FAQs with the crew from Wake Up!

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) - All week long I've taken you behind the scenes of Wake Up! to introduce you to the anchors, the producers, the crew members, and the breaking news photographers.

Today we're answering our viewers most frequently asked questions.

Viewers say the feel like they know us because they wake up with us every morning, but they have a lot of burning question.

Viewers are always asking what do we see from our vantage point behind the set and everyone wants to know if Mike Cejka can see the map behind him.

Actually what happens is they take his image with the camera, and then they stick it with an image of the weather maps stored on the computer to send it out to the Wake Up! viewers at home.

To viewers at home it looks like Mike is standing in front of a map, whereas he's really just talking to a blank green wall.

People also want to know if our day is over when we get done with the news.

"I wish I got to go home after 8 a.m. But no! I take a half hour break which is my lunch break, kind of odd to have lunch between 8 and 8:30 in the morning. But then we link up with Russ, our Assignment Manager and try to get a story assignment for the day," explained Joe Arena.

"Another one of our frequently asked questions is what is behind the news desk? If you take a look we've got coffee - need it every morning - and my makeup bag. My hairspray for all my little flyaways. There's toilet paper here. I don't know why we didn't put a box of tissues here," said Melissa Holmes.

"My suckers - this was a gift from Victoria. Help's me not smoke," said Arena, "We recycle here at Channel 4 so we throw all of our scripts from the desk, they go in here when we're done with them."

Another popular question is 'What does Metro Traffic's Gordon Scherer look like?'

From Gordon's booth inside Channel 4 he monitors traffic with Internet cameras, scanners, and calls to police.

Melissa Holmes joked, "I've made the joke in the past the only people listening to traffic reports are other traffic reporters and their mothers."

But we all love Gordon and depend on him. The next question? "Yes, we all pick out and buy our own clothing."

"And the question we get asked more than anything else is 'do we do have people do our hair and makeup?' We wish we did. Unfortunately the answer is no," said Holmes.

The makeup room is where you'll find Joe, Mike and Victoria five minutes before air time everyday. If we're wearing too much blush or having a bad hair day, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

We hope you now know the News 4 Wake Up! crew a little better now and we thank you for welcoming our family into your home.