Episode 380: Alex Lee

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to The Mike the New AVENT podcast, hosted
by media personality and consultant Mike Globe. It's nice to

(00:42):
do a Monday edition of the program. It's we've been
off and running. Of course, it feels weird whenever I
miss an episode. Of course, as you guys know, I
was working in the ambulance last week, so my schedule
was Tuesday to Friday, so I couldn't do the Friday show,
So we haven't seen you all since last Monday. But
it's great to be back on what is episode three
hundred and eighty of The Mike the New AVN Podcast.
To four hundred, were twenty episodes away from that milestone,
which is cool to think. And of course it's good

(01:05):
to have you guys again in the audience watching this
one and looking forward to this one because I used
to watch the guest i'll introduced momentarily, particularly when she
was on PIX and of course on Channel two as
well as a longtime Channel two viewer. For those of
you who have not seen the previous episode, that was
episode three hundred and seventy nine, which was an interesting edition.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Of the program. It was the best of both.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Badges Volume two, which saw me have former NYPD Emergency
Service Unit officer Jose Gara and a former New York
City EMS emergency specialist Chris Ebden, who was able to
join the program as well. As we looked back on
the nineteen ninety five Williamsburg train derailment which killed one
and injured over fifty. So we got a breakdown of
that incident. Both of those gentlemen were there and responded

(01:46):
that day in June of ninety five, so a really
really good incident. Looked back at the response then and
how that incident has shaped the response to future railroad
emergencies across.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
The five boroughs. So won't keep tonight's guest waiting too long.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
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Well.

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Speaker 2 (03:41):
Very nice.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
My next guest is a familiar face and voice to
anyone who's tuned into a morning commute to the New
York metro area. Over the years, Seasoned on air, host
and reporter, she's worked away through New York's top networks, including,
of course, as I mentioned, CBS, ABC and WPIX eleven,
delivering everything from up to the minute traffic reports to
red carpetator used with different celebrities as we'll talk about tonight,
and rather it was waking up tri state commuters on

(04:04):
Eyewitness News, co hosting a lifestyle segment on New York Living,
and that was on pix or producing live field reports
from high profile events. She's consistently brought poise, polish, and
professionalism to every screen that she's been on. She's currently
with Verizon as a spokeswoman, and she'll talk about as
well tonight, and that, of course, as I said to
someone I used to watch regularly, Alex Lee on the
Mike Innwaving podcast, good to see you, welcome, how are you?

Speaker 4 (04:26):
Thanks for having me? Happy to be here, happy.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
To have you, as I said, So before we get
into anything with your career, two part question A where
did you grow up? And B did you always know
you wanted to do something like this.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
A New Jersey B? Yes?

Speaker 2 (04:40):
What profited for you? What was the interest?

Speaker 5 (04:43):
I really can't remember any solid like moments of just knowing,
but just as far as I can remember, I did
grow up watching the Today Show and always admiring the
talent there, particularly Katie Coor, and I've always been fascinated
with pop culture and entertainment in that whole industry as well,

(05:06):
and so Julian Auransik in the days of Ean News
was also someone who I admired and then kind of like,
between that and applying for college, I got the idea
of my head in my head that I would do
something in the broadcast field, whether that be radio or television,
and I've gotten to do both.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
So I feel very lucky, exactly, And one thing I
will say is that you were a heck of a student.
You did very well for your SUBGPA wise, you were
deansless hottery, which is always a nice thing. As someone
that was also a deansless person, I can relate to that.
But it's also worth noting you were a D one athlete.
So was there ever a moment where you briefly thought
about trying to pursue athletics or was always broadcasting the
whole way?

Speaker 5 (05:45):
No, I'm an athlete. I'm still an athlete to this day.
I've always loved the idea of sport and I do
believe it's the biggest metaphor for life. And I think
there's a lot of invaluable lessons that you can learn
from participating in sports. And it also you know, helped
pay for college, which is nice.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
But I swam.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
There was nothing I was going to do post you know,
undergrad with that. So I mean, yeah, like, have I
toyed with the idea of sports broadcasting perhaps, but haven't
done it yet. You know, the world is you never
know what's going to happen, so yeah, maybe one day.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I think that the truth.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
So just to go back before I continue to your
college years, there's always that one person that really can
impact you in a positive way and really set the
table for you to pursue your goals even further than
you already wanted to. When you look back at any
particular professor or class, who was that person for you
that saw the potential you had, knew the goals you had,
and really inspired you even further to pursue them.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
That's a great question. I think.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
I have to credit somebody who I met early on
in my career. I mean, there's I First of all,
there are so many people right any career, in any field,
especially in one that's this cutthroat, as is the world
of broadcast.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
The people. No one can do anything on their own.
You need help.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
You need to have friends and allies and mentors, and
you should always be learning. And I've lean done so
many amazing people that walked to the path before me.
Who lays the trail before me? But someone I remember
early early on in my career, before I was ever
on the air, and I was a producer for iHeart
Media for in radio, I had a mentor. Her name

(07:31):
was Carrie Lee McClelland, and you will recognize that voice.
She's a trusted voice in traffic as well. She was
on NBC and the for television, and she was on
Z one hundred and all the iHeart radio stations as
a traffic she's not anymore, but like for her entire
career and for myself growing up, and she's someone who

(07:52):
took me under her wing from you know, the time
I started. Let's see, I started in the business in
twenty fourteen, and like within six months, that was someone
who was like, Hey, I see potential in you. You
want to do this, I'm going to help you. And
I had no idea what it was doing at the time.
I just knew that I wanted to be on air,
and I had no idea the blood, sweat and tears

(08:15):
that needed to go into that. And that is somebody
who just kind of set me on the path. And
so Cary Lee, if you're listening to this, thank you,
I love you. And she was definitely for a young, insecure,
knowing next to nothing broadcaster up and coming, she just
totally shepherd me along the journey.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
Awesome to hear.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
And we're talking with Alex Lee here in the mike
the New Even podcast, who was Philadelphia Eagles thrashed my
new York Giants. Yes, yes, oh yeah, and then we
lost Camp Scatabo too for the season, so not doing
too well, but we forgive her.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
It's nice to have a program.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
So getting into radio, I remember John Sterling, who was
a long time Yankee play by play announcer on the
radio talking to What's amazing about it rather be sports
or traffic too, is you really have to go out
of your way to paint the picture, and it's not
too hard to do once you gain the experience to
be able to do it. But again, people can't see it,
so they have to be able to hear it firsthand
and get a good detailed picture about that. And you

(09:10):
know this is no disrespect to reporters in other fields.
But having talked to you tonight, and of course having
previously had Caitlin money On years ago, who did the
same thing for pix for a number of years, I
don't think there's anybody more detail oriented, especially the New
York market as a traffic reporter. So just getting to
high iHeart first, and we'll get into the job and
what it entailed.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Momentarily.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Tell me about how that opportunity came about and ultimately
what led to you being able to get that particular job.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
You know, it really is the craziest story.

