Ann Curry on the 4th hour, fame and the pain of Darfur
Posted: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:04 AM by Dateline Editor
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Behind The Scenes
(From Eric Jackson, TODAY Associate Producer)
First, before I get into my anchor Q&A with Ann Curry, I would like to thank her for taking the time to sit down with me not once, but twice, due to technical difficulties. You see, in preparation for this interview, I went out and bought this new tape recorder. I even did the cheesy "test, test, test, test" audio check before going to talk to Ann. Seriously--ask my cubicle neighbors. Well, little did I know that this tape recorder has this feature where, if the audio in the room is too low, it stops recording. And wouldn't you know it--the audio, at times, was too low. So I finish the interview, come back to write it up, and as I'm listening to it, panic sets in. I had practically nothing. I felt like I had just been Punk'd. I e-mail Ann and her assistant, Claire, right away, mortified beyond belief. Ann e-mails me right back and says that it's no problem, we'll do it again tomorrow, later explaining that early in her career, she had a similar problem. So, thank you again to Ann. What follows is our conversation....take two.
Q: First off, this is the third week of TODAY’s fourth hour. How's it going so far?
Ann: It seems to be going OK. It's feeling more and more comfortable every day. I hope so at least. I hope that process will continue, that it will continue to get better and better. I hope it's useful more than anything else.
Q: What sort of topics do you want to bring to that hour?
Ann: I want to show our viewers the world. That's my wish -- to let our viewers know what's going on in the world. We're talking a lot about how to improve their lives, friendships. These are important topics. We'll see how this progresses, but we're really trying to understand what women at this hour need. We're going to do our best to fulfill their needs.
Q: The fourth hour is just another thing on your already-full plate. Aside from TODAY, you do Dateline and sometimes fill in on Nightly News, to name just a few of your other responsibilities. How do you handle it? Is it overwhelming sometimes?
Ann: Sure it is. I was joking that sometimes I feel I need an intervention (laughs). You know, I'm not complaining, though. This is a great opportunity to be useful, and that's my wish. I want very much to not look back and think that I had not done enough. So for right now, I keep my priorities straight. I don't go out at night, except on Friday nights. I'm a school night girl, home for homework and dinner. And we have a rule at our table. No matter how late it is, we sit down together and eat. Sometimes dinner is cold. Sometimes it's not exactly as I would've wished in terms of the food. But that's not what matters. It's the conversation.
Continue reading the interview at AllDay blog
