Production support for Up Close is brought to you by the University of Tennessee Video Production Center and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Thank you for watching Up Close.

I'm Frank Murphy.

Beth Haynes got her start in TV as a nine year old kids news reporter on WTC in Chattanooga.

She's best known for her successful 20 year run on WBIR, advancing from reporter to anchor of three daily newscasts, including Live at five at four.

Her many memorable stories included one on her own experience with infertility.

Beth is an advocate for several charitable organizations, including the McNabb Foundation.

Tonight, we welcome Beth Haynes.

To Up Close.

Beth Haynes.

Welcome to Up Close.

Hi.

It's been a minute.

It has.

Thank you for bringing me back into the TV studio and looking at cameras and having the chance to talk to you.

Well, it's not like we've never been on camera together before.

We've shared the screen.

Many times.

I was like.

Does that Count?

You know, I should.

Because I was thinking about it that I thought, this is a lovely opportunity for me to talk to you.

But if we add up all the minutes I spent on your show, it's still not going to come close.

It's going to far exceed the amount of time we're going to spend here tonight.

Well, we go way back to I mean, started.

I think we got to know each other.

Radio brought us together.

He would come on with Dr. Bill Bass often.

Yeah.

Come on with your improv.

Yeah.

All of the above.

I mean.

We've.

We've just had Scholars Bowl.

I'm always hyping something.

Yes.

And he would always try to quiz us with some of the scholar Bowl questions that never want to.

I did not bring any math questions or any.

Questions because we requested that you did not.

So we're here to talk about you.

Oh, boy.

And I had the idea that I had to invite you to be on this show because there was an article in one of the UT magazines, and it was about you as famous alumna as Beth Haynes.

Thank you.

I won't mention what year because I can't remember 98.

Okay.

Well, I mean, the National Champions National champion.

And it had a picture of you in front of these this backdrop.

And I thought, well, obviously, Beth knows how to get to the studio.

I should have her on.

I remembered.

Yes.

It's been 25 years.

What did you do here in this very room?

I was it was part of one of my classes my senior year as a communications major at U.T., And I was a reporter anchor for Tennessee today.

Is that still?

I think.

So.

And at the time, it was broadcast on the NBC.

Oh, wow.

In Knoxville I believe Saturday mornings.

But I would during the week.

I'll never forget I was taking 18 hours.

Oh, my gosh.

I should not have been taking 18 hours.

Not a smart move.

But I was a poli-sci minor.

Yeah.

So I was taking that last semester, communications law, constitutional law, doing an internship at Channel 10 and working on this class.

We had to go out and report.

I had to turn content.

Wow.

I had no idea how to shoot, how to edit.

We would pair up with another student.

Yeah.

Thankfully, I chose wisely.

I would always like somebody that knew how to shoot and edit because I needed to learn how.

And we wanted to get a good grade.

But yeah, we would go.

We would turn content.

I spent many late nights in an editing studio and this building, I know it well.

And then we would come during our class period, during the afternoon and we would actually tape I think was an hour long show.

And that prepares you for your ultimate career, which is just as intense when you're on the air.

And I'm doing broadcast on a daily basis and there's a constant need to fill that hour or in your case, multiple hours a day of of news.

I mean, it never lets up.

Never lets up.

I mean.

You think you had a good show and all that everyone cares about is, okay, now what are you going to do tomorrow?

Yeah.

Or you had a great show planned and all those spontaneous moments, you know, everything falls apart.

But people are glued to the TV and they love it.

You know, when you had all this, this great content.

But yeah, the fast paced, high adrenaline that rush it's interesting as I look back, especially my last 20 years on air, you grew accustom to the pace.

Mm hmm.

And it's weird not having it.

It's weird not having it.

I haven't missed the grind.

I have not missed the grind.

But I did love that.

That adrenaline rush.

Looking at a picture of me live.

My favorite thing to do at Channel ten live coverage before the first Tennessee football game.

I love being in front of Neyland Stadium across the river.