Speaker 5 (09:37):
But anyone who you will talk to, as I'm sure
very well aware right now, there's no everyone's journey to
the table, so to speak, is going to look so different.
And I would get in my head about that a
lot early on because I didn't go to a school
where I did radio or television because I was a
D one athlete, and so I couldn't I feel like
I felt like at one point, all my friends went
to Seaton Hall and they were on WSOU, or they

(09:58):
went to Fordham and they were on the radio there
and we're Syracuse, And I was like, here, I am
at CFC. I was Communications and immedia Studies major, but
I didn't have any formal training, so to speak. But
none of that matters clearly, So it was it was
a weird thing. I mean, I guess I have to
credit LinkedIn and my dad, which is funny because my

(10:22):
dad is not in the industry, was never in the industry,
but he is very big into LinkedIn. He uses LinkedIn
in the way that I myself would use Instagram that
the younger generation uses TikTok Like He's on it soiled
the number one app on his phone, and he, knowing
that I was graduating college and wanted to, you know,
get into this industry in the number one market, was

(10:42):
on there constantly.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
And he's like, you know what, I'm connected to this guy.
I forget the exact reason why.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
His name's J trelease shout out to Jay Trelies, also
a radio legend. I'm connected to j t Relies. I
see that he does traffic reporting for iHeartMedia. He's like,
want me to just next or reach out to him
on LinkedIn and see if he'll talk to you. And
I was like, sure, I'll take anything and get at
this point because as you know, it's all about who
you know to some degree and network, network, network, and

(11:10):
just always say yes and be open.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
And so he.

Speaker 5 (11:13):
Introduced me to Jay, and Jay introduced me to the
man who would go on to hire me at iHeart
WI Total Traffic, which was owned by iHeart and then
that was that. And I remember the guy at the
time who hired me. He was our operations director. He said,
you know, you're really green, which forty non industry folk means.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
Like you don't really have any experience.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
But I feel like, you have potential, so I'm going
to give you this job. Meanwhile, it wasn't to do
anything on air, was to be a producer, and so
he did. And I made little flashcards and I learned
all about the roads in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
the Tri State area, and I learned what the Kajusco
Bridge was, the Vanwick Expressway, things that I'd never even

(11:59):
driven on are or been to, but I learned it all,
and from there.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
I was able to start as a producer. I dealt.
I worked in the morning, so I was also.

Speaker 5 (12:11):
Kind of tasked with like doing all the beauty shots,
any bump shots that you see coming in a commercial
break on the television stations in New York City, So
we were in control of all those cameras and so
kind of got familiar with the situation that way. And
then from producing again, got linked up with my friend
Carrie Lee there and she helped me start making demos

(12:33):
for radio and then the other iconic New York City
traffic voice. If you've ever listened to ten ten Wins,
you'd know him. His name's Matt Ward. Was kind of
in charge of all the reporters at that point and
when I was ready to you know, try, I sent
him my demo and he, you know, gave me constructive criticism,
but was like, yeah, I think you're ready, and I'll

(12:55):
never forget because it was like the guy who got
me in. Jay sat with me my first ever radio shift,
and I was doing traffic for ten ten Wins and
I e when you hear my register, I have like
a pretty low recipe ish voice. I remember, like, because
it's live, you know, ten ten Wins was live at
the time. I think it might still be obviously, but

(13:17):
I was in that studio. Jay was sitting right next
to me, just in case God forbrid I like you know,
blocked out or feigned fell to a chair, and.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
They came to me. I did my report.

Speaker 5 (13:27):
I don't even remember what I said, couldn't tell you anything,
but it was you know, sixty seconds and then I
looked at him and he was dying laughing.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
He was like, your voice I think was an entire.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
Octave higher than your normal speaking voice because I was
so nervous. But then once I got through it, the
rest was history. And I was doing weekend shifts with
ten ten Wins.

Speaker 4 (13:47):
Some of the.

Speaker 5 (13:47):
iHeart stations New Jersey one to one point five, all
doing traffic and then filling in on some of the
bigger stations here and there as needed during the week.
And then it was around that time that Joe Nolan,
another heavy hitter in the world of broadcast in this city,
he was working a split shift, so he was doing
traffic for WABC in the morning and then traffic for

(14:10):
ESPN on the Michael Okay Show in the afternoon, and
that's like insane. God bless him. I did it a
couple of times. I could never do it every day
for as many years as he did. It's exhausting. And
I think it just got to the point where he
was like, I don't want to do this shift anymore,
and so he was going to just pivot to only
his morning stuff. And because I had filled in for
him a couple of times on ESPN and I had

(14:31):
a good report with the guys, and just like the
station liked me. It was like a right place, right
time kind of thing. Not to say there wasn't a
lot of hard work that went into it, but that's
how I got the steady gig.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
With being the voice of traffic on the Michael Kay show.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
You talk about the nerves, and I think that's the
truth with anything, and I like asking this question to
a lot of them. I guess we have a lot
of police and fire on the show primarily, and I
like asking them what was the point where you felt
comfortable in your role or if they were, you know,
an officer of a rank, same, when did you feel
comfortable in to rank? So for you, just on the
radio side, what was the moment down the road? I
know you mentioned earlier after the first report, the rest

(15:07):
was history worked. The nerves still there because you want
to do a good job, weren't as prevalent, weren't as stressful,
and you felt, Okay, I got this, you know.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
I think it did take some time just because it
was so new for me. But the one thing that
I will say that helped me out a lot and
helped me kind of just get over it relatively quickly
was that I knew what I was talking about, And
that for me is huge. And there are people out
there who are great actors, who were or bs artists
and fake it till they make it, and some degree
of like what I've done to get me where I

(15:36):
am right now, And I think anyone in the world
who says differently is lying. But like you know, I
definitely have been in the fake it till you make
it both. But I made sure to become an expert
at the most menial and seemingly trivial things, Like it
wasn't glamorous being a producer for traffic reports on the radio.

(15:56):
But I knew everything inside and out. I knew what
every camera was looking at. I knew every road I knew.
I can still tell you that Exit one P fifty
three off of the Garden State Parkway is Ruth three
and Clifton, Like it's just like I it became second nature,
like the back of my hand to me for all
parts of the area.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
So I knew that I could back up what I
needed to do.

Speaker 5 (16:18):
And I was at that level of comfort with the
content that I was reporting on. So the more repetition,
like I just needed to get my reps in, the
more reps I got in that stuff was all gravy.
It was just kind of getting down the vibes of like,
all right, who am I talking to? Because that was
the other thing, right, Like I'm not just doing the
Michael Kaishaw. I was doing PLJ with Race Taylor. I

(16:39):
was doing ninety four to seven, when was the country
station with Jesse Addy. I was doing just if somebody
called out to like like, hey, can you take on
another station?

Speaker 4 (16:46):
You're going to do Q one four to three for Christina.

Speaker 5 (16:49):
Staffo, So I was I was talking to like countless
numbers of people like firing off. I don't know, anywhere
from six to ten live traffic reports an hour in
all parts of the tri States. So it was kind
of just you know, taking the time to get into
a rhythm with Okay, who am I talking to? What's
their vibe, what's their sense of humor, what's the cadence here?

(17:10):
And knowing that I knew what I was talking about,
being able to find my voice and trust that me
showing a little bit of my personality was going to
be something that people, you know, that would resonate with people,
and not being scared to do so.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
It almost feels as if you're operating without a safety net. So,
given what would come later with expanding the television, how
do you feel these years really shaped you in terms
of being able to handle future responsibilities?

Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh, trial by fire, just doing things before you thought
you were ready doing everything, making a lot of sacrifice.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
There were.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
I mean I worked every holiday, I worked Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Black Friday, I worked overnights, I worked weekends. I was
there was one day, one point in time where I
was working seven days a week. And it's just hustling, grinding,
putting your nose down. Knowing that everybody puts their pants
on the same way in the morning, no one's better
than anyone else, that every job has a meaning and
a lesson on purpose and just becoming an expert at

(18:09):
every level in the field that I could, and that flexibility.
And I also really think being an athlete just to
tie circle back to like sport being a metaphor for
life like you, I mean, the lessons you learn are countless,
like that could be a whole other episode is the
metaphor there, But like I know, I know that I

(18:31):
have grit, I know I hustle, and I know I
can be scrappy, and I know that I have what
it takes to figure out what I need to do
to get whatever the task at hand is done. And
then just that kind of determination and perseverance is what
carried me through.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
And also it saying yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
I mean, and knowing your role too, to tie sports together.
I'm a Ranger fan, but I respected the man I'm
about to mention, Ken Danigo, great defenseman for the New
Jersey Devils for all those years. You know, he wasn't
a guy that put the puck in the net a lot,
but he knew that wasn't his job. He wasn't Scott
ed or Meyer, he wasn't Patrick Aliosh. His job was
to be a great defenseman and keep the puck out
of that. And you know what, he won three Stanley Cups,
his jerseys hanging in the raptors in Jersey. So he

(19:08):
clearly did something right, you know.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
So nice he was.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
He was a pain in the neck for those years,
but he was great at what he did along side
Steve Yes. I mean, and again, what athlete isn't right?
What hockey player isn't so get.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
You get punched in the face enough in hockey, you know,
I think you got to be a little bit crazy.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Of course, of course, shout out to Kenny, like I said,
even though a Ranger fan, hell of a career. Yeah,
so I wanted to ask about this too before I
moved on to television. You know, again, you can have
a regular traffic report. What's going to happen in MBA,
you know, and there's some Sometimes it's just a fender bender.
Sometimes they're very severe in nature and the road's going
to be shut down for quite a while. You're coordinating
a lot. There's different agencies in.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Charge of the highways in the tri state area.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Got the New Jersey State Police, New York State Police,
Port Authority, and NYPD Highway. Getting to in touch with
them to get the up to date information on that
and then relay it to the audience is not easy.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
How would you do it?

Speaker 5 (20:00):
That was a whole other layer of the business that
I had learned. Right, Like we were constantly surrounded by scanners.
I learned you know, you said m VA so fifty
three those who know now, I felt like I learned
the lingo.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
I was listening and also multitasking.

Speaker 5 (20:13):
Am I goodness, I'd be listening to scanners, I'd be
watching cameras, I'd be talking to the helicopter with you know,
John Delgno, Shannon's own, Tom Kaminski shout outs to all
the guys and gals that were up there.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
So it was kind of being able to do a lot.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
And you know, of course you had the call downs too.
They got used to hearing your voice. You'd call porta Thoriti, Hey,
anything working at the George if you know, if they
weren't reporting it out, because then we had the email too, right,
and so like we had tips, we had you know,
certain addresses.

Speaker 4 (20:44):
We were connected with the MTA too, like, so certain
people would.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
Send us things, but who knew if we were going
to be the priority to get it out. So it
was about, all right, well we're not seeing anything, but
we're seeing this tie up on Google Maps, the cameras
showing that there's cars kind of stopping and we're seeing
flashing lights.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
Like, let's call Port authority.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
And another good thing was like, oh inside baseball here,
Like a lot of the people who worked with me
a total traffic would also work at Port part time
or you know overnight s weeagains because you make no
money in radio unless you are like a Mike Okay,
shout out to Michael, I love you, not putting my
hands in your pockets. But so you got to work
like three jobs to get anything done. So there was

(21:23):
a lot of cross pollination that way too. So I've
because you know, sometimes you know you're gonna be that
annoying person. But like, if there's anything you learned early
on and being a reporter working in the industry, it's
like you're just gonna have to pass your people and
they're gonna have to know that comes with the job.
So we would call the authorities and stuff, and once
you've been doing it for long enough, everybody kind of
became friends and you were dealing with the same cast

(21:44):
of characters.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, I mean, and I don't know how good the
cameras were, but sometimes you mean, depending on the fire
department responding or if it was poor authority, police CSU
or NYPDES, you use some great rescues too, maybe oh yeah,
on occasion, so it's all.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, we saw some pretty cool stuff,
not that that's cool, but we saw some pretty wild
you know, we.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
Were I was able to watch the Pope like up close.

Speaker 5 (22:10):
Like on camera, but like crazy things like when he
was in the city once, and you know, I always
thought it was really magical when they would fly the
flag at the George Washington Bridge and you know, we
would have to line that shot up and like zoom in.
On holidays, more all day, Labor Day, fourth of July,
stuff like that, And there was just some moments that

(22:32):
I think, you know, I didn't see this, but I
know that they were my team, that my colleagues were
all over the miracle on the Hudson when the plane
landed so and then also there were your fair share
of like I mean, God bless everybody's okay, but I
mean I went up in the helicopter once and after
like twenty minutes, I was.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
Like, oh God, please put me down, like I'm when
I saw some my cookies.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
But a friend of mine, Andrew Shorea, is another you know,
voice of the radio. I remember he was in the
helicopter crash and so many of my colleagues were because
it it's just like this common thing, right, like helicopters
go down. And he was like, yeah, how to walk
it off? Like I'm like, that's so crazy, Like I don't.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Know, you just that's a flex.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
Like did you get back in because I wouldn't, but yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, I mean it's again, it's a crazy scenario. But
shout out to those guys because it's not an easy
job to keep track of in real time, but they
do it, and they do it on a day in,
day out basis. Moving ahead to television, this is where
as I said earlier, I most remember watching you besides PX,
which you'll get tune a little bit. CBS two, it's
a great you know you were freelanced there for a
couple of years.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Great morning cast.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Barry Calvey's been there forever, Chris Raggy's been there forever.
Alex Dennis came in later. By the time, I believe
John Elliott was doing weather. So it's a great crew.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Getting there again.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Much like I asked you with iHeart, tell me about
how that opportunity came to be and how that specific
version of the crew welcome you during that era.

Speaker 4 (23:48):
Okay, another little bit of inside baseball for you.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
So there are what there's Fox five, there's WABC, Channel seven,
there's CBS two, there's PICKS eleven, NBC. I was like,
I'm forgetting one, Channel four and New York one. Shout
out to New York one. And my friend Larry works there,
so got to give her her love of those stations,
not all of the traffic anchors and maybe you know this,

(24:12):
maybe you don't are employed by the station. A lot
of them were or are total traffic iHeart employees like
Heather or Work I Heart employee and as rosales and
Fox I Heeart employee. So they were just kind of
like contracted out to the station and so because of
that we had a relationship. And then also every station
got their camera shots. We were constantly getting calls from

(24:34):
from the stations like hey, can you move to George
camera to you know, ninety five because we think that
there's something going on by seventy three or whatever. And
we were in charge of like you know those shots
of like any camera shots you see a traffic reporter
in my reports as well, like.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
I knew that I'm using its little traffic camera.

Speaker 5 (24:51):
So the relationship was there, and we also kind of
were in charge of staffing Laurence Scallus because it was
Laurence scal at the time was doing traffic on Channel
four and we were in charge of staffing. At the
time Alex Dennis is filling and Channel two got to
the point where they were looking for film. I know
you've had Alex Dennis on your show.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
I saw me. She's did that say one of my
favorite people. I'll talk to her, not enough, but I do.

Speaker 5 (25:11):
Still heeven touch with her, and so I went over
there for an interview with somebody from corporate in my
heart and kind of got the job that way.

Speaker 4 (25:23):
It's funny.

