How I Got My Start in Television

My first episode of the Hit List - September 2001

September always feels like a fresh start, doesn’t it?  It’s a feeling baked-in since the first day of school.  But for me it carried on to my career because it’s also when we mark the start of a new season in television.  

Far and away, the question I’m most often asked is “how did you get your start?”  

And since this week marks my 20th anniversary in TV it seems like a pretty good day to share that story with you now.

Thanks to the mighty Oprah, we all now know what manifesting means.  You visualize your goals, dreams, hopes and plans.  You make a vision board and really focus on what you want the universe to bring into your life.  Looking back, I think I unknowingly manifested my life when I was 7 and it all started with Barbie.

My parents got me this Barbie 6 O’clock News set for Christmas in 1987 (we just dug it out of the attic).  I didn’t ask for it, or have a particular interest in the news at the time.  And years later when I asked them why they chose this Barbie set, they simply said “we thought you’d like it.”  This newsroom lived perfectly displayed in the clear space at the bottom of my closet; right next to the Barbie Beach House (cottage manifestation!) and beside that, Barbie’s Ferrari (still working on that).  

Long after my friends discovered boys and started wearing bras, I was playing with that newsroom.

By the time high school rolled around though I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. And that really was the big question, the only question back then, wasn’t it? 

I grew up in Guelph, ON and at the time, a satellite, state-of-the-art school was built for programs traditionally not offered at any high school I’d known.  I blindly signed up for the “communications” class because I figured there wouldn’t be much home work.  

As it turned out, the “classroom” was a TV studio with a control room, edit decks, cameras we could take home to shoot on, microphones to record voice overs with and so on.

I loved this class so much that I took the grade 11 one twice. A second lap just for fun.  Mock broadcasts, stories in the community, learning to edit tape-to-tape it…I was starting to think maybe I found my thing.  

The teacher of the program suggested I apply to a few colleges offering broadcasting programs.  He said I had a voice for broadcasting and that it could be great for radio or TV.  

Wait, me? The kid who when she answered the house phone was often mistaken for my older brother. This deep and grown-up voice that I was so self conscious of since I was little could help me with a career?!

Excited at the thought that just maybe I had found my thing, I applied to the colleges. The wind came out of my sails a little when I was put on a wait list for the program and school I now desperately wanted to get into.  But then when all hope seemed lost, I got the call that a spot had opened up. Just two weeks before the start of the semester I was moving to Toronto.

I completed my diploma in Broadcast Journalism at Seneca College @ York University in the spring of 2001.  I had no idea what was next or how I’d ever get a job.  I wasn’t even sure exactly what I wanted to do in television; I loved all aspects, from the control room to being in the field to writing and presenting. The only areas I was certain I didn’t want to work in were sports and weather.  I sucked epically at both of those. I was also pretty sure that hard news wasn’t for me. I was 21 and looked 14 and was fairly certain no one would hire me to present their local news. I’m also a sensitive person and the idea of covering tough stories just wasn’t something I thought I could handle at that age.  

And so without any immediate plans or prospects I started packing up my apartment in the city with a plan to move back home with my parents until I figured out a job.

Now, this next part is going to seem made-up, like something from a cheesy movie, but I assure you, this, is exactly how it happened…

Just as I was about to take my landline off the wall and put it in a box, it rang.  It was a friend from school who had been interning at YTV.  He told me they were doing a casting call across the country to find a host for The Hit List and that I should try out.  If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re either a) old enough to have watched the OG version of The Hit List with Tarzan Dan like I did. Or b) possibly watched me host it.  Either way, you probably know the show and agree that IT. WAS. THE. BEST.  

Anyone from across the country could send in an audition tape, but if you were in the area, they had set up auditions to be done in person.  I had never auditioned for anything in my life so I had no idea what to expect.  My Mom drove me and waited in the car at the casting agency. I wore my best white tank top, denim skirt and shimmering white eye shadow to really complete the look.  It was one of those scenarios where you walk into a room and feel like everyone knows what to do, except you.  

And that was just the waiting room. 

Inside the actual audition, I was a mess.  I mean a total and utter disaster.  There was no script or anything, I remember being told to improvise.  Make up a game.  Throw to a video.  I fumbled hard through all of that, then accidentally knocked over a tower of CD’s that had been stacked to dress the space. 

I took that as my cue to leave and ran out to the car where my Mom was waiting and had a good, long cry.  I told her I’d never make it in this business. I was defeated and embarrassed and mad at myself for making such a mess of what could have been a great opportunity.

But incredibly, a few weeks later, I got a call back.  

The producers wanted to see “the girl who had knocked over the CD tower”.

(See, cheesy movie right!?!).

I later learned that the casting agency had sent over their top picks for the job, but the producers didn’t see anyone they liked from that group so they asked for the rest of the auditions as well.

I was initially in the “hell no” pile but I was getting another shot!

This time the producers sent over a script and honestly I still have most of it memorized even now.  I studied that thing night and day.  I swore to myself that I was going to nail this audition and that I was going to blow them away.  If not for the chance to land the gig, but to tell myself I was cut out for this.  

I was asked to come back in the same outfit I wore the first time around, but this time the audition would be at the YTV studios.  Once again, my Mom drove me (this time I hung my white tank and denim skirt in the backseat and changed into it in the parking lot so it didn’t get wrinkled like the last time. This move already made me feel like I was getting a handle on this business.)

As long as I live I will never forget walking down those halls at the old YTV studios.  The only way I can describe it would be “magical”. But not in that cliché way, where you say “it was magical” I mean like this was actually the place where magic was made. Like this was where magic came from.

I walked into that studio, and I gave that audition everything I had.  Looking back on it now, I probably should have asked for another take, but at the time I felt like I had nailed it.  And, I guess I did.  A few weeks later they offered me the job. And that truly was the TSN (the only sports reference I’ll ever be able to make) turning point of my life.  

My lucky break.

I decided the only way I could ever honour and respect that lightening-in-a-bottle opportunity, was to work harder than I ever had.

So that’s what I did for my four years there.  I made major fumbles along the way, both in interviews and wardrobe choices.  But I never stopped working hard, studying, researching, and finding new ways to connect with people. I studied the best there was and learned everything I could from them. I watched myself back on tape (especially the awkward bits) looking for ways to refine. And eventually I started to find my rhythm and my lane. 

That job led to another and then another and all of those jobs led me to where I am today.  20 years of experiences beyond my wildest possible dreams.  Memories and moments and a whole lot of “holy shit I can’t believe I got to do that”.

And possibly the wildest thing of it all, beyond the most extraordinary opportunities I’ve had; is that this career and this path led me to my incredible husband and our girls.  

What a wild ride, indeed.

Thanks for taking this trip down nostalgia lane with me.  Here’s to 20 more, I hope.

Big Love,

dg