The Countdown Is On.

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2010. This will be a monumental year for many. This is a year that I have been personally preparing for for some time. In just under 6 weeks the 2010 Winter Olympic Games begin in Vancouver,British Columbia a city I now call home.

This very blog began 4 years ago when I decided after being assigned as part of a Non- Rights Holding crew to cover stories relating to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. I wanted to bring each of my colleagues at CTV with me to that assignment, so the "Blog" would help facilitate that- World Wide Murman Adventures in News Gathering was born.

This time around, I am part of a Rights Holder- CTV- so I expect the experience to be different than that of the Torino Games.

As we count down to the Opening Ceremonies and continue into the Games themselves, I again want to bring you all along for the ride. You won't get scores or results, there are plenty of places to do that. I will however attempt to give you a perspective of someone behind or in my case ABOVE the scenes.

My 2010 Olympic Experience began more that a year ago at a general staff meeting at the home office on Robson and Burrard in Vancouver (CTV British Columbia). We were all told of a process by which each of us could apply to an "Olympic Consortium" which was headed by CTV, for Olympic assignments covering the games. During the meeting there were many questions asked by staff. Some were answered, some would be answered at a later date. But the opportunity was given, it was now up to me to apply.

And apply I did. My goal was to be a part of a national Rights Holding broadcast team and to have a different Olympic experience than my time 4 years ago.
As luck would have it, I made the team as did 6 of my colleagues. Now all I needed to know is what my particular assignment would entail. Would it be a mountain assignment- Skiing was asked during the application process- could it be speed skating- the Olympic Oval in Richmond is just down the street from the Chopper 9 hangar and was one of the jewels of the new competition venues - or could it be general assignment news gathering or field production.
I would not "officially" know until December of 2009.

Just over a month ago, my email informing me of my assignment arrived. I was assigned to be the CTV/Rogers Olympic Consortium's "Helicopter Camera Operator".
Wow, I have never met anyone who has covered an Olympic Games from the air. I wanted a unique Olympic Games Assignment, and I got one. Lets just hope the weather is good for flight operations.

Now the countdown is on.