Posted by Enjoyed This on June 16, 2009 at 12:46:06:
In the newest issue of Shore Magazine, Rick Kaempfer interviews quite a few popular news people from Chicago, as well as northern Indiana & southern Michigan.
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Television Faces
By Rick Kaempfer
Published Jun 15th, 2009
Real Lives of Reel Folks, featuring the profiles of Mark Suppelsa, Bob Sirott, Kristyn Hartman, Lindsay Grome, Maureen & Terry McFadden, Dane Placko, Mark Giangreco and Juliet Dragos
The television news anchor or reporter is like an old friend—someone who stops by every night to give you the latest news in your neighborhood. We’ve chosen nine from this area, and asked them each a few questions so that we could get to know the real people behind the familiar faces.
Mark Suppelsa
WGN Television, Channel 9 // Chicago
Mark Suppelsa has been the coanchor of WGN News at Nine and the WGN Evening News weekdays at 5:30 p.m. since July 2008. The award-winning anchor and reporter was already a familiar face in Chicago when he joined the WGN news team, after previous stops at Fox 32 and NBC 5. He’s also the news anchor of the very successful Eric & Kathy Morning Show on WTMX (101.9 FM).
BIGGEST STORY The biggest story I covered would certainly have to be the week of 9/11. And oddly enough, I wasn’t in New York, Washington or PA. I wasn’t even out in the field. Yet the circumstances played out so I essentially helped anchor all of the coverage for the week for NBC 5. The main anchors, Warner Saunders and Allison Rosati, both happened to be out of the country on vacation and couldn’t, for obvious reasons, get flights back. So for four straight days beginning with the morning of 9/11, I had a news earpiece attached for about thirteen hours a day.
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT My most embarrassing moment dates back to my first full year employed on air in television. 1984 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at WFRV-TV. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and I was the new kid anchor, writing and producing the five-minute local news cut-in on the half hour during Good Morning America. Unaware of the time, the director came running into my edit suite to tell me we were on the air in less than two minutes. I tossed him the tape I’d been editing and grabbed my suit coat. I ran the hundred-yard dash from the newsroom to the news studio and sat down as the floor director counted down from ten. That’s ten seconds before I was on the air. Suddenly, I realized I’d forgotten something important. My news scripts! So I did what any panicked, green, cub anchor would do: I ducked underneath the news desk and begged them to play a commercial. What you saw on the TV screen was an empty, swiveling, anchor chair.
SOMETHING VIEWERS WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN I drove a Chevy Cavalier for nearly ten years. I did get a fair amount of razzing from my TV colleagues who’d cruise by in their luxury vehicles.
HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED THE BUSINESS Technology has been both a curse and boon to our business. Technology is killing the newspaper business as we’ve known it. Now, it’s making television more challenging as we try to harness an audience that is increasingly getting more and more news off the web. However, I’m always using Facebook and now Twitter to update that audience with news items and recruit them to our newscasts. So embracing technology instead of fearing it can produce results.
Bob Sirott
WMAQ-TV, NBC 5 // Chicago
[Editor’s Note: Bob Sirott recently left NBC 5 in Chicago when he and the station couldn’t agree to terms on a new contract. When writer Rick Kaempfer spoke with him about it, Sirott joked, “I chose to leave the station when I noticed the small print in the new deal said I’d be required to eat tarantulas during the 10 PM news.”]
Bob Sirott currently anchors the NBC 5 News at 5:00 and 6:00 with Allison Rosati. He also works on special reports for other NBC 5 newscasts and develops content for NBC 5 programming specials and digital platforms.
Sirott has been a familiar voice and face in Chicago for nearly 40 years, after a high-profile career as a disc jockey (WLS), an entertainment reporter (WBBM-TV), a national television correspondent (CBS), a television host (Chicago Tonight/WTTW, Fox News in the Morning), and an anchor.
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT A three-way tie: Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter and Paul McCartney. Hard to top a president or a Beatle. The way they handle interviewers is fascinating. President Obama (I interviewed him when he was a senator—just before becoming a presidential candidate) was exactly the same off the air as he was on. Carter disarmed you with that great big smile that preceded every answer no matter what the question. McCartney has the ability to turn on the charm as though every interview is his first. You know it’s a studied technique, but he’s so good at it that you would swear it’s 100 percent genuine.
MOST UNUSUAL PLACE YOU’VE BEEN RECOGNIZED At a funeral for a relative. That wasn’t so bad. It was the fact that the person wanted an autograph as I was walking out of the chapel.