Just the excitement and just the energy.

You feed off the crowd, especially if it's a big event.

And now it can be hard to, you know, tunnel kind of narrow your focus and, you know, block the crowd noise.

But I loved live TV so much.

So when I was tapped to be the live at five at four anchor, it was a big transition for me.

I actually had a mentor and former news director work with me because for me it felt staged.

Coming in to a studio.

Right now, it's buttoned up.

It's, you know, everything is scripted.

I was used to.

Flying by the seat of your pants Which I loved and in it, you know, feeding off of the energy of being live in the field.

So that was a transition for me.

But I really the last five years, especially because it can be chaotic, but I got to cover some really cool things and interview some really fascinating people.

So I would always tell myself, you know, be in the moment, take it.

Let me get to how you ended up at your hometown station, because, I mean, you started is Chattanooga really your hometown?

Well, not Athens in between.

Not in between.

I got both Knoxville and Channel Ten.

I watched Bill Williams, Edye Ellis was also there.

Still some individuals on the air and the Chattanooga market that I grew up.

Watching because nine years old, you're on TV.

I mean, and that was what, only ten, 15 years ago?

Sure.

Yeah.

You know, I remember we were watching TV one day.

My mom and I were sitting there and they announced a little commercial, a little spot about a kids news reporter opportunity.

And mom says, Well, you should audition for that.

And I'm like, I'm glad you got to be kidding.

Did you show some signs?

I mean, your mom must have seen something.

Yeah, I think I was I was always, you know, I was a dancer growing up.

I started doing some speech contest.

Okay, There you go.

Or topical speech.

And I loved it.

I loved being in front of a live crowd, you know, and getting up and having a topic and speaking.

And I think she saw there was a natural delivery and comfort level.

And so she encouraged me.

I think I had to.

I think you wrote a script.

I mean, back then we didn't have cell phones.

You couldn't record yourself, you know, using cell phones.

So you're the kid anchor.

So I went audition.

I was selected.

I would go once a month.

I would write two or three.

Wasn't just a one shot thing.

I did that from nine and then I would all the way through high school.

I thought it was one of those things where this month's kid anchors Beth Haines, and next month it's, you know, little Russell Biven Little Russell Biven, Marsha Kling and people in the Chattanooga area.

She was an icon.

She was a Bill Williams if you will, Yeah, but she had this beautiful delivery and presence on camera and she was over the kids news program.

And I went and auditioned.

And bless her heart, she would have to work, I mean, when I was nine, it was Bayeth.

Beth It was two syllables.

Beth I mean, I'm from East Tennessee.

And then I remember I wanted to say something about oil.

And I said, ohl, yes.

So there was a learning process then, and getting over the accent for sure.

But I, I did that.

Always knew I wanted to be in TV, came to UT Knoxville, pursued that.

Yeah.

And then you went to Kentucky and Georgia, but you described in that article specifically, or they described your job at Channel ten as an end game job, which seems odd because you were very young and it's an end game job.

But I also notice specifically in Knoxville Television, there are people who come here and stay and there are people who come here often first job out of college, and you barely have learned their name and they're gone.

So it's both a steppingstone market, but for you, an end game, what do you mean by that?

I never saw it as an end game, you know, especially early on when I moved here, I was on the set.

You know, I was at this station for a year.

I was at this station for two years.

You know, you saw this as a stepping stone.

So you didn't know 20 years?

No, I had no idea 20 years.

I came as a reporter.

I didn't know if there was going to be an anchor opportunity right now.

It's just interesting how things evolve, how people come and go.

And I had some great news directors who believed in me and promoted me and gave me opportunities.

So when you're sitting there in the waiting room for your big job interview with Channel ten and you think, okay, well, I can give I can get a couple of years here at home, that's cool.

And little did you know that some of the other people walking through the hallways would be your future coworkers, co-anchors.

And I'll explain.

Okay.

First of all, just so you know, I told my mom, Mom, I'm applying for this job.

