Gilchrist:“We get here around 3:30 every morning. To get out the door is a major accomplishment. I don’t bring anything with me: no coffee, no lunch.”
Yang:“I start my day with green tea and ease my way into it, then chase it down with two coffees. I never get enough sleep. That is just part of my reality because I have a family. The great part is I get to be here and be home in the afternoons.”
Gilchrist:“We go through the newscast while we do makeup, which for some reason people don’t think I do, but I do.”
Gilchrist:“The alarm goes off at 4:18. I get my coffee, put my coat on, my earpiece.”
Yang:“We get a microphone check and make sure we’re in the right position to get the cameras and lighting set.”
Yang: “All that has to happen before we go on the air at 4:26. People often ask me, ‘Why do you go on so early? Who’s is watching at 4:26?’ I will tell you tons of people in Washington are up that early.* This is an early-rising city. People are busy.”
*Nielsen ratings show about 50,000 viewers at that hour.
Yang:“We have a meeting after the show. Then I pick my kids up from school, eat dinner, help them with their homework, go to their practices and their games. I don’t get a lot of me time, but for my life right now, it suits me.”
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This article appears in the December 2014 issue of Washingtonian.
