Karen Devine Interviews Katie Couric
Katie Couric was in Southern California last week to interview west coast stars for her daytime talk show *Katie* which is based out of New York. Because *Katie* airs on KESQ NewsChannel 3 every weekday from 3 to 4 p.m. KESQ held aFacebook contest and took a bus load of Coachella Valley viewers to watch a taping of the show. After the taping, KESQ Anchor/Reporter Karen Devine had a chance to sit down with Couric and ask her how she likes the Daytime talk format.
“You know, it’s fun for me to try different things. I think that’s sort of one of the secrets of life is to continue to challenge yourself,” Couric told Devine. Couric has been in the Broadcasting business for 34 years. She was the Co-host of The Today Show for 15 years, Anchor of CBS Evening News for five and now she has her own talk show.
“I clearly can’t keep a job,” joked Couric. “It’s sort of like an actor maybe doing Broadway one moment then maybe a feature film then maybe a sitcom or something. I don’t really feel like my skill set has to change that much, I just sort of exercise different muscles.”
A busload of “Katie” fans arrived in Hollywood for the taping of one of her shows. They were winners of a KESQ Facebook page contest. Sharon of Rancho Mirage said, “I love Katie, she is so real, so good, her interviews are so interesting.”
That’s exactly the kind of reaction Couric is hoping for with the longer interview format of her show. “I think in this age of soundbites and our shortened atttention spans, largely because of the internet I think, it’s nice to actually sit down and really sink your teeth into a topic or really get to know somebody, get to know a different side of them,” said Couric.
*Katie* debuted in September of 2012 with the biggest ratings in daytime talk in a decade. The combination of hard hitting exclusive interviews, like the hour long dialog between she and controversal Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o, and the current stars of television and film has helped the show earn a second season. Katie attributes some of the success to letting the interviews breath.
“The longer the time period, I think, makes people kind of sit down and just kind of feel much more relaxed and I think when you’re more relaxed you’re more revealing.”
