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Hatmaker does a similar rundown for 6 p.m. anchor Deanne Lane. He explains why he's placed a voice-over about highway-construction troubles before a voice-over on the dynamite scare in South St. Louis. "The tie here," Hatmaker says, "is that they shut down the highway, and they shut down the neighborhood."

The dynamite scare is finally declared a bust -- dowel rods wrapped in red paper, with an alarm clock attached. Baldridge tells Hatmaker that the camera crew got good footage of the hoax device. "You might want to run a voice-over," he suggests, "just to tell people what it was about."

Liza Singer, the 10 p.m. news producer, arrives and catches up on what's been happening before her newscast's production meeting at 3 p.m. Singer and Ed Rich herd those involved in the 10 p.m. newscast into Tim Larson's office to talk it out.

Iraq will be the lead story, and Singer wants the issue localized. Various suggestions are tossed out on how to do it and which experts to call in. "How about Harry Levins at the Post?" suggests Mike Owens. "It'd be good to get someone like that in the bag."

There is still local news to be discussed. Ruth Ezell wants to revisit a story she did weeks ago on problems with the city's issuance of support checks. There's a quick discussion on who's to blame for the snafu. "The trouble with the support story," continues Ezell, "is that I can't find the women. They'd had their phones disconnected and moved."

Rich pulls out a fax that might make for a 10 p.m. feature. It's a story about a man who'd placed angels on the houses in his neighborhood at Christmas for decades. After the man's incapacitation, neighbors and family pitched in to keep the angel tradition alive. "I thought this would be a wonderful holiday story," Rich says.

Ezell agrees: "I like warm-and-fuzzy."
As Singer's meeting breaks up, it becomes almost instantaneously moot. NBC is saying that the bombs are due to fall at any minute. Potter and Hatmaker revisit their tug-of-war earlier in the day, this time with more urgency.

"They're ramping up coverage," Hatmaker argues, pulling for more Iraq material in his newscast. "I don't want to look stupid."

Potter holds fast to her demands. "I still think we need to have something at 5," she says.

On the bank of televisions above the assignment desk, anti-aircraft fire is lighting up the night sky over Baghdad, but KSDK hasn't switched to the network feed yet.

"We're still on Jeopardy!" yells one staffer disconsolately.

Right before 4 p.m., news director Tim Larson gathers the staff in his office. In front of the crush of producers, anchors, reporters and other staffers, Larson starts to draft a game plan to switch the focus of tonight's newscasts. Hours of meticulous planning, shooting of video and reporting are flung overboard by a wave of breaking news.

The initial decision is where to send the station's cameras to get local reaction to the bombing. As you'd expect, the focus is on the visual -- even the self-referential.

Larson wonders out loud whether the cameras should be sent "somewhere like Circuit City, where people would be watching it."

Ed Rich says, "I want airport stuff. Security's going to get tight."
Eventually Larson settles on live remotes from Washington University and the airport. He sends Ezell -- now relieved of the warm-and-fuzzy angel story -- to the campus. "We're sending (cameraman Jim) Tuxbury right behind you," Larson promises.

Whether there will be a newscast at 5 p.m. is the next question. President Bill Clinton is certain to talk to the country in the next hour. Theories about NBC News coverage and how much local angle the station can cram into the 5 p.m. newscast are swatted about the room by nearly a dozen voices.

It's a storm that has Sonya Potter, with less than an hour to prepare now, looking quietly frustrated. Larson halts the cacophony and speaks directly to her. He puts his hands to his head like blinders to emphasize focus. "Go with the idea that you're going to go at 5 p.m.," Larson tells her. She darts from the room.

Larson approves producer Al Frank's idea to get a camera up the street to Union Station for local reaction. The office empties now, but Larson stops the profoundly pregnant Leisa Zigman -- who's done one live stand-up already today and has volunteered to do the airport remote -- as she's walking out.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Larson says.
"It's fine," Zigman says, smiling, as she glances at her belly. "It might move things around."

After the meeting, the newsroom cranks into high gear. Al Frank turns around the Union Station "man on the street" interviews in slightly more than a half-hour. Reporters race to get congressional reaction.

At her desk, Potter races the clock. Larson advises her on what to drop from her newscast if NBC's coverage runs over. "I'd like to get (weathercaster) Cindy Preszler in," Larson says. "If anyone has to drop, it's those guys." Larson points toward the sports office. "(The Blues) lost 7-3 last night."

Shortly before 5 p.m., Potter is in the control room with director Patricia Klein, ready to go. Clinton's speech is running into Potter's news slot. She kills off stories as Clinton speaks. It's a primer in TV-news priorities. Potter immediately eliminates a report on a teen who killed his classmates in Paducah, Ky., then items on hurricane victims and a food drive. A feature on migraines, a commercial break and sports are killed next.

As Clinton's speech ends at 5:15 p.m., KSDK decides to stay with NBC coverage. Potter kills the Kay Quinn fibroid-tumor story and the "Volunteer 5" segment. Weather is trimmed, and a package on police and the pope's visit is axed. At last Potter's newscast is whittled to nothing, and NBC goes to its nightly newscast.

"I'm 99 percent sure," Larson says, "that we'll go local at 6 p.m."

The 6 o'clock newscast is now devoted entirely to the breaking national news. Short sports and weather segments and the "Volunteer 5" feature also make the cut.

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