General Assignment
REEL: Blake Hanson Reporter Reel March 2013
LIVE: Tornado rips through home on Christmas Day
Worked with photographers Kevin Duckworth and Megan Spencer on this story. Got up to the area around 12:30 p.m. and this home was the talk of the town, so we headed to it to turn stories for our 4, 5 and 6 o’clock newscasts. The woman’s attitude was incredible.
LIVE: CNN Hurricane Isaac Coverage
At 4:20 a.m. on August 28, 2012, I received a call from CNN in Atlanta. Our live shot was up on the bird, and the network thought we had the best location as then-Tropical Storm Isaac approached. With less than ten minutes to prepare, I got out in front of the camera and into the waves to show CNN’s viewers how Isaac was already impacting New Orleans.
PACKAGE: Slater Tornado Aftermath
May 22, 2011 is an evening that will live in infamy in Missouri. As I wrapped up my shift working at a local radio conglomerate, we scrambled to provide severe weather coverage. Once the storms passed I rushed to the station to help with coverage and I dispatched to Slater, Mo. This package is a piece I turned overnight for our morning show.
LIVE: Joplin Tornado
Shortly after turning a package overnight on a tornado within KOMU’s viewing area, my news director sent me and a crew to Joplin to cover what was one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history. As another storm moved into the area, we went live via satellite to talk about the devastation we were witnessing.
LIVE: Joplin Tornado (AM Show)
With literally thousands of stories to tell, I was tasked with coming up with the best ways to show our audience just how devastating the Joplin tornado really was. In this live hit for KOMU 8 News Today, I talked about some small details that spoke to just how bad it was.
PACKAGE: “Snowmageddon”
It was a unique experience to be a part of KOMU’s coverage of the second-largest snow storm to ever hit mid-Missouri. As nearly the entire area shutdown, our station stayed on the air to tell people just how dangerous it was outside. In this story, I hit the road with my colleague Emily Spain (reporters stuck in pairs so we could push the car out when stuck) to talk about the people who braved the outdoors during the snowstorm. For a three-day period I reported for all of our newscasts (AM, 5, 6, 9 & 10) and took what little sleep I could get on the floor of our sales office.
FIELD ANCHOR: Fireworks Season
As we prepared to have a few stories on various firework related topics this past summer, one of our news managers asked me to go on location to anchor our fireworks coverage. The video above includes my introduction of two packages, plus my interview with one of our reporters who does a safety demonstration on the use of fireworks.
LIVE: Dead Fish
It was one of the odder stories I’ve ever covered. It all started when neighbors of a local lake started calling our station to complain about the number of dead fish stacking up in the water. In a matter of just a few hours, I discovered the cause of the incident and went live standing in the lake to show people exactly what happened.

Blake Hanson is a reporter for WDSU Newschannel 6 in New Orleans, La. Blake specializes in political, investigative, and breaking news. His award-winning reports can be seen weekdays from 5 a.m. - 7 a.m. on WDSU News This Morning.