EARLY BIRD CATCHES HER TURN
JAYNIE SEAL RELISHES EARLY MORNINGS, HER DANCE ROUTINES AND PRESENTING SKY NEWS HEADLINES AND WEATHER FOR BUSY FAMILIES IN THE REGIONS
Early mornings are nothing new for Jaynie Seal.
The Sky News presenter can not only cope with them, she enjoys them.
“I’m an early morning person, I love getting up early and getting into it straight away,” she says.
“I love being up when everyone else is asleep. There’s a bit of a vibe like when you work on holidays. It’s just a different feeling. To be honest, the times I work Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm I feel locked in. I’m a bit of a free spirit.”
She even manages to avoid hitting the snooze button without relying on coffee.
“It just gives me the jitters. When I see everyone else having their coffee, I wish I could drink it. I don’t like that high and low that you get. I’m naturally high energy, that’s what everybody around me says.”
Her get-up-and-go attitude will make her new job that much easier. The mother of two is the host of the new Sky News breakfast program Headline News that launches on Monday, September 3 as part of the new dedicated 24-hour news channel – Sky News on WIN.
“I’m somebody who thrives on working hard. I like to be busy, so I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Jaynie says.
“It’s so exciting to start something that is brand new from scratch, and to be getting people’s ideas and feedback.
“I love live TV as well. I can’t ask for anything more, really.”
The new breakfast news offering will be simulcast weekdays from 6am to 8.30am on Sky News on WIN, the main WIN Channel, Sky News Weather and Foxtel Channel 603.
“It’s everything you need to know in 15 minutes before you walk out the door,” she says. “We’ll have all of the headlines from regional, rural, national and international news, plus we will have weather, sport and a bit of entertainment.
“It’s short, sharp and snappy. People are so busy these days. It’s about getting to the point of the story and finding the stories that are going to be of interest to all of our viewers.
“There are 25 million people in Australia and 10 million are in regional and rural areas. We really sat down and brainstormed what can we provide these viewers that they perhaps haven’t seen before.”
It’s an exciting new chapter for the 45-year-old who got her start on the Weather Channel when it launched in 1999.
She worked as a weather presenter for Channel 9 for seven years before returning to the Weather Channel and Sky News, where she has been a weekend news presenter for the past two years.
“I’m really looking forward to bringing all of my knowledge of being a weather presenter for so many years to WIN,” she says. “Obviously the drought is one of our biggest stories at the moment, so we’ll be covering that.
“Unfortunately we’ve also got the potential for bushfires. They’ve pushed forward the official bushfire season for parts of NSW already and it’s the driest start to the year for the Murray Darling Basin, but in contrast Perth is having its wettest winter in seven years.”
She’ll be juggling the new full-time role with being mother to sons Hayden and Remy.
“This will be a sleep-in for me compared to the weekends I was doing. I’ll be getting up at 2.45am, compared to 1.30am. It’s a matter of just being disciplined with my sleep,” she says.
“I’ll get to have a quick nap before I pick my kids up from school.
“The boys have been around it all of their life, so it’s not a big deal to them. They might come on set for Christmas or Mother’s Day and they have a bit of fun doing that. We did a photo shoot the other week, and they are more excited to keep the clothes than the actual photo shoot.”
Even though her dad was a TV producer, Jaynie never dreamed of working in television. Instead, she aspired to be a dancer – and it’s something she still enjoys doing today.
“I’ve danced since I was two, and when I finished school I did a performing arts course and I worked professionally as a dancer,” she says.
“I was dancing 12 hours a day six or seven days a week, so I knew there was an end point. When the Weather Channel first
started and they offered me a job I thought ‘It’s time to hang up the jazz and tap shoes and get a serious job’.
“I still go to classes. I much prefer that to the gym. With dance you’ve got coordination, strength and flexibility. I just zone out; it’s my meditation or mindfulness moment. I would do it every day if I had the time.”
Despite falling into the industry, Jaynie says her career in television has been informed by her performance background. Live breakfast TV will test all of her skills from news reading and presenting to covering breaking news off the cuff and perhaps, down the track, broadcasting on location.
“I was so used to being on stage singing and dancing. It was not easy but because of that I was comfortable doing live television. That’s where the buzz came from. I remember when I first started doing weather, you’re looking at the monitor and pointing to a map. It was a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy.
“When we do weather we don’t have any scripts; we ad-lib the whole thing. When you’re anchoring news there’s a lot of Autocue plus ad-libbing for rolling coverage and you’ve got people screaming down your earpiece. You’ve got to be on your toes and I think my background of live performance helps.
“I really love the craft and I don’t take it for granted. I just feel blessed. We’ve got some really amazing producers; everyone’s so passionate and excited to start this show.”