A day in the life... (continued)

Each of ATC's 16-18 musical interludes are chosen by Director Bob Boilen.

Sr. News Analyst Daniel Schorr records his commentary on the first 100 days of Bush.

3:24 p.m. — Each show contains 16-18 musical interludes, known as "buttons." Director Bob Boilen chooses them on the basis of "time and tone" -- the amount of time he has to fill, and the tone or topic of the reports the music precedes and follows. Today, he says, "I haven't thought about it yet. I'll think about it in 15 minutes."

3:30 p.m. — Schorr's in the studio, recording his commentary.

3:40 p.m. — Totenberg walks in holding a reel of tape and asking, "Do we have a cutter in the studio?" She joins Washington Editor Barbara Campbell, Producer David Rector and Engineer Linda Mack in a studio. She reads her "tracks" on the Supreme Court arguments in the Massachusetts tobacco advertising case, and waves a hand to signal where to insert the "acts" of experts she's interviewed. When she flubs a line, she stops and repeats it correctly; Rector will edit out these errors (called "pick-ups") in time for the segment to lead the show at precisely 4:06:30.

3:50 p.m. — Director Boilen accompanies Siegel and Wertheimer into the studio to record "billboards," the first minute of the show in which the hosts list items to be heard in the following hour; and "returns," the similar, 28-second preview they read midway through each hour of the show.

3:55 p.m. — Rector tells Turpin that Totenberg's piece is finished. Turpin calls Washington Editor Elving to check the wording of the billboard for the Torricelli story on alleged gifts and influence-buying.

At precisely 4:00p.m. ET, Engineer Bill Deputy plays the familiar ATC theme music.

4:00 p.m. — Engineer Bill Deputy plays the familiar ATC theme music and the pre-recorded "billboard." Then Korva Coleman delivers the newscast that fills the show's next five minutes.

4:05 p.m. — Though he's about to go on the air, Siegel is still rewriting the introduction to one of his interviews, and sends in a question from the studio: "Is Les Miserables still on Broadway?" Staffers quickly check: It is.

4:10 p.m. — Moments before the Hale House piece is to air, Kelly realizes it’s five minutes long and the Les Mis interview after it is 3-1/4 minutes -- too much for a segment that is eight minutes and 16 seconds maximum. She trims a few seconds from the introductions of both pieces to get them down to size.

4:25 p.m. — Two correspondents file stories that will air early in the next hour -- Religion Correspondent Duncan Moon in an ATC studio, White House Correspondent Gonyea from the tiny NPR sound booth in the White House press area.

4:35 p.m. — Technical director Parris Morgan is told that Sonn's New Jersey politics piece is still being edited and won't be done for 30 minutes -- past its scheduled air time. ATC producers see the makings of "a crash."

4:37 p.m. — Editing together the "acts and tracks" of Gonyea's report, Assistant Producer Catherine Maddux realizes he garbled a track. She gets him to send a new one, and edits it into the sound file.

4:42 p.m. — Turpin decides to fill up the last hole in the show with a Reynolds Price commentary on a baby's first words.

4:43 p.m. — Turpin makes the call to double-team the Sonn report -- that is, assign two producers to edit the "acts and tracks" and mix the report.

4:49 p.m. — Welna files his piece on the Bush budget.

4:55 p.m. — Inskeep files his piece on Torricelli.

5:04 p.m. — Sonn starts filing. The piece is scheduled to air in 15 minutes.

5:15 p.m. — Technical Director Morgan gets word that the Sonn story may need to be mixed live on the air if the producers can't get it edited in time.

5:19 p.m. — Sonn is finally mixed - one minute before it airs.

5:40 p.m. — Twenty minutes before the show goes off the air, Kelly finishes writing the introduction for the final segment, the Price commentary.

6:00 p.m. — Because these two hours of ATC will be broadcast later in other time zones (in so-called "rollovers"), errors in this "first feed" can be corrected. There was one mistake: Correspondent Margo Adler misread a figure in the Hale House story. Otherwise, the ATC staff notes with satisfaction, the show was "clean."

6:05 p.m. — On days when the news is changing rapidly, the hosts stay into the evening to update introductions and conduct new interviews. With no breaking stories this evening, they've only got one more task: recording a "promo" that will run tomorrow on Morning Edition and other programs, listing the stories scheduled for the next ATC.

6:20 p.m. — Kelly and Turpin take a preliminary look at the next day's story possibilities. Wertheimer catches a cab home to cook dinner (asparagus and rack of lamb).

Contents Copyright 2001, National Public Radio