Toledo’s newest anchorwoman has had a whirlwind of a week. Moving boxes stacked throughout her apartment, a 7-month-old baby girl just starting to crawl and a new job in a new town have been her welcome to Ohio.
Annette Falconer will join “WNWO Today” as a new anchorwoman July 22.
“We don’t have any family or friends here but we’re hoping Toledo can become our family,” Falconer said. “They’ve been good to us so far.”
Falconer worked for two years at KLTV, a news station in East Texas. She said she wants to bring a “sense of relaxation” to the show.
“I want people to depend on me, but also get to know me,” Falconer said. “I want to be on a really personal level with the community. I really want to be the person to deliver the news to them, be quick, be accurate but also be friendly. I want them to turn the TV on and say, ‘Hey it’s Annette!’”
Falconer said she always knew she wanted to work in television.
“I’ve always interviewed people,” she said. “When I was little and [people] got married, I would interview the bride and groom and all the siblings and just gather it together on a big video. I’ve always been really big in writing down history. I’ve always done it for all my friends’ weddings.”
The camera doesn’t intimidate Falconer. She said she enjoys being on camera and doesn’t struggle with nerves.
“I love talking to people and being out there in the spotlight,” she said. My family would say that I’m not shy at all so I think that is what helped me. I get more nervous talking to someone one-on-one than talking to a camera with 20,000 people watching me.”
Jim Blue, WNWO news director, said, “Annette is a wonderful addition to ‘WNWO Today.’
“She brings the perspective of a young mom involved in our community and interested in everything Northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan have to offer,” he said. “You’ll see her all around town engaged in the activities that make the Toledo area such a great place to live.”
Falconer said she took the new job because she wanted to work in the mornings so she could spend more time with her daughter Brynlee.
“She will smile at anyone, anytime,” Falconer said. “She is such a happy little baby. Everywhere we go we talk about what a happy baby she is. But she is starting to crawl so that means trouble, because she’s starting to get into everything.”
Falconer said she and her husband plan to buy a home and settle into Toledo.
“I want to be in this area,” she said. “We plan on raising our family here.”
Falconer graduated from Brigham Young University with a major in broadcast journalism. She did beauty pageants for four years and was Miss Dallas USA in 2004.
“I used to do pageants a long time ago and I loved talking to people and being out in the community,” Falconer said. “That’s when I decided that I liked being involved and talking to people but really it was before then. I always had the niche I just didn’t put my finger on it until pageants.”
Despite the hectic week of moving and caring for a child, Falconer looks forward to bringing Toledo its news every morning.
“I just hope people give me a chance,” she said. “I’m giving Toledo a chance and I hope people give me a chance.”
