[Scan-DC] How the 'radio room' keeps tabs on news

[Alan Henney]

“In 2015, the scanners became obsolete after Toronto police began encrypting their radio transmissions...  Now, social media has taken the place of the old scanners, and in many ways, is superior.”


The Toronto Star

NEWS; Pg. A2

How the 'radio room' keeps tabs on news

Kenyon Wallace Toronto Star
December 2, 2017 Saturday

This story is part of the Star's trust initiative, where every week, we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism. This week, we focus on how the Star's radio room keeps on top of breaking news.

When news breaks in the GTA, chances are some of the first people in the Star's newsroom to learn about it will be reporters affectionately known as "radio roomers." Radio roomers are interns who work in a small, glass enclosure in the newsroom close to the Star's digital- and breaking-news desks. Their job is to keep on top of breaking news 24 hours a day by scanning social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, and monitoring alerts from a wide range of sources, including police, paramedics, Environment Canada and the TTC.

When news breaks, radio roomers are expected to alert editors and gather as much information as possible. This could mean reaching out to a police spokesperson in the event of an unfolding crime story, calling a climatologist if significant weather is imminent or finding witnesses to a major car crash.

The radio room gets its name from a bank of electronic scanners that, up until a few years ago, would allow for the monitoring of radio communication by police, firefighters and paramedics. The scanners would lock on to any channel in use, allowing interns to hear what first responders were saying to each other. In 2015, the scanners became obsolete after Toronto police began encrypting their radio transmissions.

Now, social media has taken the place of the old scanners, and in many ways, is superior.

"In the scanner days, we could hear radio calls between firefighters and dispatchers that would give us a location and a general sense of the scope of the fire, for example," said assignment editor Barry Brimbecom, who works with the radio roomers regularly.

"In the era of social media, the first sighting of smoke or flames will have dozens of passersby tweeting descriptions, photos and video within minutes - or even seconds. And every person who posts is someone we can reach out to, someone who can answer questions about what they see and describe for us in detail what's happening around them."

Radio roomers are also expected to find and speak to witnesses of calamities, such as crashes, and, if the story warrants, contact victims' families.

The skills interns develop in the radio room - persistence, nimbleness and a sharp attention to detail, to name just a few - help prepare them for working full time in newsrooms anywhere. Many of the Star's permanent reporters got their start in the radio room.

The Star's coverage of a stabbing in Scarborough this year provides an opportunity to show how radio roomers spring into action when news breaks.

Shortly before 4 p.m. on Oct. 20, radio roomer Alina Bykova had just started her shift when she saw a tweet from Toronto police about a lockdown at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute in Scarborough in relation to a stabbing.

Bykova immediately called police to see what additional details she could find out. Media relations officer Const. David Hopkinson told her the stabbings had occurred on and around school property and that there were some people seriously injured.

Bykova relayed this information to deputy breaking news editor Serena Willoughby, who in turn dispatched reporter Victoria Gibson to the school.

Back in the radio room, Bykova called Toronto Paramedic Services and the Toronto District School Board in an effort to find out if any of the stabbing victims were students.

"There was a bit of confusion about how many victims had been stabbed and where the stabbings had taken place, so I had to double-check with the spokespeople several times to make sure I had the right information," said Bykova, 22, who is currently studying for a master of arts in European and Russian affairs at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.

Bykova wrote a brief story for thestar.com using the information she had confirmed, while Gibson interviewed students and gathered details at the scene and relayed what she learned back to the radio room. Gibson later headed to Sunnybrook Hospital to get a first-hand account from a witness.

With that, Gibson raced back to the Star to start writing.

"I got back to the Star around 8:40 p.m., and worked with Alina to file all the information we had gathered and confirmed," Gibson said.

Bykova and Gibson were able to update the story online and for print to include the fact that three teenage boys had been stabbed, one of them critically, in a fight. One of the victims was a 17-year-old boy who was a student at the school.

"We tell interns that speed and accuracy are paramount, but they aren't equal - accuracy trumps speed every time," said Brimbecom. "There's no point in being faster than our competitors if our readers can't trust us. Accuracy serves our readers, speed beats our competitors."

Email your questions to trust at thestar.ca