Speaker 5 (25:24):
I actually went over to be to do it at
Channel seven first and Heather or Work is like a
lifelong friend of mine, also a Jersey girl, and she
trained me to do television, made a demo reel, went
over it, remade a demo reel, submitted it, and a
news director there at the time, who shall not be named,
was like, she's too green, and Heather was like, okay, whatever,

(25:46):
and so then I but then they just took me
over to Channel two and I started doing that and then,
funny enough, as you very well know, a couple of
years later, I wound up on Channel seven anyway, So
that's another lesson in perseverance and don't take anything too
much to the heart, like whether it's that's another lesson
you'll learn in the business is like whether it's positive

(26:07):
or negative external validation. If someone compliments, you don't hold
on to it too long, and if someone is insulting,
you don't hold onto it too long because it means nothing.
You just got to own your stuff and like be
confident in your abilities.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's timely that you say
that because, like, for example me, I'm not trying to
pursue media per se. My ultimate goal is to become
a career firefighter here in Connecticut. So it's the same thing. Like,
especially in a profession like that, you take you stay
even keel. And that's the thing a lot of my
mentors have taught me as well. Take the compliments. It's
nice to get them, but if someone gets on your
case rightly or wrongly.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Rub it off. It's easier said that. Let it roll off.
You have to.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
If you don't have that thick skin, especially in a
cutthroat business like yours was for all those years, you're
never going to survive.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
As you will know, Yeah, you really, I'm a very
sensitive person, and I think I've gotten a little bit.
My skin's definitely become thicker. You can't get through this
and tree I'm scathed in that realm. But I also
will say I've been very lucky because I have friends
who some of them share the trolling online. They'll like,

(27:10):
you know, this is not how you speak to someone.
But I really, knock on wood, I've not gotten anything
crazy mean like everybody's been, whether you're a random stranger
or I know it. Like the feedback I've gotten has
always been net positive, and I not to take credit
for it. I just I kind of attribute that to like,

(27:32):
no matter if I'm doing traffic on the radio, or
if I'm doing traffic on television, or if I'm doing
a Verizon segment on TV, or if I'm host interviewing
someone live in the field, or if I'm shooting it,
I'm just the me that you're The me that you're
talking to when the camera is on, is going to
be the same person as the me that you're talking
to and the camera is off. And I will die

(27:53):
on that hill. If that's the one thing I have
going for me, that is it. And maybe that's not
the most professional approach. Maybe that's not why I maybe
that's why I'm not like, you know, Robin Roberts sitting
at the Today at the Good Morning America table right now.
But that's how I chose to put myself out there
in the industry, and that is how I was able

(28:14):
to go home every night and go to bed in
such a crazy, potentially toxic industry and be like, you
know what, I am pleased with the genuine authenticity with
which I showed up today.

Speaker 4 (28:31):
So that's all I can do.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Brilliant, and again you get the nail on the head.
That's really all you can do. Just showing up is
half to battle. And on top of that, you know,
whatever you do in the industry, especially in industry like
that one, you have to be able to look yourself
at the mirror at the end of the day, and
you have to be able to like what's staring back
at you and for all the chaos that you dealt with,
and we'll talk about some of it a little bit later,
at least you can do that, and that's something a
lot of people can't say unfortunately.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
Oh yeah, and I know people listen, you meet all
kinds of people, you meet all sorts of egos in
this business, and the ones who are the most miserable,
you know, I feel bad for them, I really do.
And you can't even be mad at them, or you
can't hate them because you just know that it's.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
Like, well, you know, it's part of the deal, not me,
but that's you.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
So good luck, exactly. And I think that's a good
way to segue into the next thing on the more
positive side of it. You get the chance to encounter
some great people in the business too, as you kind
of alluded to as well.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
And like I mentioned, you had a good crew at.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
CBS too, you had a good crew at WABC. Chemistry
is everything, and you can tell when you're watching. I
remember talking about this. Not to keep name dropping, it's
not the point, but Chris Domino talked about this a
few years ago when he was on another time of
the guy. He's a Met fan, will forgive him. I'm
a Yankee fan.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
At least he's loyal.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
At least that he is.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well, we share the Rangers in commons, so there's that.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
But that'd be sad.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
You know, Chris Amino is one of the greatest people
you will ever meet. I hope that everybody has a
chance to meet that man. He is true salt of
the earth people.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
I love him.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
He's a gem. We keep in touch every now and then.
I had the chance to interview him about four years ago.
Now he's one of my earlier guests, and one of
the things he mentioned is you could tell when the
chemistry is not real on television. You can tell when
it is so for you, those couple of years at
CBS and also those few years at WABC, What do
you think to help make the chemistry work and how
did the crew go about making you feel welcome when
obviously the nerves are there.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
You well, first of all, you can't make chemistry work.
You either have it or you don't. And that's funny
because a lot of executives and you know, people who
sit in corner offices in television don't get that. And
for whatever reason, whether it's because they have a close
personal connection to someone, or they owe some want a favor,
or someone's got pictures on them, I don't know. They
just keep putting people in certain places and trying to

(30:41):
force things. And it's the saddest thing in the industry
because you, as the viewer know to your point, and
they can sniff that out.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
And like, at the end of the day, that's who matters,
is the viewer. We don't matter. I mean, I'm saying
we don't matter. We matter, we have a job to do.
But it's like.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
Every morning that you show up on that studio, in
that studio, on that set, you are inviting whoever is
turning on the TV and going to that channel into
your living room and they're inviting you into their living room.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
It's a very intimate thing.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
You if you're going to be fake or if you're
going to have this forced weirdness, why would anyone want
to watch that? And how are you going to be successful?
Because I don't know about you, but in my real life,
if I don't vibe with somebody, I'm just not going
to go around them because I don't want negative energy.
I don't want toxic energy. So it's like that's the

(31:31):
tricky part about television. That being said, CBS, all those
people are great to me, and for the most part,
I would say, you know, a lot of us are
from this area. Like Chris Raggy's a Jersey boy, Mary's
from New York I think, and then John Elliott, Yeah,

(31:52):
the first Lady of Youngers that's right, Well, I know
she lives I don't know if she's from there originally,
but like Chris Raggy went to Mahwa High School. Like
every like, you know, like we're all kind of there's
this kind of unspoken thing, right. I always say, like
I travel all over the world, and whenever I meet
somebody from New Jersey in the airport or in the country.
It's just like the world is so big, but it's
so small, and like there's just this unspoken camaraderie and

(32:14):
it's like we got each other's back. Like people give
us a tough rap, tough rap being you know, from here,
saying that we're mean and New Yorker's are rude New Jerseys,
the armput of America, blah blah blah. I don't agree
with any of that. I think that we're super community
forward and.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
Just a great group of people. Yeah, we're a little
rough around the edge, is sure.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
But like we all have ambition and drive and we're
all kind of like cut from the same cloth. At
least we have made it that far in the industry.
And so there was a lot of like they're like, hey,
you're new, take you under our wing. From Marrying, from Chris,
from John, and I think that they all, probably I
can't put words.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
In their mouth, saw something.

Speaker 5 (32:56):
They probably saw like you know, where I'd come from
and where I was going, and they were with me
for so long every morning that I'd fill in for
Alex and they're like, you know, at least if it's
me and I see potential and talent in someone I
want to cultivate that, I want to foster that, I
want to help them. And John Elliott to oh my god,
I mean, I don't know what it is about meteor alogists.
John Elliott, Chris Tomino, Sam Champion, some of the greatest

(33:19):
men you will ever meet. They have all advocated for
me and my career in ways that they didn't need to,
and have hyped me up and stood in my corner
and cheered me on and just also been a really
great time when you know when you dial back, we're
all waking up against our body's will at two o'clock

(33:42):
in the morning to get up and not just like
something like we're just rolling it.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
No, we got to get up. We gotta make up,
we gotta put or do our hair.

