:: Earl Green - Freelance Television Writer / Producer ::

To kick off sweeps, this package - concerning sheriff’s deputies and local police agencies training in preparation for a major warrant sweep - same together very quickly, so much so that the promo only ran for one day. There was an abundance of extremely cool footage and raw sound here - including the “Police! Down on the ground!” stuff - that helped this spot a lot. Cut to the music, add a few more sound effects (the raw sound of gunshots on the tape sounded like fireworks, so I had to sweeten that just a bit, though I found the sound effects that we had on hand for this to be embarrassingly bad, so I mixed them way down), and it’s a pretty cool little spot. It’s also so fast-cutting that Flash video conversion eats it for lunch, but this gives you a pretty good idea of what it looks like.

One day before the tenth anniversary of a destructive tornado that swept through downtown Fort Smith, 40/29 aired a half-hour special that not only looked back at those events, but at how things have changed since then, with, of course, the obligatory look at how our station’s weather tech is the best on the block. For the purposes of the promo, however, I tried to focus more on the historical element rather than self-promotion, because there are several issues surrounding this event - the economic impact, loss of life, and the nearly complete lack of any warning whatsoever - that are touchy subjects in this area, so I tried to handle it with some reverence.