Radio and television newsrooms are where leftovers go to die.
I mention this because remnants of once-fresh dinners most commonly linger in newsrooms the day after election night.
Election night is the Christmas Day of newsroom holidays. Everyone has a mission that can, depending on the assignment, be grueling and stressful. The long hours would leave anyone famished. That’s why the most important question a young journalist can pose on an election night is, "What are we eating?"
In my experience, most newsrooms offer pizza. It’s a safe option. Even bad pizza is good pizza if you’re hungry enough. By the end of the night, I’m usually downing a handful of Tums to offset the sauce.
It's worth it.
Last year was my first election night at Ideastream. It was not a presidential election year, and there were few races to cover, so only a handful of us needed to hold down the fort. I was taken aback when Executive Editor Mike McIntyre walked in with pasta, salad and all the fixings from Gallucci’s.
The last time I enjoyed Gallucci’s was when I fetched lunch as an intern at The Morning Exchange (yes, I’m that old). If you don’t know what The Morning Exchange is, you’ve probably already stopped reading. Gallucci’s hasn’t changed since I picked up lunch for Fred Griffith and Robin Swoboda. It didn’t need to.
To my surprise, Mike chose Gallucci’s again this year: rigatoni and meatballs, deep dish pizza, a huge Italian sandwich, salad, snacks, desserts and soft drinks. An amazing dinner before the polls closed. Mike was serious when he said feeding us was his most important job that night.
It turned out to be his day job too, as Mike also brought pizza for lunch. The screech of excitement I heard from my colleague Amanda Rabinowitz when she saw Mike walk in with the pizza boxes made me jerk my head to the 24-hour cable news playing on the TV monitors. From the scream, I assumed the country was placed on DEFCON1. Pizza will do that to a reporter.
During my years working in a Buffalo television newsroom, pizza and wings were served on election night. In fact, just about every gathering in Buffalo involved wings. They’re not my first choice, but I admit, the BBQ wings in Buffalo are tasty. They’re charred to perfection, allowing the sauce to stick to the bones. Just don’t dip them in ranch dressing. The 11th Commandment in Buffalo is to always use Blue Cheese. I don’t even use ranch on salads without looking over my shoulder.
In 2008, I spent Super Tuesday in New York City. Hillary Clinton was running for President in the primaries, and she was New York’s Senator at the time. Between live shots, the crew and I used the WNBC newsroom as a place to write and recoup. It sits high atop Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan.
The awe of the building and its storied history were capturing my full attention until I noticed the election night dinners that were rolled in. Covered, silver warming trays sat steaming in the corner. I imagined medallions of hearty beef and buttery vegetables soaking up their pricey juices. And mashed potatoes that were so good, it didn’t matter if you got the perfect interview or not. I never did get a look inside those trays. We had to leave before dinner. Whatever it was, it had to be better than the soggy sub from a bodega I grabbed while running to catch up with Hillary.
Newsrooms are interesting places. Food does not last long. Even the hard candy everybody hates is snatched up. Stale cake? A treat for famished photographers. Crusty cheese-filled danish left out overnight? Lunch for reporters on their way to a story. I’ve never seen any food left behind in the newsrooms I’ve been privileged to work in over the years.
Like they do with a hot story, the vultures always swarm — even if the pizza is cold.
"The Cut" is featured in Ideastream Public Media's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
