City, county hosts enjoying WGTV show
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on November 11, 2012 1:50 AM
It's 6:30 a.m. and nothing is stirring throughout downtown Goldsboro as the small studio on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse picks up the live broadcast of the Wayne-Goldsboro Television channel.
Inside the studio, however, there is controlled chaos in the form of Wayne Alley, the county's half of the WGTV Today on-air talent.
A career morning show host, Alley still maintains his radio show sleep patterns, meaning that after being up since 2 a.m., he's wide awake.
Not that the city's public information officer Kim Best misses a beat, but Alley's energy ahead of the live broadcast is remarkable.
Just after 7 a.m., following the show's introduction theme, county communication director Barbara Arnsten lowers her hand to point to Alley from behind the camera and they're off.
"And here we go, good morning to you!" Alley proclaims across the county.
He squirms a bit in his chair as he rummages through notes, highlighting area events and offering reminders about the weather.
Mrs. Best, perhaps knowingly, plays it straight against Alley's wild card, generally forfeiting punchline jabs to him although she occasionally drops a pun.
Alley's antics don't end, though, even when the feed is filled with prerecorded interviews and video reports as he talks circles around his two female colleagues.
Mrs. Arnsten knows it won't last.
"This is your time," she quips at Alley, "but later this afternoon we'll be sharp."
The afternoons often lead to Alley, exhausted after a long day, ceding his quick wit to Mrs. Best, although the spotlight remains his.
This becomes evident in on-the-scene segments at Herman Park Center where a "loopy" Alley bounds and bounces on a treadmill before tumbling, either in delirium or jest, through Parks and Recreation's hay maze.
His antics form the backbone of the city and county's newest and most publicized collaboration in the form of a community morning show featuring interviews with community leaders and footage from events.
What began as an idea in April has blossomed, Mrs. Best said.
"It's kind of taken on a life of its own," she said after wrapping another episode.
Mrs. Arnsten agreed.
"Any lines that were there are gone," she said of the separation between the county and city. "It's become a community."
And that's evidenced, they say, by community contact in the form of emails and phone calls with new ideas and praise for their accomplishments.
The trio have become like a family, Mrs. Arnsten said, as time management and schedule coordination to create the show's segments has become more important.
And as for the man who has often says he has a face for radio, he's adjusting to the cameras just as well as Mrs. Best and Mrs. Arnsten are adjusting to the mornings.
"I'm having the time of my life," he said.
WGTV Today airs weekdays from 7 a.m. until 8 a.m. on channel 10, followed by rebroadcasts at noon and 5:30 p.m.