Stefan:
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Key Ingredient Podcast. I’m excited about today’s conversation, because not only do I have an absolutely amazing news anchor, but I’m among also joined by a really good friend. I’ve joined by Lois Thome today, who is the news anchor for WINK News and has been reporting the news to all of us in Southwest Florida since 1992. Lois, thanks so much for joining me today.
Lois Thome:
Oh, it’s my pleasure to be here with you, Stefan. Thanks for having me.
Stefan:
Thank you. Thank you. Really excited about this, because a lot of people ask me about you, Lois. Everybody loves watching you. They think not only do you do just a great job on the news, but people feel like they know you. What I really wanted to do today was highlight a couple things about, first, your career and what your journey’s been like. But I also want our viewers and listeners to learn more about you. So if you don’t mind, just tell everybody just a little bit about yourself, please.
Lois Thome:
Well, I grew up in Wisconsin and I was working in two TV markets in Wisconsin before I came to Florida. I worked in Madison, Wisconsin, where I graduated from college, from the University of Wisconsin, worked there for a couple of years before I moved on to Green Bay, and that was only about hour from my hometown. I thought, wow, this is fabulous. This is going to be where I’m going to stay. But circumstances in life changed, and suddenly Fort Myers and WINK TV came calling.
Lois Thome:
I came down to visit Fort Myers. I just fell in love with the place, and the timing couldn’t be better, which life has a way of doing that, hands you something and it’s a new opportunity. And when you grab it, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m here almost 30 years now, so I guess I could say it probably has worked out. I’m really happy. It’s now my hometown. I met my husband here. I’m raising two children here. You get entrenched in a community, you start to become part of it, and then you don’t want to leave. I’ve just made this a great career for myself.
Stefan:
I think it’s great, because as you know, it’s unusual for news anchors to stay, especially down here, for so long. I definitely want to get into that, but if you don’t mind, let’s backtrack a little bit. Let’s go back to what you were like when you were younger, Lois. Tell us a little bit about in high school. Were you always interested in wanting to get into journalism? Where did this interest come?
Lois Thome:
No, not at all, Stefan, not at all. I was involved in things like forensics, speech. I was involved in the drama program for a little while, so maybe that’s prepared me a little bit for news, but it is not what I went to college for at all. I wanted to be a dentist. I was on the pre-med track when I went to college, and I was heavy into some of the heavy science classes like organic chemistry. I not only struggled with it, but I didn’t like it at all. And I said, is this what my life is going to be like? Am I going to be in deep with these sciences my entire career? I couldn’t see the pleasure in that.
Lois Thome:
And I took a writing course in college, fell in love with it, and then not long after that, I met a GM from a local television station and I developed a relationship with him, talking to him quite often. I finally got up the nerve to ask him if I could intern for him, because I was so interested in what he did that I wanted to have a little taste of it. When I did that internship, that was it for me. I switched from my pre-med track to a journalism track with a public relations major as well, thinking, I’m going to do something like this. This is something I really think I can enjoy for the rest of my life. So I completely switched tracks in the middle, and I guess that’s what you tell people to do, follow your passion. When I found mine, I went in a different direction, and it has worked out for me.
Stefan:
Yeah, I think that’s great, Lois. Organic chemistry, I will tell you as someone who also took organic chemistry, there’s a reason it’s a weed-out class. Very difficult. I did not do well in organic chemistry, full disclosure. But definitely challenging.
Lois Thome:
[crosstalk 00:04:12].
Stefan:
No, no, I agree with you. Okay, you had this internship. What was the internship like? What did you do in the internship?
Lois Thome:
The internship started very basic. I was doing whatever they wanted me to do. I was making copies. I was recording video feeds coming down from the satellites and recording it and making out a list. This was way before computers were on everybody’s desk. They were on computers, but it was not as prolific as it is right now. So I was writing down feeds, letting people know what versions were coming down of what stories so they could put it into the night newscast.
Lois Thome:
But I worked all the way up to helping to assist a producer, learning how to produce newscasts, working on the assignment desk, helping with crews. They allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do. That job prepared me for even street reporting. They would let me go out on the weekends with crews, until finally they’d let me start to do some of my own to see what I could do. It wouldn’t go on the air in the beginning, but I was working my way up. That internship, it took a lot of work to get there. I’m going to tell you, I didn’t have a car at the time, so it took two buses and a half mile walk even in the middle of the dead winter in Wisconsin to get to that internship.
