By Steven Baker
Staff Writer
Every evening, people from all over the tri-state area look to him for
answers. They want to know the latest news from the metropolitan area,
as well as the world.
Chuck Scarborough, news anchor for WNBC in New York, has been delivering
the facts to the metro-area for almost three decades.
Having reported on just about everything in his career, the events of
Sept. 11 particularly stand out in his mind.
“It was the single biggest story of my career,” Scarborough
said.
With the GE Building in Rockefeller Center having been evacuated, everyone
who remained in the newsroom on Sept. 11 were considered volunteers, and
according to Scarborough, most everyone stayed.
After fighting his way into the city, Scarborough walked into the landmark
building while thinking to himself, “Rockefeller Center could be
a target.” The network went into crisis mode, staying on the air
for more than 24 hours without a commercial break. Despite the anxiety,
the staff worked to put some cohesion to the scattered puzzle pieces.
With breaking news events like the tragedy of Sept. 11 there is “no
such thing as an average workday” in the television news business,
Scarborough said.
Scarborough’s workday generally begins at 3 p.m. and concludes
after the 11 p.m. broadcast. However, when working on a special report,
Scarborough will come to the office much earlier in the day.
Thirty years after entering the then ratings-struggling WNBC, the network’s
flagship station, Scarborough continues to co-anchor the 6 p.m and 11
p.m. broadcast. He also provides a number of special reports for each
broadcast throughout the year.
“People are like gypsies in this industry. It’s not known
for longevity,” Scarborough said. “Once ratings are down,
people tend to leave.”
Through his many years on the job, Scarborough has emerged with various
accolades for his journalistic ability. Of the 24 Emmy awards he has received,
three are displayed in his corner office of the WNBC newsroom. Books line
the windowsill, as do pictures of family and relatives on his desk. The
most prominent picture of his seventh-floor office is that of he and long-time
co-anchor, Sue Simmons.
Despite his success as a journalist, Scarborough had other ambitions
upon graduating high school.
“Believe it or not, this isn’t what I always wanted to do,”
Scarborough said.
The Russian launch of Sputnick in 1957 sparked his interest in engineering
as a way to bridge the technological divide created between the United
States and Russia.
With that in mind, Scarborough began his post high school days in the
United States Air Force where he taught electronic theory and experimented
with educational television.
After getting a taste of the television business, Scarborough was hired
by the local ABC affiliate in Mississippi for his technical experience.
It was during this time that he came to realize his interest in journalism
and television news.
With that, Scarborough decided to return to school. He was graduated
from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1969 with a degree in communication
and a minor in physics.
As he worked his way up in the profession, from Mississippi to Boston,
Scarborough finally found himself in the number one market in 1974, New
York, working for WNBC.
For Scarborough, preparation for each newscast usually begins with the
morning newspaper.
“This job requires constant awareness of the news around the globe,
not just the city,” Scarborough said. “You must have a wealth
of knowledge to draw. You must be able to talk about things.”
He believes his engineering knowledge helped him to make sense out of
the collapse of the Twin Towers. Understanding concrete and the construction
of skyscrapers such as the Twin Towers helped him to explain the situation
on camera.
Scarborough goes through the script for each newscast long before airtime.
He works with the writers to make sure that each story will be clearly
understood by the viewers.
With 20 minutes to airtime, Scarborough travels downstairs to the set.
The studio is located just down the hall from the set of Late Night with
Conan O’Brien, which usually tapes during Scarborough’s 6
p.m. newscast.
As work continues on News Channel 4’s new studio, the anchors
make due in a smaller set which pales in comparison to the new. Technicians
are fine-tuning the projection of the NYC skyline that will appear behind
the anchors. This backdrop is actually a recorded image of the skyline
with blinking lights, moving cars and ferries in the background.
Technological advances over the years have not only lent to more high-tech
sets, but have also made journalism more aggressive, Scarborough states.
“The advent of satellites and electronic news gathering accelerated
what we do tremendously. They have made us more aggressive in challenging
government authority and has helped us in undercover camera work,”
Scarborough said.
April 10 , 2003 Issue
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TimesOnline
