For those unfamiliar with The Morning News, I do a segment every morning around 6:42 called “This Day In History.” I take a moment to highlight important events in history and touch on a few famous birthdays- it’s a fairly simple concept. Several years ago, I worked for a morning show on a station similar to KAFE. We didn’t do a “This Day In History” segment, but sometimes – if it was a slow day – the hosts would have a chat about whatever “National _____ Day” it happened to be.

“Dianna, what the hell are you talking about?”

You know exactly what I’m talking about. National Pizza Day. National Margarita Day. National Pet-Your-Neighbor’s-Dog Day. National Beans-And-Rice Day. National Plant-Owners’ Day. National Grant-Writers’ Day. National Go-Off-The-Grid Day. National Beat-The-Traffic-Light-Just-Before-It-Turns-Red Day. National Some-Marketer-Made-This-Up-To-Encourage-Buying-This-Product Day. I could go on making these up forever. Some of them could even be real.

Here’s one that’s (apparently) real, that I learned about today: National Hug A Newsperson Day (April 4th).

My thoughts? Please don’t.

Thanks for reading!

…

Just kidding. What kind of blog post would that be? I remain firm on “don’t hug me,” though.

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Sometime around 4 am on March 31st, 2020, the morning news anchor I worked with at the time burst through the doors of our newsroom. He announced that his wife “may or may not be in labor” with their second child. The morning show host and I both implored him to take her to the hospital, but he insisted on sticking around until “she was really sure she needed to go.”

Our morning show began at 5. By 5:15, he was handing me the news anchor reins and rushing to put his coat on.

Let’s take a quick look back at the news from March 31st, 2020: Organizers of the 2020 Toyko Olympics had just announced that the Games would be postponed to 2021 due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated that “anywhere between 100,000-200,000 people” could die from COVID-19. Prince Harry and Megan Markle officially stepped down from their royal duties.

Suffice to say, things were a bit chaotic in newsrooms around the world. We still didn’t have any idea of the destruction that COVID-19 would bring. Mask mandates weren’t in effect yet, and if you were brave enough to venture out to your local grocery store to try and find one- good luck with that. Everyone else in our building got sent home, except for the news team. We somehow managed to put together a 4-hour-long morning news show from three separate rooms. And when the morning news anchor came back from paternity leave, he decided to leave the news reins with me for a while.

Eventually, we were vacated from our studios as well. Not because of COVID- but because our studio was undergoing planned renovations. Exceptionally convenient timing, I must say. Our entire news team was relocated to a literal closet space across the hall for a full year. From that closet, I covered the 2020 election, the development of the COVID-19 vaccines and their rollout, the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection (on the day itself, I was recovering from COVID-19), the rise and fall of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, a plethora of local news stories, and so much more.

Being holed up in a closet amplified the psychological effects of the pandemic to a level I didn’t think was possible. Sure, I was sharing the space with no more than 2 people at a time. But if I’m being honest, I don’t think any of us were looking out for one another. We were dealing with our own private issues. Tensions were high… nearly all of the time. I was exhausted, but needed to pry myself awake to keep on the lookout for news stories or guests for the next day’s show. I spent any available moment I had searching for new roles, while simultaneously doubting my ability to do my own job correctly. It was difficult to find any passion in this role that I had once been so excited to pursue.

I knew things had reached a breaking point when a medical professional asked me how many calories I ate in a day. “Odd request,” I thought. I never had time to count those things. I was aware that the average person needs about 2000 or so calories a day in order to maintain their current weight.

Imagine the look on her face when I tallied up everything and came back with a solid 750 calories.

She goes, “No wonder you’re always on the brink of falling asleep. You’re barely keeping yourself alive here.”

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According to the internet, April 5th is National Caramel Day, National Flash Drive Day, and National Read-A-Road-Map Day (yes, these are all real).

On this day in history: the Mayflower sailed back to England (1621), YouTube TV debuted (2017), and Baylor beat Gonzaga for the 2021 NCAA title. In 2022, I reported on the war in Ukraine, the aftermath of the Supreme Court nomination vote, and the results of March Madness. I may have mentioned COVID-19 booster shots or some other COVID news. I’ve definitely gotten some sleep, and can confirm that even on a very restrictive diet, I have consumed a healthy amount of calories for the day.

I can also confirm on this day, April 5th, that my passion for broadcasting is back in full swing. I’d call that a moment for the history books.