Time Zones

In the last four years, I've worked in four time zones. So consider me an expert on this. I bring it up because I have been working for networks which book authors, entertainers and newsmakers on national shows, and some people say the most stupid things about time zones. Here are a few pointers to keep you from looking dumb:

1. "EST" is not an acronym for "Eastern Time." It stands for Eastern Standard Time, as opposed to "EDT" which stands for Eastern Daylight Time.

2. When parts of the country fall back or spring forward, refer to it correctly as "Daylight Saving" time, not "Savings."

3. Arizona (and parts of Indiana) do not fall back or spring forward. If you are working with a scheduler based in Arizona, it may help to understand that when the rest of the country is in "Daylight Saving" time, Arizona is like Pacific Daylight Time. When most of the rest of the nation is in Standard Time, Arizona is like Mountain Standard Time.

4. To help avoid confusion, when you are confirming an interview time, write out both the interview's local time and the interviewee's local time. For instance, that might look like this:

Host time: 9:00 am Mountain Standard
Author time: 10:00 am Central Standard

Here is a resource for you that might help with other questions you have: http://www.timeanddate.com/