New York, Part One--Fox News

This past weekend Chris and I had the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful child-free trip to New York City. My parents came to DC to visit us for a couple of weeks, and they volunteered to watch the kids so we could get away for a long weekend. How cool are my parents, 'eh? So, never ones to turn down something that good, we spent 4-1/2 days in NYC. We did so much and saw so much, that we've decided to chronicle our trip in parts. This, as evidenced by the title, is Part One--Fox News.

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So, we got in to New York's Penn Station (via Amtrak) at around 5:30 in the evening on Thursday, 3/6. We checked into our hotel (the Paramount Times Square, which was teeny tiny, but rather hip and cool), and then headed over to the building that houses Fox News. (Back in May or so of 2006 the producer [Dan] for the Hannity and Colmes show came to Yuma. Chris took him and his camera man on a couple of ride alongs over the course of a weekend and they got some great footage which aired for quite a while on Fox News. Many of you may remember catching a glimpse of Chris on the network. Alan Colmes even said Chris's name live on air one time. Anyway, Dan told Chris that any time he was in New York to give him a call and he would hook him up with a tour of the studios.) We met up with Dan and he gave us a tour of the offices, some of the control rooms where the live shows are actually controlled, and some of the studio sets. The first set we went onto happened to be where Shepard Smith was doing a live broadcast for his nightly show. There were about 3 or 4 crew members on the set and Shepard Smith. It was really neat to see the backdrop and the set. It was all lights and cameras and cables, and it was exactly how it is seen on the show every night, but up close and personal. Chris tried to get a picture, but without his tripod it was too dark to get a clear picture.

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Then we went to the studio where Sean Hannity was going to be taping his weekend show. Dan introduced us to Sean, who was very nice and friendly to us nobodies. We talked for a few minutes before he had to get back to taping.

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Later that evening we went into the studio to watch the Hannity and Colmes show live. When we got there neither Hannity nor Colmes were there yet, but someone else was getting set up to be part of the show. Chris turned to Dan and asked, "Is that Ollie North?" Sure enough, Oliver North was a guest on the show that night. Dan took us up there to meet him. After a short chat he thanked Chris for his service to the country. Way cool! After Ollie's part of the show was over, Dan took us up to the front and took a picture of all of us on the set.

(This was taken during a commercial break.)

How cool is that? Chris thinks that, next to his picture with President Bush, this is the coolest picture he has. I'll admit, it is pretty darn awesome. Anyway, I know it's been long, but it was too fantastic not to chronicle in depth. Thanks for sticking with it!

*Up next: Part Two--The Empire State Building