Episode #18 Wendy Gillette, CBS News, CBS Newspath

Hanna (01:16)
Hi, Wendy. So great to see you. 

Michael (01:17) 
Thanks for joining us. 

Wendy (01:18)
Hi, thanks for having me.

Michael (01:21)
So, for our listeners who may not be that familiar with the broadcast world. Can you explain what an anchor is versus a producer versus a reporter and what those jobs mean? Both on camera and off camera. 

Wendy (01:35) 
Okay. Yes. Well, I do a lot of different things. I'm a jack of all trades in the industry, which is a little bit unusual. A lot of people in the industry are either on camera or off camera and don't usually go between the two worlds. Um, and a lot of times you're not radio and TV, and I do both. So in the radio world, let's start there. I'm a radio anchor, so I work for CBS News as a radio anchor. And so we do top of the hour newscasts for 700 affiliates all across the country. Top of every hour, 24 hours a day.

And we also do one minute newscasts at the bottom of the hour and I anchor those so obviously I am the broadcaster that you hear on the radio. And I also write those newscasts, and I work in tandem with a copy editor who is setting up the tapes that I am going to wrap around. So I'm responsible for writing around the tapes that they set up for me. So they're kind of, um, setting up the order of the newscast and it's a collaborative affair. So we talk about what we should lead with, what the most important stories are and what we think should be included. But, uh, a lot of times they’re kind of responsible for, um, the rundown.

And then I am writing around that and it's a very crazy shift because I'm usually doing six top of the hour newscasts and five bottom of the hour, one minute newscasts, and it's kind of like a hamster on a wheel. Once you start the newscast and then you're going like crazy, trying to keep up with the news end if there's breaking news. Uh, right before the newscast and during the newscast, you have to also try to fit that all in. And you also have exactly two minutes and 48 seconds to do the first part of the hourly.

And then it goes to a break. So you have exactly two minutes and 48 seconds. When I think this is a challenging job, it is a very challenging job. And to be right. And correct. And get your information out to people and try to also be a compelling writer and tell it in a way that is informative, but also, keeps people entertained. You want to have a fun story, but the most important thing is to give people up to the minute information that is accurate and it's not easy. So that's the anchor aspect of things.

Um, and behind the scenes, there's the copy editor. So that's the radio side. And then on the TV side, I am sometimes a fill-in anchor at the New York Stock Exchange. That's doing business reports from Wall Street right now. No one in the media is allowed on the stock exchange floor because of the pandemic, but usually, in better times, I'm from the stock exchange floor and doing sometimes consumer stories and financial stories. The latest headlines about the business world, how stocks are are heading.

I'm also a producer, writer, editor. We call it a hyphen. It. For news and for all the affiliates, this is TV affiliates, so every city in the country usually has a CBS and ABC and NBC Fox affiliate and they provide national and international stories to their local news viewers. So every network has an affiliate news service and that provides that national and international news to the local affiliate. So I work for Newspath, which is that affiliate news service for CBS.

So in that role, I'm a producer, writer, editor, and that is putting together stories, the big stories of the day, and that could be whatever is going on. That could be a hurricane. It could be, what's happening in Washington or, and then I'm also doing a new travel series and that is, I'm reporting it and shooting it and writing it and coming up with the stories and doing that all over the world, that's called Travel Tuesdays so that's the reporter component. 

Hanna (06:13)
So it sounds like you are a super woman. I mean, from anchoring to writing, to editing, to producing, I mean, you wear a lot of hats. 

Wendy (06:22) 
Yeah, I do a lot. I kind of lose track of all the jobs I do. One time when I actually wrote down a list of all the jobs that I do, and it was like, nine jobs. It was kind of ridiculous. 

Michael (06:34)
It would overwhelm mere mortals, but you do it very gracefully. And I'd also add that, you know, you're dealing with very different kinds of media, TV, radio, online. So what's it like telling stories for these very different media? Do you have to change how you tell the stories? How do you structure them? What's your approach to speaking three different languages essentially? 

Wendy (06:58)
Yeah, there is definitely a different way you tell the stories. Radio stories are extremely short. They're usually only 30 seconds, the sound bytes, and that's very short clips from people's interviews. They are very, very tight, very short. You could use a sound bite from someone that's maybe only two seconds or three seconds. So you have to write extremely tight.

And TV, it's more about the pictures. You're obviously, you're marrying your words with what's on the screen. So you're thinking visually and then digitally, it's a whole different kind of audience. Sometimes it's a younger audience and the stories sometimes move more quickly. You have to think about graphics and that's something I'm still kind of learning about.

