For the third year in a row, Minnesota Star Tribune readers have voted WCCO morning host Vineeta Sawkar ‘Best Radio Personality.’ Her incredible career has touched print, TV, and radio. She even went to the dark side and dabbled in PR, but it all started as a childhood dream in suburban Kansas. “Ever since I was in fifth grade, I wanted to be a television reporter and anchor, that was my goal,” Sawkar told Barrett Media. “I was in speech tournaments, I loved doing interviews, and I loved video.”
Sawkar double majored at Boston University in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science before sending out her first tape. “I sent out hundreds and got tons of rejections,” she said. Finally, a news director in Fargo, North Dakota, said, ‘All right, I have a job for you if you want to be a weekend weather anchor and be a reporter three days a week.’ I knew nothing about weather, but I wanted to be a reporter, so I said, I’d do it. I’d learn.”
For two years she learned the ropes, then moved to Omaha, Nebraska before moving to Fargo, North Dakota. “I had met my now husband, who I’ve been married to almost 28 years, in Fargo. He was from Minnesota. So, I was trying really hard. I wanted to get to a big market, and I loved Minnesota.”
She used her pester power and landed a job at KSTP. For 18 years Sawkar graced the screen of the ABC affiliate and did “everything.” “I was a weekend reporter, weekend anchor, weekday reporter, fill in weeknight anchor,” she said. “In my last eight years there, I was a morning anchor. I did everything. It was great. And I pretty much consider myself a Minnesotan now.”
Sawkar lived her childhood dream until her world came crashing down. “The News Director and General Manager called me in and said, ‘we want to let you go,’ she said. “It’s kind of the way the business is. You have to be ready for it. I was in the middle of a contract, so it surprised me. They didn’t just say go away and we’ll pay you off. They said, ‘We’ll give you a year. You can find another job, we’ll let you go, and you can leave whenever. But you have to still smile and come to work with a good attitude. So, I did, and I stayed that full year. I looked for all sorts of jobs outside of the business.”
She called the year painful but landed on her feet at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I joined the Star Tribune, and I kind of pioneered a role there. They hadn’t had someone from the broadcast industry come in. They’ve been doing video very well. They had good documentary style video, but not interview style video news segments. They didn’t really have anyone with broadcasting experience. So, I came in their digital news cut ins on their website, did intros and tags for the different videos they had, and it was just kind of a new role there.”
After three years of crafting the role, Sawkar decided to get out of the business and, “Go to the evil side, Public Relations, as many journalists call it.” She calls her time in PR “lovely” but noted how different it was from journalism. “I felt like I approached it differently than other PR people because I knew the other side. So, I left there after two years. I got a job at a local college, University of Saint Thomas, and I was there almost four years.”
Just when Sawker believed her time in media was done, they pulled her back in. “All of a sudden, the news director, excuse me, program manager, brand manager at WCCO radio reached out to me and said, ‘hey, would you want to get back in the business?’ And I was like, wow! It’s nice to know that I’m still on the radar and that someone would still want to reach out.”
Despite not having experience in radio she said, “I’m going to give this a shot. What is the worst that can happen to me? I fail and I go back to doing something else?’ Once you’ve been let go from a job, especially a career that I loved as much as I did in television, you lose that fear of losing a job. It would still hurt, but I just thought, why not give it a shot?”
Sawkar is loving her fast-paced three-hour morning show. While she humbly believes, “I’m not a legend like the people who preceded me,” what she doesn’t realize is her pending legendary status is not up to her. It is instead up to time and her listeners.
However, she does have a measurement for success. “When I’m out and about and someone says, ‘oh, I heard on the radio this thing…’ and I think that was us! We were talking about that’. I’ve had that a few times where people don’t know it’s our show and I’m like, we were talking about that. You were listening to us!”
Another notable measurement of success for Sawkar, comes from politicos. “When local leaders really want to be on our show, we have a demand with people knowing that we have a very engaged audience that tunes in to us region wide. So that to me is a success.”
For those looking to follow in her footsteps, Sawkar has a few notes. “First of all, don’t take things personally, because even back in the day when I was sending out all those videotapes, I got so many rejections, [there were] so many people along the way who didn’t believe in me or didn’t think I could do what I’m doing. Perseverance is huge and belief in yourself…and find the people who believe in you.”
Secondly, Sawkar said, “I would highly recommend business classes. I wish I would have taken a few more business and economics classes. There’s so much that drives what we [in the media] do as far as business reporting and the economy. I’ve learned along the way, but I still think I could have benefited from taking some business classes. Also, it can help you pivot if you realize that journalism isn’t your jam, or you don’t want to deal with working weekends and holidays and getting in at 4:30 in the morning. Business classes are good, so I’d highly recommend that just for the knowledge or for a future pivot if you decide to do something else.”
Last, and perhaps most notably, the five-time Emmy award winning journalist said, “There may be something you may have your mind on, but if you can’t quite get to it, see what else is out there and be flexible with it.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
