By Kristin Waters
J Alumni news staff
Ann Pedersen Gleeson came into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a small town girl and left with big-time goals.
The Journalism Alumni Association honored Gleeson as an outstanding broadcasting alumnus during the college’s J Days celebration April 11 and 12.
Gleeson grew up in Laurel, dreaming of anchoring the news on TV. When she received a small scholarship to attend UNL, the first thing she did was declare herself a broadcasting major.
“I just always knew I wanted to be on TV,” she said. “I didn’t want to be an actress or anything. I wanted to share the news.”
Gleeson may not have wanted to be an actress, but her leadership as a student gave her prominence on campus. As a freshman, Gleeson was elected president of her pledge class at Gamma Phi Beta sorority. She also served on the UNL Publications Board, was an ASUN student senator and, as a senior, was a member of Mortar Board honor society.
Gleeson said her involvement was the key to her success at Nebraska.
“I sought myself out,” she said. “I was urged to be involved by my professors, who were very supportive. It’s important to have a liberal education, and learn not to be narrow. I got that at Nebraska. I didn’t necessarily realize how beneficial it was at the time.”
Broadcasting Professor Larry Walklin said Gleeson’s drive to be involved stemmed from her upbringing in a small town.
“When a person comes from a small community, they have a certain style of operation,” he said.
“Ann came from a small town and a small school and learned to adapt and become a leader at a big university.”
Gleeson’s ability to adapt in different environments is crucial in a field that has a mobile audience, Walklin said.
“Ann has adapted again and again throughout her career,” he said. “And people relate to her because of that. It’s a sense of the whole. She relates to individuals, and they relate to her.”
Gleeson landed her first internship at KHGI in Kearney in the summer between her junior and senior years, which she said was the stepping stone to getting her first job.
“The experience I got that summer made the difference for me to land my first job,” she said. “And from that job, I got my second job.”
After graduating from UNL in 1974, Gleeson landed a job with CBS’s WOWT-TV in Omaha as an assistant news director.
But she soon realized that her dreams of anchoring and becoming the next Barbara Walters had changed.
“I initially wanted to be an anchor. Anchoring seems so glamorous. But after trying it for a while, I thought it was really boring,” Gleeson said. “Some people think they really connect with their viewers, but reading print wasn’t challenging.”
So when Gleeson was offered the only woman’s position in management at WOWT-TV, she couldn’t refuse.
“If you look at her, she’s the exact prototype of a news anchor,” Walklin said. “But in a management position you’re the boss, and you’re making the decisions. When you’re the anchor you’re told what to do. Ann’s always been an entrepreneur.”
For four years, Gleeson managed a 50-person news staff, implemented two 30-minute news shows and managed the editorial and financial aspects of the news department.
In 1988, Gleeson moved to Minneapolis, Minn., as the director of news operations at WCCO-TV. She managed a $10 million budget and a 100-person staff in the news department.
“WCCO is rich in the tradition of journalism, and that gave me a constant jolt of desire to work and be better than the best,” she said.
But after 14 years with WCCO, Gleeson lost that jolt to be the best and realized she was in a rut.
“For a long time, my job became very monotonous,” she said. “It just got very boring. I felt a little bit stuck.”
In December 2001, Gleeson was laid off because of a financial setback at the station. Gleeson took a month off before taking a job as the managing editor for Fox/WFTC-TV in Minneapolis. Gleeson said her new job was exactly what she needed to get back in the swing of things.
“I needed to get rejuvenated,” she said. “I’m back in the thick of things even if it took a downturn in revenue and a layoff to get me there.”
Gleeson said her staff was small but was experimenting with duopolies, the ownership of more than one TV station in a single market. Gleeson said WFTC ran two stations out of one newsroom, which increases balance and allows newsrooms to combine resources in ways that were not financially possible before.
“It’s fascinating. It’s the wave of the future,” she said. “I’m having a great time experimenting with it.”
Gleeson is also teaching an introduction to TV class at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. She plans to continue teaching at UM and working at Fox in the future.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but it’s bright right now,” she said. “I feel like I’ve had a good journalism career.”
But Gleeson said her greatest accomplishment in life wasn’t her journalism career but her career as a mother and a wife.
“Truly, in life that’s what matters most, my marriage and two children,” she said. “That’s my greatest accomplishment.”
Gleeson has a 14-year old son and a 19-year old daughter, who is a freshman broadcasting major at UNL.
“I love my work, and my family will tell you that,” she said. “But my true love is my family. They make me so proud.”