Jennie Montgomery, News Anchor, Storyteller, Artist

00:00
I needed the Gong Show and the Big Hook to come out and take him away.

00:12
Welcome to another edition of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that. Also the folks who've bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com, that little coffee cup. Your monetary donations to the podcast help us to keep going month after month. And as we're in season four, I can't thank you enough for that. Of course, I would not be here without my guests. And I'm so happy to have the woman sitting across the table for me right now.

00:40
Please welcome Jennie Montgomery. Hello, Robb. I am so happy to be here. Thank you so much for agreeing to come over here and talk. We've known each other for many, many years. Longer than I'm gonna say, but I mean, I was working at Channel 6, I think, when you started. We started in 95. I was over it. That was the first job I ever had that I actually got courted.

01:09
So I was over at Channel 12 as an audio engineer and I got courted to come to Channel 6 and I felt so special. Oh, absolutely. Right? Yes, yes. They're like, hey, we want you over here instead of over there. But just a great group of people there. But enough about that. We'll get into that a little bit later. Jennie is the anchor for five, six. Four. Five. Four, five, six.

01:36
10, 11, 10 and 11 o'clock news. WJBF news channel six here in Augusta. And, and I have a weekly talk show. Yes. Your talk show. Of course, Jennie, right. Tuesdays at 12 30. That is so cool. And I know that when you first started, maybe you had always wanted that type of thing. And, or it's, I think that just your, your passion for this community kind of lent itself into you.

02:06
coming into so many other things. I've seen you just kind of blossom in this community so much. It's not, you know, you see people that come in and it's like, oh, they're just here, it's a job, it's a paycheck. When you came to Augusta, was it a stopping point or were you like, you know what, I really like this town or did you just fall in love with Augusta? You know, it turned out to be the place to raise our family. When we came here, we had a...

02:35
a five month old, or four month old and a 19 month old. And we moved here for my husband's job. He was taking a job as production manager at Channel 6. We had met working in Spartanburg. And we had worked in Spartanburg for several years, gotten married, and then we started our family and I had decided I wanted to take a little time off. So I moved here thinking I was going to be a stay at home mom because I had these two little babies.

03:05
Shortly after we were here, I discovered I was pregnant again, and we were going to have three under three. And I just didn't feel like I was cut out to be a stay at home mom with three under three. And at the same time, Lewis Wall, who was the general manager, knew that I had done TV in Spartanburg, and he was talking to me about getting on the air in Augusta. And so that's what we started.

03:35
I started with a weekly segment that was a makeover show. Back in the day, makeovers were a really big deal. So I was like the reporter person that found a salon and found someone who did hair and makeup and all that. And then I did these makeover segments called The New You on the noon show. But I wanted to get into reporting and anchoring. And it was important, all of a sudden, I was in a different market.

04:05
and I could explore that whole journalism route. I had been an image consultant person in Spartanburg. And I was on television for years, but I was a contributor in this whole beauty field. And even though I enjoyed all of that, I had a really successful salon for six years in Spartanburg right after college.

04:34
I felt like I wasn't doing what God put me here to do. And I had grown up thinking I was going to be a journalist. I always wanted to be Barbara Walters. And I just kind of got sidetracked in college. Yeah, as will happen. As will happen. And I was a psychology major. And I minored in art. And it was through my art that I really began to see the face as a canvas. Oh, wow.

05:02
And I wanted to do some freelance makeup work. And in North Carolina, where I went to college, you had to be a licensed cosmetologist to be able to touch the face and do makeup. So I took a year off and I went through cosmetology school. No interest whatsoever in hair. I just did it to be able to do skin and makeup. And it turns out, and it was the whole art background, hair was just...

05:28
wow, it was all about angles and shape and it was like sculpting. So I just kind of tapped into this creative side of myself. And I did graduate from college. And like I was telling you, before we started the podcast, I had studied in London as part of my bachelor's program. But while I was there, I also trained with Vidal Sassoon.

05:52
which everybody has heard of, a big hair academy, and another one that was very popular in Europe called Jingles back in the day, Jingles International. So when I graduated with my bachelor's degree in psychology, I also had these like master cosmetology things attached to me. And so I thought, well, I'm going to be a makeup artist and I'm going to do covers for Vogue magazine. But I have to make the money to get to New York.

06:22
Okay. So I took a job in a salon in Spartanburg, right at biggest mistake I ever made, Robb, graduated from college on a Saturday, started working on a Monday. Oh no. I could have had that one final summer break. What was I thinking? Why was I so anxious to jump into the real world? But I was, my goodness. But you know, and it worked out. I had a clientele really fast and

06:50
Someone offered me a salon space that they were releasing in a new retail area in the heart of Spartanburg. And I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to sign a three-year contract because I was going to New York, Robb. I was going to be the next way bandy. And I don't know. I was awake all night before I was signing the lease for these three years. And I was thinking.

