As the news broke of Boeing picking South Carolina over Washington for the location of the second 787 line Wednesday afternoon, Seattle media outlets rushed to get on the air with the story.
On the TV side, KING (simulcast on Northwest Cable News) took the offensive just after 2 p.m. with Dennis Bounds and Jean Enersen in studio, a reporter in Everett interviewing Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, and Jim Forman standing in front of a chain-link fence in Charleston, S.C. KIRO had Steve Raible in studio with a reporter in Everett (also interviewing Reardon, after KING) and live footage from the South Carolina statehouse where lawmakers were celebrating the coup. KING was first to have Sen. Patty Murray, via satellite from Washington, D.C.
Over on KCPQ, Maury Povich was sharing a spooky video of a shopper and shopping cart trailed by a ghost when the program was interrupted at about 2:17 p.m. by James Lynch, in studio, who read from press releases. KOMO was last to the party, breaking into 'êGeneral Hospital'ê at about 2:23 p.m. to interview the ubiquitous Reardon.
On the radio, KIRO-FM'ês "Dori Monson Show" was wall-to-wall (with no commercial interruption) from just after 2 p.m. until almost 2:30, with a succession of guests including Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson and, you guessed it, Reardon. KOMO-AM led with the story just after 2, but stayed with its regular rotation of sports, weather, traffic, and commercial spots.
From this listener and viewer'ês perspective, KING TV and KIRO-FM had the most thorough and most timely early coverage of what'ês sure to be an ongoing story.