SOMETHING VIEWERS WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN During the ’70s, I rarely listened to the lyrics to any song I played on the radio. I knew the first line and the last, but that was about it. Ask me about a record I introduced on the radio ten thousand times and I probably couldn’t recite more than two lines.
IF YOU WEREN’T ON TELEVISION I’d be doing Cubs games on the radio. (Now my nephew Judd is living my fantasy.)
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB It has to be the requirement that I sit very close to charming, beautiful women like Allison Rosati. (Don’t let my wife know—I still haven’t told her about my job—she thinks I’m a lawyer).
Kristyn Hartman
WBBM-TV, CBS 2 // Chicago
Kristyn Hartman serves as a general assignment reporter for WBBM’s weekday newscasts, and has also served as a morning news anchor on the weekday and weekend newscasts. She has been with Channel 2 since 2004, but has been in the television business for more than fifteen years, with stops in places like Charlotte, Phoenix and Peoria. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1992.
BIGGEST STORY It wasn’t a story—it was a day. What happened September 11, 2001, continues to impact the world around us. It is the most important (and the saddest) event I’ve covered. I was working in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the time. Like so many other stations around the country, we interviewed people with ties to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We covered peoples’ fear and anguish. We followed how folks came together in the days following the attacks. I have never reported on anything that resonated with viewers on so many different levels. It was the most challenging and rewarding time to be in television news.
SOMETHING VIEWERS WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN I don’t think it’s unusual, but apparently some people do. I ride the CTA Blue Line to and from work. More than a few people have said they were surprised to see me on the train. One day a guy even took my picture with his cell phone to (in his words) “prove to friends a TV lady takes public transportation.”
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT Keegan Grant. When he was six, doctors diagnosed him with acute lymphocytic leukemia. That inspired his parents to run the Chicago Marathon with Team in Training, which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In 2005, I did a story on them.
The following year, when Keegan needed a bone marrow transplant, he asked me to run on his team. It was one of the best things I ever did, because I got to spend time with a funny, smart, tender eight-year-old who understood you have to live life no matter what. His cancer fight wasn’t easy. When things were really tough, people would ask him how he could be so upbeat. He’d say, “Happiness is a choice.”
Keegan passed away in 2006. I have a picture of him smiling and sitting by the inscription, “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” That was Keegan. He was just a little boy, but he was one of the wisest people I’ve ever met.
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB The memorable things people say. When I was a kid, I used to love reading the funny quotes depicting American life that folks would mail to Reader’s Digest. Now I get to hear that kind of stuff firsthand. Example: One day we were interviewing a woman about a crime that had taken place. She told us she didn’t witness it, but could feel what happened “because she had ESP-N.”
Lindsay Grome
Lakeshore Public Television
Merrillville
Lindsay Grome joined the Lakeshore News team in September of 2006 as a general assignment reporter. In addition to her general assignment responsibilities, you can now find her delivering weekly health reports as well as regularly reporting on news at the statehouse in Indianapolis.
She graduated from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in June of 2006.
BIGGEST STORY One of the most memorable was covering President Obama during his many visits to the region throughout his campaign. Being smushed into a tiny Portage Schoop’s restaurant as he and Senator Bayh greeted the customers, surrounded by secret service and media from around the U.S. as we attempted to shout questions is something I won’t soon forget.
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT A family whose 15-year-old son had just drowned. The family was so welcoming, offering us to come in, sit down, have a Hawaiian Punch and some cookies. That whole experience gave me a new perspective. Even still when I have to cover a hard story such as a death of a loved one, a tragic accident, etc., I am continually impressed by the families who welcome and are so giving and loving even during one of the hardest times of their lives, when they could easily shoo away some local reporter with a camera and a mic.
MOST UNUSUAL PLACE YOU WERE RECOGNIZED In the women’s restroom at a local hotel as I was washing my hands. A woman came up to me and exclaimed “Ohmygod, you’re Lindsay Grome.” She then insisted on handing me paper towels to wipe my hands.
BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT TV NEWS PEOPLE This business is NOT glamorous, especially for reporters. A lot of people don’t realize that. I research, write, shoot and edit all of my work. Traipsing around in heels and carrying up to 40 pounds of weight in equipment by yourself every day is far from glamorous. While many days it’s easy to complain about it, some days it sure can be fun.