07:18
This isn't what I'm supposed to do, but I did it. And I had a really successful business and I ended up, that's how I met my husband because by this time I'm doing the television segments and my husband Scott was coming to my salon and he was directing and taping these segments. We were friends for a year and a half before we ever had a date. We were just friends.

07:43
When we moved here for his job, I felt like, okay, this is my chance to rebrand myself. I was just very labeled after four years on air in Spartanburg as the makeover lady. But we were able to move to another market. And when I decided I was going to go back to work, I told Louis Wall, I'll get these makeover segments on the air.

08:10
but I'm gonna be the owner, I wanna be the reporter. I don't wanna be the artist. I wanna be the reporter doing it. And that led to a weekend reporter job, which led to Weekend Anchor for about seven months. And then the next thing I knew, I was anchoring the evening news with Bob Young. So it was a very fast rise once it all happened, but it was a big risk. It was a big risk. I had had a lot of success in Spartanburg, but-

08:36
but there's something about feeling like you're not doing what you're put here to do. And I felt like, you know, I'm putting money in the bank, but I just don't feel like this is what I'm here to do. And it took moving here to a new community and being thrown into the deep end. Okay. All of the security I had known in Spartanburg was suddenly ripped away.

09:01
And there were a couple of years when I felt like, oh my gosh, all I'm doing is working to pay daycare. Why am I doing this? I'm working to pay daycare. And my husband said to me, you have to look at this time as your college internship. You didn't do an internship in a TV station in college. Just that's what this is for you right now. And it was paying my dues. And Robb, all of these years later, I look back and I think, oh my goodness, all the...

09:30
those years, those six years when I had my salon and I had this big clientele and I had six people who were working for me, I was learning how to listen. God could never have put me in a better place to hone my skills as a reporter, because to be a good reporter, you have to be a listener and you need to be an active listener. And you know, you don't just follow the questions on your list, you listen.

09:59
because something may get dropped that's way more interesting to follow up on than the next question you think you're going to ask. And I just realized in those years I learned about trust. I was a vault for so many people. I learned that when somebody has wet hair and you start combing it, their mouth just starts opening and closing. It's a physical thing. Wet hair, comb, mouth, opens and closes.

10:27
So I learned to guard a lot of people's secrets and I realized that people would talk to me. And I also learned to talk to people from all different walks of life, because that's what I had in my salon. I had people who saved up for a haircut and they got a couple of haircuts a year. And then I had people who could be sitting there and decide to get highlights that day, and yeah, let's go ahead and get all this retail too. Money didn't matter.

10:52
And so I think that that's really important too, is that you're able to talk to people where they are. Yeah. So it all turned out when I look about it now, that little ride that I call from the hydraulic chair to the anchor chair, it's a really neat process that I think I did have to go to to be able to relate to people in the way that I do. Yeah. And I mean, it just surprised me that you had no journalism.

11:22
classes, background, or anything? I took all of the ones that were offered. My college, I went to a liberal arts college and they didn't have a journalism major. Didn't have a major, but you did take the... But from the time I was in school and I took every journalism, I was on all the newspaper staffs. I got my first AP award when I was a student writer. Yes, yes, a student writer. And would you like to know my first celebrity interview? What was that? Oh my God, my first celebrity interview, I was the feature editor.

11:52
And I was 15. And boy, oh boy, I must have driven their manager crazy. Because think about it, Robb. Back in the late 70s, we didn't have cell phones. We didn't have email. I must have called and badgered this manager like crazy. Because on Christmas Day of that year, whatever it was in the late 70s, I interviewed the Marshall Tucker Band at their manager's office. Marshall Tucker Band.

12:19
was from Spartanburg, South Carolina where I grew up. And of course they were really hot with their Southern Rock back in the day. And I look at that now and it just cracks me up. And sometimes on Facebook, I will still have people that I was in junior high school with remembering that I nailed that, I landed that interview with MTB. That's awesome. I mean, but that's awesome. But it is very funny now for me to think.

