Jeff Glor is the Swiss Army knife of CBS News. Since 2007, he has served an evening news anchor (weekday and weekend), morning show host (weekday and weekend), streaming news anchor, news correspondent and sports-magazine correspondent for the network.
Glor was honored by the Buffalo Broadcasters’ Association on Thursday for his accomplishments across all of those roles. He hails from Tonawanda, N.Y., outside of Buffalo, and this honor means a lot to him.
“Buffalo is what made me,” Glor told TVNewser earlier this week. “It’s where everything is rooted. My parents did a great job raising us but western New York did as well.”
He added, “It’s a place that I think about all the time. I’m really happy to be going back. I’m always happy to go back, but especially for an award like this.”
In addition to discussing his Buffalo roots, we spoke with Glor about the show he co-hosts, CBS Saturday Morning, recent leadership changes at CBS News, best practices for interviewing former President Donald Trump and more.
TVNewser: Is there a specific Buffalo-centric story you’ve covered at CBS News that really sticks out to you?
Glor: I’m actually going to be shooting a story there this week. I think unfortunately, the most memorable thing I’ve covered in Buffalo was the plane crash back in 2009. It was Colgan Air Flight 3407. Obviously that was tragic, and I was there right after it happened. It’s not a fun thing to talk about at all, but it was a moment when you really saw Buffalo come together.
I’ve shot a whole bunch of stories in Buffalo, and anytime I get a chance to go back there and do something, I take it. But I’ll never forget that night, and I’ll never forget that story.
Let’s turn to CBS Saturday Morning. Where did the idea for The Dish segment come from, and how do you and the team decide which restaurants to cover?
It’s a combination. There’s a woman by the name of [CBS Saturday Morning producer] Marci Waldman, who helps run The Dish segment. She’s amazing at finding new chefs and restaurants. I’d love to get Marci a shout out because she’s the best.
I think it was taken to a new level a few years ago, when, partially because of the pandemic, we couldn’t have chefs in studio anymore. So, we started shooting them as pieces, which is more work, but it allowed us to be more inventive in the way we told these stories and talked about the chefs.
It’s about food, but it’s not just about food. These are the stories of these chefs, and their journeys in their lives. I think it allows us to sort of set a table–and not mess up any metaphors here–but serve up any dinner we want, or breakfast as it might be. I think it just allows us to get as creative as possible, and I really enjoy that.
As far as where it all comes from, it’s a combination of the correspondents finding stories, or it could be a producer anywhere in the world finding a story. Whether it’s London or South America, or Australia, it doesn’t matter, I think we would go anywhere to do Dishes. Also, it could be influenced by other stories that we shoot. I’ll be shooting a story, whether it’s internationally or somewhere in the U.S. , and we’re already shooting that story, and I might say, “why don’t we pick up a Dish and find a good restaurant?”
There have been executive changes lately at CBS News. Wendy McMahon is now the CEO of the entire organization, not just Stations, and Ingrid Ciprian-Mathews is now CBS News president. Can you speak about the two of them as leaders and if you see anything changing with Neeraj Khemlani now out of the picture?
I don’t know that I have seen changes. Ingrid has been here for a long time and I think she’s a stabilizing force. I’m so happy for her that she’s in that position now.
In terms of Wendy, she reached out to me right after she got the job, and I reached back out to her. I think she’s great, and I think she’s going to do great. Wendy was working in local news in Boston at the same time that I was working in local news in Boston, so we have that connection.
I’m a big Wendy McMahon fan, I’m happy for her.
Kristen Welker kicked off her Meet the Press tenure yesterday with a Trump interview. You sat down with the man back in 2018 leading up to the Putin summit in Helsinki. Explain that experience and how does one go about keeping Trump on topic and getting him to answer your questions?
It was challenging for sure. I interviewed him twice, actually. One was in Scotland, the other one was at the White House. It’s always a challenge – any big political interview is and you really have to do your research.
I have not seen that interview [Welker-Trump] yet, so I don’t know that I can speak to it. I think when you’re in this business, no matter who the presidential candidate or the president is, you’ve got to do your homework. Now, that’s not to say that Kristen didn’t. Like I said, I haven’t seen that interview.
You’ve been a part of every CBS News show/franchise outside of 60 Minutes (although I suppose we can include 60 Minutes Sports!) at one point or another over your 16 years at the organization. What’s something you’ve noticed as a longtime insider that you feel doesn’t get talked about enough concerning CBS News? Something that’s sort of “inside baseball.”
I think fundamentally it’s about the reporting, the storytelling and the way we put together these pieces. I am proud of the way we do it. I think we’re always trying to find something new and something different and then present that story in the best way possible. I don’t think the pieces that you’re seeing on a lot of CBS News platforms are ones you’re really going to find anywhere else. I think that was the case when I started and I think it’s still the case today.
How is Jeff Glor the journalist in 2023 different from Jeff Glor the journalist in 2007?
I’m older and I’ve worn a lot of hats, but I like to think that I’m not different in terms of stories I’m looking for and the work I’m trying to do. I think the ambition I still have to tell those stories – that hasn’t changed. I still want to do the best work, and that hasn’t changed.
Credit: Dave and Liz Jarosz