Every Life a Story: Natalie Jacobson Reporting

by Natalie Jacobson

Overview

Throughout her forty-year career in broadcast television, including thirty-five as a reporter and anchor on Channel 5 in Boston, Natalie Jacobson told the stories of countless lives. Now she tells her own. Every Life a Story takes readers behind the scenes of the extraordinary career of a woman who rose from an immigrant childhood in Chicago to become the first woman to anchor the evening news in Boston. Natalie was among the most trusted people of greater Boston. Her viewers thought of her as family. Natalie brings readers on an uplifting journey possible only in America. When faced with no girls need apply, she saw a challenge, not an obstacle. Her father had set an example of fortitude, educating himself and rising from cab driver to president of Gillette North America. Generations of viewers recall Natalie and her husband Chet Curtis as “Nat and Chet,” beloved co-anchors of NewsCenter5 on WCVB-TV Boston. referred to them as “the de facto first couple of Boston, very likely the city's best-known conveyors of news since Paul Revere.” Their lives seemed an open book as trials of sickness, death, pregnancy, birth, parenting, working motherhood, and eventually divorce played out on a very public stage. Ultimately, this book offers a sharp contrast to today's divisive media landscape. Believing EVERY life is a story, Natalie feels, “This book is as much your story as it is mine. We reporters were there to give you information that was accurate, information to help you make informed decisions. We invited you to be part of it and you were. I used to hope when you tuned in to our newscast, you took a deep breath and relaxed, feeling you were among friends. You were home. I hope this book brings you the same comfort.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781942155454
Publisher:	Peter E. Randall Publisher
Publication date:	05/24/2022
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	388,933
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Natalie Jacobson, born Natalie Salatich, was the first in her family to go to college. She earned a BA degree in English Literature from the University of New Hampshire in 1965 and lived the next two years in Bangkok, Thailand. Returning to a war-torn US, she entered the world of broadcast journalism working at two Boston stations on license renewal, interviewing hundreds of people to "ascertain the needs of the community." It was an unusual beginning which connected her with her viewers. Following work as a producer, Natalie joined the fledgling Boston station, WCVB-TV, as a reporter in 1972. During her thirty years at Channel 5, most notably as co-anchor of their evening news, she enjoyed a unique relationship with the people of New England. She was honored over the years with several Emmys for her reporting and in 2007 received the Governor's Award, the highest award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS); the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA); another from Suffolk University; the Yankee Quill Award from the Academy of New England Journalists; and the Sisterhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Natalie is a licensed pilot and enjoys golf, cooking, boating, and gardening. Most of all, she enjoys being a grandmother to Olivia and James. She resides on Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Hello 1

Chapter 1 John Silber 5

Chapter 2 Growing Up 15

Chapter 3 UNH 34

Chapter 4 Bangkok 43

Chapter 5 Home Again 51

Chapter 6 Television 57

Chapter 7 Honoring the Promise 64

Chapter 8 The Offer of a Lifetime 82

Chapter 9 The Wars That Changed Us 85

Chapter 10 Chet 91

Chapter 11 Boston Celebrates 98

Chapter 12 The Blizzard of '78 104

Chapter 13 Darker Days 108

Chapter 14 Boston 114

Chapter 15 Cooking 128

Chapter 16 America Held Hostage 134

Chapter 17 Lindsay Dawn 140

Chapter 18 I Am Woman 152

Chapter 19 NewsCenter 5 160

Chapter 20 Nat and Chet/Chet and Nat 181

Chapter 21 Michael Dukakis 195

Chapter 22 The Respites 200

Chapter 23 Tip O'Neill 204

Chapter 24 The End of a Marriage 208

Chapter 25 Going It Alone 211

Chapter 26 The Church Sex Abuse Crisis 215

Chapter 27 The Boston Red Sox, 2004 219

Chapter 28 Goodbye 225

Chapter 29 My Next Big Thing 231

About the Author 239