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Show ment as unobtrusive as possible and ever attentive to outside interference. Torch has a BA in Broadcast By Nan Chalat , "Action to Audio. The tape is running ..." A hush falls over the spectators who have gathered to watch the PM Magazine crew film a series of shows in Park City. The show's hosts, John Reger and Michelle Russell, walk up Main Street toward the box of newspapers in front of the Park Record Office. "Hello, I'm Michelle Russe..." 'Hold it we lost John, ok, pick it up "Hello ..." A stray dog stops to sniff at John's microphone cord. And so on from location to location throughout the day with infinite care and patience, the small crew worked on what has become a popular new TV show. PM Magazine appears on Channel 2 at 6:30, just after the evening news. While still a news show of sorts, it is an immense relief after the daily bombardment of new and continuing crises. It has gained an increasing number of regular viewers in 50 cities during the five months that it has been on the air. On the fifth take of a difficult shot at The Club, Michelle's smile seemedas genuine as it did on the first run through. "Well, we have a really good crew so it isn't really that hard to keep our spirits up," she explains. "Some days though are more difficult than others," she will admit, days when there are equipment problems or factors beyond their control interfer such as the weather. "PM Magazine is filmed entirely on location, there is no studio work," explains Field Producer David Ward who has to contend with unpredictable clouds, unusual un-usual locations and everywhere every-where they go, spectators. The show is a syndicated branch of a national telecast. The concept hinges on a mixture of human interest features of both national and local interest. "We try to keep it as locally oriented as possible," says Michelle who is responsible for producing one story per week of her own. "We are expected to be more than just a pretty face," adds John who explains some of the work that goes on behind the scenes. Both John and Michelle are ranked as assistant producers and are responsible for much more than just delivering their lines faultlessly. The seven member crew spends two days filming the introductions, the outroduc-tions outroduc-tions and the bridges between be-tween stories. One location per show serves as a backdrop for these takes which tie together the two main features and the . various departments. For -M' Tt rTTJ It J I p 'J) fr.; m IV, :r.r0( A & m& Tram Za A Michelle Russell and John Reger one week beginning Feb. 11, Park City will be the home base for this part of the PM Magazine Utah show. Friday morning Michelle packed five changes of clothes and headed to work. "Really, after this you never want to change clothes again. I do get a small wardrobe allowance," she says, sporting a hidden microphone in her boot. Michelle's family is originally origin-ally from Ogden. She attended atten-ded BYU where she graduated gradu-ated with a degree in TV News. "I worked for the BYU PBS station which was a great experience and I worked for the Osmond Studios which was also good because it was a very professional situation." Michelle happened to be back in San Francisco when Evening Magazine, the forerunner fore-runner of PM, began. "I watched it from its inception and when I heard from a friend that the show had been syndicated, I applied to the producers right away." John Reger also came to PM Magazine from California. Califor-nia. He graduated from Stanford with a degree in Cinematography, began law school but decided to try something different for a while. Commercials constituted consti-tuted the greater part of his TV experience before PM Magazine. John says he likes to find offbeat stories with a lot of action. He explained how material for the program is selected. Michelle and John must each produce one story per week. Each week, every PM branch sends its top story to the main office in San Francisco, where a master reel of the ten best stories in the country is compiled. John's story about grass skiing, for instance, was chosen for the national reel. PM Utah has the option to select one or both of the day's national stories, a tour through a kazoo factory, an interview with the world's youngest champion monopoly mono-poly player, or a visit with a national celebrity, or they may choose to run a local feature about a beekeeper who advocates bee sting therapy for arthritis. The departments, Self, Home and Discovery, are for the most part national except when Jim Montgomery takes over the discovery department depart-ment or Al Church does a restaurant review. The format of the program is a special challenge for the technicians. Audio man David Da-vid "Torch" Miller has to be portable enough to follow the continuous action, creative enough to keep his equip- M - Vr 'Ti t1 (irp S f ' 1 J i ( c?fcj N 1 ) j II I y i "v L tKr .. o (S iniM urn r . f 7 Hidden microphones behind the scenes Audio man, David Miller to Pairk CUj drink while Michelle practices prac-tices her lines in a quieter corner. "Oh, this is such creATIVE stuff !" Reger jokes, trying to keep the extras from freezing up while Ward and Miller adjust their equipment. After the PM Magazine Van leaves Park City there are hours of logging and editing of material to be done with the added input of the show's Producer Lenn De-Panicis De-Panicis and Associate Producer Pro-ducer Karen Exeter. Work- ing under a 2V2 week advance ad-vance deadline, Russell says she usually has at least three things on her mind at once including the constant search for new stories. During the week of February 11, Michelle Mic-helle will be watching the show along with all of us in Park City. We will be excitedly watching to see howwe look on TV and Michelle will be critically appraising her performance. "It is a great learning tool," says Michelle. ;. H -I life ' .- . V . t ? lit h : SAASii: . j '-vji .w-.:. jtltl MMM ' frfi & u " UJYAfrl j jo . y 1 Communication from BYU and he adds that the crew works sometimes up to 60 hours per week. Cameramen David Ward and Tom Stewart, aided by the mobility of TV Minicam are constantly dealing with on location filming considerations. consider-ations. "We are trying to give it a you-are-there feeling," David explains. , Ward was contacted by the PM Magazine producers while working in Alabama on the basis of the news filming he had done for a : PBS station. He arrived in Utah last July and admits that one of the best fringe benefits of his job has been traveling around the state. At The Club, the day is beginning to wear on the crew. "Now what day is this really? " John asks a Park City local, who has been drafted as an extra. He is introducing interview with Elvis Presley's last girlfriend while also strategically blocking the reflection of a light in the mirror behind the bar. He asks the regular bartender how he usually asks someone if they want a I Field Producer David Ward |