Lois Thome:
But I did not miss it, because I knew it was going to open doors for me. I really feel like that’s something that’s lost in today’s college student. Not sure they understand the importance of these internships and the networking it gets you, because in my industry, if you’re a known entity, your resume tape will be at the top of the list. If you’re unknown, you may be in a stack of a hundred people for a job, so you got to get that networking going really early. That internship was very important in my career, no doubt.
Stefan:
That’s interesting. Now immediately, did you have the bug and decide, I love journalism, that’s exactly where I want to go? Or did it take a little bit of time after that?
Lois Thome:
It took a little bit of time. It was a little scary too, because you’re sitting there working with seasoned journalists who are busy and have deadlines, and they’re not going to sit down and pat you on the back every two seconds and tell you you’re doing a great job. You got to develop a little bit of a thick skin for the industry, because it can be very difficult at times. I just never gave up. I just kept coming in and coming in and coming in and coming in.
Lois Thome:
It reminds me of somebody. I always say people, when you’re doing a job, always do more than you’re getting paid to do. You make yourself indispensable, and that doesn’t matter if it’s a job making copies for somebody or if you’re at the top of the food chain in your career. You have to do more than you’re getting paid to do. You’ve got to be looked at as indispensable, no matter what it is you’re doing. I learned that very early on, and I always tried to make myself available. I think it paid off, because I was given opportunity every time something came up, so that worked for me.
Stefan:
That makes a lot of sense. And you’re right about that. You don’t want to do the bare minimum. You always want to do more and more, and that’s how you stand out, and you’re right about that. What happened next in your career after that? You had this internship, you were introduced to the field, then what happened?
Lois Thome:
Well, I was working one morning. I was producing a morning newscast. They were a lot shorter in those days, not five hour morning newscasts like we have today. But I was helping to produce this morning newscast, and we had a big snowstorm and in Wisconsin. Surprise, surprise. The anchor couldn’t make it in. You hear this cliche, just dress for the job you want. Because I was a college student, I always wore a suit. I always dressed professionally, because I didn’t want someone to think, oh, here comes that 21-year-old. I wanted them to think of me as a coworker, not as an intern. So I always wore a jacket and a nice blouse.
Lois Thome:
The anchor couldn’t make it in that day, and the producer looked around, the director came out, who’s going to go on the news? And it was me, because I had done college TV. It’s not like I’d never been on camera. I had. They said, “You’re going to have to do it.” Well, I was nervous as I could be. Most of the city had lost power, thank goodness, so not all of the city could see what I was doing, but I went on the air that morning.
Lois Thome:
When the news director came in and heard about what had happened, and went, “Calm down,” at first, and then went back and looked at what I did, he said, “You know, you weren’t half bad. I think we have something here,” and gave me a little bit more opportunity. From that moment and from that opportunity, I then started looking for work, knowing I had to leave that market. There wasn’t really a position for me there. I got a job in Green Bay working as an anchor and reporter in Green Bay.
Stefan:
Wow. So you were like the athlete on the bench, basically, waiting, never knowing when your time was going to come. Like you said, it was a good thing the power was out, because it made you feel better that not everybody can watch you. That’s interesting. But did you feel like once you did it once, I mean, of course it takes a lot of time to do what you do, but once you did it once, you felt a little bit better about it?
Lois Thome:
I did, but it takes a lot of reps. There’s a lot of nerves in live TV. Even for people who speak in front of hundreds of people on a regular basis, there’s something about that television camera with nobody around it that just makes people very, very nervous. It’s weird speaking to a piece of equipment rather than speaking to someone face to face. So it does take time to become natural at it, and some people never become natural at it. It’s just one of those skills that eludes some people.
Stefan:
Yeah. I could attest to that, so I certainly understand what you means. What was the next step after that?
Lois Thome:
I went to Green Bay, and I worked in a bureau for a while as a reporter, and then I would fill-in anchor for some of the anchors at the stations in the morning, at noon. At one point, one of our very popular anchors, a beloved anchor there, was diagnosed with a rare liver disease, and she had to leave to get a liver transplant. When she left, they promoted me into her position while she was in the hospital and recuperating from that.
Lois Thome:
I worked as their main fill-in anchor for a year, and I really enjoyed it. It got me a lot of experience. I learned a lot about anchoring and reporting and the balance between the two and all the things you have to do in the community when you work as an anchor. And then the year came up, and she has done fabulously and is still very healthy and doing very well.
