A few years ago, we talked with Joanne (Jodi’s sister) and asked about her old video tapes. Like most people in the television news industry, Jodi kept a record of her on-air performances on VHS tapes (now it’s as easy as downloading video to a computer). Back then, you had to set the VCR or dub off a copy of your clips to a VHS tape in the newsroom.
Joanne was nice enough to loan all of Jodi’s personal collection to our team. It took me awhile, but I managed to digitize all of her video tapes (some 25-30) to a hard drive that has since been duplicated and backed up for safety. We thank Joanne for giving us this access to show a few clips from time to time to you, the reader so you can see Jodi as she grew and developed as an on-air personality.
We will start a new series of posts that include short clips of some of Jodi’s work. What we’re finding is that Jodi was very particular about improving. She was proud of the work she was doing, but like most in the TV News business, she strove to become better. These tapes were her guide in doing so.
This first video takes us all the back to 1989 when Jodi was a student at the Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota. Did you know Jodi did the weather?! Neither did I. But here’s a glimpse at those early, humble beginnings. And my, has technology come a long way. Weather maps used to be comprised of posters and stickers. But Jodi did her best to pull it off. This is a great look at those early days at her time at SCSU and working for the campus TV station ‘University Television Station’ which is still in operation at SCSU.
We hope you enjoy this look back and stay tuned for many more videos to post on this website. We’ll start a new video gallery called ‘Jodi’s Tapes’ where you can find the entire collection as time goes by.
Thanks for visiting.