Speaker 5 (33:47):
We have to like get dressed in nice outfits and
act like we have just won the lottery and be
at energy level one thousand when all we want to
do is just be horizontal and.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
Go back to sleep.

Speaker 5 (33:58):
So like the fact that we could that these guys
could just bring such joy and positivity, it's just like
that's contagious, right, Like we were all trauma bonded. So
there were a lot of really good eggs, and I
wanted to call them out. And at w like I said,
Heather or work is you know, she's done. She did
so much for me in my career and she's you know,
become a close personal friend. And you know we used

(34:19):
to watch our dogs all the time when she went vacation,
and she was another one who hyped me up and
would help me out in so many ways. Alex Dennis
the same thing. And at WABC, like Ken Risotto. It
was Ken and Laurie when I first started, and then
Shirlean came along from Philly, and then.

Speaker 4 (34:38):
Just all those people were so great too.

Speaker 5 (34:40):
I really there there, I can't say anything, and I wouldn't.
I would just not bring them up if I had
something and didn't have anything nice to say. Like, I've
come across a bunch of really great people who have
championed me and and you know, my career, and I
think maybe I'm lucky, but I think I have to
give myself a little credit too. I think that speaks

(35:02):
to my character and how I treat people and act.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know, on that set, whether the light, the little
red light is on or.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Off, well you are what you attract, right, you know,
So if you're tracking the right people in your life,
then you're conducting yourself the right way. And I say
this lovingly about John Elliot as someone it's a lifelong
WFN listener.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
He survived don Imus. When Imus used to be.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
On MSNBC back in the day, one of the cut
in anchors before they threw it back time is for
the simulcast was John Elliott. So if you can survive that,
you can survive anything John Elliott.

Speaker 5 (35:29):
I mean that man could probably juggle while walking in
tightrope and giving a live whether report in the middle
of a tsunami.

Speaker 4 (35:40):
And his talent knows no limits.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, he's He's a favorite of mine. I'd love to
have him on the show one day. Quick question for
the live chat r Terry Mannae, retired member of the
New York City Police Department, outs which did you like
doing better TV or radio?

Speaker 5 (35:54):
People always ask me that both have the pros and cons.
I think like gun to my head TV, but I
didn't have as much experience outside of traffic when it
came to radio because for me, like traffic was the
foot in the door. My passion was getting like I

(36:16):
loved when I got to go on live remotes with
Michael Kay and the guys like that was so fun.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
That was the stuff I wanted to do. I wanted
to be out there in the community.

Speaker 5 (36:23):
I wanted to be talking to the people that I
wanted to talk to and tell stories of. And so
I think doing television of just for timing and whatever
and like, because that was like where it was later
in my career, just afforded me more of those opportunities to.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Do what I really wanted to do.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
Plus, there's nothing like live television, but when you get
with the right crew, radio can just be so fun
as well.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Absolutely absolutely talking with Alex Dennis here Alex denis alex Lee.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Rather excuse me, that's Alex Dennis. Love her.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, she's great. Alex Lee's our guest here in the Mike.
The nw apen podcast don't have her for much longer,
so I have to make sure I get I hit
everything that I can, and while we still well, she's
still gracious enough to give us her time this evening.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
So just a quick last note.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
On WABC before I said a seguey over to PIX.
During the pandemic. Working during that time, it was tricky
because there was no traffic. Really it was easier to
get around for all the wrong reasons. Be wished the
circumstances weren't what they were. It was hard on everybody mentally,
especially seeing New York become the epicenter of the virus.
And it was hard just to adjust everybody's work schedule.

(37:26):
Some people came in and were consistently in person. Other
people have had to shift to remote reporting on the fly.
What was your twenty twenty like and how did you
get through it?

Speaker 4 (37:36):
Let's see. I started twenty twenty eight.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
I was doing traffic reports from my closet, which was
an adventure for the eu SIS, and then I was
filling ou at WABC at the time, and I remember
I they gave me all the gear to like set
it up to do it from home, and I did
that twice, and I was like this, can I be

(38:01):
one of the skeleton crew?

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Because it was like a skeleton crew.

Speaker 5 (38:03):
Who they were allowed in the studio, and so the
people who could and wanted to do it from home,
they encouraged that, but like there were some of us
that would go in and for me, I'm like, listen
on my it if something goes down, like I don't
know what to do.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
It's going to stress me out. It's the middle of
the night. You know, I don't help. So I just
ended up going into the studio. Almost fine.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
I mean it to your point, it was crazy. It
was a ghost town driving into Manhattan. It almost felt
it was chilling but also cool in a respectful way
at the same time. And just from like a traffic standpoint,
it's important to know you're a voice that people are
looking to for advice. When you like really boil it

(38:44):
all down, They're like, all right, I have to go here.
So whether it's like I have to get on forty
six or eighty, or the major degan to go to work,
or we're in a pandemic.

Speaker 4 (38:55):
You know, I'm a member of.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
The Senior citizen Jean, I get to go to the
grocery or for everyone else, like.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
That's where all the traffic was. It was like local.

Speaker 5 (39:06):
So I remember, like my news director at the time
was like, focus your reports into the more local stuff,
like what are the essential businesses that are open, the
liquor stores, the grocery stores, Like what are you seeing
on local roads? And so I was reporting on local
roads and it was just kind of like shifting priorities
to meet people and their needs, like where they were at,

(39:26):
and so it was still really important, and we got
just kind of like more room and space to put
more pertinent information in our reports. I actually kind of
liked that aspect of it. I felt like, you know,
I was helping in a way without being on the
front line.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
And it's really it was everybody doing their part.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's how we all got through. It's hard to believe
that's been five years since that time. It was an
awful time for many for a variety of different reasons.
But I was curious to see what that was like
for you because again, everybody had to shift how they
operated on the fly. Levels were just throwing out the window.
Uh So that is a time that we do not miss,
but definitely taught us a lot. You know, death that
views everything in the RUSS and there was a lot

(40:09):
of that going on during twenty twenty.

Speaker 5 (40:11):
I you know, I believe, I believe in you know,
not to be woo woo, but in silver linings and
listening to the universe and like the greater purpose and
nothing happens on accident, and I know, like you know, God,
we make plans, God laughs, all that stuff. But I
have friends who continue to the stay to choose to
look at it as like the worst time ever. And
I'm not taking away from like the tragedy that came

(40:33):
with it. I have most of my close friends in
real life or like healthcare heroes, and I have the
most respect for them. But I really think it was
a great lesson in slowing down, and a lot of
people are uncomfortable, like because a lot of people, like life,
life had to come to a halt, right, Like we

(40:53):
were stuck home and so we couldn't really do as much.
There was not as much that you could distract yourself with,
right You weren't be able to like book a trip
or go out or do this or do that. Like
you could really just be at home or go to
the grocery store or go for a walk outside. And
so I think it was like a great lesson in Okay,
well why don't you like to sit still, Like just
sit and be with your thoughts and like just kind

(41:16):
of look in and be introspective. At least that's how
I looked at it, and I ended up I feel
like I got to do a lot of things that
I wouldn't normally get to do and spend a lot
of time I was quarantine. I quarantined with my parents.
They still lived up here at the time, and I
was like, well, look at this, like, I don't think
I ever would have spent as much time with them,
and I, you know, I got to help take care

(41:38):
of them.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
A little bit too.