Lois Thome:
She came back, and when I realized she was coming back, I woke up one morning and I thought, okay, now what about me? Because my previous job had been filled, and I didn’t know where I was going to go. I didn’t know what I was going to do. And I loved Green Bay, because it was about an hour, an hour and 10 minutes from my parents’ house. It was the perfect location for me. I liked Wisconsin. But I knew that I had put myself in a corner. That’s when WINK called, and when WINK called, I’m like, “Fort What? Fort Where?”
Stefan:
Well, that’s what I was going to ask you. Had you ever been down to Southwest Florida at that time?
Lois Thome:
No.
Stefan:
You just knew that the weather was going to be a lot nicer than it was where you were at the time.
Lois Thome:
Yes. Yes. I mean, I knew people who had come down here to winter and to visit, but I had never been here. And I thought, hmm, okay. Well, I came down here and I interviewed for the position. It was a grueling interview, by the way. It was a very tough interview. My news director at the time was just an incredible human being, really, really smart, and he put me through my paces, as well as some other people. There were three of us up for this job, and it was quite the challenge.
Lois Thome:
I made it through that interview, and when I thought about it, timing is everything. The opportunity came just when I needed it, and I would’ve been a fool to pass it up. I came down to Fort Myers. I realized it was filled with a lot of Midwesterners at the time. And I thought, well, I’ve made it in another Midwest market, maybe I can make it here too, because you never know how you’re going to do from city to city to city. That’s when I took the job in 1992, and I’ve been here ever since.
Stefan:
Yeah, it’s been quite a long time. Like you said, a lot of Midwesterners down here, at least at that time, it’s changing a little bit, so makes you feel a little bit at home to some degree, just with palm trees. A little bit different. When you came down to WINK, were you immediate a nighttime anchor, or what were your hours like? What did that look like?
Lois Thome:
Yes, I did the 5:30, 6:00, and 11:00 at that time. They had been without a female anchor for about six months when I started. I worked the night shift at that time, and I worked that shift for a long time until both of my children were born. My second, my daughter, was still an infant when I finally went into the news director’s office and I said, “You know, these hours are killing me. I’ve got two babies at home. It’s really tough. If any other opportunity comes up, if I could shift my schedule a little, that would be great.”
Lois Thome:
It was at that time that one of the consultants for the television station said, “You know what? You have an audience who has a lot longer commute than they’ve ever had before, and your working population is not necessarily getting home as early as they used to. That 5:00, 5:30, that’s not a possibility. 6:00 is even difficult. You are right for a 7:00 newscast.” And that’s when we started the 7:00 newscast. That got me off the 11:00, and so we started doing the 7:00, and they were right. The 7:00 newscast is the perfect time for working people who maybe want to catch up on what’s happening locally, and they can’t make it home by the time 5:00 or 6:00 is on.
Stefan:
Absolutely. I mentioned earlier on, it’s unusual though, at least down here, and I find that with the better anchors down in Southwest Florida, you tend to stay down here. Most anchors, they spend a few years and then they go to another market. What’s made you want to stay down here?
Lois Thome:
Well, a long time ago, I’ve interviewed in other markets during my career here and have had some opportunities, but I thought to myself, you have to make a choice. I really loved the community, and I was involved in a lot of different organizations, and I felt I was making a difference. Now, I could have climbed the television ladder and gone to bigger markets. I had interviewed in Chicago and Milwaukee and places closer to home.
Lois Thome:
That was a tempting thing for me to do, but I had to make a decision right then and there. Do I want to go to a bigger market and focus just on reporting and maybe doing some anchoring, or do I want to make a difference in the place that I live? Because the bigger the market, you can’t always be involved like I am in different organizations here. I felt like I wanted to make a difference in my community. That was more important to me. And so I thought, I’m going to stay and see how this works out for me. I’m really glad that I did, because I love this community, I love the difference I can make, and meeting my husband and having my kids here, it’s home now.
Stefan:
Absolutely. And you are very involved in the community. Tell us a little bit about, I guess, some of the top one or two things that you do in the community, if you don’t mind.
