Speaker 1: You introduce yourself by a sentence, and then I give
Speaker 1: you a formal introduction, but the sentence is your version
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say of Hi, my name is Dylan.
Speaker 1: My name is Katherine Tappman. I can't. I forgot to
Speaker 1: even bring that up, that I meet Dylan. She gets
Speaker 1: invited to a dinner, and then we sit down at dinner,
Speaker 1: and I think three to four times I call you Katherine.
Speaker 1: I did it multiple times when we sat down at
Speaker 1: this like twenty person dinner and you were across So
Speaker 1: it wasn't even just like turning to you and saying it.
Speaker 1: It was me shouting at across the table, how is
Speaker 1: your food? Katherine? Yeah, you're You know, you don't always
Speaker 1: have to say somebody's name in a conversation, but you
Speaker 1: were like flippantly just saying Katherine or tapping I know,
Speaker 1: and I that's not even something that I do. But
Speaker 1: here I am calling you by your name when I
Speaker 1: don't even need to it. And then it wasn't your name,
Speaker 1: confidence Okay, Hi, my name is Catherine's happened? And I blank, Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go, Hi, everybody. I'm Dylan Dryer, a brave
Speaker 1: meteorologist who likes to stand outside and hurricanes. Also the
Speaker 1: co host of the third hour of Today. Hello everybody,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to Off the Beat with Me your host,
Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner. I am so happy that you're here today.
Speaker 1: You guys are gonna love this episode, and I mean
Speaker 1: love it because well, yes, that's right. Today we are
Speaker 1: celebrating Valentine's Day on Off the Beat. Now, Valentine's Day,
Speaker 1: it's not just about romance, No, it is very specifically
Speaker 1: about eating can the hearts, making new friends, and and
Speaker 1: telling them that you love them. So I am so
Speaker 1: excited to have my new bestie on the podcast today,
Speaker 1: NBC's very own Dylan Dryer. You might recognize Dylan from
Speaker 1: her work on well pretty much every NBC news show.
Speaker 1: She's worked on, MSNBC Today's Show, Weekend, Today, Today's Third Hour,
Speaker 1: nightly News, and she hosts her very own TV series
Speaker 1: Earth Odyssey. This is what I love about this podcast.
Speaker 1: It enables me to really talk and get to know
Speaker 1: so many new people. I had just met Dylan at
Speaker 1: the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions golf tournament down
Speaker 1: in Orlando, Florida. If you look at my Instagram, you
Speaker 1: will see she she gave an excellent weather report exclusive
Speaker 1: content for me. We got to know each other and
Speaker 1: we bonded almost immediately, and I found her so fascinating
Speaker 1: the combination of entertainment and of real science meteorology. For
Speaker 1: some reason, I never put those two things together. It
Speaker 1: was a fascinating talk we had there. I wanted to
Speaker 1: bring her on the podcast to dive in more. I
Speaker 1: promise you are going to learn something today and learn
Speaker 1: that you love Dylan Dryer. This was such a fun conversation.
Speaker 1: We get into everything from reporting natural disasters to even
Speaker 1: her love story with her former cameraman. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: for you to hear this. Let's get to it, Dylan Dryer. Everyone,
Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak. I love Bubble and Squeak on Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeaker cooking at every month, left over from the
Speaker 1: nut before. Hello, Hello, how are you? Dylan dry Now,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this, is it contractual that you
Speaker 1: have to have the peacock in the background there? I know,
Speaker 1: I just think it's actually really cool. It's like my
Speaker 1: own little piece of stained glass art. Well yeah, but
Speaker 1: it's like literally right over your shoulder. So the entire
Speaker 1: time I get to stare at the NBC peacock. Was
Speaker 1: that going to be that? Or it was gonna be this?
Speaker 1: So I thought this was a little much missing the cloud.
Speaker 1: I think both. There's your husband, Brian, the most supportive
Speaker 1: guy on the golf course. That is an understatement. Um
Speaker 1: Dylan Dryer, co host third Hour of the Today Show
Speaker 1: and NBC News meteorologist. Y I like having a full title.
Speaker 1: I want to get into that in a little bit,
Speaker 1: but I want to start going backwards to your your childhood.
Speaker 1: Now let me say this part. Well, one reason I
Speaker 1: wanted to have you on is is you're awesome. But
Speaker 1: also I don't learn things that much anymore, and you
Speaker 1: learned me things when we were together there in Orlando.
Speaker 1: Well we'll get into that in a minute. But you
Speaker 1: grew up in Jersey. Yeah, in Manti Lapping its pronounced Manalpate.
Speaker 1: Why correct me this early? There's be many more mistakes
Speaker 1: like that. You sounded silly. Yeah, that sounds way better. Well,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. What were you interested in
Speaker 1: as a kid? Yeah, like sports or or are I was?
Speaker 1: I mean, I grew up with two older brothers, so
Speaker 1: I was into sit in doing anything they were doing.
Speaker 1: You know, I was like the little sister who just
Speaker 1: wanted to you know, bother them all the time. But
Speaker 1: they were big ato baseball. I played softball since I
Speaker 1: was five years old. I remember starting on an all
Speaker 1: boys league because there were no girls playing for some reason.
Speaker 1: I remember just having all boys on my team. Um,
Speaker 1: but not really thinking anything of it because I grew
Speaker 1: up with brothers, you know, I never never thought anything
Speaker 1: other than I want to play t ball, so this
Speaker 1: is where I'm going to play t ball. Um. So
Speaker 1: I was, you know, definitely grew up more as a tomboy.
Speaker 1: You know. My my dad built the house we grew
Speaker 1: up in. It was in the middle of the woods.
Speaker 1: Like when you think of New Jersey, you think of
Speaker 1: just outside New York City, you know, but we we
Speaker 1: grew up on like four acres of property in the
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere, on the side of town. Nobody lived.
Speaker 1: It was my brothers and me. There was an apple
Speaker 1: orchard across the street. We would go and steal apples,
Speaker 1: you know, and it was just it was like this
Speaker 1: weird country lifestyle that I grew up in. Was that
Speaker 1: out is that New Yar Pennsylvania? No, it's right like
Speaker 1: literally right in the middle of New Jersey. It was
Speaker 1: an hour from New York, in an hour from Philly. Okay,
Speaker 1: So were you interested at all in performing? Like, did
Speaker 1: you do any play? No, because you have brothers and
Speaker 1: you did brother things and picked apples on the weekend basically,
Speaker 1: And I'm not a performer, you know. I wasn't that
Speaker 1: kid where you know, your aunts and uncles would be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: she's gonna be you know, she's she's going to do
Speaker 1: something in the spotlight. I mean, I'm I'm shy by nature.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of reserved. I'm not the kind of person
Speaker 1: who runs into a room and look at me, you know,
Speaker 1: a type of personality I sort of. I like being
Speaker 1: a wallflower until I get comfortable, until I you know,
Speaker 1: pick out the people I can kind of jive with.
Speaker 1: And so I mean, it really is bizarre. And my
Speaker 1: mom and dad still think it's weird that I do
Speaker 1: anything in TV because it's just so like Auntie, who
Speaker 1: I was growing up? Right, Were you interested in science? Yes?
Speaker 1: I was interested in science. Um, I actually we went
Speaker 1: to school for engineering. I loved math. I love science.
Speaker 1: Records had a great engineering program, so it seemed like
Speaker 1: that's what you do when you like math and science.
Speaker 1: But engineering just didn't. There was no field of engineering
Speaker 1: that I really liked. I just didn't enjoy it. I
Speaker 1: didn't see myself doing it in the future. And there
Speaker 1: was like a meteorology one on one class. I'm like, oh, mom,
Speaker 1: this sounds fun. Let me try this. And it turns
Speaker 1: out all my math credits and science credits transferred over
Speaker 1: to meteorology, and I sort of just fell into it
Speaker 1: that way. There's a lot of math and science and meteorology. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, computers do it all now, but I, because
Speaker 1: of my education, know what the computers are doing. But
Speaker 1: I'll never have to actually use that again. Right now,
Speaker 1: does one become a meteorologist? I mean I guess they do, right.
