I think the heat is starting to get to folks.  Today it will definitely take a toll on Hampton Roads.  This is not just a typical hot and humid day.  We have heat advisories and excessive heat warnings across the region posted by the National Weather Service:

Today I got to wear the headset again… and it’s getting less and less intimidating, I haven’t gotten to the point where I can completely multitask..but I’m getting there. The chefs today made this AHMAZING strawberry shortcake- as much as my mind was saying avoid it, it was just too good to pass up! Cyprus Grille in Embassy Suites will definitely be a place that my mom and I go before I head back to school!

After the show rapped and Tracey and I cleaned up the set I headed to the newsroom to help Susan…but then…

Aaron said he was going to the new Urban Outfitters…I said I wanted to go and Susan graciously let me go! I had so much fun..first off the store is amazing…three stories with a really cool city vibe. Aaron let me interview a few people and then we went back to get Melanie in order to develop the story a little bit further. Melanie made the story more about the economic impact of the store and what that meant for Grandby Street. She also did a package on the heat because it was so hot outside today.  I know I was burning up, black pants was not the way to go..times like that I really wish someone would bring back those ugly zip-off pants where you could change your pants length with one zip (I know they were ugly..but I’m talking about for convenience).

Since one of the packages was about  Urban Outfitters, Melanie decided to experience it herself (SHOPPING). She ended up getting this really cute, simple dress!
After we shot Melanie’st packages, I got to step in front of the camera which I enjoyed. Melanie and Aaron were great about constructive criticism and tips!

Quotes of the day: ” This is a yoga lesson” – Melanie’s response to losing a hairband

-”You know you live in a small city when people get excited about the opening of an Urban Outfitters” – Melanie

Even though I spent the day here at Redskins Park yesterday, today was the first day of training camp. Things were a little different, they now have an indoor dome like practice facility and Coach Mike Shanahan decided to have the morning practice there. It is air conditioned, and considering temperatures reached 100 degrees today it was nice to get a little break.

Chris Cooley said he didn’t care where they had morning practice, he hates morning practices because it means he has to get up early.

As usual, all anybody was talking about was new rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, even the veterans. But I have never heard any young player get such high marks from his older teamates, and I don’t think these guys are just towing the company line. They really seem to like RG3 and really seem to be impressed with his ability. Still, lets see how he does in a game before we induct him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And regardless of how good he is, he and the team will only be successful if the offensive line can protect him and if his wide receivers can get open, something neither group was very good at last season.

The defensive players seem to love this, nobody is paying them any attention. But I will tomorrow, keep an eye on the 6pm Sportswrap on WAVY and the FOX 43 Sportswrap at 10:45 when I will talk with DeAngelo Hall and second year defensive lineman Ryan Kerrigan about the “D”.

Speaking of DeAngelo, there are now two former Virginia Tech Hokies on the team, Hall and wide reciever Josh Morgan who grew up in Washington, DC. Morgan spent the past four years with the San Francisco 49ers, I have to ask him tomorrow how happy he is to be back home, and playing with one of the hottest young quarterbacks in the league.

And young is an understatement. Coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen have worked hard to make this Redskins team a young team, looking ahead to the future.

More from Redskins Park tomorrow, and as always if you have any questions, email me at Bruce.Rader@wavy.com, or follow me on Twitter, BruceRaderSport.

Welcome to day 3 and the final preview of what I have dubbed, The Battle For Buckcherry.  This show isn’t just a contest to win the opening slot for Buckcherry but it’s also a opportunity to showcase the best original hard rock bands in Hampton Roads. This area is just swelling in original music, not just rock but in all genres.  From the honky tonk of Gina Dalmas and Rodeo Clown to the pop punk of What Looks Like Crazy and Holly Would to the folkcestral sound of Bison, this area is bound to be heard on a national level and The NorVa is playing an integral part in making that happen.  They do an outstanding part in allowing local talent play on the same stage as the big acts do and their staff is top notch is making everyone feel like they’re a rock star.

Today we introduce you to the final two bands on the bill: Dirty Rock and Seven Ten Oil.

Seven Ten Oil a well-seasoned, home grown rock band that is celebrating their 15th anniversary this year.  Founded by singer Chris Johnson, this band continues to tear up the seven cities rock scene.  Ian Switz supplies the grip and rip guitar riffs, Vincenzo Mastropasqua provides the backbeat while bassist Les Moseley keeps the low end in check.  They are not new to the battle zone of rock as they have claimed victory in 2007′s MAX 100.5 Battle Of The Bands and beat out numerous bands to open up for KISS in 2010.  They also have been a 2-time Live Music Friday guest BUT I will state that I’m an impartial player and I offer no favoritism.  These guys do put on a hell of a show and have proven that they’re the band to beat.  You can check out Seven Ten Oil here.