Lois Thome:
Well, I think most people know about my involvement with the Harry Chapin Food Bank. I’ve been very involved with them for many, many years, and I feel a passion for feeding hungry people, especially children. I can’t stand the thought of a child, through no fault of their own, not having something in their home to eat every night when they come home from school or on the weekends when they’re away from school. I couldn’t sleep if I didn’t think I was doing something to help solve that situation. And the Harry Chapin Food Bank, as you know, Stefan, you’re involved with our fundraising every year-
Stefan:
Thanks to you. You got me involved in it. Yeah, it’s a great, great organization.
Lois Thome:
It is. It is. We know where the money goes. They’re such a fabulous organization, and I just feel very strongly about staying involved with them, because I think it makes a big difference in the lives of families in need in our community. So that’s one of the big ones. I’m involved with lots of different things. I’ve been on the board for the Southwest Florida Reading Festival since its inception in 1999. That’s just a great way, a free community event, to promote literacy and reading. I just have been very involved with that. It just seems to fall in line with what I do for a living, and so I really have enjoyed that for many, many years.
Lois Thome:
I work with the American Cancer Society on the Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk that is coming up this weekend. I’ve done that for a number of years. I just like to help out worthwhile charities and take my skills with the microphone and help people out. It’s just a very contented thing for me to do.
Stefan:
I’m not sure how you find enough time to do all these things, but you do a great job with all of that, so thank you for everything that you do there. Lois, some of our listeners here are going to be aspiring journalists, those who want to maybe go the route that you went or a variation of it. What do you love most about what you do?
Lois Thome:
I love that it’s different every single day. Even though I go to the same office and the newscasts are at the same time, the news is always different. It’s fresh and new all the time, and that has never changed. That’s something I like about it. I really do enjoy that. And I think no matter what kind of journalist you are, that’s a truth. That’s probably the thing I love the most.
Stefan:
Yeah. What about, what do you like the least? Is there something about the job that really you would say is the toughest part of it?
Lois Thome:
Yeah. Hours, got to work holidays. It’s very difficult. Some subjects are extremely difficult to cover. It’s very hard to go and ask someone about a tragic situation or to interview them about something like that. That’s not fun. When you have children and you hear about something horrible that’s happened to a child, that’s not easy. There are some really down days. The news can be very, very negative, as you know, and you have to manage that every single day. That can be very, very difficult. Those are things I don’t like about the job.
Lois Thome:
I also don’t like the pay, the pay scale of this career. Now, I’m doing very well, no one has to worry about me, but when you first start in this business, it is very difficult. The pay scales are extremely low. It takes a long time for you to rise up to a level that’s a livable, a reasonable wage, and I think that’s very, very hard. So that’s a something I don’t like about this industry, which I think could improve. Again, nobody has to worry about me. Having been here long enough, I’ve worked my way up and I’m doing fine, but those are some of the things I think that are negative in this industry, for sure.
Stefan:
Yeah. Yeah. Over the years, you’ve had to report on lots of different stories, from hurricanes to maybe snowstorms to just really sad stories. Is there anything that sticks out as far as a story that you had to report that probably, I don’t know, was the toughest for you to do or maybe the most sad? As a mom, I’m sure it’s always difficult to report on certain stories that involve children, but was there anything in particular you’d say that stood out?
Lois Thome:
Yeah, there have been a couple. Sad, Columbine. I went to Columbine three different times, and that was very, very difficult. It’s something that’s completely changed the security of schools in our country, and it was a very, very difficult thing to report. Sitting down and talking with the father of someone whose child was murdered in that terrible, terrible tragedy was not easy and has stuck with me. I will never forget that.
Lois Thome:
I also went out with the Coast Guard into the Florida Straits, and we were picking up Cubans on rafts. I remember, that was a time when Fidel Castro was still in power in Cuba, and families were trying to flee the country. They were getting on these rickety rafts that were nothing more than basically tires and tarps and trying to meet that 90-mile trek to the United States to freedom, to something better.
Lois Thome:
And the reason I bring that up is it just profoundly changed me. I didn’t have any idea what it was like to be Cuban or what a Cuban family looked like or what they wanted. And when we were picking them up and you saw people eye to eye and you realized they’re taking their most precious thing, their families, and putting them in this treacherous situation just to try to get to freedom, just to get to where we are and have the life we lived, it profoundly changed me, about not only how I felt about Cubans, but how I felt about my own country and the pride I had in it and how great of a country this was.