If I don't get it, I'm getting out of the business.

Oh, I was in Macon, Georgia.

I was working two jobs.

I was working at Talbots in the morning.

And then I would go into the news station in Macon, Georgia, at 230 and work night side shift.

It was a grind.

I did that for two or three years.

I'd been, you know, trying to make it in the industry.

Yeah, it was my second station, so I just took vacation, took all my vacation, came home.

I'm sitting in the lobby at the Channel ten studio, and back then we didn't have a our website or Facebook page.

I couldn't log on to Russell Bivens Instagram.

Right Once when it was on TV, it was over.

Yeah.

If you didn't catch it live, you didn't catch it.

No, there really wasn't an online presence at all, which is hard to believe this day and age.

Yeah.

You know, normally you do your research, you would look up who The host star.

You get an idea of the show, you would know what was on the show that day.

You'd have to look up trade magazines.

You'd have to get broadcasting and cable magazine and study that show.

Anyway, I had no idea that Russell Bevan was.

I knew the name.

I'd never met him.

I hadn't seen a picture, so I knew his name.

He comes walking in from, I guess a three or four hour lunch, very chipper.

Well, hey there.

And I was like, Hi, how are you?

Hi, and he goes What are you here for?

And I introduced myself and I said, Oh, I'm applying for the live it five it it was live at five then, not live at five at four.

That is a strange name, and I'd like an explanation.

Okay.

It never came.

But he.

He goes five at five.

Why anchor that show?

We sat down and had a 30 minute conversation.

That was.

Your pre-interview.

Pre interview.

He tells a story that he went and told the news director that they had to hire me.

I bet he did.

I hope so.

I mean, that happens.

That happens.

Absolutely happens.

I just don't believe it, you know?

And then I was hired to fill in for the then lives at five anchor Sarah Allen, and then she left to go to a bigger market.

And there was an opening and it took a little convincing.

I mean, it was not even though I was hired as the one anchor and the news director had me in mind to take that role.

You know, you always have upper management and convincing upper management that you're the right.

They want to do research.

Oh, we had lots of Oh, do you know, I had to I had to watch a focus group.

Oh, that is so painful.

You ever watched a focus group?

Yes.

Mirrored windows.

You're on the other side.

You get to hear people talk about you.

It's fabulous.

I had a focus group one time where there was one lady who really liked me and the boss throughout all of her answers because he didn't believe her.

He was like, she clearly he must know you in real life.

I do.

I promise.

I don't know her.

well, I'll tell you that I thankfully only had that experience one time, but yeah, so I was hired as live at five.

And I think one of the big reasons I stayed in Nashville.

Russell two we loved that format.

I honestly thought at that point I could retire at Channel ten.

Yeah, this has changed a lot.

Things were evolving.

You know, local TV is changing by now.

There's just so many more opportunities digitally.

YouTube, you know.

You're not done as a storyteller.

Youll continue.

people right now that the big question I get well it's one happy retirement are you enjoying retirement?

You are not old enough to retire.

No not retiring I'm not even.

You are not anywhere near retirement age.

I love it.

I love storytelling.

I'm passionate about storytelling.

I want to continue doing that.

Well, let me ask about your first of all, your work husband Ill call him, Russell Biven.

Yes.

So you told us how you met him, but you also met your real husband?

I did.

I actually met my real husband that same day.

No, I did.

Come on.

I did.

Because he was in Sports or what was he doing?

He was anchoring a show called Style.

You remember?

Oh, I was on that show, too.

So on that show, you spent a lot of time on style.

Frank Makeover was then he was Seth Andrews.

That was his TV name?

Yes, Seth Andrews.

But when I interviewed that day, Seth was engaged to his first wife, Whitney.

And, you know, I was like, Oh, I remember meeting him.

Yeah, I worked with both of them.

I was friends with both of them.

So, yeah, very strange how things work out in life.

But yes, I met both of them, which is just ironic.