Uh, we try to use closed captioning so that people can, read the story and look at the pictures on their phone. Um, and also think about graphics and making it visually interesting for someone who say, is looking at their phone on the subway or, um, you know, maybe paying attention to several different things at the same time. You have to catch people's eye, uh, very quickly.

Hanna (08:11)
Fascinating stuff. So you've traveled to more than 60 countries and even during the pandemic you recently traveled to the Maldives, Mexico, Las Vegas, and more. So what do you like most about travel? 

Wendy (08:28) 
Oh, I like everything about travel. I love learning about how people live differently than I do and seeing different cultures and different ways of being. And I think that only when you see other cultures and other ways, you really understand the world and diversify yourself and really understand your place in the world.

I think if you don't travel, you are robbing yourself of one of life's great pleasures and opportunities. And one of my great purposes is really to spread the message of travel and how important it is and that you can travel. But I think the pandemic has shown us that if you don't do things now, you don't know what’s going to happen and I think we need to seize the time we have now, because we do not know what is going to happen next. And the world is rich and travel is one of the only things that, um, it's so much more valuable than anything you can buy because it changes you.

Michael (09:44)
Yeah it’s a transformative experience. 

Hanna (09:46)
So how has the pandemic changed your travel habits?

Wendy (09:51)
Oh, well, it's changed everything. I have to be a lot, of course, a lot more careful. And it was a battle to decide whether we should travel and I think it's very much a personal decision. We were very hesitant to start. This was in June and we took baby steps first, as everyone else did at the beginning of the pandemic, should we go out eat? Should we have a drink outside? You know, everyone when crawled out of your apartment for the first time. Oh my goodness gracious. 

Michael (10:24) 
The world is still out there. 

Hanna (10:25) 
Yes. 

Wendy (10:25) 
Yeah, it seemed so scary. Um, but once we started to do it, we started to see that we felt if we took precautions and wore masks and avoided places like bars and crowded situations that we felt that we were okay. Not everyone is comfortable with traveling right now. So it's for some, it's just ideas for the future. 

Michael (10:53) 
We can all dream, certainly, but let's circle back for a moment to Travel Tuesday. What, what was the inspiration for that series? How did it, how did it come about and how do you get your stories? 

Wendy (11:04)
I started travel journalism doing some writing for magazines, I would say about five years ago and that just came about because I love to travel and I'm a journalist and I said, well, I'm a journalist and I'm a traveler. So why don't I do both? It’s kind of silly that I'm not doing that. So then I was going to Vietnam and I started to think more about doing broadcast stories.

And so I came up with a pitch for my news director at the time, and it was the 50 year anniversary of the Ground War in Vietnam. And I said, “Hey, I'm going to be in Vietnam. What do you think about me trying to do something in Vietnam?” And my small story became more and more ambitious, and then it became a three-part series. The camera wasn't great.

The tripod was a piece of crap and like, kept breaking and Vietnam, it was rainy season. And so we got rained on, I was with a friend and it was pretty hellacious the conditions, but, um, came back, put together a good series. It got picked up by about a hundred stations, and ran, one or all of the three parts. It was a success. 

Michael (12:23) 
That’s great.

Wendy (12:25) 
And I said, I think I want to do more. And then that was really the impetus that I said, I want to buy a camera. I want to do more of this because it was like my creative. It was my baby. It was my, I did everything from, and it was really hard, but it was just the feeling of doing it all from start to finish and crafting it. And it being just mine was incredible.

So that's how it all started. And that was about four years ago. And then I bought my own camera and got a lot better with shooting and yeah. So then about two years ago, I pitched the series and it took a long time to work its way through the food chain of the network. But finally it was approved and it was supposed to launch as a weekly series, uh, the week after super Tuesday.

And then, you know what happened, the Coronavirus. So then obviously it went on pause and it’s now launched as a five-part series initially, just as a how to stay safe during travel during the pandemic. And then we're going to launch, uh, parts here and there, um, in batches, following along through this whole journey as travel emerges again. And as we all get the vaccine and, and as traveled changes and everything that's going to happen over. So it's going to be really interesting progression. 

Hanna (14:00)
Yeah. I mean, we really enjoyed watching it and especially the one that you did on how hotels are offering coronavirus tests to their guests. And I think it's such a great way to attract international travelers who are a little scared, but the fact that you can go to the hotel and get the test and have a good time while you are staying. So do you see any other health and safety innovations happening in the travel industry that you see?

