Carole Meekins has spent 32 years as anchor at TMJ4. She tells WTMJ’s Libby Collins about how she began her career in news, her doubts when she first arrived in Milwaukee, her passion for showing the positive side of the city, and much more on this edition of WTMJ Conversations. Listen in the player above.
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
LIBBY COLLINS: Did Milwaukee come looking for you, or did you look for Milwaukee?
CAROLE MEEKINS: My agent got me this. And before I came to Milwaukee, I was up for a network reporter job with CBS, I believe it was. But I always have known, I traveled my whole life, I’ve no interest in war zones, travel, and all that. I never — that’s not me, I’m not into that.
LIBBY COLLINS: So, Milwaukee called, you’re agent said —
CAROLE MEEKINS: They were interested.
LIBBY COLLINS: Okay, they’re interested.
CAROLE MEEKINS: Yeah, they were interested.
LIBBY COLLINS: So, were you interested? Did you say, “Gee, Milwaukee, that sounds interesting”?
CAROLE MEEKINS: It’s really weird, because when I was working on my master’s, I used to read about Ed Henshaw had written some things about the Milwaukee Press Club, and I thought, oh, that’s interesting they have that up there, you know. And it was — I think back then it was something on the press council, and I remember reading about that. I know this sounds strange but in my mind I thought, “I bet one day I’ll work in Milwaukee.”
LIBBY COLLINS: When you walked into TMJ4 the first time, did you really think, “I’m going to be here for the next three decades”?
CAROLE MEEKINS: No. No, I signed a one-year contract. That’s — one year.
Well, they had fired somebody, and then I knew better, I thought, oh. I got in the cab and the guy goes, “Where you going?” I said, “I’m going to WTMJ,” at that time. And he said, “Oh, I hate them, they fired Melody Wilson.” I said, oh — I think that was where I was coming in, well, I won’t be here long, these people are mad at everybody.
LIBBY COLLINS: And you had to follow that.
CAROLE MEEKINS: I thought, oh, this is going to be rough.