But yes, Russell obviously was my work husband for 20 years and I just recently did an event with him and he sends me a text and says, Hey, will you print my script for me?

And nothing changes.

Nothing changes I don't get paid to do that anymore.

No, but we are super close, you know.

But your real husband proposed to you on the set And I don't think that was planned.

I think he was running out of time.

What do you mean?

We New Year's Eve of that year.

New Year's Eve.

He looks at me and he says, I don't have a ring, but I want to talk about when we're getting married this year.

And I said, You don't have a ring.

We have nothing to talk about.

I was just like, I'm not having this conversation, you know?

Well, you know, my birthday was February 9th.

Valentine's Day, February 14th.

Yeah.

Our oldest birthday was March 1st.

We had already kind of my... And by oldest you mean Seth's?

Yes.

Yes.

My step daughter, stepson, 17 now and 14.

But we had we did have some conversations and we had talked about getting married that year.

Oh, good.

That year.

That year.

And I had said August would be a great time to get married.

So by running out of time, it's now almost March.

Oh, wow.

I didn't want to cut into his daughter's birthday.

Yeah.

So he called Robin Wilhoit and a producer at the time and orchestrated this whole thing.

I thought I was out on set to tape a news tease for the Night Beat.

And so I'm like, Why don't we never do this?

And looking outside, we've got to do this, you know?

He set up a total setup.

So I walk out and I start reading the script and of course he wrote the script and it says something like, Knoxville man finally pops the question, Now wait a minute.

Which he he knows I'm not big on surprises, but I was comfortable with that one just because it I mean, you know, studio is my second home, especially at Channel ten.

I spent so much time there.

But then I see coming out of the wings coworkers Russell John Becker had his video running Robin comes out and hugs me and that the best part of the story has been him on this red sweater.

And so we posted it the next week and some guy said, Gosh, is she marrying Mr. Rogers?

So now any time we see the pictures from the proposal, the rest and.

Then you had a beautiful wedding at the Tennessee Theater.

Which we did.

I mean, look, you look like a Disney princess.

Oh, gosh.

Thank you.

I tell you, we were trying to figure out where to get married.

Obviously, my husband, I've been married before, was my first marriage.

We wanted something different.

We love downtown Knoxville.

We love theater, and we both love Broadway.

He grew up in New York and and just to marry those two.

And we both have a lot of family from out of town.

So we wanted to to bring them and show off Knoxville.

And I'll tell you You picked the perfect place.

Perfect and the crown jewel of East Tennessee.

But your marriage also set up one of the most memorable stories that you reported on during 20 years at Channel ten, something that that you're most proud of, and that's very personal.

Very personal.

And, you know, I'm excited that I think people are more comfortable talking about infertility now.

I think people can voice that.

They can talk about IVF.

People have an understanding of basic, of what that is and the process.

But yeah, I, I just thought we would get married.

You know, we wanted to continue.

I wanted to have a child that wanted to have children with me as well.

And I just thought it would happen.

Yeah.

You know, I was 36, 37, and now I'm thinking I did my career, you know, now the next phase of my life.

Well, it just wasn't successful.

And I honestly, I didn't know how I felt about IVF when I first started.

I had a doctor, actually, I went to see him about something else, and he was like, you know, tell me your age.

And when I told him my age, he went, Oh.

They call it a geriatric pregnancy, if you're that old.

Yeah, I would, Yeah.

But he was like, I just his reaction.

And then now I'm grateful for his reaction because it got my attention and he connected me with an IVF specialist in Nashville.

So we went through this whole process and oh my gosh.

At what point did you decide to make it a TV news story?

Oh, it's interesting.

I went through the whole process.

We were we didn't tell anybody.

Because normally that's normal.

No one talked about it.

No one talked about it.

But it was very hard as I was going.

and not just you because you're on TV, but anyone in the family is very hush hush.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

We didn't talk about it at all, but I went through the process.

But but as I was going through it, I started having some conversations with friends that people would say, Oh, you need to call someone.