Speaker 1: There are meteorologists who are not on television right Oh
Speaker 1: yeah no, And I was actually not. Again, I'm not
Speaker 1: someone who likes to be in the spotlight. So I
Speaker 1: was never going to do TV weather. That was I
Speaker 1: was going to do research or forensic meteorology. You know,
Speaker 1: you work for a law firm, and you know somebody
Speaker 1: says there was a I slipped on ice. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: let me go back and look to see if there
Speaker 1: was actually ice that day or conditions were favorable for ice,
Speaker 1: you know, in the exact location where you're saying you slipped.
Speaker 1: I was thinking National Weather Service or you know, private
Speaker 1: forecasting companies who work for you know, PLoud truck drivers
Speaker 1: and landscapers and all that kind of stuff. So it
Speaker 1: wasn't until I had an internship at CBS w CBS,
Speaker 1: the local CBS in New York, and then I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is kind of fun. So you get to like
Speaker 1: do all the science and look at the maps and
Speaker 1: do your do all your homework, and then you actually
Speaker 1: get to talk to people about it. So it just
Speaker 1: seemed like something that was going to be fun. What
Speaker 1: was it about meteorology that you like just that it
Speaker 1: allowed you to apply a lot of your skills or
Speaker 1: was there something specifically about about the weather. Um. I
Speaker 1: just think it's really fascinating. I love how it works.
Speaker 1: I love you know. I talked to a lot of
Speaker 1: kids about weather, and I just because they're so fascinated.
Speaker 1: They just are in awe if it's snowing, or you know,
Speaker 1: you go play outside because it's sunny and it's warm.
Speaker 1: I can literally answer any question they have about the weather,
Speaker 1: and I love I love being able to do that.
Speaker 1: It's just the science of how weather develops and why
Speaker 1: there are clouds and thunderstorms and hurricanes. I just it
Speaker 1: just makes so much sense in my brain, and I
Speaker 1: like being able to talk about it, and especially in this,
Speaker 1: you know type of role where I worked in local news. Yes,
Speaker 1: I can make a forecast, and I actually make pretty
Speaker 1: good forecasts, you know. I like looking at the computer
Speaker 1: models and being able to tell people exactly when it's
Speaker 1: going to rain or when it's gonna do what it's
Speaker 1: gonna do. But I also get to explain what can
Speaker 1: be a complicated science in a way people can understand.
Speaker 1: I like to use analogies. I like to use everyday
Speaker 1: objects to as props to to explain why things are happening,
Speaker 1: to just sort of make it more fun and understandable
Speaker 1: for everybody. Like when you asked me in in Florida
Speaker 1: for a forecast, right, yes, I was actually like the
Speaker 1: next day, really proud of my forecast. I mean, I said,
Speaker 1: it's not going to rain till like three o'clock, and
Speaker 1: it's sprinkled right at three o'clock, and was kind of
Speaker 1: cloudy and looking like rain all day, and I'm like
Speaker 1: hitting Brian, my husband, you know, I'm like, my forecast
Speaker 1: was spot off, Like I was really proud of myself.
Speaker 1: Well that's the thing I actually think. How do I
Speaker 1: say this in a way that well, there is no
Speaker 1: really way to say it except you guys have done
Speaker 1: such a great job of dumbing it down and simplifying
Speaker 1: it for people that I don't think people understand how
Speaker 1: complicated it is. Like you have done meteorology a disservice
Speaker 1: by making it seem like you look up at the
Speaker 1: clouds and you're like, Okay, this is what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if this is the right
Speaker 1: time to do it, but this, to me, this this
Speaker 1: is what you learned me for sure. When you see
Speaker 1: some uh weather forecast on whatever weather dot com or
Speaker 1: whatever NBC Internet set you're on, and it gives you
Speaker 1: a percentage of rain at two o'clock for tomorrow, what
Speaker 1: does that mean? If you look at your iPhone app
Speaker 1: and you pull up right now, if it's a thirty
Speaker 1: percent chance of rain in your area, chances are you're
Speaker 1: in the clear, Like your se in the clear. That
Speaker 1: it's not going to rain, but in your general area,
Speaker 1: there's a thirty percent chance that somebody in your general
Speaker 1: area is going to see rain. Okay, So let me
Speaker 1: give you an example. So earlier this week, it's snowed
Speaker 1: in New York City. Okay, it was snowing down in
Speaker 1: Battery Park, like at the southern tip of New York.
Speaker 1: I was in Midtown at the time. It was not
Speaker 1: snowing in Midtown. So I would say, like a thirty
Speaker 1: percent chance of snow was pretty accurate for Manhattan. Okay,
Speaker 1: I didn't get it. Probably would have hedged my best
Speaker 1: that I'm not going to see snow anyway. But you
Speaker 1: go downtown and it's snowed. It's like, all right, well
Speaker 1: they did say a thirty percent chance of snow, and
Speaker 1: you know it did snow in Manhattan. I'm with you,
Speaker 1: are this is how this is how I heard it.
Speaker 1: I think that the way a lay person looks at
Speaker 1: it is like there's a thirty percent chance it's going
Speaker 1: to rain, and so there's yeah, there's a greater percentage
Speaker 1: that it's not going to rain. But I think what
Speaker 1: was interesting to me about what you said is like
Speaker 1: they have them it is going to rain. It may
Speaker 1: not rain where you're standing at that time, but it's
Speaker 1: going to rain exactly in the summertime, like you have
Speaker 1: pop up thunderstorms, you know, and and literally it could
Speaker 1: be raining in one town, in the next town over
Speaker 1: it's not raining. So if it's a thirty percent chance
Speaker 1: of rain and I go play a round of golf,
Speaker 1: I'm going to assume it's not going to rain. There
Speaker 1: will be rain around, but I'm going to assume I'll
Speaker 1: be in the clear. But if it does rain, it's
Speaker 1: I I guess I just kind of got screwed on
Speaker 1: that one. So you know, it ended up reading where
Speaker 1: I am. Um, So you intern at CBS in New
Speaker 1: York and you start thinking, oh, this is something that
Speaker 1: I could do, Like this is a specific way that
Speaker 1: I could use my meteorology degree. By the way, that's
Speaker 1: a really hard word to say. I said that before.
Speaker 1: It's hard to type out to it is because a
Speaker 1: lot of ohs um, Now did you then begin pursuing that. Well,
Speaker 1: you first off, you you graduate, you get a degree.
Speaker 1: Is this a hard major? No, it's a tough major.
Speaker 1: I mean, like you take four years of calculus. I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's intense. Yeah, No, it's it's a legit,
Speaker 1: like Bachelor of Science degree. And again I went to Rutgers.
Speaker 1: So Rutgers, you know, you could go to some schools
Speaker 1: that have a broadcast meteorology degree, which then you get to,
Speaker 1: you know, work on your broadcasting skills. I but Rutgers
Speaker 1: was very research based, you know, it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: a research school. So for me, I like, mine's like legit,
Speaker 1: hardcore like research meteorology. Did you have any broadcast meteorology classes. No,
Speaker 1: not at all. You had to apply to the School
Speaker 1: of Communications if you wanted to do anything in broadcast,
Speaker 1: which just seemed like a lot of work. So I
Speaker 1: had no TV skill, no public speaking skills, like literally,
Speaker 1: and I'm shy, like I had no reason to go
Speaker 1: into TV whatsoever. Right, So then what happens. You go
Speaker 1: to CBS and you think, well, this is kind of interesting,
Speaker 1: and then what do you do? Do you take classes?
Speaker 1: Do you know? So? Um? So I was working with
Speaker 1: Craig Allen over there, who you know is a well
Speaker 1: known meteorologist in New York and he was famous, Yes,
Speaker 1: in New York. He knew somebody who went to the
Speaker 1: local news station in all the New York and he said, listen,
Speaker 1: they'll let you use their studio to make a demo tape.
Speaker 1: So I remember driving out there with my mom picking
Speaker 1: out like the perfect outfit, which looking back, I mean
Speaker 1: it was a black turtleneck with a purple suede blazer
Speaker 1: um and a big chunky necklace, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: like that's a good look. That's gonna get me the job.