Maureen & Terry McFadden
WNDU-TV // South Bend
Terry and Maureen McFadden are award-winning television coanchors of the early evening and late editions of NewsCenter 16, but they are also brother and sister. The popular duo is the top-rated television evening news team in Michiana. Maureen has been at the anchor desk since 1983, and the duo has been working together since the mid-90s.
Terry and Maureen are both life-long residents of Michiana, and graduates of Notre Dame and St. Mary’s, respectively.
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT Maureen: Former Chief Justice Warren Burger. I was in London covering the opening of Notre Dame law school there, along with my colleague Anne Thompson (now NBC News’ chief environmental affairs correspondent), and we were granted an interview with the Chief Justice. We were both intimidated and frightened, because he rarely, if ever, granted interviews. But as soon as he starting talking, he was so warm and engaging. It was like having a conversation with your grandfather.
Terry: One time I got a chance to interview Michael Jordan when he and the Bulls came to play an exhibition game here. At first he walked right past me, but he sat down around the corner and said, “Come here.” He granted me the only interview that night. After the interview he said, “I really like the campus stations.” He thought he had been giving a college kid a break. Another time, I had an opportunity to interview Jay Leno. When the camera wasn’t rolling, I realized that he is more than just a joke maker. I brought him a hat from the Studebaker museum, and he knew so much about Studebakers, he really impressed me.
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT Terry: One time Maureen and I were chit-chatting on air, and she mentioned I would get in trouble with my wife. I mentioned the word “penal,” meaning like a penal institution. Boy, was that a poor choice of words.
Maureen: I once misread the word “firefighter” and said “firefarter” instead. For the next ten years, I made sure that word was never in one of my scripts again.
MOST UNUSUAL PLACE YOU’VE BEEN RECOGNIZED Maureen: Blarney Castle in Ireland. I was there with my husband and kids and parents and I was in line to kiss the stone, and somebody said to me, “Excuse me. Are you from South Bend? I knew it was you!”
Terry: On top of the Empire State Building. I was there with my family seven or eight years ago, and a family came up to me and said, “Aren’t you Terry McFadden? We’re from Goshen!”
WORKING WITH YOUR SIBLING Maureen: People think it would be difficult, but it’s easier than working with someone you don’t know as well. If you have a beef, you can discuss it. You don’t have to hold anything back. Also, we tend to pick up on what each other is feeling or thinking.
Terry: That’s true. We have an intuition about each other. Maureen and I always got along. We had a brother between us that acted as the buffer by antagonizing both of us. So we were always on the same team, and we never competed against each other. We still don’t.
Dane Placko
WFLD-TV, Fox 32 // Chicago
Dane Placko has been with Fox 32 for seventeen years now, serving as a general assignment reporter for most of that time. He also cohosts Fox Chicago Sunday with Jack Conaty.
The award-winning Placko is a 20-plus-year broadcasting pro, and one of the most familiar faces on the Fox 32 team. He is a Chicago-area native, and a 1984 graduate of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
BIGGEST STORY I’ve been lucky enough to cover a lot of big stories . . . from presidential campaigns to mob trials to natural disasters. Probably the biggest story I covered from start to finish was Jeffrey Dahmer. I was working in Milwaukee at a station just a few blocks from his apartment. I remember getting the early morning call at home from our overnight producer. She heard chatter on the police radio about heads in a refrigerator. I told her it was probably just some bored cops screwing around. Half an hour later she calls back and says, “No, they really found heads in a refrigerator.”
A couple days later I got a tip that the Milwaukee police were called to Dahmer’s apartment months earlier after some witnesses saw him chasing a naked boy into the street. They believed Dahmer’s story that the boy was an adult and allowed him to take the drugged boy back into his apartment. That child, and several more people, was subsequently killed by Dahmer. The story of the police error was a huge exclusive that roiled the community and led to several police reforms.
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT I remember anchoring a noon newscast in Des Moines many years ago. I had to read a story about help for people with dyslexia, and I completely botched the read. Couldn’t get a word out straight. It felt like time stopped. I’m sure they’re still playing that clip on the WHO-TV Christmas party blooper reel.
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT I remember the first time I met Barack Obama. It was in 1999 at a South Side news conference on payday loan legislation. He was a state senator representing Hyde Park. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, it was clear this was no ordinary machine hack. I remember going back to the newsroom and telling a colleague, “I just met the most remarkable politician . . .”
HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED THE BUSINESS A funny story about old technology in the new media world: I used to sit next to legendary anchor Walter Jacobson in our newsroom. As brilliant as Walter was at finding scoops and breaking stories, he had absolutely no use for technology and computers. He was still using an electric typewriter just a couple years ago. So I would be on the phone talking to someone about a story, and they would inevitably ask about the clickety-clack sound in the background. People thought I was kidding when I told them it was just Walter hammering out a script on his IBM Selectric.
Mark Giangreco
WLS-TV, ABC 7
Chicago
Mark Giangreco is the ABC 7 Chicago sports director and primary sports anchor for the number-one-rated 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, and is one of the most recognizable faces in Chicago television.
He has been with ABC 7 since 1994, but has been in Chicago as a sports anchor and reporter since first coming to WMAQ-TV/Channel 5 in 1982.
BIGGEST STORY I’d say chasing the ’85 Bears as they terrorized New Orleans before Super Bowl XX . . . (with going live in a jam-packed closet of a locker room out in L.A. as the Bulls celebrated their first NBA title a close second).
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT I don’t know if embarrassed is the word, but I’ve been suspended for everything from making fun of downtown Detroit, to calling Don King a murderer, to inferring that the NBA playoffs are fixed.
MOST UNUSUAL PLACE YOU’VE BEEN RECOGNIZED I was in Rome, sitting at a sidewalk trattoria, when a busload of tourists pulled up and a bunch of elderly women poured out screaming, “Oh my God, everybody over here looks like Mark Giangreco!”
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT Muhammad Ali (of course) and former Blackhawk, actor, golf pro and ski instructor Eric Nesterenko. He could be . . . “the most interesting man in the world.”
SOMETHING VIEWERS WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN I went to art school as a kid and worked a lot with pen and ink, charcoal and watercolors. I’ve designed sports logos and had a few cartoons published.
LEAST FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB Being blown off by some moody diva two hours after he agreed to do an interview.
Juliet Dragos
WZZM-TV, Channel 13 // Grand Rapids
Juliet anchors the 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. nightly newscasts on WZZM-TV, and is one of the most familiar faces in Grand Rapids. The award-winning anchor and reporter has been on the air since 1991.
She also frequently volunteers her time for a whole host of local charitable causes and events.
BIGGEST STORY The Civil War in Bosnia. I accompanied a charity group from Grand Rapids to Bosnia in 1997. The members of our local group went to donate money to rebuild a Bosnian orphanage that was bombed and heavily damaged. I was able to do several stories with local connections. The trip to Bosnia and meeting the young and old affected by their civil war was a life-changing experience for me.
MOST IMPRESSIVE INTERVIEW SUBJECT I’m impressed and inspired the most by Special Olympics athletes. I emcee and volunteer at the Michigan Special Olympics State Summer Games and do stories about the athletes every year. Special Olympics athletes really know how to put life into perspective. They are more concerned about each other than winning. I learn something new from the athletes every year and strive to be a better person because of them.
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT A big blooper during my first anchor job in Rock Island, Illinois. It was a Saturday night and I was waiting for my lead story, an interview with Jesse Jackson from the airport. Of course his plane was late and the photographer literally put the tape in my hand seconds before the start of the late newscast. I ran up the three flights of stairs and jumped into my chair just as the camera came on. I was so out of breath that all I could say was, “Good Evening . . . I’m Juliet Dragos” . . . (breathing heavily between every word) . . . “Jesse Jackson just arrived at the airport and here’s what he had to say.” I knew once the tape started to play I could catch my breath and compose myself. Murphy’s Law: the machine ate the tape and I was sitting there on camera mortified, heaving, trying to catch my breath. After about ten seconds and no Jesse Jackson, I was able to get out the words, “We’re having technical trouble . . . we’ll be right back.” During that commercial break I caught my breath, put on some lipstick and finished the newscast. When it was over, I promptly marched down those three flights of stairs and started to type my letter of resignation, I was SO embarrassed. My coworkers talked me out of it, saying, “No one even noticed . . . it was fine.” Until the day I left Rock Island, I had people come up to me saying things like, “I was so worried when you had that asthma attack on the air.” Other viewers shared with me that they, too, had panic attacks or the other medical problems they thought I had.
SOMETHING VIEWERS WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN I was a motocross racer. My uncle bought me a dirt bike when I was 12 years old, and on Sundays I’d go with my male cousins who raced. They signed me up for powder-puff races (against other girls). It was absolutely exhilarating! I still have my racing jersey and a couple of trophies.