Who Decides What News You'll See Tonight?

"Win the weather war!" is the phrase Adams once made the staff cheer. For some, the rebel yell is still ringing in their ears."When in doubt, lead with weather," says ABC7 producer Joshua Folk. "People are really driven by weather around here."

Waterman Broadcasting employs eight people to cover weather-the largest weather staff in the market, according to Adams. "We've invested a lot of money . we have the only truly live Doppler equipment in the market. Weather is the biggest ongoing story in this area," and often supersedes all other news topics.

As the evening's broadcast winds down on the day of the two deaths, the director in the control booth announces, "Great show, everyone," as Wolf and Stilwell remove their microphones and suit jackets. Kelly leans way back in her chair and finally exhales-recovering from the most intense 30 minutes of her day.

The executive producers and assignment desk have already made plans for the next day's news, including a follow-up on the bodies found in Naples. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the case, and Ferrell is hot on the story, even though the police will become tight-lipped the next day.

The work for the day is not done-both NBC and ABC have 11 p.m. shows, and the evening staff has been in the newsroom since 2 p.m. The nature of news is never-ending, and Syoen sums up the work that needs to be done: "It's about the here and now and what happened," she says. And the team will be back tomorrow, making the tough calls and pushing hard to get those stories first.