Ground-Breaking Trouble for WPXI

It was to be a memorable day forWPXI Pittsburgh. Political leaders, ad clients and Cox Broadcasting brass would be turning up for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the station’s new facility. Then the newsroom computer system crashed, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, forcing the station to broadcast its noon news from the parking lot. A Windows glitch struck around 11:30, whereupon News Director Corrie Harding made the call to have the anchors set up outside.

At the ceremony a few hours later, G.M. Ray Carter vowed that the new technologies would eventually offer a better TV experience. 

The anchor crew was back in the studio for its 5 p.m. newscast.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.