Yankee Stadium Mass...(Cat McKenzie)
It’s me again WABC Special Project Producer, Catherine “Cat” McKenzie – out on the road again but this time I only had to go as far as the Bronx. I have been at WABC for 11 years. Whenever I tell people I am a producer they always ask what does that mean?
Well on a trip like this I am in charge of helping get our product out on the air while we’re in the field. That means everything from making sure our satellite feeds are up and running to setting up interviews to actually doing an occasional interview to help our reporters round out their coverage.
Right now I am at Yankee Stadium preparing for the Pope to say mass for about 57,000 people. Security is the tightest it’s ever been on any event that I’ve covered..and that includes two Presidential Inaugurations. Today, I’m working with Liz Cho, Bill Ritter and NJ Burkett along with about a dozen technical people we arrived at the station at 3:00am this morning!! Then we had to head down to the Sheraton Hotel, go through a security sweep and take a bus to the stadium. It was EARLY – but the early wake up call was worth it.
Our anchor position is in the Yankee Bullpen – yes we are standing on top of the same spot future hall of famer Yankee Mariano Rivera warms up on…pretty cool. Traveling with anchors has its privileges. Bill, Liz, David Bloch (one of our Executive Producers) and I took a walk around the stadium. We walked around the warning track, which is the track of dirt that surrounds the outfield. When we got to the third base line – an old ABC audio engineer who recognized Bill and Liz summoned us onto the stage – yes onto the same stage the Pope would be on in just about 7 hours. The colors are so vibrant lots of purples and golds...interesting fact – on the stage is a huge white chair where the Pope will sit. We were told that the stagehands who had been on the clock since Thursday at midnight and who had been sitting on everything – would not sit in that particular chair…. So after just looking at the chair…we then walked down into the Yankee dugout and out into the tunnel where we were able to look inside the Umpire’s Locker Room. They had turned the locker room into a suite….complete with new carpeting…gold curtains, fresh flowers, candles and crystals. This is where the Pope would arrive to prepare for celebrating the mass. Then we ran into some young men in liturgical vestments – I asked them if there were excited – one of them was also topping his vestment off with a Yankee cap – they told us as did everyone we met this morning that they were just as excited to be in the inner sanctum of Yankee Stadium as they are to be helping the Pope’s with his final event on this trip.
Our next stop was the Pinstripes Club where we got some much-needed coffee and snacks. Then it was back to our spot in the bullpen – where Executive Producer David Bloch was able to wrangle recording star Harry Connick Jr. for an interview with NJ Burkett. How cool was that? And how pretty are his eyes?!!!!
The congregation is coming in now and we can all feel the excitement that they are generating. Kids in “Benedict” jerseys. Families all dressed up for church. Music blasting from the speakers.
We do a quick interview with Mayor Bloomberg who talks to us about the emotional visit the Pope paid to Ground Zero this morning – and also gives us some insight into his talks with the Pope while he has been in New York.
The choir is singing “Oh Happy Day” and the sun is coming out – and although this is a work assignment and I was raised an Episcopalian I can’t help but smile at how this visit has touched so many of so many different faiths…and I’m a little excited to see the Pope celebrate mass…gotta go Harry's about to sing.…thanks for reading…Cat
I was one of the "Kids in 'Benedict' jerseys" from Erie, PA, and I had the honor of being interviewed by Mr. Burkett. I just wanted to say thanks for the amazing opportunity. Attending the papal mass was an incredible experience and I feel very fortunate to have had the privilege to share my thoughts in a live interview with your news station.
Posted by: Nicole Patsy | April 21, 2008 at 06:57 PM