Hosting a live TV show at Harborfest became a reality in 2012 as the popular WSYR TV 9 “Bridge Street” program went on the road to air a live broadcast from Breitbeck Park in Oswego. Three months after the official announcement of the live broadcast, everything started to take shape almost before sunrise on Friday July 27th, 2012.
The NRG Lakeview Stage in Breitbeck Park, which had hosted tribute bands and a fireworks display only seven hours earlier when technical crew from WSYR headed out to Oswego at 5:30 in the morning from their East Syracuse headquarters to begin the process of making that stage their “home away from home” for the morning.
Tim Fox and the entire staff of producers, interns and photo journalists began the task of putting together a remote broadcast like they had done it many times before. This Harborfest appearance was a test run for their extended stay at the end of August during the weekdays of the New York State Fair where they originate live broadcasts as well.
The excitement all started for the Oswego show back on April 27th when Tammy Holden of Entergy announced on the WSYR studio version of Bridge Street that “Bridge Street Live at Harborfest” would be presented by Entergy to help kick-off the 25th annual Harborfest celebration. From that moment on, Harborfest and WSYR worked to create a segment line-up that would be appealing to a live and TV audience.
The focus of the live broadcast was to showcase the conclusion of the annual Oswego Health & The Palladium-Times Children’s Parade as it made its way from the Novelis Family Park at Franklin Square to Breitbeck Park that morning. Show hosts, Kaylea Nixon and Chris Brandolino did not disappoint as they moved from segment to segment making each guest of the show feel at home. There were several segments of the show that were focused on the children’s parade, fitness activities and musicals. The show also featured interviews with Tammy Holden of Entergy, Felix Grucci of Fireworks by Grucci and Jonathan Daniels, the Executive Director of the Port of Oswego Authority, as he talked about the historic tall ships that were on hand to commemorate the bicentennial of the start of the War of 1812. There was a touching segment about a special needs person that would be getting a private “Meet ‘n Greet” with 2012 Harborfest headliner Kenny Loggins later that day before his appearance on the same NRG Lakeview Stage. There was even a cooking segment, a staple of the studio version of Bridge Street, in which a couple food vendors were able to show off their best selling items.
A large crowd was on hand that morning in sun-drenched Breitbeck Park to watch the entire show unfold from 10:00 to 11:00 o’clock on the local ABC affiliate in the Syracuse, New York market. It was a great start to the day courtesy of Entergy and their support of “Bridge Street Live at Harborfest” which was a great way to showcase a variety of interests on live TV to so many viewers of the popular program. Many thanks go out from Harborfest to Entergy and WSYR for making the idea of a live TV remote from the festival become a reality in 2012.