12:48
God, how persistent was I? They just caved. Okay, we're all home for Christmas. Get her in here for 20 minutes, whatever. Right, right. So there was my little pad and my pen. That's awesome though, that's awesome. You know, but I think that type of tenacity, especially in news is something that you do need because there are hard conversations to have. Sure. But to be looking at you and your body of work, it's, you ask hard questions but you ask them

13:17
with such empathy as well, because I've never seen you, I would never think of you as any type of gotcha journalist or anything like that. You're like, I just want to uncover the truth, and I wanna give you the space to tell you the truth. Exactly, exactly. And I think that's something that especially, no matter what your views of the world are, but I think it's something that's become more and more rare to have to find people that genuinely just want to put

13:47
truth out there. Oh gosh, I agree. I agree. But that's that's so cool that that your journey like it and all along, like you said, those steps, those steps add up. They do. They make sense as a whole. You in it in the salon in year four, you would have never thought

14:07
you know, this many years down the road where you would be. Not at all. You know, and former clients, you know, that I keep up with on Facebook. It's just very funny. And they love it, you know, they love it. But I tell you, Robb, when I was at my 10 year high school reunion, a girl named Eve Green says to me, Jennie, I'm so excited for you. I watch you on TV every week. I'm so excited. You always said you were gonna be Barbara Walters and look at you, you're on TV. And do you know what that was?

14:37
That was one of those aha, light bulb moments for me. And it was like, well, yeah, I am. But I'm not doing what I thought I would be doing on TV. And she just thought, wow, you're doing what you said you were doing. But I always think, wow, Eve really ignited something in me and really put that thought, you're a writer. You've always been a writer. You want to write stories. You want to tell stories.

15:06
it took leaving Spartanburg and for me to, and we learned one interesting thing when I started on the air here. We had calls in the newsroom, because again, there was not email or anything back then in the 90s, in the early, mid 90s. We would get calls every now and then from Elberton, Georgia. And people would say, didn't we watch her on WSPA? Wasn't she? And so,

15:35
What we learned was in Elberton, Georgia, their CBS comes from Spartanburg, not WRDW, but their ABC comes from Augusta, not Asheville. So there was like one little pocket of market crossover at Elberton, Georgia. That's awesome. That is so cool though. It's just when you talk about the...

16:01
the not knowing and the being able to change because of change. That's right. I think that's one thing that is hard for people because there are a lot of people that stay stuck because they're more afraid of change. I love that you said that. And I think stuck is such an important word. And I think you get to a point, at least I did, I realized at that time,

16:31
I thought, I don't want to wake up one day and be 40 and wonder what if. Now I would love to wake up and be 40 again. But back then I thought, you know, I have this opportunity here to, I don't want to come here to Augusta and climb the same ladder again. I want to go to a new ladder. And I am more afraid of waking up one day and wondering what if.

17:01
then I am afraid of trying and failing. It's the not trying and the not going for it that outweighed the risk of failure. Yeah, yeah. And I think that, again, depending on where you are in your life, that can be such a motivating factor, but it takes so much motivation to get past that fear. It does. And sometimes, sometimes in life, you have to have other things that kick you out of that.

17:30
that kind of push you off the ledge and you have to fly, you know? Part of it was, I had three little babies, okay? It wasn't about me anymore. You have to get out of your own way. And I have often thought, you know, my career here grew with my family. I don't feel like...

17:57
I think sometimes you see people come in and they get a real big head and it's all about them and it's all about whatever. But I feel like children keep you so grounded. And I think that my story could have been so different if it had just been my husband and me and we didn't have kids. And then what you were asking about, did you plan to stay here? No, we would have just been here a couple of years and we would have moved to a bigger market and a bigger market. But that isn't what happened in our story.

18:26
We had these little babies. And Augusta turned out to be a wonderful place to raise her family. And WJPF has just been such a wonderful family place for me to work. And Brad and I have been together anchoring now for 26, 27 years. We've watched each other raise. I mean, I knew Brad and Julie before they had children. And it's just been wonderful to work on a team that

18:54
that has strong roots like that. Yeah. And when you talk about your kids helping you stay grounded, I mean, you're on all of the newscasts and they're throwing more at you, but it's like when they were that age, it's like you're just mom. Oh, absolutely. It's like you were at work and you were a mom. You're a mom. And it's like, you know, when you're excited, did you see mommy on TV? Did you see mommy on TV? And they're like, yeah. And it's like, well, thanks. Thanks.

19:23
Thanks for keeping me humble. Little Zach was about three. And he would come into the newsroom, three or four, and he would see Bob Young. He would go, Mommy, that's Bob Young. That's Bob Young. And I'm like, yeah. And Mommy sits beside Bob Young every night. And he was just like, yeah, what am I, chopped liver? Right, right. But you're not Bob Young. I wasn't Bob Young. And it would just be so funny, because I can even just be like.

