Life After TV News - Sonni Abatta
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TV news is a strange beast....
When you are first starting out, you wonder if you will ever land a full time job in TV news? Then, once you have been doing it for years, you wonder if there is a life outside of TV news (you know....besides PR)?
Sonni Abatta was the main Anchor at the Fox O&O in Orlando and was very popular in the market. But, even an Anchor that seemed to have it all, thought about life on the other side.
Abatta had two small children and another on the way. She was the one of the few that left TV news and wanted to spend more time with her family and it wasn't a lie.
Sonni was looking for that gig outside of news and figured why not do something that she was gaining a ton of experience at? She decided to launch a blog for new Mom's and just plain Moms in general.
She had two small kids and is this/close to popping out a third one. Why not share the experience with other Moms and blog about life as a pregnant ex-TV Anchor?
Her blog SonniAbatta.com has become a must read for Moms and Moms to be. Sonni uses information and humor to keep the blog entertaining and she talks about everything (and we mean everything) about being a pregnant Mom.
Abatta has also used to blog to highlight things to see and places to go in Orlando, that are outside of Disney, Universal and Sea World.
FTVLive caught up to Sonni and asked her about life after TV news?
She says that being an Anchor or a stay at home Mom is not that much different. So we asked her to explain?
This is what she had to say about turning from TV Anchor to stay at home Mom/Blogger:
Everything I Know About Being a Mom I Learned in a Newsroom - By Sonni Abbata
Lesson #1: Someone is always screaming.
In a newsroom, it’s the fearless assignment desk manager who has found the new lead for your 5pm newscast, trying desperately to inform the newsroom that they got something good, yet amazingly—or rather, frustratingly—no one is listening.
At home? It’s you. Screaming at your kids to sit down/stay still/put away the Legos/not smear the wall with paint/make their beds/not walk in on you as you pee. Grab the Ricolas. You’re gonna be testing the limits of your vocal chords.
Lesson #2: There are voices living inside your head. Don’t even try to ignore them.
As an anchor, it’s your producer’s voice. In your IFB. Screaming, “GO WITH PROMPTER!!!!!” or, “NEXT STORY IS DEAD! SKIP TO 42! 42!!! 42 G-D IT!!!” Soothing Sounds of the Rainforest they are not.
At home? It’s your kid’s daily refrain of, “Mom! Can you come wipe my butt now?”
Technically, you can ignore the voices in either circumstance, but let’s be honest: You’d be a real idiot if you did.
Lesson #3: Rundowns don’t mean s***.
As a mom? Replace “rundowns” with “daily plans.” You want to get the kids to school on time at 9? You better werk, b****.
Every mom knows that a 9:00 call time means you get up at 6:30, jump out of bed and literally into your clothing for the day (I suggest leaving your pants at bedside for maximum get-ready speed), have DVR’d programming ready to rock as soon as they sit down for breakfast so they stay still, and pack those lunches the night before or risk sending them to school with a jar of peanut butter and pretzel sticks. Again.
And yes, despite your adherence to all of the above suggestions, you will still be late, you will have to change at least one kid’s shirt or pants, and will not come even close to consuming your desperately-needed coffee.
In a newsroom? Well, you know what that phrase means. What’s that saying about “the best-laid plans” again? Oh yeah.
The more you prepare for tonight’s show to be The Emmy Winner, the more likely you are veer into Live-Cows-Running-All-Over-the-Highway-live-shot territory in your A-block. Don’t fight it. Embrace the bovine absurdity.
Lesson #4: No one really cares what you think.
In Newsroom Life? My on-air reporter and anchor friends, this means us. You see all those people that are actually in the newsroom all day, hard at work, researching and stringing together those words that we so blithely spit out on set? They don’t care that your decency was offended by their accidental use of passive tense in one script. And they shouldn’t have to. Just make the necessary changes in your scripts and shut up.
In Mom life? Lesson #4 boils down to, your kids don’t care about you.
They love you, yes! They want to be around you, yes! But otherwise? Just show up and do the damn thing for them already.
You got up at 6:30pm and your butt has still, literally, not touched one sitting surface at 4:30pm? Sorry, lady. Get that mac and cheese ready.
You are about to bite into the first morsel of food you will taste all day, but your 2-year-old wants Bear and wants her NOW? Put down the sandwich and find the damn animal. (And no, I don’t mean that Bear; I mean the other one. The one you didn’t even know existed that’s jammed on the top shelf of her closet in the corner? That one.)
Put up, and shut up, lady.
Lesson #5: It’s damn hard work, but it’s the best kind of work there is.
In Newsroom Life? You know why so many people coo, “Oh man, that’s the coolest job!” when you tell them what you do? Because it is. And we are honored to do it (or in my case, to have done it).
There is no end to the need for truth and accountability in our world, and thank God there are people willing to put up with the horrible pay and Circadian-rhythm-wrecking shifts to do it.
In this day and age more than ever, we need journalists. Good ones. Ones who care. Ones who—as silly as some think it sounds—are willing to do the hard work that lots of people don’t have the guts for. Truly, thank a journalist today.
And in Mom life? Well, I don’t need to tell the other parents out there that spitup and exhaustion and a near-relinquishing of one’s own hobbies and prior identity is often the price you pay to have a tiny little person call you “Mom” or “Dad,” but it is. The sacrifices are big, but they’re worth it. Truly, thank your Mom today.
Okay, I’m off to school pickup. See you at 5pm! If anything newsworthy happens in my neighborhood, I’ll call in with the phoner. …If I can get my kids to keep it down in the background.
Check out her other takes and much more on her blog SonniAbatta.com