Speaker 1: So I go out there and I'm nervous, you know,
Speaker 1: I tend to get nervous before everything I do. And
Speaker 1: I go out there and they give me the studio,
Speaker 1: the green screen and all that, and I start, I
Speaker 1: start trying to talk, and I can't, like the words.
Speaker 1: I can't even make up a sentence. It's like I've
Speaker 1: never spoken words before. I just get such stage fright.
Speaker 1: And there's people around, and this guy who I don't know,
Speaker 1: who's letting me use the studio is kind of standing
Speaker 1: off to the side trying to like give me pointers.
Speaker 1: My Mom's no help, and it literally takes till their
Speaker 1: six pm news is coming on, but they're like you
Speaker 1: have to go, like I hope you have something you
Speaker 1: can use. And I had to go, and I just
Speaker 1: cried all the way home because I said, I just
Speaker 1: I ruined this chance to make this demo tape. But
Speaker 1: sure enough it was on a VHS tape. I put
Speaker 1: it in like these yellow, little you know, VHS boxes,
Speaker 1: and I shipped them to sixties seventy little small markets
Speaker 1: all across the country. Never heard back from anyone until Lincoln, Nebraska.
Speaker 1: The ABC station in Lincoln, Nebraska called. They said, why
Speaker 1: don't you come out, you know, and do a demo
Speaker 1: in person. So I go out and I do the demo.
Speaker 1: But the other guy who's also applying for this job
Speaker 1: happens to be there also, and he's like good, he's smooth,
Speaker 1: he's confident, you know, he's doing a great job. And then,
Speaker 1: you know, stupent me goes up there and again I'm
Speaker 1: like stage fright city with like this Jersey accent, you know,
Speaker 1: high pitched, squeaky voice. And so then the general manager
Speaker 1: takes me out for lunch to do our interview part
Speaker 1: of this whole thing, and we go across the street
Speaker 1: to a McDonald's. Keep in mind, when I got picked
Speaker 1: up at the airport in Lincoln, Nebraska, I'm thinking local news,
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna get picked up in a limo. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm like waiting to get picked up in a limousine.
Speaker 1: It's local news, it's big time, Like this is just
Speaker 1: so cool, and it's like some girl in her you know,
Speaker 1: Toyota Corolla picks me up at the airport and I
Speaker 1: was like, this is interesting. So we go to the
Speaker 1: McDonald's and the guys like, are you nervous? And I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not nervous, you know, trying to be all confident,
Speaker 1: and he's like, then, why is your face as right
Speaker 1: as that that French fry carton? And I'm like, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like what do you say to that?
Speaker 1: And how do you like go forward with any kind
Speaker 1: of confidence. So, needless to say, I didn't get the job.
Speaker 1: I remember calling them like two weeks later. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to follow up to see if you
Speaker 1: selected somebody, and they're like, oh, yeah, we hired somebody else.
Speaker 1: Oh you you called up for the no when they
Speaker 1: tried to give a silent no, I know. Oh it
Speaker 1: was the worst. It was just awful. And I'm right
Speaker 1: out of college and it was just I mean, it
Speaker 1: was it was bad. Was it the camera that made
Speaker 1: you nervous? Was it that? Because that could be very intimidating.
Speaker 1: I mean even for people who are actors. And you
Speaker 1: know what, I've talked a lot about the show about
Speaker 1: transitioning from say theater into film and television. You know,
Speaker 1: the camera is a different thing, and playing to the
Speaker 1: camera is a different thing. Do you think it was
Speaker 1: that or was it the people that were around? Or
Speaker 1: I think it was certainly certainly the camera, because I
Speaker 1: had never spoken to a camera before, and it's lifeless.
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's no reaction. You try to make
Speaker 1: a little joke and there's there's nobody laughing on the
Speaker 1: other end. You know, it's just a silent camera. But
Speaker 1: there were also you know, producers around, and I like,
Speaker 1: my mind is like, what are they thinking of me?
Speaker 1: Like they're judging me. They're obviously sitting there judging me,
Speaker 1: and I'm doing terrible. And I love my mom to death,
Speaker 1: but she's not the most reassuring person in the world.
Speaker 1: You know, she's like m hmm, not great, Like how
Speaker 1: is that one? Mom? You know, it's like something to
Speaker 1: make like something to make me feel more comfortable and
Speaker 1: give me a little nugget, but no, it was just
Speaker 1: a struggle and I couldn't. I couldn't get through it. Wow,
Speaker 1: So do you do you keep going at this point? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I keep going. I keep sending out more tapes and
Speaker 1: I just I'm so grateful that the NBC station in Erie, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Erie, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: and I drove out there and something just felt different.
Speaker 1: It just felt it just felt right. You know. I
Speaker 1: showed up in this town I've never been in before. Again,
Speaker 1: I've got my mom by my side, and Phil Hayes
Speaker 1: was the news director at the time, and we just
Speaker 1: we just clicked better, you know, we could talk. I
Speaker 1: felt more comfortable. I did my little demo. Yes, I
Speaker 1: was nervous, but He's like, you know what, I could
Speaker 1: tell you're nervous, but I know you're new at this.
Speaker 1: We'll get you a voice coach, you know. And he
Speaker 1: was like he could see potential in me and was
Speaker 1: really going to foster that and he was going to
Speaker 1: put in the extra effort to get me where he
Speaker 1: wanted me to be. And that's what I spent the
Speaker 1: next two years doing, was just whoever would take me
Speaker 1: under their wing. And and Lisa Adams was the main
Speaker 1: news anchor at the time, and she took me under
Speaker 1: her wing. She invite me over for holidays with her family,
Speaker 1: and I just I felt like I belonged and I could.
Speaker 1: I wasn't great, but I was able to, you know,
Speaker 1: get over that initial greenness that you have when you
Speaker 1: first start in this business. Now, maybe he just liked
Speaker 1: you or whatever. But do you think that your serious
Speaker 1: meteorology degree from Rutgers was a contributing factor in that?
Speaker 1: Like the education? What percentage of local meteorologists have a
Speaker 1: trained degree? Well, I'd say lately, I'd say lately a
Speaker 1: lot more stations require that people have a meteorology degree.
Speaker 1: I think it's something to advertise. I think it's something
Speaker 1: to put in all your you know, your ads for
Speaker 1: your show, like, oh, we have the most meteorologist in town.
Speaker 1: So I do think when I got into TV, that
Speaker 1: was becoming more and more a requirement. It wasn't just
Speaker 1: that you wanted, you know, some pretty girl to come
Speaker 1: on and do the weather like you actually had to
Speaker 1: have something to back it up. So that certainly helped.
Speaker 1: And I knew what I was talking about in the
Speaker 1: erie is like really a tough market to forecast four.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm just familiar with the weather in
Speaker 1: the Northeast having gone to records, and you know, I
Speaker 1: could offer my service as a meteorologist, you know, in
Speaker 1: a good way for Erie, Pennsylvania. Right. Why is Erie tough?
Speaker 1: Lake effects snow? I mean, it's just it's a weird phenomenon.
Speaker 1: Um lakes effect snow, lake effect snow. Um. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's a what no I'm saying. Okay, so like
Speaker 1: I've never I've no now I've learned something new a
Speaker 1: lake effects snow. So does the lake effect the snow?
Speaker 1: Is that why it's called lake effect. It's so funny
Speaker 1: because to me, it's like saying apple like it's lake
Speaker 1: effects snow. So like say, it's not going to snow.
