Current:Home > Stocks'Can I go back to my regular job?' Sports anchor goes viral for blizzard coverage-LoTradeCoin
'Can I go back to my regular job?' Sports anchor goes viral for blizzard coverage
View Date:2024-12-23 21:12:54
"I've got good news and I've got bad news," television sports anchor Mark Woodley said while reporting on eastern Iowa's winter storm on Thursday. "The good news is that I can still feel my face," he said. "The bad news is I kind of wish I couldn't."
A video of Woodley making such quips while on the job, working for a local NBC station KWWL news, in Waterloo, has gone viral on Twitter after he was recruited to help with the station's coverage of a blizzard for a day.
The popular tweet, posted by Woodley himself, features a compilation video of Woodley cracking jokes while reporting on the weather from outside the KWWL building. It has more than 180,000 likes and has been viewed over 25 million times since Woodley posted it Thursday morning.
He brought the humor he usually uses in his own show — the one he referred to when he quipped, "Can I go back to my regular job?" — to cover the storm.
"This is a really long show," he said to preface the 3 1/2-hour broadcast. "Tune in for the next couple hours to watch me progressively get crankier and crankier."
He says he woke up at 2:30 am to report for his first hit on air that day, which was at 4:34 a.m. "I don't know how you guys get up at this time every single day," he said in a talk-back with KWWL's Today in Iowa co-anchor Ryan Witry. "I didn't even realize there was a 3:30 also in the morning until today!"
Woodley told NPR that he tweeted the video thinking maybe 20 to 30 people would give it a heart.
"I don't have many Twitter followers," Woodley said. "The tweet that I sent out prior to this one had – and still has – five likes on it." (The tweet had 10 likes, the last time NPR checked.)
Within a couple hours, accounts with far greater followings, like director Judd Apatow and former NBA player Rex Chapman, had retweeted his post. "
That's when everything started going nuts," Woodley said. "It was unbelievable."
He wants people to know that the video is a supercut and doesn't reflect the rest of his live coverage during the hazardous weather event.
"I know there are people out there working hard. Running the plows, making sure people can get to work. I know it's a serious storm," he said. "The rest of these reports, you know, reflected these things. ... I just want people to know that I didn't think this was entirely a joke."
Woodley, who has covered sports for about 20 years, has stepped in to report on other topics when needed.
"We reflect, I think, a lot of industries across the country who since the pandemic have had trouble getting people back to work," he said. "So people are pitching in in areas where they wouldn't normally."
In fact, Woodley said he filmed most of his live shots that morning himself before his manager got in to work. He was alone on the street, delivering his jokes to just the camera.
John Huff, the station's vice president and general manager, helped behind the scenes when he arrived.
"All that was on my mind at first was getting Mark inside the building right after each of his live reports," Huff told NPR in an emailed statement. "Contrary to what some people thought, we did not have him outside for the entire 3 and a half hours!"
Huff explained that he and the station's news director, Andrew Altenbern, considered asking Woodley to report more conventionally, but decided that the humor gave the coverage a "unique element."
Despite Woodley's viral success, KWWL hasn't asked him to cover the weather again — which, because of the shift's early call time, Woodley said is a relief.
veryGood! (6664)
Related
- Police capture Tennessee murder suspect accused of faking his own death on scenic highway
- Is beer sold at college football games? Here's where you can buy it during the 2023 season
- Dirty air is biggest external threat to human health, worse than tobacco or alcohol, major study finds
- Canada issues US travel advisory warning LGBTQ+ community about laws thay may affect them
- Nevada trial set for ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor in newly-revived sex abuse case
- Greece: Firefighters rescue 25 migrants trapped in forest as massive wildfire approached
- Capitol physician says McConnell medically clear to continue with schedule after second freezing episode
- Have a food allergy? Your broken skin barrier might be to blame
- Klay Thompson returns to Golden State in NBA Cup game. How to watch
- Billy Ray Cyrus and Fiancée Firerose Share Insight Into Their Beautiful Whirlwind Romance
Ranking
- Jennifer Lopez Gets Loud in Her First Onstage Appearance Amid Ben Affleck Divorce
- 'Sleepless in Seattle' at 30: Real-life radio host Delilah still thinks love conquers all
- Grammy-winning British conductor steps away from performing after allegedly hitting a singer
- Behind the scenes with Deion Sanders, Colorado's uber-confident football czar
- Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
- 2nd man charged in July shooting at massive Indiana block party that killed 1, injured 17
- Food ads are in the crosshairs as Burger King, others face lawsuits for false advertising
- Whatever happened to the case of 66 child deaths linked to cough syrup from India?
Recommendation
-
Texas now tops in SEC? Miami in trouble? Five overreactions to college football Week 11
-
From conspiracy theories to congressional hearings: How UFOs became mainstream in America
-
Up First briefing: Labor Day travel; 9/11 trial; best summer video games
-
Lionel Messi will miss one Inter Miami game in September for 2026 World Cup qualifying
-
Charles Hanover: Caution, Bitcoin May Be Entering a Downward Trend!
-
Detroit man plans vacation after winning $300k in Michigan Lottery's Bingo Blockbuster game
-
Trump trial in Fulton County will be televised and live streamed, Georgia judge says
-
Tropical Storm Idalia brings flooding to South Carolina