So she went through that, Oh, gosh, your sister.

I don't know if, you know, she went to your same day.

So it's a whisper network kind of.

So this this underground network, if you will.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so I'm I'm doing this going through this process and at the time I had a female news director, Martha Jennings.

And I tell you what, she pushed me, but she believed in me and she gave me every opportunity.

And so I would have to call her.

I had a couple of procedures and we'd, you know, work this out.

Like the day you would find out if the procedure worked.

So you would find out basically if you were pregnant or not.

Right, Right.

You know, so I would call her and she was very understanding and she would say, listen, don't come in today or if you need time, it's fine.

So she kind of walk that journey with me.

So after the process, I walked in her office and I said, okay, I want to pitch something to you.

I don't know what it looks like, you know, I just know we need to tell this story right?

And I said, So many people are suffering in silence.

I want to spotlight infertility.

I want to look at the options.

And at first you planned to stay out of the story.

Was not going to tell my story.

It wasn't about me.

Right.

That's what you trained in journalism school.

It's not stories, not me write about me.

And I plotted out.

I want to talk to this person.

They did IVF, this person did adoption, this person did embryo adoption.

I'm going to talk to the doctors just about this.

Nashville is an odd hub for embryo adoption.

Oh, the center, the National Center for Adoption.

It's fascinating.

It's right here in East Tennessee.

Yes.

Yes, absolutely.

Well, I start, you know, crafting the stories.

I do the research.

I find these incredibly courageous women willing to go on camera and talk publicly about their pain, their loss.

Some had success, some did not.

And I just remember this recurring thought, it was just Beth, You're asking them to do something you're not willing to do.

Oh, wow.

And I thought, it's just this nagging thought.

So I went to Seth, my husband, and I said, Okay, what would you think about me doing this?

And at first I was like, Oh, I don't.

Know, because he's not just a regular Joe at this point.

He's someone who knows the power of television, has the power.

So he understands that there's a downside to telling your story, not just an upset.

Well, and how public do you want it?

That's what I mean.

You know.

You're going to have listeners or viewers making comments that maybe you don't.

And people can be harsh.

That's what I mean.

Yeah, he knew that reality and he knew how critical and hurtful people could be, but he was just like, I don't know.

Anyway, he he said, listen, if you want to do this, I think you should, you know, I'll support you.

And he's always supported me, you know, and my career.

So I did the story.

Yeah.

I'm still hearing from people.

Just the other day a lady came up and said, Thank you so much because of you.

My daughter was struggling with this.

I had no idea how to talk to her.

I had no idea how to understand it and the emotions.

And you really helped bridge those conversations for us.

And my only regret, I wish hindsight I would have interviewed Seth, my husband, because so many men, so many spouses are going through this.

Yeah.

And they don't know what to do.

Like, what do you say?

Right.

And it's very I mean, our emotions are somewhat drug therapy.

I mean, that did you have to take I mean, I had a whole I think I laid out the shot regimen.

I had to give myself shots.

I think it messed up the shots.

Like right before the 10 p.m. newscast, Seth had to give me shots at one point.

Hey, you're watching Channel ten or Fox 43 at this point excuse me a second early.

I mean, that's really thats almost... You were also on Fox 43, right?

That an hour long So every time I saw you on that channel, you had just given yourself a shot.

Often when I was going through IVF.

Yeah.

You know, and that's the thing.

You don't you don't realize what people go through and but anyway, I'm so proud of that.

Again, it, it, it really felt like, you know, if it helped in any way normalize the conversation around infertility and give people hope that that you know that was my goal.

Right now you're the poster child for that.

Facility.

Yeah.

Well, I know that you're not retired, but is that a story that you could revisit when you do your own storytelling on your own?

Is it?

And I try to to to engage all my social media platforms when there's like a Infertility Awareness Month or I still stay in contact with, there's a Tennessee fertility advocate.

It's kind of a grassroots efforts at helping is really working to get insurance coverage for women.

So I try to stay involved and and use my platform in those areas.

