Media Mention: WGAL’s Anne Shannon

She switched to mornings two years ago for the sake of her family.
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Anne Shannon - WGAL-TV

Anne Shannon reporting live from Royer’s Flowers & Gifts on Rohrerstown Road, Lancaster.

There’s a nap in Anne Shannon’s future.

It could come this fall, when her four young sons – ages 9, 7, 5 and 4 – are back in the school routine. Between now and then, she will have many more sleep-deprived days.

Shannon has been a reporter for WGAL-TV since 1999, the past two years working the morning shift.

The recent switch wasn’t a career move so much as a family move that affected her career. At the time, she was anchoring Saturday and Sunday broadcasts and working dayside weekdays. A live shot in Gettysburg, for instance, meant getting home at 7:30 or 8 p.m.

“My oldest son actually complained that I was gone too much and that I missed all the ‘fun’ stuff,” Shannon said. “So my husband and I talked about it, and I still wanted to work because I really love what I do, but I wanted to find better balance.”

I spoke with Shannon on a June morning, in-between live broadcasts at Royer’s Flowers & Gifts on Rohrerstown Road, Lancaster. She and a photographer had met me and Barry Spengler, vice president of operations for Royer’s, at 5 a.m. for segments about Royer’s annual food drive, Royer’s Stems Hunger.

Born in Iowa, Shannon moved to Lancaster County when she was a year old. She studied mass communication at Bloomsburg University. She began her career as a videotape editor at CBS21 in Harrisburg, six months later becoming an on-air talent. After five years there, she moved to WGAL.

Joe Calhoun, WGAL’s chief meteorologist, also has four children. He counseled Shannon that the only way to find family-work balance would be to switch to mornings.

Coincidentally, morning reporter Katelyn Smith was returning from maternity leave and wanted to switch to dayside. Jim Sinkovitz took over the weekend anchor duties. Shannon moved to mornings.

She sets her alarm for 2:50 a.m. in order to arrive at the studio for 4 a.m.

“Our goal is to be live someplace every morning for an interview at 5:30 and 6:30 [as with Royer’s] or cover breaking news, which I love because there’s that unknown little bit of an adrenaline rush of covering something that is just happening,” she said.

Shannon’s husband, Craig, is a golf course superintendent who had to alter his work schedule, too, when Shannon did. During the school year, he gets the boys up and the two oldest ones on the bus. A sitter stays with the youngest two until Shannon gets home at 1 p.m.

“When I get home, they usually are super-excited to see me,” Shannon said. “I usually eat lunch with them and then we get special time just the two youngest boys and I. Then I’m home to get the other two off the bus during the school year.

“I make dinner every night. We eat dinner as a family every night. I help them with homework. I never miss a Little League game or a Cub Scout meeting. Or I get to go to the PTO meetings. I get to do the stuff that I wanted to be able to do as a mom but still have a career as well.”

During the school year, the boys are asleep by 9 p.m. Then it’s laundry, dishes, planning for the next day, and uninterrupted time to catch up with Craig.

By 9:30 or 10, she’s falling asleep, perhaps catching part of WGAL’s 10 o’clock newscast.

“It used to be that I was a really light sleeper and that any time one of our boys would wake up I could hear a pin drop,” she said. “Now, that five hours, I’m out. I’m rock solid.”

This fall, her youngest son will start pre-school three days each week.

“I think it’s going to change the dynamic,” she said, “so I’m hoping that one of those days I can get a nap.”

On social media:

There’s a symbiotic relationship between reporters and public relations practitioners, of course. The growth of social media has had a significant affect – good and bad – on the two professions.

Shannon said it’s not a big part of her job as WGAL has a dedicated web team.

“So that allows us to focus on reporting the news of the day and telling stories,” she said. “But I see that as social media becomes an even bigger part of what we do, I see our role developing in that. But right now there’s no requirement; I don’t have to tweet five times or post on Facebook.”

But Shannon and the other WGAL reporters contribute photos, using the smart phones that WGAL provides to them.

“It adds some immediacy,” she said. “Because it used to be, if I was at the scene of breaking news and it was 9 in the morning, I would let our assignment desk know what was happening, but I didn’t have to do anything until maybe a noon live shot.

“Now, as soon as I’m there, I’m trying to get information, I’m trying to get pictures so I can report it back to the (web team) so they can put it out on the web or tweet it or do a news alert about it. So it adds constant deadlines. Instead of a noon deadline, a 5 p.m. deadline, the next moment you have information is your deadline.”

 

About the Author

Neal Goulet

Neal Goulet, Owner
Having been a journalist, Neal knows writing, grammar and style, as well as the language and movements of a newsroom.
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