Lois Thome:
So there’s stories like that. Things like that just change you completely when you report on them. You try to maintain your objectivity at all times, but when you get to a major story like that, you can’t help but sit back and reflect on how it’s changed you, matured you, given you better perspective on the world you live in. And it also helps you in the next story, helps you to ask the right questions and to understand history. That’s very, very important in journalists, and it’s something I’ve really grown to appreciate in others who have a lot of experience in this business.
Stefan:
I could see that. And like I said, as a parent, it must be very difficult to report on certain things that hit home, so I could definitely, definitely understand that. Lois, for those who are looking again to get into the journalist career, what advice do you have for them? What would you tell them that they should be looking to do?
Lois Thome:
Okay. One of the first things I would tell them is you have to be adaptable, more so than ever before. I look at today’s journalist landscape, and I see all these different types of streaming services, and it’s not like the traditional TV. When I grew up, it was called appointment television. All families sat down at either 5:30 and 6:00. They watched the national news, then they watched their local news. It was appointment TV. Everybody was in front of the TV at certain times.
Lois Thome:
Not so much anymore. It has changed dramatically. The most I can compare it probably to is when everybody started getting satellites and went on cable. It completely changed the television landscape. Well, now it’s streaming services and social media and all these different types of media that young journalists have to be familiar with and good at. And I look at my own children, and they don’t even watch local news. Their mother works in local news, and they don’t even turn on a local newscast ever. How are they going to get their news?
Lois Thome:
So if I saw someone starting in journalism today and they wanted to do what I do, I would have them think 10 years out. What will this industry be in 10 years? I think it will be vastly different than what we’re living in right now. I think most people want things on demand. We have our phones with us 24/7. We can get our news all the time. What makes my newscast special? How am I going to beat this? And part of it will be, it is still local. We still have that niche. You still need to know what’s happening in your community, but you have to be savvy at not just sitting in front of a camera at 5:00, 6:00, and 7:00. You have to be here. You have to be on people’s computers. You got to be where they live all the time.
Lois Thome:
So I’d have them think about that. They have to be adaptable, ready to change. And that’s true of my industry now. We have producers who sit down for the first time, and they build this beautiful 6:00 newscast. It’s all written. Everything’s perfect. And then something major happens, and you take that newscast and you throw it out and you start over, because you got to start with the newest thing, the thing that’s happening. And that’s really hard for some people, to just throw that away and start over. But that’s what this industry definitely requires. I’d say to a journalist, make sure you have that love for adaptability, because you’re going to need it, no matter what you do in this industry.
Lois Thome:
And I think I’d also tell people, one thing that I see is lacking sometimes in some of the journalists that come up now is their knowledge of history, of just current events. There’s something maybe happening with all the social media that my children have grown up with since they were babies, that it’s everything’s fast and nothing’s in depth. Sometimes when you come into the journalism world and you have to report on a story, you need to know what’s come before in order to do a good job telling that story. And so I think if I was going to college, I’d make sure I had history classes in my background, so I really had a good working knowledge of US and world history, and make sure I’d paid attention in those English classes, because they will be used day in and day out and it’s really, really important, along with the journalism.
Stefan:
That’s an excellent point. I would imagine, like most professions and industries, other jobs have been created because of technology. I would imagine behind the scenes, there are a lot more jobs. When you look when you started your career, there are probably people in certain professions that we don’t see like we see you on the news, but that are doing things that are really important and evolving as well. Have you seen a lot of that?
Lois Thome:
Oh yeah. There are hundreds of people in the background. Our digital team has grown substantially. They’re working constantly on the website, the social media pages, our app. They’re constantly populating all of those different parts of our career, because it’s so vital. Everybody’s got one of these. Everybody’s living off of this. And so there’s so many of those jobs. The editing and the technology that has come with that, when I first started in TV, they were off film, but we were on tape, tape-to-tape editing. It was so slow to what we can do today. You can do it on your own computer at home, similar to what we’re doing. But our editors are so savvy, so fast, and so creative, it is incredible what they can do with today’s technology.
Lois Thome:
The cameras are changing dramatically. It used to be photographers were carrying cameras that were 25, 30 pounds on their shoulder, and now the smaller they get. And now some things are being shot completely with the phone. It’s just amazing. And you can go live everywhere. You don’t have to have a big old truck like we used to have. You can go live, the unit just basically looks like a backpack, and you’re using cell service, and that’s how you’re making live reports happen anywhere at any time. It’s amazing.