Speaker 1: It's not going to snow. It's not going to snow
Speaker 1: because there's not enough moisture. I can't snow. You're saying
Speaker 1: it it's not going to snow. But if you have
Speaker 1: a wind off the Great Lakes, you know where the
Speaker 1: water temperature is kind of warm, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you have the moisture you need for it to snow
Speaker 1: because you have cold air and you have now a
Speaker 1: moisture source. So moisture in the in the lakes, the
Speaker 1: Great Lakes helps fuel your need for snow. So it
Speaker 1: dumps snow on areas that are right along the Great Lakes,
Speaker 1: like Buffalo, you know, Inland a little bit like Syracuse, Erie, Pennsylvania, Cleveland,
Speaker 1: because of the lakes, they get snow. If there were
Speaker 1: no lakes, they wouldn't have snow. Like the Land of
Speaker 1: ten Thousand Lakes, Minnesota, it snows a lot. Yes, Is
Speaker 1: that because of lake effects now or those? I think
Speaker 1: you need a bigger I think you need a bigger lake.
Speaker 1: Tried it. I like, I like the connections you're making
Speaker 1: the you go so you're an Eerie Pennsylvania. That's a
Speaker 1: that's an NBC station, Okay. And you learn or you
Speaker 1: begin to learn your craft. You take voice lessons. Do
Speaker 1: your voice do your original voice for me. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if I can get it that high anymore.
Speaker 1: H It's it's a different It's more the way I
Speaker 1: said things, you know, So if I was going to
Speaker 1: say the word water, I would have said water. You know.
Speaker 1: It was just like water. It's just yeah, like that.
Speaker 1: It's just a very regional accent. So the goal with
Speaker 1: the voice coaches to get rid of your regional accent. Yes, no,
Speaker 1: I know I'm from the South. I have I've experienced
Speaker 1: with that as well. Uh so then you start moving
Speaker 1: around Providence, Boston. Now are these because they're bigger cities
Speaker 1: that you're moving Yes, So my Michael was to get
Speaker 1: back to local news in New York. You know, that's
Speaker 1: the ultimate dream. I didn't think it was ever going
Speaker 1: to happen, but that was the ultimate dream. Um. So
Speaker 1: after I mean Erie, Pennsylvania, I was making maybe sixteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year, um, you know, but it was
Speaker 1: like where I learned that I learned to cook because
Speaker 1: I couldn't afford to go out to eat. I learned
Speaker 1: to budget because I couldn't jack the heat up. Because
Speaker 1: it was just you know, it was like just a
Speaker 1: really good learning experience, life experience to like be just
Speaker 1: out on my own, living in an apartment in a
Speaker 1: strange place by myself. Um. But then it was okay,
Speaker 1: I think I'm ready for the next step, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to get closer to home. So at this point
Speaker 1: sent out, you know, a few more tapes and for
Speaker 1: some reason, and like right away I just got a
Speaker 1: job in Providence, Rhode Islands. Also the NBC station they
Speaker 1: had an opening and I got the job. So all
Speaker 1: of these were NBC okay, and then very strange, I
Speaker 1: don't know why. And then how long? How long were
Speaker 1: you there? So I was in Providence for two years,
Speaker 1: and then there happened to be an opening in Boston.
Speaker 1: And again at the time, Boston was market five. So
Speaker 1: to go from market fifty, which was Providence up to
Speaker 1: market five. I mean, now I was finally making that
Speaker 1: major jump into a major, major market. Right are you
Speaker 1: doing nightly news? Are you doing morning? Are you doing
Speaker 1: always done mornings? I was doing weekends and erie, and
Speaker 1: then I moved to mornings in Providence, and then through
Speaker 1: a whole backstabbing situation, I got moved to weekends, and
Speaker 1: that was like a whole there was. There was drama
Speaker 1: in Providence. Yes, that's the title of a new movie,
Speaker 1: There's drama and Providence. It was just, you know, I
Speaker 1: I'm just a nice person. I'm nice to people, you know,
Speaker 1: and people are usually nice. I tend to associate with
Speaker 1: nice people. It just seems like the way the world
Speaker 1: should work, you know, just everybody be nice to everybody
Speaker 1: but Providence. I worked with a lot of people I
Speaker 1: absolutely adored one of my dearest friends I met in Providence. Um,
Speaker 1: but I also realized that there are people who are
Speaker 1: out to get you. And you know, I was doing
Speaker 1: weekends and then I got moved to weekday mornings, and
Speaker 1: then somebody else wanted that position and new somebody in
Speaker 1: power who could move me back to weekends and slide
Speaker 1: open that you know, slot for for her. So I
Speaker 1: just remember it being like, oh, this kind of stuff
Speaker 1: can happen. I mean, this, this really stinks. So you know,
Speaker 1: I have silly things like I had vacation approved, but
Speaker 1: oh no, sorry, you have to fill in for so
Speaker 1: and so now, you know, I mean it just it's
Speaker 1: like but I had, you know. So it's like that
Speaker 1: life experience where it's not all going to go your way.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be some some roadblocks, which also motivated me
Speaker 1: to get out of there. Like I remember, that's when
Speaker 1: I was searching for an agent. I wanted to get
Speaker 1: out of Providence. I wanted to you know, move on
Speaker 1: to something bigger and could just kind of get away
Speaker 1: from the whole situation, which I was able to do
Speaker 1: so local news people have agents. Yes, Okay, that isn't
Speaker 1: a joke. Yeah, because you're because you're moving around markets,
Speaker 1: and yes, you don't always know what jobs are open.
Speaker 1: You don't know the inside scoop on who's leaving and
Speaker 1: what job is about to open up. Your agents obviously
Speaker 1: have relationships with all the news directors in the in
Speaker 1: the bigger markets. I mean, i'd say, once you get
Speaker 1: over market fifty, you kind of need an agent to
Speaker 1: get to some of the bigger markets, right, And so
Speaker 1: you decide to get out and go to Boston, this
Speaker 1: is the top five market. Did you ever see yourself
Speaker 1: staying in Boston? Yeah, So my now husband Brian was
Speaker 1: my cameraman. We all worked on morning news, and I
Speaker 1: mean it took a while. So I had worked in
Speaker 1: Boston for probably like four or five years before Brian
Speaker 1: comes into the picture. Because Brian's actually like six years
Speaker 1: younger than me, so he was still in college. Like
Speaker 1: I'm like successful, you know, making indecent money. I owned
Speaker 1: my own house. I'm like, you know, things are going good.
Speaker 1: And then this like this kid keeps showing up in
Speaker 1: the weather office and just sort of hanging out, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, this guy just telling me stories about like
Speaker 1: what he's doing with his friends. And it's like he's
Speaker 1: such a colle like he's such a college kid, Like
Speaker 1: he's just who's this stupid kid who just keeps showing
Speaker 1: up in the weather office. But he was funny and
Speaker 1: he made me laugh. And there was a group of
Speaker 1: us that we'd go out after the new news at
Speaker 1: one o'clock in the afternoon. We're all hanging out, you know,
Speaker 1: having drinks and having a good time. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It was after like, after several years of us just
Speaker 1: being friends, something just clicked and I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: really care that he's six years younger than me. He's awesome.
Speaker 1: He's funny, it makes me laugh. He's nice. And like
Speaker 1: a year later we were engaged and we were looking
Speaker 1: for houses and we were gonna move into the suburbs
Speaker 1: outside of Boston. Wow. Wow, this, I mean, this is
Speaker 1: our Valentine's episode. And I always thought it was gonna
Speaker 1: be me and you, but this is a story. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is uh wow. And and you thought you would stay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that was the plan. We immediately got a dog.
