RENNER, SD (KELO-AM) - This probably sounds crass but one of the fun, or at least exciting things about being a broadcast journalist is chasing after interesting crime scenes and accidents.
This morning's plane crash--or perhaps more precisely, crash landing near Renner--is an example of when it is not so exciting.
The scanner goes off or you read a Tweet and you grab your gear (in my case, my iPhone and my iRig microphone), jump in the Pacifica (I'm not authorized to drive the station vehicle, at least yet), then try to find the crash site. Which of course is sealed off from all the normal access points by the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office.
At one such check point, the deputy said, "See where those yellow lights are? That's where you need to go."
He could have also said, "Just follow the media gaggle."
So, I get there late, as I was working on The Greg Belfrage Show podcasts. But the usual suspects are there--KELO-TV, KSFY-TV, KDLT-TV, that other radio station group in town, I think someone from the newspaper whose name we do not mention was also there.
The plane crashed in a field. Sheriff Mike Milstead contracted the perimeter and let us in closer. It was still a good quarter mile of a walk to the next barricade. Where we saw a field. And barricades. And the press gaggle. But we could not see the airplane, the pilot, the instructor or anyone else other than the authorities probably another quarter to half mile down the road doing their jobs.
Anyway, the video I shot shows you how much--or how little--we could see of the scene.
Welcome to the life of a broadcast journalist in a medium sized media market.