It almost always is a good idea to showcase the fact that news/weather talent is buds with Grammy-Award winners. So when Gary Dobbs decided to have a surprise birthday party for Randy Owen's wife live during a weathercast from his home around Christmastime, we all jumped at the chance to be a part of it. Several of us from the station, as well as some friends of Gary and the Owens, assembled at his house, and of course the live truck was outside beaming everything up the hill. While Gary was doing his weathercast, Jamie Cooper got the cake ready to bring out, candles lit, so we could surprise Randy's wife.
The trouble started when he paused in the hallway leading from the kitchen to the living room...right under the smoke detector. Of course it started screatching right in the middle of the live shot. People were frantically fanning the thing with their hands until finally somebody brought in a kitchen chair to stand on and disconnect the thing from the ceiling. Gary, as I recall, never missed a beat in his weather report. But the rest of us were laughing hysterically.
But wait...there's more. After the lights went off and the smoke detector calmed down and the live truck pulled away, those of us who stayed started singing Christmas carols. I sat on Gary Dobbs' couch with Randy Owen and sang Christmas carols. How often does THAT happen? It was an unforgetable moment for me, and also an interesting item on my resume: "Sang backup for Randy Owen." Hasn't gotten me a lot of gigs so far.
...Greg Carroll