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During my recent visit to The Morning Show at Global TV in Toronto, I had the chance to sit down for a candid chat with host Liza Fromer, also a busy mom to son Samson (8) and daughter Ever (5 - don't you love that name?)
Here she dishes on her early wake-ups, parenting strengths and struggles, and what makes The Morning show so special. Enjoy!
With such an early morning wake-up, what do your evenings look like?
Usually I'm on a quasi-schedule. I do the early bird special for dinner for sure. I have two kids. My husband and I are separated and we share custody so when the kids are with me we eat around 5 - 5:30, hang out for a while after that. They go to bed around 8, I go to bed around 8:30 or 9. So that's kind of our night. Typically when I have the kids I try to get a nap in during the day while they're at school so I can be up and aware and really present for them, but if I don't have them I will very easily eat at 3 and be in bed at 5. There are those days for sure!
In the morning you get up at...?
4:15. This morning was a bit tragic because I very rarely stay up late - I get invited to so many great events and I rarely go because I know I'm going to be a wreck - but I did a prime time special for Global {Intimate with Liza Fromer} and it aired last night so I thought I'll be damned if I don't stay up to watch that, and then you can't go to sleep the minute it's over, so it was one of those mornings where my alarm was going off and literally I was like "What is that noise?" I think it was twenty to five by the time I got up so proper hygiene was out the window! It was brush teeth, out door, bye bye!
You mentioned being separated. Any tips for other parents who are coparenting?
We've had the good fortune of keeping it amicable, which I would put a lot on my ex-husband. He has a very calm personality. Tips I would give: be as honest and gentle as you can with the kids, age-appropriately. We keep in touch with them every day. When they're with their dad I call them every night and when they're with me, vice versa, so they have both of us in their lives in some way every day and that seems to help.
Ever, Liza and Samson
You have your degree in Radio and Television Arts. Knowing what you know now, how important do you think a formal education is for this field?
I do think it's important, for a number of reasons. I also feel like back when I was at Ryerson I was scratching out my essays on a stone tablet so who am I to say, it was a billion years ago, but there are certain aspects of this industry that might not be sexy but you need to know. You need to know what the CRTC is and how it works, and different structures of broadcasting. They give you the fundamentals of writing and that sort of thing. Can you learn that outside of school? Sure. But it also gives you the opportunity to have a bit of a calling card when you want to do an internship, which is how I managed to do one at Q107 originally and that was really the springboard for my career. I worked there for free as a student and they got to know me and asked if I wanted to fill in in the community cruiser and I got the opportunity to be on-air, and I met people, and just learned what a real environment was like, so I would still really recommend school.
You've worked on other shows as well {such as CityTV's Breakfast Television}. What do you think it is that sets The Morning Show apart?
It's interesting. You don't need to reinvent the wheel with morning shows. It's a pretty simple formula. People wake up, it's a vulnerable time of day. Some aren't morning people, they can't handle a lot of activity, or they have a busy house, whatever it happens to be. But you need to understand that people are allowing you into that vulnerable time of day, and that's a privilege and an honour. What makes us different I think is that we have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs but we also have some really interesting conversations. We've managed to figure out how to blend those two. Not turn into just a news show, and not all the lighter side, what we do differently I think is combine both.
(No real behind-the-scenes is complete without the McCafé shot!)
Are there any other career goals you have?
This special that I just did was really exciting and new for me. I'd like to continue that and see where we can go with it, maybe make it happen a couple of times a year. It's funny, I've always had a loose plan, but I'm not that "In one year, five years, ten years, I'll be doing this" kind of girl. No, there aren't any other plans right now other than to keep experimenting and seeing what we can do here. Our morning show is still pretty new so I'd like to keep tinkering around here to see what we can do that's different and better and continue to bring the audience in.
How much pressure do you feel as a woman to keep up a certain appearance for TV? {Liza had no problem sharing that she's 44 years old.}
There’s definitely image and body pressure working in this industry, not applied by anyone I work with or for but certainly applied by myself. When you appear on TV people have no problem telling you what they think of your looks - you look taller/thinner/prettier/younger in person! That’s something I had to get used to, but it’s happened for so many years now it just rolls off me. I’m at a tenuous peace with my weight/age/looks.
Ever, Liza
From your point of view as a host, what do you think makes a good television guest? {Self-serving question, I know!}
A good guest is someone who shows up and wants to participate, is excited, is ready to have fun. It's almost what makes a good dinner guest! That's kind of how we look at ourselves, when we're sitting around the table talking with a guest there, imagine your best self at a dinner, being sparkling. Do that on TV! That would be the best thing you could do.
Samson, Ever
What would you say are your biggest strengths as a parent, and what do you want to keep working on?
This is going to sound so cheesy but for strengths, I remember seeing this iconic moment on video of Princess Diana, and she had been away, she was on a boat, and she sees her boys who she hasn't seen in a while, and she throws her arms open and they run to her and her face lights up! Even though that was way before I had kids, I thought that's how I want my kids to feel. I want them to see that's how I feel about them. I do try, not to that exuberant degree, to emulate that love whenever they come through the door.
Weakness: patience. I thought I was patient, I was sorely mistaken. I am not a colourer, I'm not that girl who's going to get down and do a puzzle. I can't do it! It just drives me. Even nonsense - I'll have patience for normal kid nonsense for a bit and then I don't. There's that theory that life puts a mirror in front of you and shows you what you need to work on, and that's one thing!
Liza and me
Aside from your family, how would you finish the sentence "This mom loves..."?
This mom loves sleep. This mom loves Law and Order reruns. This mom loves Dermalogica and Skinceuticals products, and that's for reals, they're unbelievable. This mom loves lunch with my girlfriends. We call it "drunch" - drunk lunch, because I'm done for the day at noon!
It's evening to you by that time!
A million percent it's cocktail hour. No it's not, but occasionally! This mom loves reading a good book since the day I could actually read.
Anything in particular?
I read The Goldfinch which just won the Pulitzer. I just got Paris by Edward Rutherford who wrote New York, London and Paris. He was here at the show so I'm going to read that. I just read Miriam Toews' book All My Puny Sorrows.
That's on my list.
I did a reading for the Gillers. It's great. A bummer to some degree but great. I recommend it. Whatever is around. I'm so lucky that we have authors around here and I have stacks and stacks - I have to go on reading vacations!
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After we were done, we took some photos, she complimented my legs in a gal-pal kind of way, and we said our goodbyes.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Liza! Catch Liza Fromer on The Morning Show weekdays on Global from 6-9:30.
