Increasingly, TV news anchors and hosts are going extra-curricular as they expand their “brand.” A few years ago, former CBS “Early Show” and local TV anchor Rene Syler launched parenting site Good Enough Mother while still continuing TV appearances. When she left CNN, Soledad O’Brien started her own production company and can now be seen on CNN, Al Jazeera America and other outlets. Then there are the TV news anchors who do double duty on radio, FNC’s Brian Kilmeade among them.
CNN anchor Kyra Phillips is getting into the multi-tasking fray. Phillips and two friends started “The Mom Squad Show,” a 3-times-a-week podcast which, in its first week on iTunes, was downloaded 7,000 times. The podcast is hosted by Phillips in Atlanta, and fellow moms Christine Eads in Washington, DC and Chaz Kelly in Connecticut. Kelly’s husband “Seton” O’Connor is a sidekick on the Dan Patrick show. Eads co-hosts a show on SiriusXM.
Phillips will continue her day job in the CNN Investigative unit, while recording the podcast in her off hours. She’s not allowed to pitch products, or otherwise overstep her CNN contract. Phillips and her husband, Fox News Atlanta-based correspondent John Roberts, are the parents of 3-year-old twins.
“The Mom Squad Show” already has distribution. It went live on iHeardRadio today, and will soon be carried on TuneIn.