Well, you probably hit the wrong button and now here we are. Maybe you'd like to know a little about me, but if not, you still have time to hit the refresh button and move on. 3-2-1..
Alrighty then. My TV career started wayyy uppppp North in Bangor, Maine. I was the person who put the sports scores on TV at 3 in the morning, then went off to my "real" job. I changed stations up there and went to the NBC where somehow I wrangled a photographer's job. This is when I became a REAL storyteller. I was lucky enough that some pretty turtles and herpetologists let me tell their story and I won a Maine Association of Broadcasters Award.
I then moved down the coast to Portland, Maine, where I was still a sister of the lens. Here we were a little luckier. We got to shoot Patriots games and head down to Fenway Park. Of course, there was a lot of news there, too. I was then a Bureau Chief in Southern, Maine. It was here that I received my first nod for the Emmys, I didn't win, but hey, it's just an honor to be nominated. (I think you have to say that)
Still adverse to the cold, it was time to continue down the coast to the land of Dunkin Donuts and CVS: Rhode Island. This was my first Channel 10, I still have the coat to prove it. It was here that I meandered around the country with sports teams and special projects. I also got a few more Emmy nominations.. but alas, I was turning into Susan Lucci.
Then it was off to the big market of Boston. Vacationing with Presidents, Patriots in the Superbowl, Red Sox World Series and tornado chasing sound like fun, huh? Then there are the other stories that were a little upsetting, like JKF Jr.'s plane crash, the Worcester Fire, September 11th, and the Catholic Diocese Sex Scandal. My Susan Lucci run ended when I received a little gold statue for a story about a mob wife. I also received an Associated Press award for September 11 coverage. One special project did bring me down to my future home. We came down to do a story with Dr. Bass and the UT Body farm. Foreshadowing at its finest.
Fast forward a few years and I landed right here in Vol Country. Channel 10 needed a writer/photographer for the Style show. Check, please! I got this. Then I started to voice the stories I was telling. Then POW I was on the TV! Craziness.
Then someone walked out of a meeting and said. "Erin we have a project for you." If you have ever been in a newsroom, that is one of the scariest phrases known to man. He then says, "we want the community to dare you to do things.. we'll call it Darin' Erin." I'm pretty sure I should have run right then and there. I have to say it has actually worked out and I have only landed in the hospital once...so far. So jumping off things, eating food bigger than my head, being attacked by a police K-9 on purpose, being attacked by a kangaroo (not on purpose), hanging out in burning buildings, touching gross critters.. it's all in a days work. I'm probably one of the luckiest TV people out there, well besides Schwall.
So I'm staying for a while or until I have to buy Aflac. Besides pretending to be a modest daredevil, I really enjoy telling the stories of the people in East Tennessee and I am also lucky enough to be working with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of East Tennessee on our Live a Little segments.
When I'm not eating bon bons at the station you can find me meandering around with my dog Grady, performing stand-up, chilling with my little sister Jurnee, and sometimes trying to take a nap in a shaded spot in Market Square.