Speaker 5 (41:39):
And I just like to look at it with a
positive spin, because I'm like, what am I going to
do just try and cancel out two ish years of
my life? No, Like there was a purpose for that,
and I'm choosing to look at it in a positive light.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
I like that, you know, I think I think that's
helpful for any sort of negative chapter we may come
across in our lives, respectively. You know, to segue to PIX,
now your lifestyle reporting kind of goes back to Hip
New Jersey. You were doing that for a little while,
which was fun, and then it segued in, of course,
into this opportunity with WPIX what she were doing traffic
for as well at one point, but getting to partner
with Maricel Casher, who was a broadcast veteran. She'd had

(42:15):
some stints up here at Connecticut. Of course, she's been
in New York a long time those couple of years.
I know whatever may have been going on behind the
scenes may not have been easy, but you and her
again great chemistry. We talked about it earlier. The chemistry
was there. What did you most enjoy about that show
and getting the chance to work with.

Speaker 4 (42:28):
Her that show? That show was my dream job.

Speaker 5 (42:36):
I Like I said earlier, in this show, I really
admired Katie Cork and Julian Ransick, Like those were two
people I idolized, and Katie Cork was more hard news
and I never considered myself like a hard news journalism
and not and I wasn't and I don't ever want
to be. But I did still want to tell stories

(42:56):
and entertain, and I believe that the purpose of linear
television and like what I was doing was to educate,
to empower and to entertain. And I really felt like
I got to do that there. Unfortunately, I had to
do a lot of stuff that I didn't want to do,
but that's life. So I didn't complain until it just
got to an absolutely unbearable point. But that being said,

(43:19):
keeping it positive, that show was amazing and I got
to meet some of the most incredible people, those who
I knew, those who I didn't knew, didn't didn't know.
I've always been a huge fan of Broadway just being
from this area. I did a choir chorus in high school. Like,
I've always just had the utmost respect for those people,

(43:42):
and so the fact that we were like the step
the stop that every Broadway star made before going down
to Times Square where the theater district was, was just
I feel so blessed every day. And those are the
best people ever, by the way, Like you never know
what you're going to get with someone who's like a
Hollywood actor. Broadway forget it. Most people are the most
humble and grateful people because one day the money's good,

(44:04):
one day they're out of work. So they are just
like so thankful to be there, and they're just so
inspiring and no one works harder than those people, and
so doing that and also like meeting so many incredible
people who are our neighbors in the Tri State, whether
they're a small business owner in Connecticut or someone with
a nonprofit in New Jersey or a you know, Latino

(44:25):
doing the most amazing thing for her community in the Bronx. Like,
just getting the people the space to sit on that
couch and tell their story and share it with our
humble audience was just a dream come true.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
And the work was put in really thoroughly behind the
scenes as well. From the standpoint that the show was
number five in the market originally, it's skyrocketed to number two.
So when you look back at that accomplishment, how proud
does that make you?

Speaker 5 (44:49):
So just a little fact check there New York Living,
there was no lifestyle show when I got two Picks.
It was something that was launched right after Christimino and
I both got there with the intent of he and
Marisol hosting it. Then just like you know, thing shifted
that he moved to afternoons and you know I was
doing I had like my own segment. I was like
a correspondent for the show, and they're like, you know

(45:10):
you're here anyway, You're natural Fitch just host it. So
but when I was hired at Picks to do traffic
during the morning show, So when I got there, the
morning show was number five, and by the time I
left there that early slot that I was on four
thirty seven.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
We were number two.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
That was That's all right, that's incredible like that. You know,
everybody's looking for metrics. I'm not a numbers person, hence
why do what I do. But that was something that
sticks with me, and I think, again, it's not just me.
It was the team I was with. It was the
chemistry we had. Like when I first got there, it
was me, Vanessa Freeman, John Muller, and Chris Amino. I

(45:47):
love all of those people. I still speak to them
all on a regular basis, and I think, yes, was
there an adapt an adaptation period, yeah, because none of.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
Us knew each other, right, we all were four like
we know who each other were.

Speaker 5 (45:59):
We were essentially four strangers put on a set together
in the middle of the night, like go smile and
entertain people and deliver the news trafficking weather and like.
So we hit our stride relatively quickly in the grand
scheme of things. And then, of course as people who
don't know what they're doing up top two because they
don't watch the show and they're just like, I don't know,

(46:21):
good listen. I wouldn't want it to be me heavy
as the head that wears the crown. But they ripped
us apart, and at first I was like, woy would
they do that? We're doing so well? But then you know,
I love Craig Treadway. I love him. I love Craig Treadway.
So getting to work with him and Vanessa and Stacey
and we had just as much fun.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
I mean, there is no man funnier on this plane.
I think Craig Treadway.

Speaker 5 (46:43):
The things that came out of his mouth during the
commercial breaks, I mean, if you watched a second of
the show, you would know. Sometimes they'd come out of
commercial and they like, all right, we're gonna go work
to traffic weather and I'm like, how could you do
this to me? I've not gathered myself and gotten myself together. Sure,
whatever outrageous thing came out of his mouth five seconds ago,
but all right, and that like so that is really

(47:08):
when we kind of were moving the needle because we
had already had such good momentum with the four of
us that started and then after like the talent moves,
like we were in a good place, and then we
just had this great chemistry and we just skyrocketed and
it was, Yeah, it felt good.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
I can imagine it.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
You mentioned John Muller, one of the favorite anchor duos
and I missed, and she's happy doing what she's doing now,
which is great. She's really skyrocketed in her own right.
But one of the anchor duos I missed the most
is John Muller with Tamson Fidel for years, they held
it down in WPF you mentioned him if Jack back
in that memory.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I think that John Muller
and Kirsten Cole and Craig Treadway were like they're at
the inception of Picks eleven, if I'm not mistaken. Tamson
I think came a little bit after. But yeah, I'm
pretty sure that they were like some of the first
people on Picks eleven, which is crazy to me.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Yeah, and still holding it down all these years later,
you know. And again, just a couple more notes will
hit Verizon two. Like I said, I'm just keeping track
of the time because I don't want to keep it
past that hard out. So that being said, I mean,
we don't have to go into the negatives. I know
you want to keep it positive, and that's fine. We
will keep it positive. But you've talked a lot about
on social media your mental health, and it's interesting because
I follow you, and I follow Rag and Meggie and
I listen to her show and she talks a lot

(48:17):
about the She's awesome. Hopefully I can get her on
soon as well, and she talks a lot about the
same thing. So, without going into too much detail, you know,
unless you want to, which you don't have to, you
got to that point where it's like, Okay, this is enough.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
It's hard to leave something you love.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
But what was that moment where you said, Okay, I
need to do this for me and take that weight
off your shoulder.

Speaker 5 (48:38):
How do I boil this down into like something short
and succinct without so I I mean, listen, I've said
on other shows the choice wasn't really given to me.
It was made for me, and it seemed like the
worst thing in the world of the time. But the
further away I get from it, the more I realize, again,

(48:58):
what did I say earlier about the universe intervening when
you won't do something for yourself that is supposed to happen?
The universe was like, hey girl, your life is going
You're traveling down a slippery slope like I just personally, professionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally,
whatever was just not in a good place. I was

(49:19):
burning the candle at both ends, like and I actually
have a colleague who I met at Verizon and she's like,
oh my god, you had the dream job.

Speaker 4 (49:26):
I can't believe you're here.