19:53
taking on my sleeve, mommy that's Bob Young. And then become more interested in what the cameras do, and what's going on in the control room, and all that stuff, the bright lights. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Those were the fun days of TV. Yeah, that is. But you know, same thing with me, working in radio. It's like, you know, bring the kids in, they're like, I'm just dad.

20:18
and they want to play with the thing that makes the sound effects. And that's much more exciting than anything that I'm doing or whatever, you know. What in your in your time here, do you have a favorite blooper moment? Oh, good grief. The bloopers, the bloopers are because they happen. They are outstanding. One of our our

20:45
There are two that really stand out to me. One was a situation where Brad got tickled about something. This was early on, early on. And we had a producer at the time who would bury the lead, often would bury the lead. And I was making a joke on Brad's paper scripts. And he was reading something about

21:15
you know, like maybe two boats, a cruise ship and something. I don't know, whatever it was. It could have been very, very bad. And I think two people maybe had to go to the hospital. And I just wrote, like in a commercial break on the bottom of his script, and I said, the other 300 people aboard were killed. Okay.

21:39
burying the lead just to make him laugh. Well, I knew he wasn't gonna read it, but I thought he would see it ahead of time. Well, he didn't, he didn't read it because he's reading from the prompter, but he saw it on his paper script. And then he got tickled and then tossed to me. And so I'm laughing and I look up and I try to read and it was a terrible story. It was a terrible like bad perp, you know, a child.

22:08
child, you know, bad, bad story. And I'm trying to read it. And I go, Brad, and the camera goes back to Brad. And he goes, he looks into the camera and his eyes are red and watery with tears. And he goes, gracious, we'll be right back. And that's like the only time we've ever flat out thrown to a commercial in a live newscast because we couldn't handle it. And then a few years ago, I had a blooper that

22:38
I was talking about North Korea and the harshest sanctions yet against North Korea. But instead I said the harshest sanctions yet against North Augusta and nuclear, the nuclear something. And Brad was supposed to read the next part and he didn't read it. I felt his face turn to me. And so I read his part and then he's going.

23:09
North Korea. And I'm like, yes, North Korea. What did I say? And he said, you said North Augusta. And then I just cracked up and I put my head down on the desk. So I looked back up and I said, North Augusta, put down those nukes. Just to make a joke out of it. Right. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Any favorite, like, I know you've won lots of awards for your journalism.

23:39
for your reporting, for your documentary series. Is there any one that stands out? Whether it was award-winning or not, maybe you felt like you got robbed at one of the award ceremonies, but something that you just felt was like, I'm really proud of that product. I'm really proud of that story or that piece or that report that just stands out to you as one of your favorites. Well, again, and by favorite, it could be something very-

24:08
devastating obviously, but that you have just a pride about being part of telling that story, because that's what we are. We're storytellers. And if you can't get the story out, that's, you know, someone else will never hear it. So is there one that you just find a point of pride in? You know, I really love the opportunity that I had with reuniting

24:37
a brother and a sister who had been separated by adoption, the B. Hamilton, the whole B. Hamilton adoption, black market baby situation. And they were Audrey and Joy. And it was, for a woman who had been looking for her little brother, who she hadn't seen since he was three,

25:05
And they remember being ripped apart from each other on the courthouse steps. And somebody saying, your mommy doesn't love you anymore, you're gonna go live with these people. She had been searching for 50 plus years, just not even knowing how to find. He remembered that there was a girl, but he couldn't remember her name. He was only three. And his whole life, he knew there was a big sister, but he couldn't remember what her name was because he had lived with her.

25:34
And amazingly, we were able to do this reunion, which then grew into more adoption reunion stories. And we did put together a really nice documentary called Finding Birth Families. I loved that. But I think the excitement of being there when Audrey and Joey were seeing each other for the first time, I was as, I think I was as nervous as she was. He was coming over from Toccoa.

26:04
to meet her and they were, excuse me, I know that sounded great listeners, sorry about that. That's what happens when you talk with your hands. I'll never forget that feeling of seeing just a lifelong dream actually materialized for these two. It was beautiful, beautiful. They're just, there's so many Robb, it's kind of, it's hard.

26:33
I absolutely was so blessed to get to interview my favorite singer of all time and have like a private, that's it, like a private little concert. He played four songs in the studio and it was just us in the studio and it was amazing. My 15 year old self would never ever have believed that I would be sitting one on one with Gino doing an interview.

