The Zoom meeting in Los Angeles on Monday morning – if it was a typical business meeting in 2021 – was expected to struggle in holding the attention of its limited participants.

But this meeting, unbeknownst to those participants, found a much, much, much larger audience when a local CBS station control-room worker hit the wrong button and began broadcasting the Zoom meeting to thousands and thousands in Los Angeles.

It happened during CBS This Morning when the local affiliate, KCBS, was supposed to switch from the national airing to a local segment. Host Gayle King said, “Time to check on your local weather,” and, boom! Zoom!

The internal meeting became quite external.

Business pros, by now, have been double-checking themselves before hitting the “join” button – and it’s a good thing. What if Ed from accounting had jumped on the call without his pants? Or what if Jennifer failed to wipe off that breakfast burrito salsa from her face? 

Fortunately, the technical issue will not make an unwilling celebrity of anyone. The Zoom meeting droned on – as most do these days – without incident.

The remote staff meeting aired for 30 seconds and included discussions about cactuses and just what to do about Duran Duran as it relates to the musician group’s new album.

According to one of the three on the call, it seems Duran Duran’s fan base, aged “30s, 40s, 50s” is a perfect fit for the local news demographic.

Who knew?

The participants were either terrific actors or were firmly unaware of their newly public meeting.

CBS This Morning pulls in roughly 2.7 million viewers, but this was seen only in the Los Angeles market.

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