WE HAVE so many young broadcasters mushrooming on TV and radio airwaves, but one thing is common among them: they never stay in one place.
We live in a time where TV and radio stations open up regularly and with that, young professionals are enticed into changing jobs for better working conditions.
Few people are in it for the long haul.
This is why Leanne Manas (pictured) celebrating a decade at SABC 2’s Morning Live next month is something commendable.
We caught up with her to find out what it feels to sit for 10 years in one place. She took us back to when it all first started.
“It’s been a long process of ups and downs and I appreciate it all. When I got the job, I wasn’t actually happy. I know when you get a job like this, naturally you have to be so excited about it, but I was not because of the mornings. I am not a morning person,” she confessed.
This obviously comes out as the perfect irony because we have been waking up to Manas’s face over the years and one thing that never comes across is how she feels about getting up early.
In fact, we take it for granted that come our time to get up and get ready for the day, Manas has to be on our screens, keeping us up to date with what is going on in the world.
“It felt like a sentence, although I had built some prior experience in a morning job.
“I quickly realised I had to be up by 4am just to make it to work on time. Sometimes as a broadcaster, the story can be anywhere, so to get to it, you might find yourself driving at 3am to go out of town.
“It’s not for the faint-hearted,” she said.
Before you write her off as ungrateful, Manas was quick to talk about the bigger picture, the passion that came with being on Morning Live.
“Having said that, I can’t express what a privilege it is to work on such a show. When I started, I quickly forgot about getting around, as I loved what the job came with.”
As she looked back through the years she had spent with the public broadcaster, Manas revealed that she had passed huge milestones in her life.
“During that time, my life changed. I got married. I have two children now and I am turning 40 this year. In my personal life, there have been so many highlights.
“On the work front, there have been so many things to look back at, from the people I have interviewed to the places I have travelled. There have been some extraordinary things I experienced.”
If you saw her do her thing in the morning, you would swear Manas was born ready to be a news anchor, but she is the first to admit that it took hard work and sheer determination to polish her craft.
“I think I have changed a lot. For anyone who is in any work situation for a long time, it’s only natural that they progress in what- ever they do. I think my interview techniques have changed. I’m much more knowledgeable, comfortable, relaxed and experienced than before,” she said.
On a sad note, we had to talk about her broadcasting “partner in crime”, the late Vuyo Mbuli, with whom she had formed an invincible combination. Mbuli died last year and Manas has had to soldier on.
“It is one of the most difficult things I have had to overcome. When people see me, they see Vuyo and it’s a difficult thing for me because I can never shake that. However, the feedback I have managed to get from people, which I appreciate, is that I have to move on professionally.
“I have to develop Leanne, as opposed to Leanne and Vuyo, which initially was a difficult thing to do, but I think now I am getting there,” she said.
• Morning Live airs every weekday from 6am on SABC2.