Our interview took place in the studio's makeup room
Pembroke Park, FL- In the quiet news studio at WPLG, I had the special opportunity to interview Laurie Jennings in the makeup room about her life, her career, and her future.
Laurie was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She would always get the lead role in every play she auditioned for. Because of this, her teachers pushed her to go to Juilliard but she instead attended Cornell University, majoring in Government and later attended Northwestern University for her Masters in Journalism,
As we were about halfway through our interview, her Co-Anchor Calvin Hughes came in to also get ready and to say hello to us.
The first TV Station that she worked in after college would be in Youngstown, Ohio. Her job required her to do everything between writing scripts and running the teleprompter. She then moved to Cleveland where she spent five and a half years as Morning Anchor and working in special projects. After Cleveland, and a short time in WHDH Boston, Bill Pohovey, President of WHDH at the time, asked Laurie to come to Miami. Once there, she anchored with WSVN 7 News’ Craig Stevens and Rick Sanchez. She would then move to New York for a short time to work with MSNBC as their fill-in Anchor and Weekend Anchor for the Today Show. While she was in New York, Bill Pohovey moved to WPLG and offered her the main anchor position in Miami. She worked alongside Dwight Lauderdale, now retired, and since then with her current Co-Anchor Calvin Hughes.
One story that impacted her was when she was in Boston’s WHDH station. Bill Pohovey, her boss at WHDH at the time, wanted her to go to Ireland to report on Ted Kennedy regarding the relaunch on the peace process with Northern Ireland since the Anchor originally booked was pregnant and couldn’t go. She had to pack, get on a plane and read everything there was about it. She covered many of the events there was such as the opposition deep in the woods, following whatever Kennedy did and stayed in a Dublin hotel that was bombed multiple times. When she came back, she took a weekend vacation to recuperate and then that is when Bill Pohovey called her to see if she wanted to work at WSVN 7 News as a main Anchor. She accepted the position and moved to South Florida.
When I asked Laurie what she feels are the benefits and disadvantages of working as a Journalist, she answered that she likes the use of Social Media. She finds that since she and Calvin use it often before broadcast, they would enjoy engaging with their audience. The downside, however, is that she would have to miss many birthdays and other life events. Laurie brought up an example of when she was celebrating her husband’s birthday with a weekend filled with plans when the Pulse Nightclub shooting happened. The studio called her the next day and told her she must go to Orlando to cover the tragic shooting.
Another instance where it became hard to balance work and personal life was when her twin sons were born. She was in bed rest for a month. When they were born, they were the size of coke cans weighing a pound and a half each and they had to stay in the hospital for four and a half months. Whenever she could, Laurie would rush to the station but never had enough time to read the scripts so her co-Anchor at the time, Dwight Lauderdale, help edit them before going on air.
What many people may not know about the iconic Journalist is that she used to play tennis, participated in swimming and other sports. She wants her children to do it all as well. While at Cornell, she was the lead rower in her crew team. She is also very catchy and happy when not on the air.
Some advice Laurie would give to future journalists is to: Go for it because the industry is hiring younger, more tech-oriented individuals. When she was in acting class, she asked her teacher what she would do best and her teacher told her that if it makes her happy then, go for it but hoping a more concrete response.
Laurie sees herself in the next ten years continuing to work at Local 10 News in the city she calls vibrant, all while covering the most important stories impacting South Florida and the world.
At the news desk with Laurie Jennings
With her Laurie's co-anchor Calvin Hughes. An interview with him will be coming soon.
