After an explosion was reported in Manhattan’s East Village, New York stations broke into regular programming at around 3:30 p.m.
WABC first hit the air at 3:32 p.m. Sade Baderinwa told viewers about a partial building collapse. The ABC owned station had cell phone video in its first hit then returned to programming. It came back four minutes later with live video from its crews.
WNYW broke into People’s Court at 3:40 for a one minute update. Steve Lacy anchored. The FOX owned station came back at 3:50 with live helicopter video showing the smoky scene.
Tribune’s CW affiliate WPIX broke into The Steve Wilkos Show at 3:43. John Muller was in the newsroom. They showed photos of the scene, then went to a live shot from a tower cam.
At 3:46, Shiba Russell from WNBC broke into Steve Harvey. The NBC owned station said the FDNY reported a gas leak. They went back to Steve Harvey, then came back at 3:56 with cell phone video and a phoner with a witness.
WCBS came on at 4:00 p.m. Christine Johnson and Dick Brennan gave the address where the explosion happened and showed both stills and live video.
After the initial breaking news, all the stations got their live trucks up and running and started regular updates with reporters on scene mixed with witness interviews and user-generated content.