I started anchoring the evening news at Channel 46 in 1990. I was a girl in my 20s, working in a major market in my dream job. It was exciting. I felt like Holly Hunter in “Broadcast News.” In 1991 I won my first Emmy for “Battle with AIDS,” covering the epidemic. This was back when many of us were learning we had a friend or a loved one with AIDS. People were going to a lot of memorial services. Viewers wanted to know what patients went through.
We used to go out after work. Dante’s Down the Hatch was a big hangout; the Paul Mitchell Trio played there. I remember the Palm opening and all those caricatures on the wall. My other big hangout was Rupert’s, the club in the Disco Kroger shopping center. We used to go dancing after work on Fridays.
One night at Club 112, this trio of girls came up to me, introduced themselves, and said, “Hey TV news lady, you’re going to know our name one day.” That’s how I first met TLC. I reminded them of that years later when Chilli arranged to have me cover their concert at Philips Arena.
As told to Richard L. Eldredge
This article originally appeared in our March 2015 issue.