Speaker 1: So our dog, Bosco, is twelve years old because it
Speaker 1: was like twelve years ago that we met. Like the
Speaker 1: second we started dating, we just like we knew, this
Speaker 1: is it, this is this is the future. Let's move
Speaker 1: near your parents. We were looking at houses and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, my agents like, I just I
Speaker 1: just want you to know there is not a job
Speaker 1: open at the Today's Show right now. But I just
Speaker 1: kind of mentioned to them that maybe you guys should
Speaker 1: hire a weekend meteorologist because they were using local meteorologists
Speaker 1: to kind of just handle Saturday and Sunday. So I
Speaker 1: think I'm just gonna put out there that, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you should have coffee with them or just meet
Speaker 1: with somebody at the Today Show. But don't get your
Speaker 1: hopes up. There is no job. And I said, sure,
Speaker 1: all I'll meet with whoever can't hurt, happy to do
Speaker 1: it exciting and nerve racking. I mean, this is like,
Speaker 1: this is the this is the Today's Show? Like that
Speaker 1: was never on my radar. I mean, you've got Al Roker,
Speaker 1: that's you know that there's no chance I'm going to
Speaker 1: come anywhere close to this world of network news. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just not going to happen, right, So I go down,
Speaker 1: I meet some people all goes well, I kind of
Speaker 1: like choked down my nerves, you know. I sometimes like
Speaker 1: I just I don't know. I don't know. Do you
Speaker 1: get nervous before you meet important people? I mean I
Speaker 1: was super nervous this morning. I was petrified. I was nervous. Um, sure,
Speaker 1: of course. I think it's more when I know I'm
Speaker 1: going to be in front of a group of people
Speaker 1: and I don't really know what's coming. Like someone says, hey,
Speaker 1: by the way, we want you to say a few
Speaker 1: words later on, and so immediately what I think is, oh,
Speaker 1: they want they assume that I'm funny, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: well I can be. But I also I actually don't
Speaker 1: tell jokes. I don't know jokes. I don't like, that's
Speaker 1: not what I do. It's like a mental thing. I
Speaker 1: don't remember them. I'm like, oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 1: I've got to remember that. I remember that I have
Speaker 1: one joke. It's totally inappropriate. I tell that, and then
Speaker 1: I usually am done and I think like are they
Speaker 1: going to be disappointed? But anyway, yeah, in front of
Speaker 1: a group of people, I do. And what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: like meetings, that can be difficult again because of not
Speaker 1: really knowing what the expectation is, what you know, how
Speaker 1: how it's going to go in that way or what
Speaker 1: they're sort of expecting from me. But before you go on,
Speaker 1: I want to I want to say, like, so at
Speaker 1: this moment, they're like, there's not really a job. How
Speaker 1: long was Willard Scott on The Today Show? Like a
Speaker 1: long time? A long time because Al looked up to him, um,
Speaker 1: and Al was doing weekends and Willard was doing the
Speaker 1: week days. And then when you know Willard was getting
Speaker 1: ready to step back a little bit, I was able
Speaker 1: to slide into that role. But I mean twenty years
Speaker 1: and how on this alb in there alsband at NBC
Speaker 1: for forty years. I think he's been with the Today's
Speaker 1: Show maybe, but I grew up watching him. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I remember Willard Scott, but definitely remember Al
Speaker 1: Roker taking over. So okay, so you meet, You're nervous,
Speaker 1: but there's no job. So yeah, I'm just literally going
Speaker 1: to meet people and small talk chat is not like
Speaker 1: my strong suit. Like I hate going to Christmas parties.
Speaker 1: I hate which is so interesting how you and I
Speaker 1: became friends because it's like we I don't know, like
Speaker 1: its just some people you can talk to and there's
Speaker 1: like little jokes and there's little like and there's some
Speaker 1: people like you have to put an effort to talk to,
Speaker 1: you know, you have to continue to keep the small
Speaker 1: talk going. And then it's there's awkward silence and I
Speaker 1: feel like I need to fill the silence or I
Speaker 1: don't know, like there's I I guess you're just meant
Speaker 1: to click with some people and not with others. But
Speaker 1: when it comes to people in in an authority position,
Speaker 1: I just I don't thrive in that environment. So I
Speaker 1: but I swallow all those nerves and I introduced myself
Speaker 1: and I talked and I answer their questions and I
Speaker 1: kind of try to sit in a comfortable, you know position,
Speaker 1: so I look more confident and I'm just kind of
Speaker 1: I get through the meetings and everything everything is fine.
Speaker 1: You know, they like me enough that they say, why
Speaker 1: don't you come back in a couple of weekends and
Speaker 1: just fill in on the show, not the weekday show,
Speaker 1: just the weekend show. So okay, yes, this is my
Speaker 1: big opportunity. We talked about it on the show up
Speaker 1: in Boston. This weekend. You have to watch Dylan's going
Speaker 1: to be on the weekend Today's show. We're so excited
Speaker 1: for her. YadA YadA, yadas. So you know, Boston knew
Speaker 1: I was going to do this, and they kind of
Speaker 1: knew where if it went well, where it could lead.
Speaker 1: So like it was all kosher, everything was all good.
Speaker 1: So I remember I get there and I pick out
Speaker 1: like just like the prettiest dress I could find. And
Speaker 1: four o'clock in the morning and I wake up into
Speaker 1: my mom's with me again, and we're in the hotel
Speaker 1: room and I'm getting ready and she looks at me
Speaker 1: and she's like, do you have any spanks? And I
Speaker 1: was like, no, I don't, and it's four o'clock in
Speaker 1: the morning, so I can't get any. So she's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I guess it'll be all right, going in with full
Speaker 1: confidence here. So it's a very different environment. You know,
Speaker 1: you need to show a lot of personality. It's not
Speaker 1: just local news where they tossed to you. You give
Speaker 1: a forecast, you make a little joke and you toss back,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean that's this is like you have
Speaker 1: to intro segments and you have to chit chat with
Speaker 1: all your co anchors, and you have to go to
Speaker 1: the plaza where there's a giant crowd of people and
Speaker 1: you have to interact. So I'm again not my strong suit.
Speaker 1: But I go out to the plaza and I see
Speaker 1: this guy wearing a chicken hat on his head, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is gonna be so easy. He's going
Speaker 1: to say something funny. I'm gonna look adorable, this is
Speaker 1: gonna go so great. So I remember, it's my moment.
Speaker 1: I do the weather, and I go and I don't
Speaker 1: even remember what the question was that I asked this guy,
Speaker 1: but I asked him something and he goes mm hmm,
Speaker 1: So okay, I get nothing. I asked another question, uh huh,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh my god, Like this guy in
Speaker 1: a chicken had just ruined my chance at you know,
Speaker 1: showing this big personality and I can play off of that,
Speaker 1: and like he ruined my chance. And all any of
Speaker 1: my friends were talking about was like, what was up
Speaker 1: with that guy with the chicken hat? So all right,
Speaker 1: whatever that that was. That that was my day. That
Speaker 1: was my big trial. And I honestly was shocked when
Speaker 1: they said that they were actually going to offer me
Speaker 1: a position. It was a couple of months later it
Speaker 1: wasn't like the next day, So of course I'm thinking
Speaker 1: it's no chance that this is going to happen. But
Speaker 1: and then we just pick up everything. Brian quits his
Speaker 1: job and we've moved down to New York City. Wow,
Speaker 1: now is this would you say? This is the dream? Like?
Speaker 1: This is this is the dream? This is the dream?
Speaker 1: This is like And it's funny because now I don't
Speaker 1: really do that much weather. I mean, if al Broker's off,
Speaker 1: I I fill in for him. Um. But when I
Speaker 1: when I first started, it was, I mean there was
Speaker 1: it was a little shaky. I had to get over
Speaker 1: the nerves at first. They sent me to a talent
Speaker 1: coach and I can't to coach my talent and to
Speaker 1: like make me more comfortable. It was almost like a
Speaker 1: confidence coach kind of thing. Um, But like I I
Speaker 1: will get comfortable eventually, but they wanted me comfortable like
Speaker 1: right away, and I it took some time. So I
Speaker 1: remember the coach even said he's like, I don't really
Speaker 1: know what to do here because you seem confident enough,
Speaker 1: but I like, I don't know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: to help you. Just keep doing what you're doing. I
Speaker 1: guess you know, it was kind of that, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, And it took about a year before I
Speaker 1: really felt like, Okay, you know, I can do this.
Speaker 1: I can make jokes, I can chime in and I
Speaker 1: can really be myself. But it it took some time.
Speaker 1: And I remember when I started, they said, you're not
Speaker 1: Al Roker, do not be Al Broker, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I have to be me. I just have to be me.
