Many of the news staff stayed in town at nearby hotels. Over the weekend, Albert estimates the station used 75 to 80 hotel rooms. He adds that all the pre-planning was not for continuous coverage, although that was always an option. It was very loose and unstructured. They took what was available, and kept reaching for more information, and then threw it in as it came up.
Spontaneity is the key in extended coverage, and the audience apparently enjoyed it.
Sustaining the coverage Operations Manager Albert was in the control room for much of the broadcast. One of his key functions was to set up and coordinate live phoners. If word came in of more power outages, Albert would call the utility contact. Inside and home phone numbers allowed quick access to sources. He had a Rolodex of their regular news sources and used it heavily to sustain the flow of important emergency information.