Ground-Breaking Trouble for WPXI
It was to be a memorable day forWPXI Pittsburgh. Political leaders, ad clients and Cox Broadcasting brass would be turning up for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the station’s new facility. Then the newsroom computer system crashed, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, forcing the station to broadcast its noon news from the parking lot. A Windows glitch struck around 11:30, whereupon News Director Corrie Harding made the call to have the anchors set up outside.
At the ceremony a few hours later, G.M. Ray Carter vowed that the new technologies would eventually offer a better TV experience.
The anchor crew was back in the studio for its 5 p.m. newscast.
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Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.