26:56
You know, but your 15-year-old self was sitting one-on-one with the Marshall Tucker band. So, I mean, why wouldn't your 15-year-old self believe that? I just... that was, you know, just the real thing. That was like, oh my gosh, I just can't believe this is actually happening. I got to meet my other favorite star and singer from childhood, which was Olivia Newton-John. And I got to meet Olivia and introduce her at a big symphony benefit one year. And I have a...

27:25
great story about the most awkward moment for me ever. Go ahead. Olivia had done a concert with the symphony and then there was a special reception at Sacred Heart following the concert. Big tickets, big donors. Sacred Heart looked beautiful. Oh my gosh, they had beautiful pink covers on all the chairs with big pink bows on them. It was beautiful. This was all a breast cancer fundraiser.

27:55
Olivia's people were letting her stay there for like 11 minutes. She was going to be able to visit for 11 minutes. And I'm standing at the front because I'm going to walk up those steps at Sacred Heart and introduce her. I'm going to walk up those big steps.

28:17
In the meantime, there's a man at the podium who was just supposed to say like a thank you and a welcome and he was a big sponsor, not from Augusta, thank goodness from Atlanta. But he wouldn't stop talking. And a lady on headsets was right beside me and she was talking with a lady on a walkie talkie backstage and they were saying, if she doesn't get him off now, Olivia's leaving, she's leaving. And I'm like, I needed the gong show and the big hook to come out and take him away.

28:44
I had to stop this man mid-talking. And the woman is saying to me, go, you have to get him off. So I start walking up the steps like a goat, kind of sideways. And I'm looking at the audience smiling, and I start clapping. And fortunately, the audience was tired of hearing him, too. So they joined right along in the clapping. And we clapped him off. I clapped him off. I did.

29:13
And I have known all these years that man despises me. He doesn't know me, but he will always despise this lady in Augusta that I know he feels like embarrassed him. But they were going to take Olivia away. Right, which is what everyone was there for. Her time was ticking down. So that was really weird. Things they don't train you for. Right. Yeah. They get on your feet. How am I going to do this? Yeah.

29:38
That's awesome though. Just clapped him off. Clapped him off. We clapped him off. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Love to hear the rest of that story. Never. That's awesome. And the thinking on your feet, that's part of when you're a reporter and you're

30:07
Another part of it is realizing that you're there for a job and being able to separate yourself from the emotion of the event. I know that that, even on my side of things, when I was just, whether I was editing video for a newscast and you know, a dead body's found and it's like, well, we have shots of the dead body. I get to see.

30:34
the dead body, but we're not going to show that on the air. And, you know, it can become a situation where it just seems like you just become so numb to that stuff. How do you keep your humanity in the face of being able to tell the story?

30:57
That's a really, that's the hard part. I used to say that I would oftentimes cry on my way home going up Riverwatch Parkway. You know, you just, when the station was downtown, you have to compartmentalize. I have had very tender producers over the years.

31:23
who would say to me or take me into an edit bay and say, you need to watch this right now. You need to see this right now because it will be emotional for you. Sometimes I would take scripts and just go into the bathroom and read them into the mirror, into the bathroom to where you can just say it and get through it. Oddly enough, I mean, there've been horrible things here that we've had to do.

31:53
Um, and especially when I had small children, things that happened to small children would just tear me up. Um, and one of the things that was the hardest for me, and I was weakened anchor at the time, um, when Princess Diana was killed, when she died. And I had finished the 11 o'clock news on that Saturday night. And uh, she

32:23
The news reports were that she had a really bad thigh injury. She'd been in this terrible accident in this tunnel, and she had a very bad thigh injury. And from the time we said goodnight at 1130 until I got home about 30 minutes later, I walked in and my mother was visiting and she and my husband are sitting there and their faces are just, you know, like what? And I see Brian Williams on MSNBC on, and they're like, she died. And I'm like,

32:51
No, she didn't die. She has a bad thigh. No, no, no. She died. And so we were up for hours watching all over the rest of the world, watching all of that. And then the next day, which was Sunday, before that six o'clock news, I couldn't believe how much I had to practice reading my scripts because I was of the age group. We loved Princess Diana. And we were so excited and we all got up and we watched that wedding.

33:20
And it was just unbelievable that she was dead. And so that always surprised me, my reaction to that. And I think it's just because she had just been so dear to my age group. Yeah, yeah, I mean, we had been- To the world, I mean, to the world. But she really was an icon. Exactly, yeah, yeah. Wow, yeah, it's a-

33:48
It's a skill being able to navigate that with such grace. I oftentimes too, I will just say it. I will say a little prayer for a family before I read a terrible story. Yeah. You know, and that's another way that I just kind of get through. I just say a little prayer for the ears that are going to hear this, you know, and the hearts that are going to be broken and that sort of thing. Yeah. It's, I don't know. There are...