Wendy (14:28) 
Lots. In every aspect of the industry, the airlines are coming up with innovations all the time. Delta is introducing contact tracing, and routes where they're doing the testing before you get on the plane. So you're ensured that everyone on the plane is tested and there is already a lot of innovation and there's going to be a lot more. So it has been really interesting to be on the front end of that and learning about what hotels are doing, restaurants are doing, the airline industry is doing and they're coming up with stuff all the time. And there will be so much more innovation as we go forward. 

Michael (15:18) 
Well, staying more down to earth for a second, in one of your other Travel Tuesday stories, Airbnb said that 60% of Americans are interested in booking stays that are within driving distance of where they live so road trips are definitely having a moment. What other travel trends are you seeing in the next couple months? 

Wendy (15:38) 
Yeah, well, a lot of heading back to nature, RV trips, a lot of just getting away from people. There's been a re-emergence of renting your own cabin, renting your own home, families and extended family. That had already started to become a big thing, big extended family trips, but that's become even more so, and then, it used to be that the family would do something extravagant altogether and it would be much more public, but now it's renting a house in a location so that people are socially distanced from others. Private jet travel is becoming much more popular, fuel is a lower price right now.

And, uh, private jet travel has become much more affordable. So a couple of families will join together. And this was something, of course, in the past that only the rich could afford. But now even upper-middle-class are going with private jet travel because it's safer. Um, and it's become more affordable. It really is just staying close to home and doing the kinds of travel that we used to do in the sixties and the seventies. And, you know, going to stay in the mountains and going to have campfires and like kind of more old fashioned. 

Michael (17:11) 
Like national parks and…

Wendy (17:13) 
National parks are really big right now on camping. It’s glamping, going into the woods, lakes, mountains, anywhere that's away from other people. The problem is that everyone's doing the same thing. 

Hanna (17:29)
So everybody's all in the woods. 

Wendy (17:33)
It’s become a real issue. And I was reading this one story about how that hiking injuries are becoming much more of a problem and rescues because these people who don't really do hiking are inexperienced and they're doing things that they probably shouldn't be. And then there's also the issue that you have all the people going to the same place so you want to go to these places that are socially distanced and not many people, but then everyone's going to the same place.

Michael (18:05) 
You just have to figure out the unpopular ones. 

Hanna (18:09) 
Yes exactly. 

Michael (18:12)
So, you know, given the uncertainty of the world, if you could look into your tea leaves and read the future, what do you see on the horizon for hospitality and travel?

Wendy (18:19) 
Well, unfortunately I think there's gonna be a lot of businesses that don't make it. Um, I think there's going to be, unfortunately, a lot of restaurants that won't survive. I think we've already seen that a lot of hotels that won't be able to make it, that won't be able to wait it out. I think that it's going to be a while. I think, you know, it's incredible that we're getting the vaccines, but it's going to be a long time before they're distributed.

As we've seen with Pfizer, the initial outlook of when we would, how many of the vaccines that would be rolled out. Um, it was kind of overly optimistic and it's going to take a really long time to get everyone vaccinated. And then there's also some reluctance. So I think, a lot of businesses that were maybe saying, okay, maybe I can hang on another three months, another six months and then it'll be okay, that people will be returning and I can hang on that long. But I think it's going to be even longer.

So I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I think that's the realistic view that we're, it seems obvious, right? As we're looking at the rollout of the vaccines, and I think there's going to be more vaccines that are going to come. AstraZeneca will come and there will be others, but it's just, it's obvious. It's just going to take a while. So I think we're looking at 2022 before really we're looking at a full return to normalcy, but then there's this whole other chunk of people who are doing well because they are not traveling and they're saving a lot of money. 

Michael (20:06) 
There's going to be plenty of pent up demand. 

Wendy (20:08)
Exactly. And these people really, really, really want to travel. 

Hanna (20:10)
Exactly. So, um, to you, Wendy, what makes a good CBS news story or segment idea? Walk us through the process of bringing the idea or segment to life. 

Wendy (20:27) 
Well, for radio and TV that's very different scenarios because with radio, you don't have to worry about the pictures. You don't have to worry about video with TV. It's all about the video. If you're thinking about pitching, the number one thing is you need to build relationships with people. Cold pitching is very difficult. So if I get emails from people, a lot of times, I will look first, do I know this person? I'll look at the email handle and see, have I dealt with this PR agency before? Who is this person?

