Our sister site FishbowlNY interviews WPIX reporter Dan Mannarino, who missed several live shots this weekend because the CW affiliate’s satellite truck was stuck in the snow in Suffolk County. The truck operator got stuck in the snow while on his way to pick up Mannarino before his 7 a.m. live shot:
With two feet of snow and no plows in sights, the WPIX truck had no way of reaching Mannarino, meaning the live reporting would be scrapped. But the conscientious reporter had no designs of spending the day in the hotel.
“I called the DPW [Department of Public Works] of that town and they came and sent a plow to get him out. That plow got stuck.” Mannarino says.
AdvertisementAs the clock ticked down before his first shot in 45 minutes, Mannarino says a front loader was brought to the scene to remove mounds of snow. In the process, the plow was removed. The Channel 11 mobile unit, though, could not able to be extricated.
Now with a live truck and the rescuing plow casualties of the snowstorm, Mannarino took matters into his own hands. He walked several blocks to the L.I.E. where he shot some photos of abandoned vehicles on the snow-covered road.
“I did photo interviews from my location,” Mannarino says. “Because that’s all I could do while the truck was being dug out… From where I was, there was 30 inches and I couldn’t bring that to the viewer. It was very frustrating.”
Mannarino was back up and running by the station’s 6 p.m. newscast.