The Weekend Reagan Died

A voice cut through the newsroom on Saturday afternoon: "He's dead."

It hung in the air. It was expected, matter of fact, yet oddly explosive.

Then the news erupted: "He's dead! Reagan's dead!"

At Weekend Sunday -- known as WESUN -- we had been pouring over the names and numbers of all possible Reagan contacts.

I had already called Peter Robinson, Edwin Meese, Robert Allen, and George Schultz, among others, and asked if they would be willing to talk on the air if the former president died over the weekend.

When the news broke, our whole team rushed to help Weekend All Things Considered (WATC).

"Ten minutes until five," producer Phil Harrell sighed. "Poor WATC."

WATC went on a four-level alert. That meant we needed to create four hours of programming focusing on Reagan's death. Someone asked if anyone had squawked the member stations yet to let them know that NPR News would be taking over the air.

With WATC supervising senior producer Walter Watson leading, all WATC and WESUN staff members were busy calling guests, writing questions, mixing sound and organizing the show.

It was mind-blowing to be a part of such an incredible team. Everything happened so fast: we booked guests minutes before they spoke on the air. Linda Wertheimer fired questions with ease even though she had no time to prepare. I had already admired NPR; now I was in utter awe.

This was an amazing first week at NPR -- I cannot wait for next weekend.

Danielle Ivory is a student at Princeton University in New Jersey. She is interning at Weekend Edition Sunday until August 2004.