. CBS 8's Regina Yurrita is live in Ramona, where a second fire broke out in the same spot as yesterday. This comes as thousands are still in the area without power.
We do want to check in with meteorologist Evan Noorani, tracking the wind starting to die down a bit out there. Yeah, finally noticing a reprieve from those dangerously intense easterly winds that we had yesterday.
Today, the county board of supervisors is voting on whether or not American Airlines can fly out of Palomar Airport. Yeah. If this is approved here, this would be the first time commercial flights fly out of the airport in 28 years.
All right, you guys are clear for about a minute thirty. Okay, cool. Evan, you'll go stand next to Erik. You guys will chat. Toss to weather. We just added this part. Toss to weather. Why don't you be the one that comes up with the toss to weather? So when they cut to us, I'll be like, "Evan, we got a lot going on." All right, guys. Five seconds. Stand by. Open first. Go for it.
Well, it has been a crazy week for weather as well as these fires that have been outbreaking. Yesterday, I was at the Border Fire reporting, and the winds were just so wild I couldn't even keep anything straight. Yeah. Can we expect more of that this week, Evan? So those winds are dying down slowly, but it's taking some time today. So that red flag warning has finally expired. We are seeing that out of our hair.
All right, about thirty seconds. We'll do weather next. We looked at this yesterday. So up next, you have to do green screen weather coming up next.
Oh my God, this is going to be the hardest part for sure. I haven't seen any of these graphics. I'm about to deliver the weather, and I haven't even seen the graphics yet. And the lights are flickering. What's going on?
So you got one more hit here. You got to keep the energy up. Yeah. There. Five more minutes and you'll be done with everything. Okay. And it's one take. One take. That's all you get. No recuts. All righty. Here we go. Stand by. I'll cue you when to talk. Open and cue Michelle.
Good morning, everybody. I am so excited to be taking over for Evan Noorani this morning to give you a live look at your weather for this week. Now, a lot of stuff we've been talking about this week has been related to these Santa Ana winds, which have been wild and crazy. But I have some good news. Those will be dying down this week. We have above
Normal temperatures with filtered sun today. But some also good news. We have a chance for showers.
You see, I did see that. Yeah. Everybody has been asking us, when is the rain coming? And I have some good news. It is coming later this week. We've got a little bit of rain inbound, which is fantastic.
Now, your 7-day forecast is also looking really nice. Today, we have 69, low of 63 tomorrow. Continuing through the week, so if you're planning to head outside, it's going to be beautiful. It's great. Let's be honest, it's San Diego.
When we were training for weather, Michelle's biggest struggle was going overtime. Now, Michelle has 30 seconds left. She's already to the last graphic, and she's got to come up with something to say.
Now, something I also want to mention to you guys is later this week, we have some king tides heading in, which we'll be talking about later this week. Evan will give you all the details, which is something important for you to keep in mind if you are heading out to the beach. But for now, everything's looking great. Evan, anything else that I may have missed?
You're giving me a run for my money. You did a fantastic job. How'd it feel?
Oh gosh, this is incredible. The fact that you do this every day, fully improvised, is incredible. And thank you so much for keeping our communities informed with everything that's going on, especially this week with all of the crazy winds and fires.
That's right. All right. Neda, Erik, you're over in the studio. How would you rate it so far?
Informative, friendly, all the things. Very nice. She figured it all out. So, flying colors. Great job.
I am promptly passing the keys back. There you go. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for everything.
But my time on air doesn't end here because there is one more secret mission I have to announce live on the news.
Being here has been incredible. But I do have a secret mission. Can I tell you about the secret mission?
Yes, please. We love secrets.
I have a secret mission of one day finding out how to get a key to the city of San Diego. San Diego's key from the mayor himself. So, mayor, if you're watching, I'd love to know the protocol for obtaining a key to the city. I've heard that, for other cities, the key to the city is a sign of friendship. We love San Diego. It's a beautiful place here.
So, we do know that Mayor Todd Gloria does tend to watch our show a lot. So, yeah, maybe he's watching right now. We'll make sure this message gets to him. Either way, his people.
Thank you so much. We will be right back after this break. Thank you.
Yay. The key to the city. I know. How are you going to get the key to the city? Let's find out. Who has the key to the city? The mayor must.
Breaking news. This just in. I'm hearing through my ear that a lot of you watching this video aren't subscribed to the YouTube channel. So, if you like what you see, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss more episodes like this one. Thank you so much for watching this episode of Challenge Accepted. And as always, San Diego, thanks for stopping by.
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