Bring your parents to work day

Sacramento Capitol Building. Arnold, where are you?

Believe it or not, my parents have not been to see me in five or six years. Don’t get me wrong. We’re a close family. It’s that usually I go home to see them and not the other way around.

But last week I got a call. They were on the road…and they would be here in about a week.

You know what that means. Yup, that’s right. It was time to do some serious cleaning that involved more than a quick vacuum and turning on the dishwasher. It was time to actually get out the duster and tidy up the closets.

Ironically, my cleaning frenzy was a waste as the whole time my parents were in Sacramento, we spent very little time at home. Instead, we spent most of it driving around. I took them to the Capitol building to see Arnold (but it was furlough Friday so no one was there), the rose garden, old Sacramento, around Midtown, and of course, Jamie’s. They had seen the “Diners and Dives” segment and it was the #1 thing to do on their list.

So what was #2 on their list? Come to the station and watch a newscast live.

Jamie's from Diners and Dives

It was then that it hit me that in all the years I’ve worked for TV, they have never been to any of the stations I have been at.

So I did what every news person does when their parents come to town: I gave them a tour of the station.

Then we plopped down on the sofa on the set and watched the News10 anchors Dale and Cristina get ready for the 5 p.m. show.

Within minutes, my parents realized the way they do the news is not like you see in TV movies. For one thing, there are no camera people or directors on the set. Instead, our News10 cameras are robotic and the director sits in another room (not behind a window, but down the hall) and talks to the anchors through their head sets.

My parents were also surprised at how quiet it was—but I guess it would be if there are only two people in the room.

Then during the break, I took them to the control room where they got to chance to watch the producer and director in action. I'm sure they thought this would be the boring part, but they were about to be enlightened because this is where the action is.

Just seeing these two people busy pushing buttons on the computer screen, as they gave the reporters, photographers in the field directions while cueing music, graphics and camera angles really opened my parents eyes to the fast pace of the industry.

Michelle and her dad doing the news at the anchor desk.

Of course, their tour of the station wasn’t done yet.

After the show, I brought them back into the studio to have a little fun with our Meteorologist Ken Barlow. It turns out my dad has a secret weatherman fantasy and couldn’t get enough of the green screen…or the anchor desk.

Needless to say, my little "bring your parents to work day" was a blast!