Seven Ten Oil’s Favorite Buckcherry Songs: Lit Up and Sorry

Moyock’s own Dirty Rock continues to be a menace in the local rock scene after the passing of their front man, Randy Hunt.  Guitarists Jason Hardesty and Josh Christian, drummer Jason Hurdle and bassist Steven Canady have been hitting the rock scene hard since 2009 with bombastic beats and powerful lyrics.  Steven has taken over the vocal reigns and the boys have honored Randy the best way possible and that’s by performing Dirty Rock’s music to the fullest.  You can keep tabs on Dirty Rock here. 

Dirty Rock’s Favorite Buckcherry Song: Crazy Bitch

The Battle Of The Bands at The NorVa – Saturday, July 28 – 7:00pm – Tickets: $10.

That’s all for me today.  Tomorrow is Live Music Friday and our guest will be the Shakespeare’s Ghozt, a great alternative/hip hop group that you don’t want to miss.

This week I have spent the first four hours of my day in the web department. I have really enjoyed it. Honestly, I thought that it would be one of my least favorite departments because I thought it would be less fast paced and not as exciting as news. I was very wrong! It is very fast paced, in fact the job of the web is basically the same as the News. We have to keep up with the wires, stories coming in through tips, and other sources of information to make sure we are catching all the important stories that need to be covered. In fact, I would say that the web desk is tasked with more work at times, only because they have to update every type of story. Sports, weather, news, entertainment, and even weird news. All of the stories done on for the air must be redone for web and then even more content not found on air must be added. It is a lot of work.

That said, the people I have worked with at the web desk make that work enjoyable. They really do have fun and still get their jobs done. Yes, Jane, this is the part of the blog where I will bring up the many jokes you tell and the lovely songs that you and Rachel sing. I love it! It is good to be able to keep things light and balanced in an environment that can at times be stressful and is constantly deadline-driven. Not only are they fun to work with, they are very helpful. I have already gained so many skills that I will be able to use in my future career. Being web-savvy in this era of news gathering is vital to my success in the industry.

Tomorrow is my last day and I am surprised at how fast it has gone by. I don’t want to leave WAVY, but I will never forget the incredible experience I gained here and the wonderful people that I got a chance to work with and learn from. I am going to post a reflection later tonight.

No doubt about it, yesterday we had some really great weather.  Highs were in the 80s.  The humidity was low.  Plus there was a lot of sunshine along with a nice breeze.  However, today a warm front has passed through and that has turned the winds to  southwesterly (from the southwest).  So the heat and humidity are coming back as we’ve been predicting for a few days.  Highs will jump up to the mid-upper 90s.  The heat index will be between 99 and 108 today.  There is a heat advisory for the entire viewing area until 7pm.  Tomorrow it will be even worse.  Highs will be in the upper 90s solid.  Maybe a few 100s inland.  The heat index will be up to 110 degrees.  We may see a stray shower or storm today, but it’s not likely.  However, tomorrow we will have some scattered showers and storms late in the day.  A cold front will move through Friday night into Saturday, but it won’t move that far on Saturday.  Therefore I’ve had to throw in a chance for a few storms for that day.  Sunday looks pretty good with partly cloudy skies and highs back in the upper 80s.  Let’s hope that front can move through. 

Outside of local weather, there has been one hot topic in the news lately.  (Pun intended) The Greenland ice sheet has had a very rapid melt in the past couple of weeks.  Historically fast according to NASA.  Is it the weather pattern, Global Warming, or both?  Here is a link to the site.  Recent Greenland Ice Sheet Melting

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

Tuesday I got to see firsthand what it’s like to be a storm chaser… well kind of sort of.

Jason, Drew, and I hopped in the WAVY van and made our way to the peninsula to catch footage of a storm that Don and the other meteorologist were tracking. The tropical storm was supposed to be pretty bad and was expected to possibly lead for the 5pm show.

We drove, waited in traffic, moved up a tiny bit… and waited in more traffic. By the time we finally made it to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the skies were grey and it was pouring down. But the rain didn’t last long. By the time we were out of the tunnel the storm had come and gone.  Now this left us with a challenge, what was our story now?

We had a solution; we would find “storm damage.” Problem number two, other than a few broken branches and tree limbs, there wasn’t any damage. We rode around for hours and hours looking for a tree on a house, a car, or something.