Speaker 1: I can't imitate how anybody else does this. I just
Speaker 1: have to be me. And I eventually found myself and
Speaker 1: that was ten years ago. That's really interesting that they
Speaker 1: said that. I mean, i'll tell you what my first
Speaker 1: impulse is. I don't know that they would like that
Speaker 1: I said this. My memory of Al Roker was he
Speaker 1: was trying to be Willard Scott. Like. I feel like
Speaker 1: those two guys were very similar, at least early on. Yes,
Speaker 1: I would say very similar. I think that just happens
Speaker 1: to be those two people too. I think they're just
Speaker 1: two people who are very similar. And it's funny because
Speaker 1: now that I am so close with Al. Granted I'm
Speaker 1: not Al's big personality, you know, but like he and
Speaker 1: I get each other's jokes we can kind of finish
Speaker 1: each other. We have a good banter um and he's
Speaker 1: just like, it's such a pro it. He knows what
Speaker 1: I want to say, so he'll team me up so
Speaker 1: that I can say it, you know, like we just
Speaker 1: have a good give and take. So I would say,
Speaker 1: I don't know if Al's like Willard. I'm similar to
Speaker 1: Al in a way that isn't recognizable but interesting. So
Speaker 1: what you just brought up is what I really wanted
Speaker 1: to talk to you about. I mean, you, now, if
Speaker 1: not an actor, certainly an entertainer. I mean the only
Speaker 1: difference is we're playing characters and you are a version
Speaker 1: of your of yourself, but a version of yourself. So
Speaker 1: I mean, really, you start, as you know, I'm generalizing
Speaker 1: for comedy. You start as a nerd interested in engineering
Speaker 1: with four et cetera for calculus classes to learn meteorology,
Speaker 1: which is a serious science of weather. Looking, I've started
Speaker 1: to fade and now no, now you're you know you're
Speaker 1: you're bantering on not just television, but live television, which
Speaker 1: is something altogether different. Do you love it? Like? Do
Speaker 1: you are you? Are you happy with where you have
Speaker 1: have arrived? Oh? Yeah, I mean and I can easily
Speaker 1: talk about whether they could send me out to a
Speaker 1: hurricane right now, and I can, I can talk you
Speaker 1: through the storm, Like that's that's easy for me. I
Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. People trust me. There's that the
Speaker 1: fact that I co host a show or I don't
Speaker 1: do any weather is with people I genuinely enjoy being with.
Speaker 1: It's just so much fun. I mean, every day we
Speaker 1: leave the show and we're laughing and we're smiling, and
Speaker 1: I never feel like bummed out when I come to work.
Speaker 1: I mean it's the people I get to meet. I mean,
Speaker 1: the people that we have on the show, like actors.
Speaker 1: It's just it's so much fun um And even just
Speaker 1: like the skill of interviewing I find is I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just I just I love it. Just like I
Speaker 1: like making a forecast that's accurate. I love interviewing someone
Speaker 1: like I love having like a paper, you know, like
Speaker 1: I love having my notes here and not having to
Speaker 1: look at them. You know. I love knowing the interviewers
Speaker 1: so much just from like the homework I've done and
Speaker 1: the prep work I've done where I don't need to
Speaker 1: like read my question off the paper, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I like being able to just
Speaker 1: curiously ask them a question, and I like getting better
Speaker 1: as an interviewer in that way. Yes, that's me too.
Speaker 1: I look, I've got multiple papers here, but it's way
Speaker 1: more fun too. I mean I learned a lot about
Speaker 1: you obviously getting to know you house. By the way,
Speaker 1: if you ever want to interview someone or time of
Speaker 1: conversation with someone, if you know them in advance, it's
Speaker 1: way Oh my gosh, So you have brought up two
Speaker 1: other things that I wanted to talk to you about.
Speaker 1: You said, if a hurricane comes up and they want
Speaker 1: you to go, you'll feel comfortable. What in the I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I usually don't say that. What the fuck is? What
Speaker 1: is explained to me? The phenomenon, Oh news, go going lucky.
Speaker 1: I read in you were on your way to a
Speaker 1: blizzard and you shocker in a blizzard, you get in
Speaker 1: a car accident and get a cushion. That was ridiculous.
Speaker 1: That's when I first started and didn't say like no
Speaker 1: to things. I'm like, sure, you want me to get
Speaker 1: in the car now, Sure, I'll do whatever you want.
Speaker 1: Now I will tell them I don't think we should
Speaker 1: leave now, because we're going to get stuck in it.
Speaker 1: We probably should have left a couple hours ago. So like,
Speaker 1: I'll speak up for myself now that that was just
Speaker 1: kind of But what but what what does this make
Speaker 1: for better television? See? To me, it makes for jokes
Speaker 1: like if somebody is passing around a weather person video
Speaker 1: on the coast of Florida and there's a hurricane coming,
Speaker 1: no one is sending now, this is a spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: but no one is sending this like wow, look at
Speaker 1: the courage of that meteorologious. No I thought that's what
Speaker 1: they were doing. No, it's like, what is wrong with
Speaker 1: this person? Why did they make him stand out there
Speaker 1: when there's a hurricane coming in? Be real with me,
Speaker 1: what is it? Is it rating? I mean, is there
Speaker 1: as someone done the research to say this makes for
Speaker 1: compelling television? To be honest, I mean I've stood out
Speaker 1: in fifty below zero god in a T shirt with
Speaker 1: vassoline on my arms because we were trying to recreate
Speaker 1: the theory like how do football players play with short
Speaker 1: sleeves when it's you know, like forty below zero outside
Speaker 1: And somebody said they use vasoline, which is fine, I
Speaker 1: could see it, but you can't put a jacket on
Speaker 1: when your arms are covered in vassoline. So the repercussions
Speaker 1: of doing this little ship for TV were I mean,
Speaker 1: it was awful because I just could not get my
Speaker 1: arm in a coat. That being said, Okay, wait, first
Speaker 1: of all, that I get that is actually fairly funny.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find that footage. I want to see that footage.
Speaker 1: But that's a fun I'm talking about. Yeah, but you're
Speaker 1: talking about like standing out in the hurricanes, ver a
Speaker 1: blizzard or like in a hurricane. Well, and it's funny
Speaker 1: because like say we pick a location because that's where
Speaker 1: it's going to be like the most active during our
Speaker 1: live shot. If we pick a location and it's not
Speaker 1: snowing or it's not sixty mile proper winds, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's like a sigh of oh, you don't have a
Speaker 1: good live shot. I mean, this is TV, it's morning TV.
Speaker 1: It's sort of entertainment. You know, we definitely want a
Speaker 1: good active live shot. It shows like how cool the
Speaker 1: weather is. You know, it's like, don't go out in it.
Speaker 1: We're going to do that for you. But if you
Speaker 1: were to go out in it, this is how it
Speaker 1: would be. Well, they're not gonna why you shouldn't go
Speaker 1: out in it. This is yeah, but see here's the
Speaker 1: thing I feel like, Well, I guess I'm only putting
Speaker 1: camera people like your husband in Jeopardy, like I enjoy
Speaker 1: seeing it, not enjoy I'm sorry, that's a horrible choice
Speaker 1: of words. I don't mean enjoy it. I appreciate, you know,
Speaker 1: a disastrous flood, like giving visual insight into what is happening.
Speaker 1: That makes sense to me. But well, let's just say, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know you're looking at pictures or video and we're
Speaker 1: trying to explain how strong a storm is. You're gonna
Speaker 1: let You're gonna think this is a ridiculous statement, but
Speaker 1: I'll tell you wins right now are seventy miles per great,
Speaker 1: that's a number. Sure looks like seventy mile power winds.
Speaker 1: But if I stand out in it and you see me,
Speaker 1: you know, like bracing myself against something so that I
Speaker 1: don't blow over, now you really get what seventy mile
Speaker 1: power winds look like. Right. It stops you in your tracks.
Speaker 1: You're watching, you want to see what's going to happen. Remember,
Speaker 1: there is some like we're telling you a news story,
Speaker 1: but it is still a visual medium. So yes, well,
Speaker 1: I think partly what you're saying, which I buy about,
Speaker 1: by the way, but I get the the actually the
Speaker 1: public safety aspect of of a visual image because I
Speaker 1: get what you're saying like seventy, Like what is seventy
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is if you if you show an
Speaker 1: image of like you know, saying in California with Santa
Speaker 1: Anna wins and you show an image of like eighty
Speaker 1: foot tall palm trees like sideways, that tells the story.