But I also associate you with a lot of great nonprofit organizations and wonderful causes here in East Tennessee.

I think when I first I don't even know where I'd start when I say the McNabb Foundation, when I say the American Heart Association.

Gosh theres been a lot.

Tell us a little bit before we have to go about your involvement with the Heart Association and with the McNabb Foundation.

Well, I tell you, that was the thing I loved about Channel ten, a community station.

We were encouraged to get involved, but we wanted to be a part of the community.

And, you know, my parents of have always, you know, volunteer their time and their talents and really impressed upon us early that we needed to do that and to give back.

So well in old days of radio and television, that's how you kept the license was you'd go out and you do a charity event because you'd have to file papers every quarter with the FCC saying This is what we did this quarter to help the community.

You know, since we you and I came up from that school of well, this is part of broadcasting, this is what we want to do.

But, you know, I had a great general manager, Jeff Lee still lives and Knoxville, and he had a heart for community.

He still deeply involved in the community.

And his philosophy was where there's a need, we're going to engage and we're going to help.

I bet the McNabb Foundation had a heart attack, pardon the expression, when you left Channel ten, because they still want to do the big Beth Hanes 12 days of Christmas auction.

A lot of people reaching out.

But you still did it.

Yeah, it was huge.

And I will still do that.

You know what I tell people?

I'm a community advocate.

It's important to me to to give back to, you know, be active in my community, to help in any way I can.

I am blessed beyond measure.

And I feel like it's it's a requirement that that I do that for me personally.

So you're loving life as a stepmom?

Yes, I you know, it's it's.

Youre proud I can see your posts.

I love I love my kids and I'll never call them step kids.

So I it's Ella and Alex and I'm not mom.

They have a great mom.

I have a great dad.

I'm just Beth.

I've always been that.

Yes, There.

There they are.

Alex.

Oh, my gosh.

They're getting so big.

Ella will be a senior.

Alex is going to be a fresh a freshman and high school.

Fantastic.

But they have been a tremendous blessing.

So I went from 1 to 4 and that's that.

I think we'll get married.

You know, you start a life with with a person.

And yeah, I jumped right in.

Yeah, but that's the family.

I wouldn't change it, but it's been a perfect journey.

All right, so next, your eyes are on the horizon.

You're looking for that opportunity.

And of course, the technology nowadays has changed so much that you can just pick up your phone and you can be on a tight.

I'm working on my commencement speech right now and I'm looking back on a lot of the interviews I did.

I love the series that I did called Homegrown.

Basically, I'd interview people who were born across the state of Tennessee and had a national international footprint.

And I was revisiting some of those interviews and I'm just like, wow, I got to talk to some really cool people at the highest levels.

Like Dolly.

like Dolly, Dolly Parton loves you, by the way.

I love telling you her facade, it may be fake, but she's one of the most genuine people I have ever met.

I love interviewing her because you never know what she's going to say.

Never.

I mean, she's called me out for wearing Spanx before saying, Oh, that's got a girdle on in a but I.

So does she.

Well, yes.

And she you know, we would kind of give it back to each other.

But I think she knew that East Tennessee roots were both from East Tennessee.

Oh, yeah.

And for me, a girl growing up in East Tennessee, I say this often, it was easy for me to dream big because I looked at Dolly Parton and Pat Summit.

I mean, what incredible women role models for me growing up in East Tennessee and Pat Summitt.

I've had it.

I had a chance.

I mean, I don't have to limit that.

But East Tennessee, you could say that in the world.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

I mean, well, that's who I looked up to.

What a great way to to wrap this up.

It's been.

So fun.

I appreciate you being here again.

Absolutely.

I'll buy some coffee and we'll go have a chat.

Thank you.

I appreciate the offer.

All right.

Beth Haines, journalist and with more.

So much more still to come, we'll keep an eye out for you.

Yeah.

All right.

Thank you for being on up close.

My name is Frank Murphy.

We'll talk to you again next time.