Relaxing Hosts for Night Owls

Recently, ABC television news anchor Alison Stewart happened to mention on the air that she was getting ready for a trip to Scotland. By the time the next commercial break rolled around, viewers were e-mailing her with lists of hot spots she couldn’t miss while she was there. Meanwhile, Mary Beth Roe was busy pushing products on the QVC shopping channel and gushed about the red velvet cake she’d just eaten. Within two weeks, she had 200 recipes for the delicacy. And then there’s CBS anchorwoman Melissa McDermott, who has never been fond of wearing jewelry on-camera. Until a viewer who made jewelry decided she needed some and sent her a necklace, which she now proudly wears while reading the news.

Now it’s not necessarily shocking that audiences might develop such a liking for particular broadcast personalities that they shower them with gifts. That’s what stalking laws are for. What makes the devotion to Stewart, Roe and McDermott fascinating is the fact that they inspire such devotion even though they appear on television at a time when most of the world is asleep.

The hours between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. on television have traditionally been the province of bad science-fiction movies about giant ants, infomercials for overly cheery psychics and reruns of shows you didn’t want to watch in prime time either. Even 24-hour networks like CNN and ESPN simply repeat news broadcasts or air prerecorded shows in that time slot.

As the world becomes a busier place, however, television’s graveyard shift has become populated with live hosts willing to stay awake with their viewers.

“The economy has changed and people are working 24 hours a day now. They’re up, they want television and our industry has followed them,” explains Roe, who began her career at QVC working between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m.

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“We joke that our audience was nursing moms, college students and prisoners,” says Sharon Newman, executive producer of ABC’s “World News Now,” which features Stewart as a co-anchor and airs via tape-delay in Los Angeles from 2:45 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. “But people are out there working more and more at that hour. People are getting up early to do the exercise bike before going to work.”

“Some people are home in their PJs, some are getting ready for a tough job,” adds Stewart, who is on the job in New York from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. “A lot of people in the media watch us too. All the local morning deejays and news show hosts seem to watch, because it gives them an idea of what to joke about later. I love doing this because you’re allowed to be more personable at that hour than you might otherwise get to be on the air.”

There is little demographic research to show exactly who is out there watching television in the dead of night. According to Newman, “World News Now” averages just under 1 million viewers. Out of the group, she estimates there are perhaps 200 or so who are so devoted to the program, they’ve created a group e-mail list to correspond with each other and hosts Stewart and Derek McGinty.

“It’s their show,” Newman says. “If we do something they don’t like, we hear about it right away. If one of our hosts mispronounces a sports name, they are correcting us right away.”

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The reason for the devotion is a simple one. “When people are up that late, they can feel alone,” says McDermott, host of CBS’ overnight news show, “Up to the Minute,” an abbreviated version of which airs on tape in Los Angeles from 4 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. “You’re up with them, and they like to know that someone else is out there in the world. We’ve become a nation of insomniacs, and I hear all kinds of reasons why people are watching. They can’t sleep, they have a baby, they’re working.”

Adds Roe: “We’re a friend, and that’s always been a motivation for me when I work overnights. There are people out there who need to see me tonight.”

Working overnight on live television not only provides comfort for viewers, it can do the same for the talent. The ratings pressure that exists during the rest of the day takes a break in the wee hours. All of the bosses are home asleep. And the staff working the graveyard shift is free to experiment with their jobs in a way that wouldn’t be possible during a normal business day.

“I love to get creative, and when there are fewer chiefs around, I get to indulge myself,” admits David Schwartz, an on-camera meteorologist for the Weather Channel who until fairly recently worked the overnight shift. “I have the freedom to tell the story in the way I’d like to without a voice in my ear saying, ’30 seconds left.’ You have to have a different kind of energy when you’re on in the middle of the night.”

His format-breaking stunts have included such things as walking out of a two-shot with his partner to see if he could surprise her and fooling around with the weather maps, like the time two separate storms were highlighted with circles and Schwartz stuck his head between them to create some Mickey Mouse ears.

This may not exactly be knee-slapping shtick, but it’s the kind of loose behavior that might earn a reprimand if it happened during a prime viewing hour. “World News Now” may be the only news show on television that concludes its last show each week with its own polka, performed by an accordionist who wanders the set delivering lyrics about viewers who don’t wear pants.

“Our anchors will do little dances, or things you might not expect,” explains Newman. “There’s no reason to be dead serious in the middle of the night. This job can be a lot of fun despite the hassle of working at that hour.’

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Her show also does something no other network news telecast does--simulcast on the Internet even through the commercial breaks. The anchors’ microphones are left on even when they aren’t on the air, allowing computer users to hear everything they have to say.

“They talk back to the viewers, which really helps create a more intimate feel than you’d ever get during regular hours,” says Newman. McDermott enjoys the fact that the relaxed overnight attitude allows her to wear sweaters instead of suits, but adds “the greatest luxury is we can go in-depth on stories. If I want to have our Russian specialist on for six minutes, I can.”

In addition, there is always news going on in some part of the world, and she has often been able to offer viewers their first glimpse at a big story. There are other upsides to the shift. The commute to work is much quicker. Parents like Newman get to wake up and spend the afternoon and early evening with their children before heading off to work just as the kids are going to bed. And it affords not-quite-ready-for-prime-time talent the chance to hone their skills.

“We look at it as our training hour,” explains Jack Comstock, vice president of television sales at QVC. “We start our people off in the overnights. It’s less of a risk for them and for us. It makes it easier for them to jump on board.”

Of course, there is one big downside to the hours. You have to be awake while the rest of the world sleeps, leaving you feeling a bit freakish. “It’s kind of a mixed bag,” admits Stewart. “My friends with babies feel like I get to spend more time with them, but it’s kind of a drag when there’s something festive going on at night because I can’t join in.”

She has also noticed that her memory has started to slip a bit since she started working at “World News Now.” Adds McDermott: “There are nights when I’m lucky just to remember my name. I’ve been out there on the air and forgotten the name of the space station, and ended up referring to it as the ‘space thingy.’ ”

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The adjustment to the unusual hours is apparently easier than it might seem. Especially if you can do like Newman and score an office with a fold-out couch. However, she explains that she seldom takes advantage of it because there are few slow moments. And in the end, except for the absence of network suits haunting the hallways, it’s hard to tell what time it is once things get going.

“Because there’s no window in the studio, you can’t tell if it’s 1 in the morning or 1 in the afternoon,” says Schwartz. Also, at least for the news shows, not everything is done live. The news updates during the hour are, but many of the interviews and stories are being done on tape during the evening for playback during the show. When it comes time to do live interviews, as Stewart puts it, “it’s not often you find an author who wants to sit down for an interview at 3 a.m.”

While she and her counterparts all seem to enjoy their jobs, most will eventually admit that they’d still ultimately prefer to work in the daylight rather than sleep through it. Explains Schwartz: “The hardest part about this job is readjusting the rest of your life to suit it and not having your evenings anymore. But still, with these hours, even though you’re losing something, you’re gaining something too.”

“I have the best 9-to-5 job. It’s just the other 9-to-5,” says Stewart. “Sure it would be nice to work better hours, but there’s not a better job.”