Eye in sky back on terra firma
BROADCASTING: Longtime traffic reporter now covers roads from safety of a newsroom
Leah Holiove spent her formative years in the White Rock area where she dreamt of one day making a living in front of the camera.
The outgoing young woman didn’t know if she wanted to be an actor or a news reporter, but she knew that her dynamic personality and winning smile were well-suited for dreaming big.
After graduating from the Columbia Academy Broadcasting School in Vancouver, Holiove set out to blaze her career path.
“Landing a job in television was my passion as all my instructors felt I had the look and skills to excel on television, but once I experienced being on the radio I realized that I loved it as well,” she recalls. “I had the best of both world’s when I worked for the CTN (Canadian Traffic Network) and provided traffic updates for both radio and television clients from the company’s helicopter.”
Now in her mid-30s and raising a teenage daughter, the always smiling Holiove continues to live her dream by working as a traffic reporter for News 1130, Vancouver’s all-news radio station.
She still dabbles in other areas, including acting in both television and movies, but for now she is relishing her role informing News 1130’s dedicated listener base of the latest in traffic news from Monday to Friday.
Holiove has been grounded as she has moved into the newsroom after spending years circling the city of Vancouver and its surroundings in a Robinson helicopter.
“When I first started in this business back in 2007, I was based on the ground so I have kind of come full circle,” she notes. “I was on the ground for much of the morning at my previous position as I would do traffic reports for AM 730 from the studio, but in the afternoons I was in the chopper for the afternoon and evening news for Global television.”
When asked if she missed the thrill of buzzing around Vancouver’s airspace in the diminutive helicopter, Holiove admitted that she did, but it was time for a change as she was pushing her luck in the air.
“I must admit that I miss it for the fabulous view, as Vancouver is so beautiful, especially when viewed from the air.
“However, I was in the chopper for six-and-a-half years so I probably have more time in the air than most of our pilots! I started to wonder what my odds looked like with regards to being involved in an emergency situation, and soon decided that I would feel a little more comfortable on the ground.”
While never one to be afraid of flying, she did share details of one occasion involving a mechanical failure that occurred while the helicopter hovered over North Vancouver’s Iron Workers Memorial Bridge.
“The clutch in the Robinson R44 helicopter we used let go. I was in the back seat and I felt something impact the bottom of my foot as the clutch gave way. Just as I was about to mention this rather startling sensation to my pilot I noticed a change in his facial expression that communicated to me that he was aware that there was a problem with the chopper.
“We were forced to land at the downtown Helijet pad which was luckily not too far away. I ended up doing my reports by phone that day while gleaning information about the traffic from the news broadcasts on the televisions in the passenger lounge area.
She shares that there were also a few occasions where they got caught out by sudden changes in the weather that were not conducive to flying a helicopter, “but our pilots are the best in the business and always managed to get us back on the ground safely.”
Being chopper based, she was often asked to cover breaking news events as the helicopter had the ability to get to locations quickly and with its onboard cameras was able to broadcast a live feed of the major news events to Global producers back at the television station.
“I saw almost everything you can see from the air. I covered the Olympics in 2010 and the Canucks’ riots in 2011. I also, unfortunately, have seen more dead bodies than I can count.”
Most people don’t realize that Holiove was responsible for more than just delivering a traffic report to either the radio or television station producers, she was also responsible for operating the camera systems on the helicopter.
“I really enjoyed operating the camera system and became really creative with my shots. I’d zoom in on everything so I would get to see everything first hand. It really let me express my creativity.
“I liked to zoom in on the bridges or other landmark features to help the television viewers grasp what they were seeing location-wise, and then I would pan out to reveal the full picture of the traffic congestion or incident below.
“We would have to cover breaking news events at least several times a week, and I have seen so many tragic things. Especially major fires and really bad car accidents. We would often fly far out to cover news stories but the further we travelled away from Vancouver the more difficult it became to transmit the footage. We also had to be under 1,500 feet elevation for transmission to occur.”
During our chat it became obvious that Holiove really enjoys her job and being part of the News 1130 on-air team.
“It is really exciting to come to work because being situated in the newsroom brings lots of variety and I can never predict what my day is going to be like. When listeners call into our tip line at the traffic centre we can’t assume that they are just sharing traffic information, as on many occasions the traffic desk is the first place to receive word on breaking news events.”
“I think it is because we repeat the number (1130) on air all day long and it is the first thing these citizen reporters remember when they realize that they may have uncovered something newsworthy and seek to get word out.
“This is both exciting and dramatic, as I can be suddenly faced with passing this information on to our editors who will get the reporters working on the story and ready to deliver a breaking news report to thousands of people.”
Her main responsibility is the traffic report, but the fact that she is now based in the newsroom allows her to assist with gathering information when news incidents arise.
“We often have to walk a fine line between focusing on a news story rather than the traffic itself, as it is easy to forget that the traffic situation is also very important news and many people rely on the accuracy and regularity of these reports to make the best use of their valuable time.”