34:17
It can be a lot as you know. I think we're gonna talk about that. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Well, before we get into that, you're involved in a lot of groups, you know, local groups here in town. I just saw you hosting for the Augusta Broadway Singers for their women and Broadway concert and things like that. But for you, what is bringing you joy right now? Like outside of work?

34:47
What's bringing you joy? Well, that's a great question. It is wonderful to be involved in this community. And I do. I do love that. I've served on a lot of different boards. I've been involved with a lot of different things. And I love it when I can help bring attention to something. Homelessness is a big thing for me. The Salvation Army. I love when I can help. Yeah.

35:16
in any way that I can to help certain causes like that. Things that bring me joy, I love being outdoors. I love my backyard. I love nature. I love my pool. Can't wait for summer. I love family time. I think one of the greatest things for me has been realizing how

35:46
fun it is to have adult children. My kids are all around the 30. They're 31, almost 30, and almost 29. And it is great to have adult children who like to hang with you and do stuff. My one daughter who's married, she and her husband moved into our neighborhood. And so they're just around the corner. And we see them a lot. And I love that. Family is really, really important to me.

36:15
I also love different art projects. I love projects and I love puzzles. I love all kinds of puzzles. I love to read when I can. And lately, I've been a big Colleen Hoover fan. Oh, okay. Nothing wrong with that. I like light reading. You know, I'm the beach read kind of person. That's my speed. That's good though. Because I have enough heavy in my day to day. Yeah.

36:44
And so to have a little fantasy somewhere else is great. To get involved in somebody else's business through a book is fine.

36:58
All right, Jennie, this is the second segment of the show where we dive a little bit deeper into your mental health journey. I'm a big believer that the more we can tell the stories of how we deal with the things that bother us, the easier it is for everyone, whether you have a diagnosed depression or anxiety or you just have those days you don't want to get out of bed or you just want to stand in the hot water, the shower all day. The more we...

37:23
can find those commonalities, the more we realize we aren't alone and it takes some of that power away. So for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay? Well, I've had, you know, experience with this over the years. And I think I have a lot of empathy because the first time I experienced anything requiring a mental health professional, I was about 24, about 24.

37:54
Um, having my business, my business, my salon and people that depended on me. Um, and I started having panic attacks, but I didn't know what they were back then. I, people don't talk about it the way they do now. Okay. And I just know that there were times that I might be in line somewhere and I would just bolt. I would maybe, maybe push a cart.

38:24
to the end of a checkout line and leave the grocery store. I was in a restaurant one time in Miami and I bolted from the table. I was with friends and I had to immediately get out of the restaurant. I didn't know what was happening. Of course I thought I was losing my mind. But fortunately, my mother is a psychotherapist. She's of course retired now, but she was a psychiatric social worker. And she had a counseling business on the side. And one of the men she was in practice with

38:54
treated people suffering from PTSD, a lot of veterans. She recognized what I was saying as panic attacks and she knew who to hook me up with. Gotcha. And so I went to this man for, gosh, maybe four months and I took medication for about a year. And I learned panic attacks were so treatable. And...

39:23
It was amazing how treatable this whole situation was. What felt very debilitating. I mean, I was at a point where I couldn't stand to be, if there was like a wall going along the interstate where there was road work, I would just start being so afraid if traffic stopped and then I would be stuck with the wall. Okay. So I really had great respect for how much he helped me.

39:51
learn to navigate the panic attacks. And what I have found over the years is, it's the sort of thing where you might recognize it in somebody else and be able to gently talk to them about it. I had an email.

40:10
maybe 15 years ago from a young woman who had been a friend of my brothers in high school. And she wrote me the most amazing letter and she told me she felt like I had saved her life and she said because many years earlier when she was college age, I wanted to take her to lunch and she said, you took me to lunch and you said, I want to talk to you about something.

40:40
I'm seeing something and I think I know what this is. And she was having panic attacks. And apparently I had witnessed what she was doing when she was with my brother and the way she would bolt out of a situation or whatever. And she told me, you gave me, she said, I still have the card where you wrote down this therapist's name and phone number. And she said, she had her own grown kids and everything by this point. She was probably in her 40s at this point when she wrote me the email.

41:10
But she was just like, I just want you to know that I think that just changed everything for me. And I thought I was crazy. So I think that's wonderful when we want to share. I see that with people that have maybe gone through cancer or other health situations. They want to share it to try to help somebody else. As far as on a regular basis of keeping out the darkness, I think that I go through phases where

41:39
the anxiety does take over. The job has become too much. The stories about terrorism and this and that and everything else just begin to take over. I have over the years gone through cycles where I do have to take anxiety medication. I'll just realize, okay, I've got to find a way to deal with this right now. All of a sudden.

