The official launch of Global News Weekend was the last weekend of April and we received a nice marketing push from Corus in advance of the first 'official' show.
The first segment Aalia and I put together for the new show was a virtual brunch segment, which gave us an opportunity to showcase chemistry that we quickly had to come up with, never having worked together before.
I'm really happy with how our small, but talented team has put together a fairly well-oiled machine so quickly. We all work well together and have fun, which is an absolute requirement when your weekend work day starts at 5 a.m.
But hosting the morning doesn't mean I'm finished with producing fitness content, though. Ross Hull and I put together a 'Fitness at Home' piece that showcases four exercises that can give you the most bang for your fitness buck.
A reminder that you can watch Global News Weekend every Saturday and Sunday morning from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET on the Global TV app, on Amazon Prime Video, and at this link (make sure to click National News).
Disclaimer: I initially wrote this post at the beginning of March before COVID-19 changed the world. The changes that I mention below were supposed to take place in the middle of last month, but had to be pushed to the middle of this month as society adjusts to this new normal. I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe, happy and healthy during these trying times. I am going to ignore typical journalistic convention and bury the lede to this post. I will get to the title of this entry in a minute, but, as promised last month, here are the last two episodes of my Fitness Served Cold series.
Ice Climbing
Snow Kiting
So, what's next for me? Well, it's funny you should ask. In my February update, I forgot to acknowledge my weather and media career anniversary. It was February 1 2013 when I started my broadcast career at The Weather Network.
Therefore, February 1 2020 marked seven years in my weather career.
While at TWN, I did nothing but weather for 2.5 years and then I moved to Global where my focus was still primarily weather. However, as I've documented on this blog, over the past 4.5 years, I slowly added the following skills to my toolkit: sports anchor, reporter, anchor, morning show co-host and producer.
In fact, I produced 25 original pieces of content in 2019 on top of my full-time role as a weather specialist.
And now I embark on a new journey, although still within the Global News/Corus Entertainment family.
I am no longer a weather specialist. Now I am a digital broadcast journalist and morning show co-host.
I am moving to a four-day work week. During the week, my sole focus will be creating and producing content for Global's affiliates across the country, globalnews.ca and Global's new 24-hour streaming service.
On weekends, I am hosting Global's brand-new national morning show from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The show can be found on the GlobalTV app, at this website link (click the option for National News) and on Amazon Prime Video. And the show will be available on traditional TV in the fall.
I will still do a couple of weather hits each morning for the morning show, but my primary focus will be creating content, hosting and conducting interviews.
I'm really excited to begin this chapter as my new role is pretty much exactly what I've been looking for media-wise over the past seven years.
A lot of hard work (and an ungodly amount of overtime in 2019) has paid off. I am looking forward to doing something different and tackling a new challenge. And helping launch a 3-hour morning show from scratch will definitely be a challenge.
Plus the new gig will be much better for my work-life balance (something that has become more important as I get older).
I have hit the ground running--and biking and skiing and climbing and kiting--into the new year producing, writing and hosting another fitness series for Global News.
This one is called Fitness Served Cold and the goal of the series is to give people different options to stay fit, happy and healthy during the coldest months of the year.
I filmed all four episodes in January. Two of the episodes have already aired and the final two episodes will air later this month.
The second episode was about cross-country skiing. I had done it once before, but I wouldn't blame you if you thought that wasn't possible after watching me above.
The final two episodes are on ice climbing and snow kiting, respectively. I will post those videos in next month's update and I will also have some details on my next project.
