My desire to be a news anchor is inextricably linked with Michelle King. It all began on January 28, 1986. I've blogged about it before. What I didn't mention in that post of nearly 2 years ago...was the face staring back at me that night. It was the face of Michelle King. I was entranced by her. I'm not sure why. Why do any of us develop the crushes we do? There was just something about her. She was, and still is, my favorite news anchor. I've met her a few times, though I'm not sure she'd remember me. I was an intern at KUED in Salt Lake. I worked on a weekly public affairs program called Civic Dialogue. It was a weekly show where notable community members would sit down for a half-hour interview. I floated the idea of having "local TV news anchor Michelle King" sit down for a personal chat. My bosses liked the idea and told me to book her. I was pretty nervous. "Do I just call KUTV and ask for Michelle King," I asked myself. That's what I did. I got her voicemail. She called back the next day and graciously agreed to do the interview. I finally met her in person on interview day. A year or so later, I scored an internship at KUTV. I had been working there a few days before I saw her. She remembered me as the one who asked her to do the KUED interview. I thought that was pretty cool. For a while I didn't get a whole lot out of that internship. I was too busy staring around the newsroom...in awe of the people (Michelle King front and center) I had grown up watching. Gradually, that faded and I was able to see everyone as down to earth people. I don't live in Utah anymore, so I don't get to watch Michelle King every night. Still, it was a little disheartening to hear that she had chosen to retire. Tonight is her last broadcast...after 29 years at KUTV. (It's also Dick Nourse's last show at KSL...after 43 years. Cool...but I just never was a huge Dick Nourse fan). I'm such a news dork.
3 comments:
Lincoln, you're not a news dork. I had a crush on Michelle King too in the 80's. Back when she was on with Randall Carlisle. Within the last two years, I've spent some considerable time with SLC's news personalities. Hope Woodside to Carole Mikita to Randall Carlisle to Shauna Lake to Mark Koebel and KTVX's one-time answer to Michelle King, Kimberly Perkins. They are all very nice and seemingly down to earth. While I really enjoy talking with Hope Woodside, I've got to say that the KUTV personalities are the best. For example, Mary Wood is hilarious. So I hope you get an opportunity to work there. Damn. Maybe I'm the news dork?
Not to one up either of you, but I dated her.
Just kidding.
But she did work with my dad at KUTV when he was an anchor there a-million years ago (we're talking late 70s, early 80s). She was just brand new back then, as was he. But you guys are prolly too young to remember that.
What I admire about Michelle King is how long she's stuck around. She's a rarity in the news world, where they love to pair a younger woman with two older "wiser" anchors. Talk about bucking the trends, am I right?
And, lastly, it's wasn't very long ago that I chased Dick Nourse down on State Street, just to see if it was really him. He was driving a huge black monster truck at the time. He could have ran over my Civic and not thought twice about it. Instead, he just gave me one colossal dirty look. It was awesome.
Ah. End of an era, eh?
Hi - you have no idea who I am nor I you, but I was trying to find a family member's blog and searched her mom and found your blog. Michelle is my sister's Mother in law. Just fun to see how many people admire her, (there were lots of other blogs that came up as well). She would really be flattered. I'll pass on your url to her.
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