42:06
The anxiety is just too much. I'm thinking about it all the time. One thing that I do, Robb, is I don't go home and turn on the cable news channels. I watch HGTV. I watch the Property Brothers. I mean, if my TV is on, I can't be in a 24-hour news cycle anymore because it will completely affect me. I have to have a break from it. Yeah, yeah. And...

42:34
It always helps when I'm dedicated to walking or to doing exercise on a regular basis. And I'm not good about that right now. And I know I need to get back into it. You go through times when you just feel, I call it cocooning. And that's when I know, OK, don't let it take over. I'm cocooning. I just want to be in my house.

43:02
I just want to stay in bed and put on Netflix and that isn't me. And when I find myself doing that, that's when I know, okay, you've got to be proactive here. You need to, um, you need to get out. You need to, to go have lunch with a friend. Yeah. You need to do things that aren't work related. Yeah. And I love what you're saying about, you know, getting out, you know, they say, you know, movement.

43:32
helps you to kind of clear the cobwebs when you're in that, right, you know, talking to someone, you know, when you're talking about when you recognize some of those symptoms in someone else, you know, that's, that's a hard conversation to have if you just kind of blurt that out. Yes. Yes. You know, but to be sensitive enough to say, Hey, I've been there.

44:01
let me tell you my story. Exactly. And maybe you see a commonality in my story with your story. You know, I think that's because people don't wanna, people don't want somebody to come up and say, hey, you're having an anxiety attack. Exactly, no, you can't do it like that, exactly. Hey, you know, in these conversations, we're like, I'm not crazy. It's like no one's taking you crazy. No one's saying, you know, because you become so defensive because we've.

44:29
You know, if we've, we've, uh, you know, stigmatized mental health so much that it's like, if you have something like that, something must be wrong with you. It's like, well, the thing is, is something wrong with all of us? Yeah. We're alive. We're getting through it. Yeah, exactly. Everybody has a day that they're like, I saw a lot of growth. Um, I, back in the day, I got a book that my mother told me to get when she was setting me up with this guy.

44:59
And I don't even remember what it was called now, but it was, it had some, I don't even know if it said panic attack on it. Isn't that funny? I can't remember now. But some years ago, we had a reporter and I saw the same thing happening with him. And I saw what was happening and I had to meet me at Starbucks one day. And I just started talking to him and I just said, you know,

45:29
you're in the age range where you are most vulnerable. You're very vulnerable in your 20s. And he knew what was happening. He knew the word, he knew it. And I said, I want you to take this, it was called the anxiety disease. That's what it was called, the anxiety disease. And I said, I want you to take this. I said, I haven't looked at it in years, but it helped me very much because

45:57
I saw myself in it and I realized I'm not the only one. And I said, you're gonna see places I've highlighted and little things I've written at the side. Don't worry about it. You just go ahead and read this. When he ended up, and he was very happy to read it. He was very happy. And I said, this may be silly to you now at so many years ago, but I think if you just read

46:27
this situation that it might prompt you to want to talk to somebody, you know, about what you're going through. And when he moved on to another market, he texted me, he goes, hey, I have your book. And I'm like, you know what, don't want it, don't want it. Because the one thing I saw when I flipped through it and I started reading my little things in the margin, it started taking me back to that place. And I had moved way, way from that. And all of a sudden, I'm just like, no,

46:56
Don't need to go back there. Nope. You can keep it. You can toss it. Whatever. But I don't need it back. Yeah. And I see that a lot of times with life, with relationships, maybe somebody's really done you wrong. I think that there was a thought process that you need to hash through everything. You need to peel back all the layers. I don't know. Sometimes I think somebody did me wrong, but I still want them to be in my life.

47:25
and maybe I just have to move forward, find a way to make peace with it, find a way to forgive and move forward. I think that sometimes we spend so much time unpacking the past, we're missing what our future is. And I think about that little analogy about, the rear view mirror is so much smaller than the windshield. And it's for a reason, keep your eye on what's ahead.

47:54
All right, Jennie, it is time for the third segment of the show. It's time for the fast five. The fast five. It's time now for the fast five. That's a great jingle, Robb. I'm still working on it and workshopping. I mean, it's been four seasons, but still still trying to. I just need to get my music guy on.

48:11
I'm not going to get out with that. Strike up the house band. The Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by my friend Travis Brown. Travis. If you go to chewwithafatbr.com slash poddex, you can download the app at your favorite app store. But I've got mine here. And it's.