Speaker 5 (49:27):
And I was like, yeah, it looked like I had
the dream job when you're just tuning in for the
show every day, but you don't know what goes on
behind the scenes and everything leading up to those fifty
seven minutes of live television, and you don't know everything
that I have to deal with after either and the
people who I have to deal with it from.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
And so it just got to a point, I mean,
a grinned. I'm full disclosure. You know. I talked to
a lawyer and.

Speaker 5 (49:47):
I was exploring my options, and I have friends in
different markets who are doing things, and I was getting
my reel together, and then you know, my decision was
made for me, and so.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
I was I knew.

Speaker 5 (49:55):
I was like, I have to leave at the end
of this contract or I won't leave. And that's kind
of deal with picks, right. It's like either you get in,
use it as a stepping stone and get out, or
it's kind of like where people who've done other things
come to end their careers saying nothing bad about anyone.
That's just like, if you look at it, that's the facts.

(50:16):
And so I had kind of been getting my duck
scener a little bit. Then that happens, and I was like,
all right, so this was not the time the timeline
that I had planned, but it kind of just set
off like the snowball of everything that was to come in,
just like the end of an era in every single
aspect of my life, from who I was dating, to
where I was living to the job that I had.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Deeply traumatic at the time.

Speaker 5 (50:41):
Having all that happened at once, now I can say,
thank God, all of that was the best thing that
ever could have happened to me. Did it happen in
an extremely messed up and in my opinion aggressive way, yes,
So like, but I'm good, and I think it's a
road that I had to go down because it builds character.
They give you perspective and it really makes you appreciate

(51:04):
the people you have in.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
Your life and what you do have.

Speaker 5 (51:09):
And I was able to lean into some things that
I kind of stepped away from who I think define
me as a person. And I was also able to
open new doors for myself and kind of like dip
my toe into new pools, into worlds that I don't
think I ever would have realized. And that's I you know,
a lot of people choose to be afraid of the

(51:30):
unknown and that's why they'll never leave their bubble. But
I've always said that no progress is made inside of
the comfort zone, and so it was just kind of
me living that like super real and raw in real time.
And I have and I continue to to this day,
but I just can. I love putting myself. I hate it,
but I love putting myself in uncomfortable situations because I
know that I'm going to meet someone awesome, I'm going
to learn something awesome, I'm going to grow, And I

(51:53):
choose to have faith and be excited in the unknown
over being afraid and having fear of the unknown.

Speaker 4 (51:58):
And that's just kind.

Speaker 5 (51:59):
Of like what I learned during this messy period of
you know, almost a year of life. Also brought out
to therapy because that's very important as well.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
Yes it is.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
I get attest to that we're in lockstep on that
one and listen, even if it doesn't work out, at
least you tried.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
There's no shame in.

Speaker 4 (52:17):
Trying exactly, and I just to touch on Verizon real quick.
I landed.

Speaker 5 (52:25):
So what I do is myrife is so funny. You know,
I have no idea what I'm doing. Like this is
where we go into the fakeac you make it. I
was someone who always dealt with imposter syndrome. I think
everybody in any industry will, but like especially as someone
who has to put themselves out there on television, Like
people are looking at me and watching me.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
I thought it was bad in TV.

Speaker 5 (52:45):
Oh my god, in corporate America, I am like, oh
my god, everyone's judging me. They know I'm an idiot,
they know I don't know. But I landed on the
most amazing team. Like I came on at a time.
There was a guy who used to be a guest
on New York Living all the Time named Christo Rico.
He did essentially the job that I'm doing now, but
before it was kind of revamped, and he was like, Hey,

(53:05):
so you're looking for a job.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
I do think you should apply. I cank keep you
really great.

Speaker 5 (53:08):
Went through like three months of interviews, multiple rounds. Loved
every single person. I spoke to everyone, as a former reporter, anchor, journalist,
radio television in some capacity. And the director of our
team kind of like went to the higher ups and
was like, this is why we need to make storytelling
for the brand super hyper local, and this is why

(53:29):
you need to hire all former broadcast people to do it,
and gave this wonderful presentation. They're like, sure, take the
money and run. And that's where I came in. And
my boss is incredible and as a former Today Show
correspondent NBC has worked all over the country network level,
and she's someone who made a very similar transition as myself,

(53:51):
just like a couple of years ahead of me. And
so I've landed in the most safe space and the
most supportive space too, like for my peers, from my managers,
from higher level of executives. Everybody not only reassures the
value that I add to the team and that I
bring to the table, but you know, I'm being looked

(54:14):
to in certain situations for my advice and my opinion
and also treated like a human being. Like they're like,
the job is super important, horizons, no joke, everybody. It's
a global you know, fortune whatever company with a reputation
to maintain. But at the same time they realize, at
the end of the day, it's a job and we're
all human beings and weren't, thank god not, you know,

(54:37):
performing open heart surgery on anyone.

Speaker 4 (54:38):
So like, at the end of the.

Speaker 5 (54:39):
Day, shut it down, go home, do what fills your
cups that you can come back and be amazing the
next day. And that doesn't exist in the world of television,
at least in New York. So the work life balance
has been this incredible thing for me, and then learning
that I do have transferable skills into other facets of
money making and career having only worked in broadcast my

(55:02):
whole life. And so like, I just hope I tell
everyone who's younger than me. I'm like, let me be
not a cautionary tale, but I'm like, I love that
I had to go through this to learn all these lessons.
So let me tell anybody who will listen, like, don't
be afraid to try something new, to put yourself out
there to fail, because you're not failing, right, You're just learning,
and you're just doing life as one big science experiment,

(55:23):
and we're just experimenting and figuring it out, and no
one knows what they're doing and you just got to
keep saying yes. And I am blown away by the
situations that I have been put in, like with this
new job and what I've gotten to do.

Speaker 4 (55:37):
I'm getting to do television in other cities. I love traveling.

Speaker 5 (55:43):
It's a big part of who I am as a person.
The fact that I get to do that for work
is super rewarding and fulfilling for me. And meeting people
and talking to people and just seeing what else is
out there. It's a really wonderful thing.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
If I had to find it before we hit the
rapid fire. And thank you very much for going in
such great detail on that. Did you get out on skatee?
Not necessarily there were some bumps and bruises along the way,
but you out. I got out, and you got out
before it could swallow you up. And a lot of
people can't say.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
The same thing.

Speaker 4 (56:08):
Yeah. No, the universe knocked me on my.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Deien.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
Yes, thank you, And it was a very big wake
up call.

Speaker 5 (56:17):
And I there were days and weeks and months that
went by that I didn't know what I was doing,
and it was like sometimes the wind was just putting
one foot in front of the other and like getting
up out of bed and hitting a thirty minute workout
on demand, and that was all I was able to
accomplish for the day because I didn't know what the
next day held, or the next week or the next month.

(56:38):
But it's it really taught me to pay attention to
the small things and celebrate any small victory because that's
how you build like that gratitude bank, and gratitude is
super important and something my therapist taught me. I use
this on my getting at for a minute, and then
I was like this a little pretentious. That gratitude is

(56:59):
psychologically the only emotion that we can feel like as humans,
like when we're in it, when we're out loud or
in our own head, being like I'm grateful for the
dog I have laying on my foot right now. I'm
grateful for this amazing apartment that I live in. I'm
grateful that I have too healthy parents to love and
support me. I'm grateful. And when you're saying this, psychologically,

(57:19):
it brings up positive, good feelings. And you were in
that moment, whether it's three seconds or three minutes, physically
unable to feel anything besides positivity. And so that's why
that because I was like, what is this whole thing?
Gratitude is like so woo and on TikTok, and my
therapist was like, look, it's because it's science and she
explained that to me, and I'm like, well, now I

(57:40):
know why people have gratitude journals. Because the more you
practice it and the more you say it out loud.