Stefan:
Really is amazing. Yeah, it really, really is amazing. And I think the good part of what you just said is there are people who want to get into your industry, but maybe they don’t feel comfortable on camera. Well, the point is, there’s so much they could do behind the scenes that are very, very meaningful where they can have great careers.
Lois Thome:
Oh, absolutely. There are more people behind the scenes who are making my job look good than you can ever imagine. There’s so many different jobs, whether it’s writing that you love. If you love science, the meteorologist, that’s a really fabulous job too. If you have a love for science and math and weather, that’s another great job. But there’s so many jobs. Producers are in high demand. If you have great organizational skills and you love to write and you love to create a newscast, producers are in high demand across the country. So if that’s something you like, there’s definitely a niche for you there.
Stefan:
Yeah. Yeah, no. Great. As we wind down here, Lois, I want people to get to know you a little bit better. What is something you would say that we don’t know about you, but you think we should?
Lois Thome:
I’m a dairy farmer’s daughter. I grew up on a dairy farm. And when I was in Green Bay, as a matter of fact, I would anchor the morning and the noon news, and my father would call me. I lived about an hour from home. My father would call me and he’d say, “Hey, Lois, I think the hay’s going to be dry today. Can you come down and help me bale hay?” And I would leave the anchor desk at 12:30, I would drive to my parents’ farm, I would get on the wagon with my dad, and I would bale hay with him in the afternoon. And I tell that story because I think it seems like such a crazy thing that you go from doing this TV thing where you’re all made up and it all seems so perfect to being out there doing hard labor.
Lois Thome:
But at the same time, in my father’s older years, he would come and stay with us here at the house, and we’d talk about stuff like that quite a bit. I think it’s where I learned a couple of really important things, and that’s hard work. I never shied away from hard work. I owe that to my father and his dairy farm. And faith. I think faith, because he relied on the rain falling at the right time, the sun shining at the right time, and always having faith that God was going to do it at the right time in the right way for him so that he could be successful at what he was doing.
Lois Thome:
I learned those two important things growing up on that dairy farm, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I think it was a great way to grow up, and I wish it for more people. I wish family farms were a bigger part of our landscape now, because they really aren’t anymore. They’ve kind of gone by the wayside, and that’s sad for me, because I think I learned a lot growing up that way.
Stefan:
Sure, sure. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Lois Thome:
I love to spend time with my family and friends. That’s a big thing. I’m kind of a homebody, because I’m out there all the time. I’m, I guess, a little bit of an introvert when I have my free time. I like to do things in private. I’m very active in my church. I like to exercise, get out and enjoy the beautiful weather and the beautiful water. And I love places like Captiva. I’m no different than anyone else who lives here. We know what a treasure we have in this beautiful community, so I enjoy that as much as I can. But with two young kids, two teenagers, most of my time right now is spent with family.
Stefan:
Oh, absolutely. Did you meet your husband down here or did you meet him up in Wisconsin?
Lois Thome:
Believe it or not, I met him at WINK. I met him at work.
Stefan:
Oh, did you? Okay.
Lois Thome:
Yes. His parents had a place in North Naples. When he graduated from college, he came down to North Naples. He’s like, well, I’m going to take up the free rent in North Naples and get myself a job here. I met him at WINK. He worked at WINK for a time. He hasn’t worked there for decades, but he has his own production company in town and still is doing film and TV production. And so that’s how we met.
Stefan:
That’s terrific. Lois, I really appreciate you doing this today. It was great to hear about your journey, but also we all got a chance to get to know you a little bit better. I will tell you personally, I appreciate everything that you do for the community. Every night we have you on in my house and always enjoy hearing you give us the news, so I want to thank you personally for everything that you do.
Lois Thome:
Well, thank you, Stefan. You know, you’re paying my salary by watching every night, so I really appreciate that you’re keeping me employed.
Stefan:
Listen, many people watch you, as you know, and like I said, everybody always will ask me, and I get this a lot, Lois. I get people who say, “Do you know Lois?” And I say, “Yes, I do. I have the pleasure of knowing Lois.” And they say, “Is she as nice in person as she seems on TV?” And I said, “Actually, even nicer.”
Lois Thome:
Oh, that’s so nice.
Stefan:
You have a lot of fans out there. And again, we all really appreciate everything that you do.
Lois Thome:
Well, I appreciate you too, Stefan. It’s a pleasure to speak with you today, and hope to see you real soon.
Stefan:
That sounds great. Thank you, Lois.