GREAT MOMENTS IN (EL PASO) BROADCASTING: My recent post of Channel 9's Chuck DeBroder's getting caught putting on his makeup in the background of a live news promo made me wonder what other news bloopers or otherwise notable El Paso broadcasting moments have captured the attention of Youtube users. 

My curiosity soon turned to hours of online research, and based solely on the number of views, I have determined that these are the Top 5 Most Viewed  Moments in El Paso Broadcasting. The number of views as of this posting is in parenthesis...

5. Bad Mouthing the Pageant Host - August 2010 (2329 views): Right as the co-hosts of the Miss Universe Pageant — "Today" show host Natalie Morales and Bret Michaels — were about to announce the winner, someone at KTSM NewsChannel 9 flipped a switch at the wrong time treating El Pasoans to someone doing a mic check and reading the first line of the lead story and ad libbing on the journalistic integrity of Natalie Morales ...

(She says,"Mic check 1,2,3. Sheriff Wiles. We are now watching Natalie Morales who is a sad excuse for a journalist.") No one at the station ever owned up to the remarks. Many national blogs and websites surmised it to be Friend of the Show Oralia Ortega. It wasn't.

4. Gentlemen, Start Your Engines - March 2008 (127,113 views): KVIA's Rick Cabrera - covering a story about drag racing after a recent death - was aboard a KVIA news truck when he and the driver, Richie Zamora, made the bonehead decision to participate in a race against another TV truck belonging to KDBC-TV.

The video was eventually picked up by CNN and played over and over again across the country by countless local TV stations, including on Anderson Cooper's 360 segment called "What Were They Thinking?"  The driver of the KDBC truck was fired for putting a half a million dollar piece of equipment in jeopardy. Rick Cabrera was promoted to main anchor less than two months later.

3. Darren Hunt Handcuffed - April 2009 (345,834views): One of the most talked about and commented on stories happened after KVIA's Darren Hunt was covering a crash on I-10, and subsequently became part of the story. Hunt's perceived unwillingness to follow the instructions of  one of El Paso's Finest got him and photojournalist Ric Dupont cuffed and stuffed ...

The "conflict escalation" got so big it went national, getting repeated plays on CNN. The officer was later suspended for 11 days after officials determine he acted "unprofessionally."

2. What Kind of Cream???!!! July 2009 (2,164,997 views): Adrienne Alvarez, who was anchoring weekends on NewsChannel 9 at the time, meant to say "ice cream." That's not exactly how it came out ...

1. Some one's Going to Get Pregnant While He's in Town - March 2007 (2,214,591 views): Tracy Morgan showed up on KVIA's Good Morning El Paso during the Robert Holguin era to promote his local stand-up appearance. The wheels start coming off the live interview at around the :26 mark when Morgan notices himself on the monitor, then goes wildly out of control when he takes off his shirt one minute in ...

BONUS BLOOPER: (1,029,119 views):This video features current FOX 14 anchor HEMA MULLUR getting a case of the on-air giggles while reporting on a story of a man accused of chopping up his wife. It gets the 'bonus' treatment as Hemma was anchoring the mornings news program in Odessa/Midland at the time ...

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