Speaker 1: You don't have to show the person a light post
Speaker 1: holding a light post, screaming into a microphone with the
Speaker 1: wind whipping it, being like we're out here. But I
Speaker 1: want to be your personal connection to the story. I'm
Speaker 1: why you're going to stick around and watch just to
Speaker 1: see Maybe it is just to see something happens, but
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to be your personal connection because in
Speaker 1: in in that theory, why do we stick so and
Speaker 1: so outside of courthouse as we're you know, teeing up
Speaker 1: the you know, the story about whatever you know? Why
Speaker 1: why do we show any live reporters anywhere? Do we do?
Speaker 1: We have to know where your connection to the story. Yes,
Speaker 1: but I would make the argument. This is what I
Speaker 1: was about to say before. I can't believe you're arguing
Speaker 1: this point with me. I'm shocked that that we're on
Speaker 1: different sides of this. If you send a reporter into
Speaker 1: a war torn area, okay, and you have the reporter
Speaker 1: on site on the plant, like I understand that, but
Speaker 1: you don't really ever, unless it's a mistake, you don't
Speaker 1: see a reporter with active ammunition and bombs happening immediately
Speaker 1: next to them at that at that moment, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: you make a good kin to what we're discussing. It's like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, there's a hurricane happening. Let's everybody get
Speaker 1: to Florida and potentially be put in a disaster slee
Speaker 1: dangerous situation. I will say the scaredest I've ever been
Speaker 1: was that a hurricane in Bermuda, Category three hurricane hit
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night, so everybody was in
Speaker 1: their hotel rooms, Like the windows in my room were bowing.
Speaker 1: I was I was waiting for like the crash of
Speaker 1: the windows to just give way, to the point where
Speaker 1: I slept on the bathroom floor just to brace myself
Speaker 1: in case that were to happen. I mean and then
Speaker 1: I woke up the next morning and it was like
Speaker 1: that was really scary, Like I ended up staying the
Speaker 1: night in the bathroom, and all the photographers they're all
Speaker 1: like Miami Base, so they were like, oh, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: what you do. You sleep in the bathtub and just
Speaker 1: put a mattress over, you know, just put a mattress
Speaker 1: over the top of the tub. And I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, cool, So I did this right. But you
Speaker 1: went there. You went there because the hurricane was coming.
Speaker 1: I went there because the hurricane was coming. And I
Speaker 1: will say, as from a meteorologist perspective, I got to
Speaker 1: see the front side of the hurricane. I got to
Speaker 1: see the eye of the storm where I mean these ends,
Speaker 1: the front side of the hurricane. It was just it
Speaker 1: was so intense, like you thought every tree was gonna
Speaker 1: just topple over you. It's just like something you've never
Speaker 1: seen before. And then all of a sudden, the eye
Speaker 1: of the storm comes through. You hear birds, you hear crickets,
Speaker 1: you hear like not a single drop of wind. It
Speaker 1: is the calmest, like the calmest thing you've ever experienced.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, the backside of the
Speaker 1: storm comes and that's when I slept on the bathroom floor.
Speaker 1: So like from a meteorologist perspective, I can look at
Speaker 1: that stuff on the computer, I can look at visuals,
Speaker 1: but to experience it because I know what was happening, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was scary, but it was it's fascinating. I just
Speaker 1: find the weather so fascinating. So I like, you know,
Speaker 1: I like being outside when the snow is coming down
Speaker 1: so hard that you can't even see I just because
Speaker 1: I I like it. It's I don't know, it's just
Speaker 1: it's really fascinating. Yeah. I get what you're saying. I
Speaker 1: get what you're saying. I just don't want anyone in danger, right.
Speaker 1: We're usually pretty good at keeping ourselves safe, except when
Speaker 1: you're sleeping in a bathtub mashes safely though. Um, most
Speaker 1: heart wrenching moment on live television for you was what
Speaker 1: on the Today Show heart wrenching moment emotional Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's um. It's tough, especially now that I do get
Speaker 1: to talk to so many different people outside of you know,
Speaker 1: just the weather. So obviously you talk to someone after
Speaker 1: their home has been destroyed by a tornado, and it's
Speaker 1: it's heartbreaking, but I think, um, any any story that
Speaker 1: involves children, especially like little kids overcoming cancer and they're
Speaker 1: so positive and their outlook on life and they're making
Speaker 1: bracelets for their friends because that's what they like to
Speaker 1: do in their free time. I mean, I think any
Speaker 1: story that involves children is just so maybe because I
Speaker 1: have my own kids that you just you put yourself
Speaker 1: in the parents shoes and you just you wonder how
Speaker 1: some people can get through some of the things they
Speaker 1: get through. Um, So I would say anything involving kids
Speaker 1: just breaks my heart. It's hard to keep it together. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's got to be an incredibly difficult thing to
Speaker 1: to go through on live television. I you know, I
Speaker 1: have told this story a couple of times, but you know,
Speaker 1: we used to have make a wish kids come and
Speaker 1: I remember this one day as a kid came and
Speaker 1: Kevin was his favorite character, and me going to the
Speaker 1: prop room like give him whatever he wants, Like whatever
Speaker 1: he wants, we don't need fourteen spare eminem jars, like
Speaker 1: just give him, like, just give him one, and going
Speaker 1: into the back and just crying, just being like this
Speaker 1: is like a very just an emotional moment. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine going through that on live, live television. Do you
Speaker 1: have do you have a favorite moment? Um a favorite moment?
Speaker 1: So before COVID, but we when we traveled a lot,
Speaker 1: like all the stories we would we would just travel
Speaker 1: and that it's just fun. And we were doing a
Speaker 1: series for Mother's Day and it was like, let's give
Speaker 1: your mom something on her bucket list. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, this is awesome. It's like peek Today's show.
Speaker 1: And I got to take my mom to Costa Rica
Speaker 1: to go whitewater rafting, like for a Today's Show story.
Speaker 1: It was such a such a boondoggle. And to bring
Speaker 1: my mom along, you know, it's just like what is happening?
Speaker 1: You know, we're flying out to Costa Rica. It's like
Speaker 1: all expenses paid. You know, it's just like we're doing
Speaker 1: it for a story. Um. And that was just really
Speaker 1: special because just because it was so wild. I mean,
Speaker 1: hosting live television day after day, do you ever get
Speaker 1: nervous or are you ever not sure what's coming next?
Speaker 1: I know you have people in your ears. There are
Speaker 1: times where it's like we don't have the video yet,
Speaker 1: We'll let you know when we got it, you know,
Speaker 1: and we're just about to toss to the video and
Speaker 1: it's but I don't know, after doing this for so long,
Speaker 1: and when you're in a comfortable situation, you could just
Speaker 1: b as your weight through anything, Like you could just
Speaker 1: keep saying more and more words, and when you run
Speaker 1: out of words, you're co hosting with someone who can
Speaker 1: fill it in with more words, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: like we're very good at vamping, and just like filling
Speaker 1: the gaps, there are sometimes where you won't realize that
Speaker 1: you were going to be star struck. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would say my most embarrassing moment and it was such
Speaker 1: a stupid thing. We were on a set visit for
Speaker 1: like um Neighbors Neighbors Too. Do you remember that movie?
Speaker 1: It's like Seth Rogan and zac Efron. So you go
Speaker 1: and you interview the characters and it's like all right,
Speaker 1: like I know my questions, Like I again, I like
Speaker 1: to prepare, and for some reason, interviewing zac Effron just
Speaker 1: threw me off. And I'm not even like a zac
Speaker 1: Efron fan, but he's like standing there and he's got
Speaker 1: like a tight T shirt on, and I remember just
Speaker 1: like my mouth went to open to ask a question
Speaker 1: and I'm like, um, and you know, I'm like tucking
Speaker 1: my hair behind my ears and like I could not speak.
