Here is the news.. from cloud Nine
Broadcaster thrilled to join old pal Martin in spotlight
Radio star Laura Maciver is stepping into the TV spotlight as Martin Geissler’s co-host on The Nine.
The 45-year-old broadcaster, who starts this week as Rebecca Curran’s maternity cover, is delighted to be taking centre stage after 21 years at the BBC.
Laura, who put her career on the backburner to raise her three children, says landing her dream job in middle age is proof you are never too old to make it in television. The journalist, from Edinburgh, said: “I’ve been at the BBC for more than two decades and have done every presenting job going but this has to be my best yet and I can’t wait to get started.
“I’ve become more visible as I’ve got older. I’ve been a slowburn and it’s nice to be heading into the spotlight as a middle-aged mother-of-three.
“I was pregnant with my first child at 26 and I feel like that put a pause on my career. I ended up having three babies in eight years.
“I also lost my dad really suddenly so during that time work took a backburner.
“I was trying to swim and keep my head above water at home so coming to work was something I needed to do and it was only when my youngest started school that I returned full-time and started looking for oppor tunities, which fortunately keep coming my way.
“It’s lovely to be at this stage of my life and doing so well in a job I love and I’m look ing forward to see what will happen next.
“You are never to old to peak professionally.” Laura, who is mum to Max, 18, Gabriella, 15, and Claudia, 10, is also excited about working with her pal and Good Morning Scotland co-presenter Martin.
She said: “One of the biggest appeals about doing The Nine is Martin.
“We present together on Friday mornings and we have a good rapport, so when the opportunity came up to cover Rebecca’s maternity leave, it was a no-brainer.
“We are a good partnership on radio so hopefully it will be the same on TV. We get on really well and clicked the moment we met.
“I started out on Radio Forth 25 years ago and at that point Martin was at STV and I used to see him out and about on stories.
“It was a few years before we saw each other again as he went of f to do wonderful newsy things a round the world while I was ba s ed here. He is an i nteresting and fun guy to be a round and has the best stories.” Laura, who grew up in
Balerno, Edinburgh, is also a big fan of Rebecca and insists she is only keeping her colleague’s seat warm while she goes off to have her first baby.
She said: “I have been shadowing Rebecca for a couple of weeks and it has been really nice to get to know her a bit better. She is a lovely person and a great journalist.
“As someone who has gone off on maternity leave, it’s important to me that she knows I am only keeping her seat warm and that she has a job to come back to.”
Laura, who is married to Radio Clyde presenter Gavin Pearson, 45, had her heart set on being a news host from an early age and was determined to fulfil her dream.
The keen skier, who has a degree in American studies from Edinburgh University and a postgrad in journalism from Strathclyde, said: “I was a strange child. I was obsessed with the news.
“I would read the paper every morning at the breakfast table while listening to Good Morning Scotland on the radio and I would watch the Six O’Clock news and Reporting Scotland most nights.
“When I was 10 years old, I recorded the Six O’Clock theme tune and wrote a spoof news and weather play to do with my Primary Five class.
“While travelling to uni on the bus, I carried a little transistor radio with me all the time so I could listen to Isabel Fraser on Good Morning Scotland.
“I suppose it’s no big surprise I am doing what I am doing.”
Laura, who admits to being starstruck by newsreader Huw Edwards, added: “I started doing work experience at Forth Radio when I was at uni and that turned into a traineeship.
“I would be sent out to interview everyone from the Hearts manager to the head of the Fringe. It was a great grounding.grounding After 18 months there,there I applied for a radio sub-editor job at the BBC and I’ve been here ever since doing every presenting job imaginable, from business news to anchoring the Scotland 2016 programme.
“I’ve interviewed some incredible people like the late great author Iain Banks, who was charming, and some difficult politicians like George Galloway, who accused Martin Geissler of pulling my strings. I told him I could ‘speak and think for myself ’. There is never a dull moment.”
Laura, who spent a year studying at the University of Miami and has a cockapoo called Franklin D Roosevelt, is excited about making her debut on The Nine tomorrow.
She said: “I’m used to doing live interviews on the radio but not on television so this is going to be an exciting experience for me.
“Who knows what lies ahead but coming into my own now in middle age is great.”