"A primary curiosity for me at RTNDA this year will be gauging confidence," TVNewser NAB blogger Scott Baker writes in a pre-show dispatch.

"Last year, there still seemed to be a palpable nervousness about the shifting landscape for what we do. There was a great deal of emphasis and prediction about the trends toward the unbundling of information, as facts and nuggets run off to their new media neighborhoods, resistant to attempts by traditional journalism to impose narrative.

I felt last year that this would only sorta work. I'm wondering if this year there will be a return to narrative in the view of news."

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Gearing up to write about some of the top names and trends in TV news I tried to jolt myself out of my regular drill.

I did a one-day LA "name drop" boot camp going into the convention -- a series of meetings across a few news and media sectors. So here's a little "drop" action -- with a point.

Dinner with a provocative top cable news executive.

Drinks at the home of Orson Bean and Alley Mills (I didn't get to try her pot roast but the aroma made me feel like I had).

And an afternoon of unfolding surprise and revelation.

I hooked up with a couple of media friends, including a husky online news visionary who has a really explosive operation.

We spent the afternoon brainstorming and speculating about the media future.

We did this at the storied Beverly Hills home of the legendary -- and still tan -- film producer Robert Evans.

I recommend this.

I had spoken with Mr. Evans a few times on the phone, but this was my first chance to meet him.

I now have an "I Brake for Robert Evans" bumper sticker featuring the same picture from the movie artwork for the documentary based on his book, "The Kid Stays in the Picture."

I think if we walked away from the afternoon with any conviction about communication it would be that we'd better be interesting.

We talked about the fates and fortunes of newspapers and newscasts, journalism and storytelling, satellite radio, digital endeavors, and plenty of tales about scoundrels and scallywags.

A primary curiosity for me at RTNDA this year will be gauging confidence.

Last year, there still seemed to be a palpable nervousness about the shifting landscape for what we do.

There was a great deal of emphasis and prediction about the trends toward the unbundling of information, as facts and nuggets run off to their new media neighborhoods, resistant to attempts by traditional journalism to impose narrative.

I felt last year that this would only sorta work.

I'm wondering if this year there will be a return to narrative in the view of news.

Can we keep -- across the digisphere -- a place for a good story with a beginning, a middle and an end.

Just so the News Stays in the Picture.