Photo: Spectrum NY1
May 21, 2019 By Christian Murray
New York 1 is taking its popular morning show on the road for the first time Wednesday and Forest Hills Stadium will become its newsroom for the day.
Pat Kiernan and his crew—Annika Pergament, Jamie Stelter and Stacy-Ann Gooden—will be taping live from the concert stage at the historic outdoor venue.
“We’re excited to partner with Forest Hills Stadium and bring the entire ‘Mornings on 1’ team to Queens for their first live remote newscast,” said Dan Ronayne, Spectrum News NY1 Senior vice president.
The show will include all of its regular segments—from “in the Papers” to transit updates–but will also feature some local issues, businesses and restaurants in the borough. For instance, NY1 reporter Stephanie Simon will visit the newly-opened Hong Kong Gourmet Food Court in Elmhurst, while Roger Clark will report live from Rockaway Beach to highlight those beaches worth visiting over Memorial Day weekend.
Kiernan will also hit a few tennis balls at the historic tennis stadium with professionals.
Putting the show on the road—particularly outdoors– is no easy undertaking, Kiernan said in an interview.
Kiernan anticipates that about 30 members of the ‘Mornings on 1’ news team will be at the stadium to shoot the 3-hour show that runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. The production involves bringing various high-tech systems—which provide traffic data, access to reporters in the field and teleprompters—to the stadium. There will still be about 10 people remaining in the Manhattan studio.
Forest Hills Stadium, which today is a major outdoor concert venue, was viewed as an ideal location for NY1 to test the ‘live remote newscast’ concept.
The area is in a historic section of a diverse borough, while the stadium offers an environment where production can be managed by the crew. The stadium offers shelter should it rain and there is plenty of space for equipment—including satellite trucks.
The public will not be permitted to enter the stadium to watch the show.
NY 1 to host morning show live on stage at Forest Hills Stadium (Photo: Forest Hills Stadium)
“It’s a venue we can have control over,” Kiernan said. “We couldn’t do it at Jamaica station in the middle of a rush hour commute, or Rockaway Beach where it could suddenly be 40 degrees.”
He said that this time of the year is ideal for the outdoor show. He said it would be difficult to do it in the heat of summer or in the cold of winter.
NY1 introduced ‘Mornings on 1’ in October 2017, when it moved away from the one-person anchor format and created a more elaborate show.
“We have always had doing this in the back of our mind…, but we have never had the right opportunity to do it,” Kiernan said.
He said that he and his team will monitor the success of Wednesday to see what their next steps should be.
NY1 does not have any plans to do live newscasts from other boroughs at this time.
“It’s not formally part of a series,” Kiernan said. “But we will closely monitor what our viewers have to say. And if it is a success then who knows.”
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4 Comments
Thank god for Fios.
Is this the show where the guy reads you the headlines in newspapers? Wow what hard hitting journalism.
Happy Pat Kiernan is covering us. He’s my favorite!
Hope he’ll also have a look at Forest Hills Station.
It looks like a medieval city.
I hope they’ll also show some of the historic beauty in the gardens.
How about the spot where Roosevelt gave his famous war speech?
It’s a couple of steps away from the stadium.