VITAMEDIAS
A Bloody Cacophony: When he hears a noteworthy transmission, which he says happens about 15 times a day, Wolmer, a blue-eyed, balding 55-year-old with a pleasant smile, punches a few lines of text into his PC. Seconds later, the message appears on cell phones carried by reporters and editors from a dozen South Florida news operations.
TV news directors and newspaper editors have hired Wolmer to take over what has long been considered the newsroom's dirtiest job: listening to the mind-numbing chatter on police radios. Companies like Wolmer's News Busters have existed for decades in some major cities, including Washington, D.C., and New York, but they generally employ people who respond to police scenes and sell photos or footage to the highest bidder. These firms have prospered because many TV news operations have reduced staff while increasing the number of minutes of broadcast time, says Al Tompkins, an instructor at the Poynter Institute, a training center for journalists in St. Petersburg. In addition, new technology has made it more difficult for newsrooms to keep track of police activity. "It used to be that any boneheaded reporter could pick stuff up off scanners," Tompkins says. "But it's gotten a lot harder." [...]
Wolmer can't escape the scanners inside his home. There are six in the kitchen, another five above his workbench in the garage, and others in the bedroom-turned-office that Janet uses to keep the business's books. Wolmer has two portable scanners he takes with him when he leaves the house. Preparing to go out for a quiet meal with Janet on his 55th birthday on September 10, Wolmer grabbed the portable radios. He says he also carried one to his daughter's wedding reception earlier this year. To not bother others, he keeps the volume low.