How you anchor a business TV show from home during the pandemic

Emily Chang

Bloomberg Technology anchor Emily Chang writes about running the television show from home for the past six months.

Chang writes, “I’ve been hosting the show live from my home since California’s shelter-in-place order went into effect on March 17. That first day, our managing editor Danielle set up the shot with some egg crates and a barstool from my kitchen. I’ve been doing this job long enough that I don’t get nervous that often anymore. That day, I was terrified.

“But it worked, and luckily we’ve avoided an on-air disaster thus far. I’ve hid in closets to do radio hits and lugged my camera to a remote mountain vacation to cover the re-opening of Disneyworld. But there have been some close calls. Last week, my nanny had a well-deserved day off and my husband had to rush our daughter to the doctor for a possible eye and ear infection just as the show was starting. The very minute I wanted to crumble, my producer Candy called and picked up some final show prep. Then I put my 3-year-old son down for a nap at 1:45 p.m. and prayed he wouldn’t wake up until the show was over at 3:00, arming myself with an iPad set up with Paw Patrol and a stick of chewing gum in case he came barging in. Thank goodness, he woke up at 3:05.

“Every week brings a new challenge. This week it’s air quality, rolling blackouts and a planned power outage to replace a transformer on our street. My studio manager Mallory, who’s been coming to my home (masked) every day since the pandemic started, has managed to get the entire show running on batteries—including the lights, the camera, a satellite backpack, internet via a cellphone hot spot, etc. Should that fail, my husband has dusted off the generator that we bought last fire season.”