Finally we were given the two addresses, one in Newport News and one in a small city by the name of Poquoson. Huge trees had fallen down at both of these locations. One fell in the street and the other on an old truck. We got our story, finally.

We still couldn’t leave the peninsula just yet. We parked the truck in a parking lot next to Wendy’s (and got some good food while we were there). Jason prepared his script, Drew put together the package and we prepared to go live at 10pm.

While we waited we were, approached by women asking about a car accident, harassed by kids wanting to be on TV, and unfortunately we even got mooned by teens in a passing car.

At the end of the day everything came together, we got home safely, and I even got to do my first stand up

The time has finally come; I’m where I always wanted to be… the news department.

With much anticipation and high expectations, my first day in news was much more than I expected. I went to a news meeting where a few of the producers, reports, photographers, and anchors got together and discussed the stories for the evening. Reporters and photographers were given assignments to go out and cover.

I got to go out with Jason Marks to Newport News and Hampton. I had to go out on a pretty rough story. We went to the home of a family who lost a family member a few days prior. 22 year old Darntrell Belle was the victim of a homicide, 15 bullets took his life. The man behind the trigger had been causing a lot of trouble in the area. According to police, whom we got to speak with when we first arrived on the peninsula, he was a dangerous guy.

The hard part about the story was going to the home of the victim. Jason hadn’t contacted the family before our visit, so there was a 50/50 chance that they would talk to us or even answer to our knock on the door. Someone did answer a relative of the victim. On behalf of the family, she kindly declined our offer to speak about the incident. Jason wasn’t expecting this “no” so easily. Shortly, more family members came out of the first floor apartment, including the mother, sister, and grandmother of the victim.

This is when things began to turn around. They were all very hurt as I assumed they would be. I even began to tear up when Darntrells sister broke down at the sight of her brother’s picture. I couldn’t imagine how they felt at this moment.  I kept my composure and remembered that as a reporter I will be faced with moments like this time and time again. I can’t let my emotions take away from what I came to do, find and tell a story. Anyway, after a while Darntrells grandmother decided that she would do the interview.

It was hard, yet enticing to witness this interview. The questions that were being asked brought out so much emotion in the grandmother, who held hands with her daughter and grandmother for support. Throughout the interview all three women chimed in. They let out feelings of anger, pain, sadness, and frustration as they spoke of their lost loved one.

Before I left I gave the grandmother a tight hug, held her hand, and told her “it’s gonna’ be alright.” Though this was a challenge for me emotionally I am very thankful that I was able to go out on this story with Jason. I learned so much from Mr. Marks, from which questions to ask to how to convince people to speak with you. Not only that, but I learned…  I can handle it.

Quote of the day: “You’ve NEVER heard of a TWG ?!” – Susan

So my producing debut in the control room was not disastrous, thank you Jesus and Susan for remaining calm when I thought I was going to have a heartattack. I’ve never been so intrigued by a timer until I had the headset on and was in charge of making sure that the hosts heard the information that I was providing. Part of me wishes I could film the control room during tapings just because of the some of the comments made- they could totally give The Office a run for their money.

Afterward I did some administration stuff before I left. I’m getting better at setting up and breaking down The Hampton Roads Show set and setting up the mics BUT only because of the great people that work on the show. Everyone has been really welcoming and willing to include me which is a nice feeling.  Not to mention these are possibly the most enthusiastic people that I’ve seen at the crack of the dawn and their energy is contagious!

Is he bigger than the team itself, well at least we know he’s the biggest story at Redskins Training Camp this year.

Welcome to the year of the III, RG-3, Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin the III, the only player I can ever remember who had a press conference the day “before” training camp started.

He is only being allowed to talk to the media six times between now and the Redskins opening game against the Saints, and the local reporters don’t like the idea that he isn’t giving any one on one personal interviews. Maybe this is Coach Mike Shanahan’s decision to keep his 22 year old star focused on football. It is a much different game than Robert is used to in college, much faster, much harder to understand, a lot more pressure.

Griffin used his speed and his smarts in college to re-write the Baylor record books. Head Coach Mike Shanahan and his son, offensive coordinator Kyle, will rework the game play to allow RG3 to shine.

There is no question, Robert is Shanahan’s quarterback–no controversy here.

But what do his veteran teammates like DeAngelo Hall from Chesapeake think of the 21 million dollar rookie? I’ll be asking those questions as the week goes on.

If you have any questions send them to me at Bruce.Rader@wavy.com