Talking American Nations on Bloomberg Television

I was a guest yesterday on Bloomberg Television's Street Smart, talking about American Nations. Everyone involved was working on the fly because a major story was developing at the same time. It was, oddly enough, actually a lot of fun, at least for me. The pros on the other end made it all look pretty normal.

Here's the backstory:

Minutes before I was to go on -- via live hookup from Bowdoin College -- the segment producer learned of an upcoming announcement related to the JP Morgan Chase settlement with the federal government, which would be the lead story of the day on mainstream news outlets, not just business ones. As a result, we'd likely be doing just a minute and half, the producer advised me over my ear piece, but we'd know more as it happened.

We started the segment -- prior outline out the window -- and one minute and a half in they cut to an impromptu commercial break (edited out of the online video), probably to figure out if they they needed to bail directly to the breaking news. The producer told me we might or might not be coming back to me depending on timing of the other development. Ninety seconds out, it was decided to stay with the segment . The rest of the interview was improvised -- pretty well, it seemed to me when I finally watched it online this morning. (I can't "see" anything that's happening from Bowdoin's studio.) Always impressed with how news anchors can pivot and improvise in these situations, given the time constraints and need for focus and simplicity in the medium.

In any case, a fun experience, and thanks to the Street Smart team for their interest and the attention to the American Nations framework.