48:34
Five random questions, no wrong answers, just the first thing that comes to the top of your head. You okay? I'm okay. All right, here we go, question number one.

48:45
Who is your biggest mentor or teacher this year?

48:51
Oh, this year, my biggest mentor, I know we're just in March, but Cheryl Carswell. Okay, she's a therapist here in town. Okay. Yeah. And she she's turned me on to a lot of interesting thoughts and people that write about very interesting things like Louise Hay. Okay. Yeah. Very cool. Hey, question number two.

49:21
What embarrasses you instantly? Oh, hey news lady. In front of a lot of people. Yeah. I'm great if somebody just comes up to me and talks, but yeah, don't yell at like three lanes over from the grocery store. Yeah. Question number three.

49:49
name one thing on your bucket list? Oh, Antarctica. Oh, yeah. Like, rule it, take over, visit. Visit for now. Visit first, then rule. What about Antarctica? I want to see the light on the ice. Oh, wow. Since I was in about the fifth grade. I've always been fascinated by Antarctica. And my very first coffee table book, when I was maybe a teenager, my dad gave me a beautiful Antarctica coffee table book. Oh, wow. I love Antarctica.

50:19
That's awesome. So, Scott, if you're listening, start planning. All right. Question number four. So, I'm going to start with the question number four.

50:30
What was the first car you ever owned? Mm-hmm. The first car that I bought was a real cute little Subaru. I think it was called an XT Sports Coupe right after college. Not the first car I drove. My dad had us in Volkswagens. We were in Volkswagen Beetles. Yeah. Straight drive. Because he said you can't really drive unless you can drive a clutch. Yeah. He made us take all our driver's tests with a clutch. You know, I agree with that, though. It is a...

50:57
It is a talent to have and a skill to keep in your toolbox. Oh my god, absolutely, absolutely. It's one of those things that you don't realize you need until you need to rent a trunk to move because they are almost always... I did think that. It's fine. They're almost always like straight shifts. We had to return a convertible that somebody had, one of the dealerships had let the Channel 6 people use in the Christmas parade. And guess what?

51:22
It was Monday morning and nobody in the newsroom knew how to drive a straight drive. And I'm like, well, I do. So somebody followed me in a news car and I drove the straight drive convertible back to the dealership. And I thought, isn't that funny? This, you know, there must be 30 people in here and nobody could drive a clutch, but me, the old lady, cushion number five.

51:54
Do you like to plan things out in detail or be spontaneous? Spontaneous. Yeah? Yeah. Just get in the car and go? Yep. Yeah. I like kind of managed chaos. So it's like, all right, I know we're going to Asheville. What we do there, I'm not exactly sure. We'll kind of follow the will. OK. Yeah, I like that. I liken it to this. I love a beautiful table. I love to entertain. And I know, like I know for Easter.

52:22
every single dish that I'm going to use and I'll have little pieces of paper with what's going to be in there. And it might be the night before and my daughter will be like, did you go to the grocery store? It's like, oh my God, I forgot the food. I know where it's going to go. But oh yeah, but I have to, I have to get it.

52:44
So there's my managed chaos. Gotcha. And you're just going, please still have ham. Please still have ham. Because I have a place for it, but if I don't have ham. Be like Jamie Lee Curtis in Christmas with the cranks. Right. Yeah. Trying to get that last one ham.

53:02
That's great. That is our Fast Five. And that's the show, Jennie. Thank you so much for being here. You're welcome. It was a pleasure. Loved spending time with you, Robb. Thank you for asking me. Absolutely. Absolutely. If folks want to keep up with you, what's the easiest way they can do that? They can.

53:18
Facebook me. Okay, I'm Jennie Montgomery and I'm Jennie Montgomery WJBF Okay, and I have the Instagram and the X but I don't really do don't do those So Facebook would be the Facebook is the best and of course we can email me easily. It's very easy JMontgomery@WJBF.com perfect. And of course we can see you at the What are all the numbers now cuz see when we work together it was the five six and a low. Oh, yeah

53:48
We've added so much. So many. So much. Four, five, six, 10, and 11. Or the Jennie Show. The Jennie Show. Tuesdays at 12.30. I love seeing you shine on the Jennie Show. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. I really do appreciate it. And I love you and I love our friendship. And I'd say I wish you nothing but success, but you've got success. So whatever the next spontaneous thing is, I just hope it lights you up. You're so sweet. Thank you, Robb. And if you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it.

54:17
me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com but until next time I look forward to the chance we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.