Do I have any kind of relationship with them? Cause that matters to me, how I met this person. Do I know this person? Is there any basis of a relationship and not a lot of times I can tell just from the email, like just the way they write the email. A lot of times what bugs me as a broadcaster is when they write the first line, they'll say, uh, “Hey, this story, I want to bring this to your readers.” I don't have readers. I have listeners and viewers, you know, so that's annoying because obviously they don't know anything about my outlet. Then you know that they're just cutting and pasting their pitch and sending it to a million people.

So it's not crafted at all to me, if you don't even know, know the difference or you don't bother to know what I do, um, or the outlets that I work for, or I would be that you would be potentially on, then why am I going to pay attention to your pitch? It's kind of insulting, you know? So there's that, uh, sometimes like, because of what I do, I don't have a show.

I have stories that I do, but I don't have, like a show at CBS that I do. But people sometimes automatically think I work at CBS, so I'm working on like one of the news shows. Like, I have a morning show, so it'll bug me when a PR agency will say, “Hey, what about this guest for your show?” Well, what, what show is that? What show is like a chef? Would you like this chef to come on your show? What show? 

Michael (22:48) 
Good question. 

Wendy (22:49) 
So, all right, so that's the number one thing is don't have some basic knowledge about the person that you're pitching to, if you're going to cold pitch, but moreover, get relationships with some people in the media. And how do you get those relationships? Well, you can start on social media, start following people that you like. Start commenting on their work. Everyone in their community can start to build relationships with people in their community. Start with local news first.

For broadcasts, when you are not experienced on broadcast, you're not going to be that great on air to start because it's a learned skill. To either be on the radio or most importantly to be on camera, that's hard. Your first start opportunity should be, and you want it to be, a local news interview. You want it to be because you want a smaller market than going in a national forum and not doing very well anyway. So if you're in say, uh, let's pick some city, Des Moines. Okay.

So you're in Des Moines and you have a great restaurant and you get a lot of print coverage, but you'd love to get some TV coverage. How do you do that? So first, why don't you get to know people in your market? So having an event invite some local TV reporters, local TV anchor to your event, get to know them on social media, become friends with them, and then I guarantee you, you'll start to perhaps get a story or at least you can pitch them. At least you can have a discussion. “Hey, I'd love to do a story about this” or “What do you think about this?” At least you can have discussions about it. Get some feedback.

Michael (24:53) 
You need the lines of communication. 

Wendy (24:54) 
Exactly. And when you're friends with people, then it's easy and then that will lead automatically to your first opportunities automatically

Hanna (25:04) 
I mean, thanks so much for sharing your tips on building relationships, because obviously our listeners, the reason that we decided to do this podcast is not to support PR agencies, but to help those individual bartenders and chefs and hoteliers and, you know, travel advisors, anybody who is in our industry, you know, who have a great story, but they don't know how to tell the story and they don't know how to get to you.

So they don't have a relationship with you yet. So your tips on, you know, building the relationship through the social media and through those types of invaluable tips are great because again, these folks they're not used to pitching. So, um, thanks for sharing those tips. 

Wendy (25:52) 
Sure. 

Michael (25:53) 
Why don't we look at story ideas for a moment? Is there like a pitch meeting in broadcast journalism or an editorial meeting? Is the process similar or different to pitching stories and print media?

Wendy (26:06) 
Oh, we have, I would say in every newsroom in the United States, there's a morning meeting, an editorial meeting. Uh, usually it's at nine o'clock in the morning. So if you're pitching, probably you want to send an email if it's a timely pitch, which really for a broadcast, you want it to be a timely pitch. It has to relate somehow to something that's going on in the world right then at that time. That's what broadcast is looking for. It has to, and I mean, right that day, and then you want to pitch it before the morning meeting.

So that means before nine o'clock typically, and we're not talking about a daily hour, weekly cooking segment or something like, visit your restaurant segment, which many stations do across the country. That's like an evergreen thing, but if you really don't know anyone at all, um, and you're trying to get your first foray into broadcast news, something that relates to something big usually something bad, unfortunately. Cause that's why news is happening in the world. That is sometimes how you can get your first break.

And that could mean, say, has, let's say something pandemic related, something to do with the indoor dining, uh, changes in, in restrictions. Um, we're always looking in broadcast news, how a big story, a national story, a state level story, how it's going to relate to the community. So if you can somehow say, okay, how is this news going to impact the community, how is it going to impact business owners in, in my industry? Um, here then that's the kind of thing we're always looking for. 

Michael (28:09) 
Great. And now for the listener questions segment of our podcast, we have a question from António De Oliveira of Nimb Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. And he'd like to know what steps hotels should take to safely welcome international travelers once travel restrictions are lifted?

