Mary-Jean Cormier
Mary-Jean Cormier, ‘00, is the host of CBC’s Superior Morning (external link) .
What does your promotion to permanent host of CBC’s Superior Morning mean to you?
Well, it's a little interesting. I have actually worked on Superior Morning for about 20 years but I was the morning news reader for a very, very long time. I have loved our audience and loved being a part of that program for so many years. It's a joy to go in every morning and I don't think there's a lot of people who have jobs that they're thrilled to go to every day. Being in broadcast journalism and being on a show like this, I get to talk to amazing people every day and that is what brings me joy. I get to talk to people and hear them say, you know, ‘I spend my morning with you’ and they feel like they know me. It's a relationship that I think is really important. I feel like I'm serving our listeners in a way that is giving them the information they need, whether that be the news of the day or the weather. I never thought my stay with Superior Morning would last so long but now I feel [that] it's a real blessing. I know our community, I know the region and I've always felt a real passion for it. It's beautiful, it's vast. It can be challenging in many ways, but I love that as well as that it's not just the city we're planted in, but also the whole area.
For those who may not be familiar with your work, what do you look forward to accomplishing within this role?
Honestly, I just want to serve our listeners as best as I can. I don't think I necessarily want to be hosting forever. I always think that there's always room for new people, new faces and new talents to come and take over. I don't want to say I'm gonna stay here and do it for 10 years. I want to just be the best host I can be and bring people the stories they want. I always feel like I'm the conduit, I'm asking the questions that the listeners at home want me to get answered. I hope that I can serve that role and for however long it's a good fit for me to keep hosting, I would love to do so. But I also am more than happy to step out of the chair and do other things at CBC as well.
You began your career with the CBC as a roving reporter in 2000. What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your time at the CBC?
For my first job as the roving reporter, Windsor, Sudbury and Thunder Bay decided that they would share that reporter so I went and I worked [for] four months in each of those places. After that, my first job after being a reporter was actually the Morning Host. Coming off my first year of reporting, I was thinking, maybe I'll find a reporter job up north. One of my executive producers at that time said ‘There's this job with CBC Morning Show Hosting’ and I was like, ‘I'm not gonna go from being a Roving Reporter to being a Morning Show Host, are you kidding me?’ He said, ‘You can jump in and make your way up from a smaller place on-air and go from there.’ So that's what I did. I was there for a couple of years (then) I thought ‘Okay, I've done this for a bit, what's next?’ And that's when I took the Morning News Reader job in Thunder Bay, thinking it would be brief. But I think what I learned was that you just have to put yourself out there and we don't know how we're going to make our path in journalism. Whether it's going to be behind the scenes or as a producer on the air, I think there's a way for people to go either way, right? So I found my way on air, and I loved it. I guess I learned that I don't mind getting up at four in the morning because now I've been doing it for over 30 some odd years.
What makes this job rewarding for you?
A lot of it is watching other journalists do their best work. Working on the show, I get to do debriefs with very talented reporters. I get to share in the work that they're doing and I find it really exciting to watch other reporters tell these big stories and then in a way, I get to deliver them when they come to fruition. Another thing that I'm finding really rewarding right now, and it might be the highlight of my career, [is that] hosting has given me a bit more flexibility with my schedule. I was able to start working in an Indigenous high school in Thunder Bay and (teach) the students the basics of journalism, storytelling, interviewing, and chasing the guest. This past year, the students got an interview with Ryan Reynolds and I helped them along with it but they got it and they did it. So that right now is super rewarding to work with.
How was your time at j-school?
I really had a great time there. It was trial by fire, I jumped in. I kind of did it without really knowing what I was doing and it was in going to journalism school that I realised all the stuff I needed to know. I learned a lot about the integrity of what we do, the importance of getting things right, and how we are responsible for what we tell people and what we share with people. I learned about sharing people's voices and their thoughts in a way with integrity so that you're never misquoting them or letting their message be skewed in any way. I think that really was a key part of my learning at TMU. It's a big job and we need to be really responsible for what we do and what we say and what we put on the air or on the page. I also like that my time in the broadcast centre was so fun. I remember the technical people that would help us with our equipment like Gary Gould. Gary was so patient, kind, and willing to take the time, especially as equipment was changing. I just found that TMU took away any fears about equipment. It took away the questions around setting your white balance, learning how to deal with audio, and learning how to use multiple mics and lighting. And all those things that can be daunting, became not so daunting. I feel like from a technical level, it was amazing to learn all the things I needed to learn. And from a journalistic level, just the integrity of it and the importance and the ethics all became very clear and I left with that.
What advice would you give to current journalism students who are hoping to break into the broadcasting industry?
I never put myself in a box. When I got my job with CBC, I had only been creating a demo for television because that's where I had come from so I just thought ‘I'm going to do television’ but I've loved my time on radio. I've loved the aspect where your appearance has no bearing on your work and I've really liked that. At the same time, we now have a VJ (video journalist) in Thunder Bay and he goes out with me now to do all kinds of neat interviews so I'm on TV again. I've ended up on The Moment on The National a couple of times, because he came in and one time, we were doing this thing at a library, it was puppy playtime and I ended up on The National on my hands and knees with these kids and puppies. And I'm like oh great, the first time I'm on The National and I'm on my hands and knees! I guess that's the biggest thing, I would say don't put yourself in a box. Maybe you're on radio, maybe you're on TV, maybe you're a web writer, or maybe you're going to be all of those things at once. But let it happen, and try. Even if you don't envision yourself in a particular job that comes up, if it piques your interest, go for it. I never thought I could be a morning show host after being a journalist for one year but I was. I also wouldn't be shy geographically. Just don't limit yourself and don't be shy to try new things.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.