"I grew up on a tobacco farm," WCSC-TV news anchor
Ann McGill told SC State communications students on April 4. "My father told me 'I need free labor, so if you don't make it...'"
Growing up that was all the motivation McGill needed to do well in school. "My friend would ask me 'Why do you always sit in the front row?' I told her I don't want to work on the farm the rest of my life!"
In high school her activities included the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). As club historian she wrote an article that was published in the local newspaper. And she successfully competed in public speaking contests. Her juices as a future communicator started to flow.
The family tobacco farm was in the small community of Nesmith (pronounced Knee-smith) near Kingstree in South Carolina's Williamsburg County.
Born Andrewnetta, she was the youngest of seven children. "There were no names left," McGill laughs. "My parents let my two sisters name me and they wanted my nickname to be Andy."
"Ann" would become her professional name not long after graduating from the University of South Carolina in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She was a new reporter at a country music station in Winston-Salem, N.C. when the news director asked her what she wanted to be called. "Let's go with Ann," she responded.
McGill steadily worked her way up in Carolinas broadcasting. She has been with WCSC, Charleston's CBS station, since 2001. Since 2018 she has been the main 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. anchor. A few years ago, after the retirement of longtime anchor Bill Sharpe,
Raphael James became his replacement.
"Fun fact," she said. "Raphael and I are Live 5's first main Black anchor team in the 70 years the station has existed. My station could have had concerns, but we were the two most experienced people and we deserved it. It has been going great!
WSCS-TV is owned by Gray Television, which touts itself as the nation's second-largest television broadcaster with its 180 station's serving 113 markets and reaching 36 percent of all U.S. TV households.
McGill said Gray wants to keep talented journalists in the fold so there are opportunities to move within the company around the country.
She talked about Gray TV's internship program. SC State communications majors are required for graduation to do a for-course-credit internship. Gray also owns WIS-TV in Columbia, S.C. where students Benjamin Gadson and Midrina Tucker have interned this school year.
Gadson and Tucker are pictured on the right side behind Professor Dante Mozie in this photo.
McGill said salaries for MMJs (multi-media journalists) at her station have improved to $40,000 a year.
She gave the students great advice should they want to apply for on-air positions in television news.
"Your reel should be eight to 10 minutes long," she said. "Start with hard news stories. If you have fun stories, put them last. Anyone can do fun stories.
We want to see that you have the ability, that you are comfortable and confident on TV. Intern as much as possible."
McGee spent much time in Walterboro recently covering the six-week
Alex Murdaugh murder trial. "Craaaazy," she said of the experience. "But so exciting."
A common thread from her farm upbringing to her long, successful broadcasting career? "Hard work," she said. "Farm work is hard. TV news is hard work."
A final Ann McGill fun fact: she and her husband Gregory share the same birth date and that includes being born the same year. How unique is that?
Many thanks, Ann, for making the trek to Orangeburg for your invaluable advice! She even invited the faculty to visit Channel 5's TV station this summer. And it looks like we will be doing that in July. That will make for a fun and informative experience and subsequent blog post here.
Photos in this post are by Rolondo Davis with SC State's Communications Program.
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