Columbus news anchor Chuck Leonard reveals surprising tidbits before he retires
After 38 years as a newscaster at WTVM, mostly as the morning co-anchor, Chuck Leonard will retire Dec. 20.
In a Q&A with the Ledger-Enquirer, he shared memorable moments from his career, as well as some info and insight about himself that might surprise even his regular viewers.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why are you retiring now?
“Well, I turned 65 back in September, and I thought, ‘Now’s a good time to step aside, join my wife (retired educator Carol Mashburn), who has four years on me in retirement.’”
What are you going to miss most?
“Certainly not 2 in the morning, because that’s when we get up to get here. … I get up at 2, get to work at 3, go on the air at 5 — and usually wake up about halfway through the show.”
What are the most significant ways TV news has changed in your 38 years at WTVM?
“The advent of computers. When I started here in ’81, we weren’t doing film anymore, but we hadn’t been away from film that long. But we had typewriters. All the news was typed in a form that had like four copies. The director got the white copy. The producer got the pink copy. The audio operator the green copy. Then we ended up with the gold copy. You had to learn to type without making mistakes. Computers make that a lot easier now. … Also, the portable cameras we had back then were huge. And we had photographers to lug them around and shoot pictures. These days, photographers are really what we call MMJs (multimedia journalists), young people that shoot with their own camera and sometimes their phone. So it’s gotten a lot tighter than what it was when I got here.”
You grew up on a farm in the Birmingham area. How did you end up in Columbus and at WTVM?
“I was working in Alabama, in south Alabama, in radio at WKMX. A fellow that I worked with came to work here, at Channel 9. His name is Cal Callaway. He now works at Channel 5 in Atlanta. He came here as a nighttime photographer and a weekend sports anchor. At his going-away party, I said, ‘Cal, if anything opens up, let me know about it.’ Sure enough, he called me about a month later, I guess it was, and the opening was for co-host of a talk show. The ‘Good Day’ program is what it was called. I didn’t know if that’s what I wanted to do, but I did want to get into television. So I interviewed with Carroll Ward. … Turns out, he and I worked at the same radio station, in Alexander City, many years apart, and I think that helped me get the job.”
You’ve been very successful here. I’m sure you’ve had opportunities to move to larger markets. Why did you stay in Columbus?
“I think because we like it. I mean, we got a house, then we had kids, we had our careers and involvement in the community. It just felt right.”
What has felt right about Columbus?
“I think the people. The leaders have all been good, and we’ve enjoyed where we’ve lived.”
What do you plan to do in retirement?
“Well, we’re going to take a little cruise after the first of the year, and we may do a lot of traveling, depending on how far the money goes. But I’ll find something to do. My wife says, ‘Whatever you find to do, it needs to pay.’ So we’ll see.”
What’s your funniest moment at WTVM?
“Two times I got tickled on the air. We just had to go to a commercial break. One involved the late Chris Treston. He was the sports anchor, and I was filling in doing the weather one day. This was ’83 or ’84, somewhere around there, and he and I got to talking about Bo Jackson before the show started. Neither one of us could remember Bo’s real first name. … I’m on the air, at the weather wall, doing the weather. He walks in, off camera, with a big sign that says, ‘Vincent.’ I lost it. (Laughs.) … The other time was the morning show. Keryn Shipman and I used to do the lunch menus. One day, a lunch menu had beans, and I said, ‘Oh, that’s the magical fruit.’ She immediately ran the little jingle in her head, and we just lost it.” (Laughs.)
Appearance is a big part of TV news. You’ve overcome a disability some viewers might not know about. Can you share the story about how you lost your leg (below the right knee)?
“It happened the day after graduation from high school, May 20, 1972. We were baling hay. My father was at work. My uncle was helping, but he had to leave. He said, ‘Be careful with this tractor. It’s a big tractor. It may not choke down.’ The machine we were using to bale hay, it had a conveyor. … An arm would fall with string that would go and wrap around it. Well, the string didn’t go where it needed to go, and instead of turning the tractor off, I just climbed under the guard and flipped it with my foot. The next thing I know, it had my foot. It’s really hard to talk about that, to think about it at the instant it happened, because it’s still vivid. Fortunately, I screamed loud enough for my brother and cousin to hear me. They had a load of hay and were getting ready to leave the field. … I think my brother was in shock; fortunately, I wasn’t. I said, ‘This thing has a reverse, maybe we can get my foot back out the same way that it went in.’ Didn’t happen. Took about an hour to take it apart to get me out of it. But I was blessed that day, because it severed the artery in my ankle. I could have easily bled to death, but the rollers of that hay baler cauterized it, and I didn’t lose any blood.”
How has having a prosthetic leg informed your life?
“I think it made me realize that life is precious. You could go at any moment. I remember being in the hospital, and they were going to teach me to use crutches. … I started crying. That was my epiphany. I said to myself, ‘You’re 17. Life expectancy is 70. You have 53 good years, and nothing you do will change what happened, so move on.’”
How have you overcome your disability to have such a public career?
“I don’t think I would have done this had I not had that accident. … I enrolled at Jefferson State Junior College in Birmingham as an art major to start with. Flunked Western Civ twice and decided, ‘I need something else.’ I went back in the fall of ’73 and saw in the brochure television and radio broadcasting. That looked fun — and it turned out to be fun.”
Your legal last name is Mashburn. Who decided on Leonard as your TV name and why?
“Back then, (on-air talent in TV and radio) used not necessarily their real names. I was trying a couple of them out, just at home. … I ended up going with my actual name: Charles Leonard Mashburn — just shortened Charles to Chuck and used Leonard. I didn’t realize until — I don’t know — recently that it was somewhat of a tribute to my father, who went by the name Leonard. It never hit me that was what I was doing. I’m glad I did.”
What advice do you give young TV news reporters and anchors?
“Listen to the old guys. They’ve been there. They know what is there. And listen to the people that you talk with. That’s the key to an interview: to listen. … And I think the younger generation — I hate to slam them — but they need some grammatical work.”
As you’re wrapping up your final week at WTVM, what thoughts and emotions are going through you?
“I’m grateful, because we’ve lost coworkers who never had this opportunity (to retire).”
What will you say during your final sign off?
“I haven’t thought about it. What comes to mind is a familiar phrase: It’s been real, and it’s been fun, but I would say it has been real fun — and thank you.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 9:28 AM.
