Madeline on Good Day Austin!

As most of you know Madeline was invited by Fox News to be on their "Good Day Austin" morning show to be a kidcaster and help the weatherman, Zack. She did so awesome this morning and really had a lot of fun! We arrived at the studio downtown around 6:45am. We knocked on their door (it was like a secret side door) and the security guard let us in. Madeline took a quick bathroom break and then we stood in the waiting room where we could see the studio, lights, cameras and action!

Zack came over and brought us on the studio set over by his weather station stage. While we were over there just 20 feet away were the news anchors giving the news on live TV! Zack talked to Madeline about how his day goes. He gets in at 4am and looks up all the weather reports and then creates all the weather graphics for TV later that morning. In between explaining this to Madeline he hopped onto the set with the anchors to do quick 1-3 minute weather bits. Then he would come back and talk with Madeline more and he had her practice reading some of the weather graphics. He was a really funny guy and made her giggle a lot. He really put her at ease. They talked about where she was born (he was born in California too!), what she likes to do, her favorite subject in school, what her summer plans are (Mandi, Zack mentioned Madeline going to Iowa this summer for a special wedding on TV! ;). He was really nice. He has a 5 year old and a 9 month old of his own.

I believe Madeline was shown in 4 different segments. The first Zack mentioned his kidcaster was here and they displayed the photo of Madeline that I emailed in when I nominated her last month. In the 2nd segment he introduced her showing a quick clip of her standing in front of the green screen. The 3rd segment was of them sitting on the weather studio setup, he interviewed her and asked her a bunch of questions. She did great! And the 4th segment was of Madeline helping Zack with the weather in front of the green screen. This is the only segment I got on video and that they posted on the Fox website. I'll be sure to try and upload the other segments later today.

This is a partial video I took of the 4th segment. You can't hear them very well but they have mics on so the video Fox posted is much more clear (see below).

The other anchors were cheering Madeline on and they complimented her on how well she did and how pretty she looked. They were all very nice.

Kidcaster: Madeline Spence: MyFoxAUSTIN.com

Here is the video Fox posted on their site of the 4th segment. You can also read the full story they posted here. I can't wait to watch the whole thing with Madeline on TV after school!

I was surprised there wasn't a whole lot of people in the studio, no camera crew at all! Only one guy who would signal to the anchors to wrap it up or tell them how many minutes they had. These 3 cameras were like robots! They moved and turned all around the floor. Later we found out that the operator who moves these with a joystick sits in the dark room with the producer and director. We were able to meet all of them. Zack took us on a tour of the rest of the news building and all the behind the scene stuff. Can you believe they still use VHS tapes for certain recordings!? We saw all the satellite rooms where the news feed comes in from reporters out on the field. Zack also gave us a little history of the old building the studio was in. It was first for LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson in the 60's. I guess there is still a 2 bedroom apartment of theirs with all the original decor and furniture on the 5th floor. He said secret service had this building set up for security too. Later the building was sold and was a YMCA location. He said where they filmed in the studio used to be the basketball court for the YMCA. And their parking garage was where their pool was. Finally Fox bought the building. And this is how it looks now.

Along with having kidcasters on Good Day Austin they also invite local bands to come play. This is the part of the studio where the band sets up. The couches are where they do interviews with guests.

I was so proud of Madeline, she wasn't too nervous (my stomach would've been turning if it was me!). She answered Zack with the response, "ah ha" a lot - but if you know Madeline she does this, especially while on the phone. But Zack said she spoke clearly and did a wonderful job! Oh and in one of the earlier segments Zack mentions how he's glad he wore his pink dress shirt today, because he knew Madeline would be wearing pink. :) Madeline's dress and sandals are from her Opa and Oma, and our neighbor Kristen made her hair bow.

Stephen was at home with James. Siblings weren't allowed on set. So this is a photo Stephen took of our TV while he was watching Madeline live! This was such a neat experience for her, I'm so glad I nominated her and that they chose her to be one of their kidcasters. Below is the photo and paragraph I submitted:

Nominating our daughter, Madeline Spence

Our daughter Madeline is in 1st grade. At school she has been learning about the weather and she enjoyed writing daily descriptions of what the weather is like along with tracking the moon phases. She is an excellent student at school, liked fondly by her teachers and classmates. She loves to read and often reads books to her younger brother, James. When she reads she changes her tone of voice to make the story sound more interesting. Who knows maybe she'll grow up to be a teacher or a librarian or even a newscaster! We think she would be a great kid caster for Zack and we hope you pick her!

Madeline's teacher, Mrs. Billo, and her classmates were so excited for her. Mrs. Billo was going to let the school principal know. I also emailed Madeline's kindergarten teacher from last year, Mrs. Moore, who was also thrilled and excited for Madeline. Later this morning I received an email from her:

YEA!!!!  She did awesome, my whole class watched it live.  I was so proud of how well she did, her reading, answering questions, and she looked beautiful!

Robin L. Moore
Kindergarten Teacher
Tobias Elementary

and from her 1st grade teacher:

Thank you for sharing! We watched the whole thing live on the projector this morning before calendar! She did great and with such poise :) I am so proud of her. Also you can view her story on our Tobias website and click on her picture. Enjoy!

Kelly Billo
1st Grade Teacher
Tobias Elementary

*Update*

Madeline's teacher Mrs. Billo just let me know she was featured as a "Spotlight Story" on their school's website here. Very cool!