Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 02, 2009 at 10:50:33:
Local TV personalities tell stories of fan encounters
By William Hageman | Tribune reporter
April 1, 2009
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Just about every Chicago TV personality has stories about interacting with fans. Here are a few:
She takes a licking, keeps on ticking
Kathy Brock, WLS-Ch. 7
Sometimes, fans do more than talk.
Like the middle-age, well-dressed guy at Northbrook Court a couple of years ago.
"He said he was a big fan and always watched Channel 7. He sticks his hand out to shake mine, and I comply. But instead of shaking my hand he pulls my wrist up to his lips and sticks his tongue out, and he gives it this huge, sloppy lick, from the wrist all the way to the fingers. And then he looks me in the eye, briskly turns around and walks off.
"I thought about going to security, but what are you going to say? I just got licked?"
With almost 20 years on the air in Chicago, Brock says that viewers feel they have a connection with her. So she has come to expect—and appreciate—the daily greetings.
"If that isn't happening, that means they aren't connecting with us and they're not watching. I think it's something that comes with the job, and if it didn't happen, then I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing."
There are no boundaries on celebrity either. At the Leaning Tower of Pisa she was approached by a family from Lake Forest. And at a restaurant in Florence, she met three families from Chicago.
"Anywhere you go," she says. "It's like they saw their neighbor in Rome, and it's perfectly natural for them to come up and start talking."
The McMoments never get old
Allison Rosati, WMAQ-Ch. 5
Just because you're a TV personality doesn't mean you have to get spruced up every time you step out the door.
"I am up at 5:30 taking my oldest to high school, then I come home and pick up my youngest three to take them to their school. I think I have sufficiently startled people with my hair in a clip and gym clothes that don't quite match. ... The moms at school know me; we all kind of look alike. But maybe if I stop at Starbucks or a 7-Eleven, sometimes they'll stare at you, yeah."
There's one destination where she knows she will be recognized: a certain McDonald's drive-through.
"This one young kid ... really makes this huge, big deal. 'Oh my God, oh my God,' and he gets all, like, crazy. ... Every time we go through he does this, and he gets all the [other employees], 'Hey, do you know who this is? It's Allison Rosati! Hey, Allison Rosati is in the drive-through!' I get a kick out of it. My kids think it's absolutely hysterical."
Please, just get the name right
Robin Robinson, WFLD-Ch. 32
She regularly runs into fans when she's out in public.
"They always seem very surprised that I do errands," she says. "I don't know who they think does them for me. 'You grocery shop?!' 'Yeah, we eat too!' "
You might even see her at T.J. Maxx or Marshalls.
"It's almost like the grocery store, where they don't think I should be buying my own food. 'You shop here?' 'Yes, I shop here.' I also shop at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom too. ... I don't want to miss out on a bargain. I'm really no different than them."
Robinson says she doesn't allow extra time to deal with chatty fans but instead has mastered the talk-and-walk strategy.
One tip: If you're fortunate enough to run into Robinson, for Pete's sake get the name right.
"It's often not, 'Are you Robin Robinson?' It's 'Don't I know you from someplace? Did you come to that party with my cousin last week?'
"And my favorite, and I'm not kidding: On numerous times I've been called Robin Williams. Or 'Aren't you Robin Givens?' They do have the first name, how could you not have the last name? They're almost the same."
Taking the cheap shots in stride
Paul Konrad, WGN-Ch. 9
Being part of a four-hour morning news show (Channel 9, like this newspaper, is owned by Tribune Co.) with a lot of viewer turnover exposes Konrad to more than 150,000 people daily. So it's not unusual for him to be stopped 5 or 10 times a day.
"You're grateful people know who you are," he says. "I think we touch a lot of people and make them feel comfortable. So they feel more comfortable greeting us on the street, which is great.
"The downside is the homeless guys who call you out. They want 20 bucks instead of 5. You give them 5, and they're yelling loudly, 'You're on TV and you're only giving me 5 dollars?!' "
His favorite fan encounter—OK, most memorable—was in a grocery store.
"There was a 250-pound woman, a big woman, in the Dominick's, wanting me to sign her melons in the produce section."
Famous moments with the folks
Amy Freeze, WFLD-Ch. 32
Being recognizable can help you impress Mom and Dad.
The WFLD meteorologist's parents were recently in town, and the three of them went shopping at Sears.
"The clerk was checking me out, and she says, 'You know, you look just like that lady who does weather on the TV.' I said, 'Really? What channel?' And she said it was Fox. And I asked, 'Do you remember her name?' ... She said, 'Oh, her name's Amy Freeze.' And I held up my driver's license and said, 'Does she spell her name like this?' We all got a good laugh out of it, and my parents thought it was fun."
Being recognized as a familiar face is good; being recognized for your work is better, Freeze says.
"The thing I like the most is when they ask what the weather's going to be," she says. "It's a compliment that they think I know what's going on."
Always has his game on
David Kaplan, Comcast SportsNet
If you're a weather person, they want to talk weather. If you're a sports guy ...
Kaplan gets it from two sides. Some fans want to talk basketball—he's a former assistant college coach and NBA scout. But others want to talk baseball because he has been doing baseball on WGN Radio (like this paper, owned by Tribune Co.) for 14 years and has now become a familiar face on Comcast SportsNet.
And by baseball, of course, we mean the Cubs.
"I get the fan who feels they had their heart ripped out the last couple of years," he says. "I get this a lot. I got it at Woodfield the other day. A guy comes up to me and says, 'Tell me why I should get invested in the Chicago Cubs again this year.'
"And I said, 'I guarantee you, on Opening Day your heart will be invested. It's like falling in love. You can't control your emotions.' "
Kaplan, a Chicago native, says he has the best job in the world: covering sports in his hometown. Running into fans who want to talk sports? That just makes it better.
"I'm flattered that people a) recognize me or b) want to talk to me," he says. "I'm the most approachable guy out there. ... Anybody wants to talk to me, I'm flattered."
He has weathered rejection too
Steve Baskerville, WBBM-Ch. 2
The longtime weatherman says he generally gets a favorable reaction (unlike Nicolas Cage's character in the 2005 film "The Weather Man," in which people on the street throw things at a Chicago meteorologist).
"I never get that. I think it's because nine times out of 10 the portion of the show where the weather is on is a lighter part of the show. The times when you've got really horrific news are rare. So people go easy on you."
And those awkward comments that fans sometimes make? Baskerville has been there. On the wrong end.
He tells of the time he was walking down Michigan Avenue and saw comedian Chris Rock shopping.
"I freaked out," he says. "I yelled, 'Chris Rock!' And I went over to shake his hand. He was very polite. Then I said, 'I'm on TV too.' And he gave me a look and just said, 'OK.' And I said, 'Seriously, I'm on TV too.' And he gave me, 'All riiiight.' So now he's trying to walk away, and I'm grabbing his arm saying, 'For real.' So suddenly I'm the crazy guy.
"Then I had to push it even further. 'Are you going to be in town at 10 o'clock tonight?' He's like, 'Yeah ...' And I'm telling him, 'Channel 2, I'm on TV!' And I couldn't let him leave. I don't know what came over me.
"That's why I'm very forgiving when I see people and they say something that might seem very odd. Because I have done it myself."