Speaker 1: And then it was not live, but my producers standing
Speaker 1: right there and like they're recording, like we're recording this
Speaker 1: to tape because like we're doing an interview, and Seth
Speaker 1: Rogan standing right there like what the hell is going
Speaker 1: on right now? And it was just the most like
Speaker 1: disgustingly awful, like embarrassing feeling. It took me for a
Speaker 1: long time to shake it because it was just like, wow,
Speaker 1: I just really botched that whole thing. It was so
Speaker 1: awkward because you love zac Efron, by the way, when
Speaker 1: you told me the two people this was, it was
Speaker 1: not the person that I had guessed for you. I know,
Speaker 1: and kind of like random times where I don't know
Speaker 1: what happens. There are certain celebrities who will come on
Speaker 1: that just like your brains sort of show it's down
Speaker 1: and you just get a little nervous. I don't know,
Speaker 1: why are you going to get nervous with me? I think,
Speaker 1: so are you in an excited way because it's like
Speaker 1: I don't know. Now, it's like you're my friend and
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring you on the show, and I
Speaker 1: want I want to protect you, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: like I want Craig and Alan Shanelle to love you
Speaker 1: as much as I do, and you know, I just
Speaker 1: I want everything to just go really well. Oh it will,
Speaker 1: I think, which is funny because like this just showed
Speaker 1: up on my desk today. See I'm like ready for
Speaker 1: your segment. There is that's my face. Oh that's well,
Speaker 1: that's very fun. That's very fun. So I'll start preparing
Speaker 1: for you better. It's gonna be. Brian did tell me.
Speaker 1: He's like when when Brian comes on the show, you know, like,
Speaker 1: don't be too inside baseball, you know, like, remember it's
Speaker 1: still just an interview. Don't be like like, oh, we're
Speaker 1: such good friends and your husband's giving you advice like
Speaker 1: a month in advance for all right, he does. He's
Speaker 1: a good I have to talk to you about, well,
Speaker 1: now that you're a big actor, star fate of a sport,
Speaker 1: you're hosting Earth Odyssey with Dylan Dryer. The fact that
Speaker 1: you get your title on the show as well, that's
Speaker 1: very not just dir thoughtsy, it's their thoughtasy with Dylan Dryer.
Speaker 1: Are you passionate about Earth Odyssey? Oh? I love it.
Speaker 1: It's I mean, I think we're we think we just
Speaker 1: finished up five seasons. So it's it's just like the
Speaker 1: perfect little nature show that you watch on Saturday morning
Speaker 1: TV with your kids, and it's just I just love it.
Speaker 1: I'll fly out to l A. I'll shoot all the
Speaker 1: on camera stuff um out at the arboretum outside l A,
Speaker 1: and then I do all the voice over work in
Speaker 1: my closet, you know, and it's like, I just it's awesome.
Speaker 1: Do you have a peacock in your closet as well
Speaker 1: when you're doing your voice over work? That's that's what
Speaker 1: the important. But my head is now covering it. So
Speaker 1: I thought you forgot about it. And I have to
Speaker 1: talk to you about Misty the Cloud, your best selling
Speaker 1: children's book series. You were so kind and sent the
Speaker 1: books to my girls. They are are loving it. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you ever put this together, but you're
Speaker 1: a weather person, and it's about a cloud on purpose
Speaker 1: the whole thing, you know. It was. It was actually
Speaker 1: something we we came up with like ten years ago,
Speaker 1: and it was really really hard to get a children's
Speaker 1: book published. I had to, you know, I had to
Speaker 1: pitch the idea and and I'm like, I'm passionate about
Speaker 1: this idea. I think there is no world where there
Speaker 1: are clouds zipping around the sky and they're having fun
Speaker 1: and they're teaching you little lessons and it's just fun.
Speaker 1: Why doesn't this exist? It's it's just really visual and
Speaker 1: really cool. And think of all the cool characters you
Speaker 1: can have between like all the different types of weather.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I want this to exist. So I
Speaker 1: pitch it and it's like, um, that's great, But you
Speaker 1: know what would be really cool and what's really selling
Speaker 1: right now, like biography use about like little known people,
Speaker 1: So like what if you write a biography about a
Speaker 1: female meteorologist who who won't take no for an answer?
Speaker 1: And I was like, do you want me to take
Speaker 1: no for an answer? To write a book about someone
Speaker 1: who won't take no for an answer? So it's like
Speaker 1: I'm good. Um, And it's so like we kind of
Speaker 1: pushed aside and then we brought it back and then
Speaker 1: I just like I just I really was so passionate
Speaker 1: about it and just tried and tried and tried. I
Speaker 1: teamed up with a co author, Alan Alan Katz, who
Speaker 1: kind of saw my vision, and yeah, we we put
Speaker 1: it out. The first one came out last year, and
Speaker 1: then the second one came out this year, So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's awesome and so cute and so beautiful. How many
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? Are you gonna do? Twelve? So
Speaker 1: then the next two books are actually step into reading books,
Speaker 1: which has been really cool because the first two books
Speaker 1: came out which were perfect for Calvin, and now the
Speaker 1: next to come out, which Calvin is starting to read
Speaker 1: now my oldest son, so I can give them to him.
Speaker 1: And then after that we have two board books coming out.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so just like it's a fun little series, um,
Speaker 1: but are are big thing we'd love to Our goal
Speaker 1: is to turn this into an animated cartoon, like an
Speaker 1: animated series at some point, because again, I think it's
Speaker 1: great for the books, and I love it in the books,
Speaker 1: and I love talking about science in the back of
Speaker 1: the books. You know, I've had to create a rainbow,
Speaker 1: had to create a thunderstorm, but I still just imagine
Speaker 1: it is so vibrant and alive and just the things
Speaker 1: you can do with clouds and colors, and we just
Speaker 1: kind of see it going even further. That's awesome. If
Speaker 1: you need a voice for Misty. I pictured you was
Speaker 1: more of like a hurricane. Yes, I am Dylan. Uh.
Speaker 1: By the way, Dylan and I got to know each
Speaker 1: other a few weeks ago here at the LPGA Tournament
Speaker 1: of Champions in Orlando, Florida, Hilton Grand Vacations. Had a
Speaker 1: great time. I look forward to playing How is the golf?
Speaker 1: Have you played any golf since we've been been back?
Speaker 1: You do know I live in New York City, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, so I guess I'm so bad at golf.
Speaker 1: That's I guess that's a no. Um. I look forward
Speaker 1: to many more adventures with you on the golf course
Speaker 1: and etcetera. Start getting nervous about the Today Show. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. I can't wait to have you on the show.
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's just gonna be fun. You just
Speaker 1: I don't make new friends at this point in my life,
Speaker 1: you know, I just I don't know. There's just a
Speaker 1: lot going on. And it was just really such a
Speaker 1: special weekend down in Orlando, and it clicked and it
Speaker 1: was just easy and fun and I'm just so grateful
Speaker 1: for our friendship. Now. Well, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Valentine's
Speaker 1: Happy Valentine's Day to my new friend and uh and
Speaker 1: more to come. Congratulations on everything. I look forward to
Speaker 1: seeing you in New York and this summer at at
Speaker 1: Lake Tahoe American Central Championships. Get your golf game ready.
Speaker 1: I know I need to step it up a little bit,
Speaker 1: so this way we could be paired up again. We'll
Speaker 1: be paired up again, and then I'll take some more
Speaker 1: of your husband's money. Well said, we're saving now. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you, Brian Dylan, thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see you very shortly on the
Speaker 1: Today Show. I promise I will. I will try not
Speaker 1: to make you nervous. This was a treat. It is
Speaker 1: conversations like these that remind me why I started Off
Speaker 1: the Beat. Listeners, as always, you're the best. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining me. Make sure to tune in
Speaker 1: next week for another episode of the podcast. I'll see
Speaker 1: you soon, and whether you're listening today, really any day,
Speaker 1: you are my Valentine. Off the Beat is hosted an
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes,
Speaker 1: Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan
Speaker 1: Papa Zachary and our intern is Sammy Cats. Our theme
Speaker 1: song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only
Speaker 1: Creed Bratton,