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Spotlights » Vicki Zwart, '92
Vicki Zwart, '92, walks through Chicago to the local CBS station at 2 a.m. weekday mornings, only four hours after she puts her two small children and herself to bed. It's this type of commitment and dedication to a profession she has been drawn to since elementary school that has translated into her tremendous sucesses in the third largest television market in the country.
The Emmy-winning executive producer got her beginnings as a broadcasting student at GVSU. During her first broadcasting class in 1989, she was recruited to work for WGVU FM, Grand Valley's licensed Public Broadcasting Station. "Working for WGVU was a great learning experience. I really got to do pretty much every job during my three year's there. I started out as a reporter, then became the afternoon anchor and ended up producing my own show. David Moore (then news director and now producer and morning anchor for WGVU-Radio) literally taught me how to report and what it takes to put a story on the air. Without this experience, I would never have gotten the great opportunities that I have."
After earning a B.S. in broadcasting from Grand Valley in 1992, Vicki decided she wanted to get into television, and obtained her M.S.J., with honors, from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She got her television break shortly thereafter as associate producer for WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, where she was awarded "Best Newscast of 1997" by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. She rose through the ranks at WZZM and often returned to Grand Valley to speak to classes about what it takes to get into broadcasting.
In 1998, Vicki headed back to her hometown of Chicago to work as a per diem, fill-in writer for WGN-TV. After only 6 months covering vacations, her talent was recognized and she was hired as senior supervising producer for the WGN Morning News. "It was my dream job after growing up watching the Cubs on the station."
Four years later, she followed her executive news producer to Indianapolis and began working as the executive producer for FOX-59 Morning News where she worked with fellow-alum, Tracy Forner, '91. Within four years, Vicki supervised a young staff and fledgling program into the only morning show in the market to experience continual ratings increases. She was awarded two Emmys for Outstanding Morning Newscast in 2005 and 2006.
She recently moved back to the Chicago-area where she lives with her husband, Kevin, '92, and their children, and is currently the executive producer of the CBS 2 Morning News.
Added August 2007
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