TELILE 24/7 PODCAST #9: The View From New Brunswick

ST. ANDREWS - No stranger to broadcasting or interviews by the time she landed at CHCO-TV in southwestern New Brunswick, Vicki Hogarth still found herself taking on the challenge of a lifetime when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the province just as she was starting her first year in the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) launched in early 2020 by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).

Hogarth had already been working part-time at CHCO-TV, after leaving an 18-year career as a magazine writer that also saw her making stops at the E! Network and the W Network during a work period largely based in Toronto. Her ascension to full-time status at CHCO-TV has led her to launch the weekly round-up Newsbreak 26, as well as hosting duties on the weekly series Southwest Magazine and a producers' role on the panel discussion show New Brunswickers Want Action, one of several efforts the station has made to bring more diversity into its on-air roster. 

However, the arrival of COVID-19 and its accompanying social-distancing regulations, including a post-Christmas spike in cases that put much of New Brunswick under strict closure measures, has led Hogarth to expand on her multi-tasking abilities. Participating in regular COVID-19 updates from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and the province's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jennifer Russell, has enabled Hogarth to get the latest developments on the disease to her audience but still requires a deft touch to balance with her other duties. 

At the same time, Hogarth and CHCO-TV station manager Patrick Watt have worked as a team to cover such community events as church services, Christmas concerts, and the rare public gatherings still permitted under current COVID-19 restrictions. 

Through it all, Hogarth hasn't missed her previous life of attending red-carpet ceremonies for major awards shows, attending such international events as Milan Fashion Week, and interviewing celebrities ranging from Justin Timberlake and Keira Knightley to a pre-politics Donald Trump.

"I had somebody ask me, 'Why don't you return to Toronto?' And my response was, 'there's a hundred of me in Toronto but only one of me here,'" Hogarth told TELILE 24/7 Podcast host and fellow LJI participant Adam Cooke. She added that she is happier to make celebrities out of local heroes in the St. Andrews area, as opposed to chasing celebrities at Hollywood events.