Since Monica Pearson retired from the anchor desk at WSB-TV in 2012 after 37 years, she has kept herself plenty busy.
She received a graduate degree at the University of Georgia, did commercials for Montlick & Associates, hosted a weekly show on Kiss 104.1 and created a Black female-oriented talk show on Georgia Public Broadcasting for three seasons called “A Seat at the Table.”
But when Atlanta-based Gray Television in December offered her to do two TV shows on Peachtree TV, she dived right in. The first show, “Monica Pearson One on One,” debuts Sunday at 8 p.m. on Peachtree TV and will feature her interview with former Atlanta mayor and civil rights legend Andrew Young, who is 89.
“He and I have been friends for 40, 41 years,” she said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’ve known him and traveled with him. He’s pretty comfortable with me. We can’t use everything in the interview!”
When Pearson used to work with WSB-TV doing her quarterly “Monica Closeups” specials, she could rely on the station’s vast decades-long video archives. But CBS46 doesn’t have that level of history. She had to dig up Young-related video from national CBS archives, CNN and his “Andrew Young Presents” documentaries.
She even went on eBay to buy four Jet magazines from the early 1970s featuring Young to get more pictures.
“I have forgotten how much work is involved doing a one-hour show,” said Pearson, 74. “I have worked more hours the last two, three weeks than I have in a year! Whew!”
At the same time, she said, “I’m loving it. I missed the personality interviews. That’s my bread and butter.”
She plans to make the show monthly. Future episodes will feature legendary Atlanta-based comic Jeff Foxworthy, country artist Jimmie Allen and part-time Atlanta stand-up comedian George Wallace.
She is also planning a panel chat show similar to GPB’s “A Seat at the Table” later in the year.
Pearson said she’s admittedly nervous about the new venture. “I haven’t been able to sleep,” Pearson said. “I’m not going to be comfortable until the show airs.”
At the same time, she said she is also feeling “rejuvenated. I love the set. The colors are me. The set has orange, a soft shade of peach and red! It’s cheerful! This show is not going to be a downer in any way. This is going to be a fun show.”
She is also writing the scripts and feels “I’m writing better than I did 10 years ago,” citing guidance from Valerie Boyd, a former Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer and editor who was teaching at UGA until she died earlier this month at age 58 from cancer.
Gray Television, which purchased CBS46 and Peachtree TV in December, will make the shows available to all its TV stations nationwide, which thrills Pearson because the company has a station in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
The one thing she said she’s annoyed by is pure vanity. “I put on some pandemic pounds I have to get rid of,” she said. “I know that is so female. It shouldn’t matter, but I look at myself in the camera and say, ‘I got to get it together!’ ”
WHERE TO WATCH
“One on One With Monica Pearson,” 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27 on Peachtree TV and on demand on Peachtree TV’s website later in the week
About the Author