Wendy (28:30)
I think taking information, their contact information in case there is an outbreak that they find out about later. Testing is not going to be possible at every hotel, as I did that story, it can be prohibitively expensive, but I think going forward, that is something that we're going to see more of because the test that was approved by the emergency use authorization for the test that we can do at home.

That just came a couple of weeks ago. That's going to be of great use, and I think hotels might make use of that, in the future, but that's not coming for another, I think that wasn't going to be six months or something like that. So that's not coming any time, at least in the next couple of months. But you know, I think hotels are doing a really good job of taking all the precautions. I'm not sure that, uh, there's not really anything that they can do differently. I mean they're sanitizing, they're cleaning. As long as they do contact tracing, if there is an outbreak, I mean, what more can they do really? 

Hanna (29:54) 
Right.

Michael (29:54) 
Exactly. 

Hanna (29:55) 
So, um, we call our podcast Hospitality Forward because we believe in the future of our industry. Yes, we have suffering and it’s a very tough time, but we know our  industry will come back. So in your opinion, Wendy, what innovation do you think that's happening right now should continue to move our travel and hospitality forward?

Wendy (30:23) 
I think the hospitality industry is going to come back blazing. I don't know. It’s going to be such an interesting journey to see how it all changes. And I know the media industry will be so forever changed and we will not have the same footprint, certainly in our buildings going forward. CBS has already said we will have a hybrid model going forward in terms of working from home and going into the building.

And I think that's going to be very common andI don't know how that will affect restaurants specifically because that's going to change. In New York City, for instance, I've thought a lot about that. Like how is that going to change restaurants in Midtown? If people are not going into Midtown as often, then how are the restaurants in Midtown going to be supported?

Are they going to be as supported if people aren't going into say, the heart of New York City as as much? Um, but I think the innovative thing is, you know, like being able to get great gourmet meals at home, I think was one innovation that I've quite enjoyed. And I think maybe that will be something that continues. Being able to get alcohol to go and great cocktails to go, gourmet meals at home and cocktails and that sort of thing. Um, I think that'll probably stick around. 

Hanna (32:04) 
We agree, we've done that. A lot of them. 

Michael (32:07) 
We've taken full advantage of the loosening of the regulations. So one parting question, where can our listeners find you? 

Wendy (32:44) 
Email is good. But remember, keeping mind that I do get a lot of pitches and it is always good to build a relationship first. And I think the most important thing is remember that on a national scale, your story has to really resonate with a national audience and really has to be important to a national audience.

You have to really think, okay, is this story really important on a national level or is it a story and be honest with yourself. Is this story better on a local level or regional level? Is it really a national story and ask yourself that and be honest, be honest with yourself because everyone, everyone thinks my story is so important, but you have to be honest, you have to be honest. Is it really a national story? 

Hanna (33:39) 
But then also, I know you get a lot of emails, so if somebody put Hospitality Forward Podcast, and then have a subject line, would you please open that email for our listeners? 

Wendy (33:52) 
I will. I will at least open it and I will definitely try to respond and I will at least try to give some feedback on the pitch. 

Hanna (34:00)
That would be so good again, you know, these industry folks are not PR professionals. So, you know, they're going to do their best to tell the story, but if you can share a tip or two even personal level that'll mean so much to them. So thank you.

Wendy (34:15) 
Yeah. I mean, it's hard to do if you're not working with a PR agency, it's hard sometimes to craft a good pitch. It really is because you're competing with people who do this for a living and it is, it is difficult, but if you, if you can tell a good story, you do have a good story, a compelling story. Then perhaps there is something there, but definitely you want to think about why it matters to other people. Everyone's story is important to them.

Of course, if your life is everything to you, but you have to think about why does this matter to other people and not just other people in your industry. Remember that a lot of times when you're pitching to the media, you're pitching to a general audience. It's not just hospitality. It's not just the bar community. It's not just the restaurant community. It is everyone.

So you have to think when you're pitching to an editor there or a broadcaster or a producer or whoever, um, you're going to be, look, they're going to be looking at it with a general perspective. Unless it's a very segmented audience, like an industry magazine or something like that, then that's something different. But generally, it's going to be more of a general audience. So I'm going to be looking at it. Does this matter to a general audience, which means it has to be more of a general topic.

Michael (35:41) 
Great advice. 

Hanna (35:42) 
Yes. So, Wendy this has been so great and thank you so much for your time and sharing your insights and tips with our listeners and, um, hopefully we'll see you very soon. And share a meal or two together in person. 

Wendy (35:57) 
Yes, I hope so too. Thank you. 

Hanna (36:00) 
Bye-bye