Speaker 4 (57:45):
And speak it into existence, the.

Speaker 5 (57:46):
More you feel it, and the more you'll be able
to move forward with that feeling you because that's life, right, Like,
don't wallow in everything that you lost and what got away,
Like let what you have and what you don't even
know that you're gonna have. That's amazing and the excitement
behind that fuel you to keep going.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Absolutely, thank you very much once again before so, due
to time constraints, tonight, folks, we won't run the Armor
Tough ad. It's a bit of a longer ad in nature.
We're gonna run that in the next episode. So we'll
go straight into the rapid fire. If you can hit
the music producer Victor and five Hitt run questions for me.
Five Hitton run answers from you before we conclude. First
favorite moment on live television.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
Okay, any Blooper.

Speaker 5 (58:26):
Ever, if you on my Instagram, there's one though where
our Florida director just walked right in front of the
camera when I was doing a traffic before and I
lost it and everyone lost it. I was able to
recover for a minute, and then I just lost it again,
and I'm just like, really, bro, like is this your
first day? And me and him still laugh about it
to this day with some maras. But I was like,
this is great. I lived in moments like that. I'm
so unserious.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Sh shout out to Russell. Second course question the rapid Fire.
You've done a lot of guest interviews.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Interview that surprised you the most in a positive way?

Speaker 5 (58:56):
You know what, I really I can't say I'm surprised,
but I loved Debbie Gibson. I knew who she was,
obviously I didn't know much about her, but what a
s art club she was.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
She's just had this zest of life.

Speaker 5 (59:10):
That's for life about her that I was like, ooh,
I love this energy, and I just it was just
such a joy to sit there and talk to her
for five minutes.

Speaker 4 (59:17):
I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
One story you're proud of of covering.

Speaker 4 (59:21):
Well, you know me.

Speaker 5 (59:22):
If you know me at all, you know how much
I love animals, specifically dogs.

Speaker 4 (59:25):
And I got to do.

Speaker 5 (59:28):
A piece last April, yeah, April of twenty twenty four
where me and my photographer flew out of a small
airport on Long Islands Town to North Carolina and documented
a rescue mission with pilots to the rescue of these
three dogs that were found on the street. And we
flew them back up and linked to them or watched
them get linked up with like a rescue fossil organization

(59:50):
and buy their forever homes.

Speaker 4 (59:51):
And it was just super like meaningful to me.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
Absolutely biggest challenge in transitioning from broadcast to corporate.

Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
Like I said earlier, knowing that the skills that I
honed in my broadcast career were transferable for a role
in corporate America.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
And the last question of rapid fire.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
For all those years you did it between television and radio,
what did mean to be a trusted voice for New
Yorkers and those from New Jersey as well every morning?

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
And don't forget Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Connecticut too home stage.

Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
It means, it means everything. You know, If you know,
you know we're tough. We don't trust easily because I'm
a Jersey girl. I was born in Englewood, New Jersey.
It's in my blood.

Speaker 4 (01:00:35):
This area.

Speaker 5 (01:00:35):
It's the toughest, most competitive, but most incredibly successful area.
Like people will be able to sus you out and
if you out, if you don't know what you're talking about.

Speaker 4 (01:00:43):
And so the fact that I was received.

Speaker 5 (01:00:45):
So well and I resonated so well with the listeners
and the viewers for my decade plus career, it means
the world to me to know that they trusted me
and what I had to say.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
And great way to conclude the programs, stick around. I'll
talk to you briefly outfare because you got to go.
But before I say goodbye to the audience, if you
have any, shout outs to Floor's yours.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
If you want to give any.

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
We'll shout out to Reagan Meggie as well, because he
said you want to have her on our show.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
She's a good friend. I'll shoot her a text. But
she was someone who funny enough.

Speaker 5 (01:01:13):
She sent me a book it's during my you know,
mental health journey, Let Them by Mel Robbins, and I
just started reading it and so me and her are
simpatico for a life girl.

Speaker 6 (01:01:23):
I love her.

Speaker 4 (01:01:24):
Do Mike Show.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Yes, thank you very much. Yes, do Mike' show, Mike Newaven. Indeed,
like I said, stick around, we'll talk briefly affair. Thanks
to everybody who tuned in tonight, coming up next to
the Mike the New Aven podcast. He started as the
New York City transit police officer, segued into the Ft
and Y in nineteen ninety three. He was there the
night of the Watch Street fire in nineteen ninety four
when three of the men in his company perished. He
was there again on nine to eleven when more men

(01:01:46):
from his company with parish we worked in the latter
five in Chinatown. And that, of course is mister Craig Monahan.
He'll be here this Friday for another volume of the
Best Bravest Interviews with the Ft and Wives Elite. Looking
forward to that one. He's an interesting man, has led
an interesting life in public service. Now, of course an
R and B classic for those of you listening on
the audio side to play us out tonight for the
outro song from his nineteen ninety seven album Cool Relax.

(01:02:07):
One of my favorites, John B and the late great
Tupac Shakor Come your way with Are you still down
in the meantime on behalf of producer Victor at Alexley,
I might clone. We see here everyone, that's a great
right here.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Bring you.

Speaker 6 (01:02:38):
Sorry? I can see it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
Yeah, I shall have.

Speaker 6 (01:03:03):
Another night. Dum ain't no fun in love? If you
loves ability used to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:16):
Show?

Speaker 7 (01:03:18):
Can you calm houn? Those speed still be down? Shake
is still remember speezing sun? See it's like every time I.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
See it, thereesn't seem.

Speaker 6 (01:03:34):
Make some decisions all the day?

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
Tell them? Are all your fool little stuff? It's a
love day.

Speaker 8 (01:03:41):
Wants to move a heat from the rush, Touch this philla,
watch the sky. I make you smell, but you rather
have what makes your fright? Say abye, I leave that
with the heart of my sleeve and reads that with
a family care You've had vielains and they still.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
There, baby girl? Can't real here? You see you.

Speaker 6 (01:04:01):
Tell cause seventy I get in. I can see the shoe.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
Don't you WoT ship?

Speaker 6 (01:04:17):
But when.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
I should have.

Speaker 6 (01:04:22):
Remember name shooting to skard and go all the way.
But she did it to please me. Crime was rain
gated to me.

Speaker 9 (01:04:42):
The more I see you the morning being Sun and
I know someday take it back where you can fly,
but shall go.

Speaker 6 (01:04:53):
Don''t cry for my brass. Then dig your burnt.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Like touch my soul. Go slowly.

Speaker 8 (01:05:07):
We rushed the flow got me all baby, but the
strong parts with the longest spots give your mo like
far Wan messing the time. Please the brothers lurching for
the pleasure. His mom Mama took.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
Me kind of love of woman. Papa was strong. We committed.
Someone hear it and it's properly.

Speaker 5 (01:05:26):
Girl is sorry.

Speaker 6 (01:05:31):
Sterming. I can't see the shoe by the way, sh stump,
I still down from sorright stirring from I can see that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
You want want don't.

Speaker 6 (01:06:02):
By the way you go steal the baby. I steal
that but Sam on the baby, I see that sneez
the baby on side.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
That set that steve Sam being a baby.

Speaker 6 (01:06:20):
I see that from do that please town.

Speaker 8 (01:06:27):
There from the baby.

Speaker 6 (01:06:28):
I'm still that still damp from the baby.

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
I steal that still there for stem.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
Standing tap on the baby. I see that steal down
from me

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