Personality Profile: Kirsten Page WHP

Personality Profile
Kirsten Page WHP - TV News Anchor

by Lisa Hummel

Originally from Northern Virginia, Kirsten Page has been in the area, and co-anchor of the evening news on WHP-TV 21, for nearly five years. But before she clocked her time in the ’Burg, she was reporting about the activity on Capitol Hill and the White House in Washington, D.C.

While obtaining her masters degree in journalism at American University in Washington, Page did her internship at the Cox Broadcasting Bureau. That position, along with some freelancing work that she did in the area, introduced her to a number of people in the business — including a news director who offered her her first job at an independent news bureau. “It was funny because at the time I was sending tapes to a lot of places all over the country and … there was a job right in my back yard, right there.”

While there, Page worked for affiliates all over the country, covering Washington news and events and localizing it for those stations that did not have a crew in the District. But, more than just a good professional experience, working in the city provided Page the chance to see and do a lot of interesting things. From the President-hosted White House parties, one at Christmas and one during the summer, to the correspondents dinner where she had the opportunity to meet news icon and personal favorite, Barbara Walters, the time Page spent in Washington was no doubt a good one. Beyond the political excitement, however, Page looked forward to being on the air everyday — which is what brought her to our area. “I got to see a lot of things, I got to do a lot of things, but I was ready for a more local position,” Page said. “I wasn’t getting to go on the air every day down there, there wasn’t always the opportunity to do that …so when WHP offered me the anchor job, I came here.”

And she has more than made herself at home in the community. With her husband, Page lives in the area and takes pride in the transformation the city has undergone in the time she has called it home. “I think we’ve had a lot of change in the scope of the downtown area,” she said, enthusiastically. “There’s been a lot of change and I think it’s been a positive for the city: restaurant row, Whitaker Center, all of the new things that are drawing people into the downtown area.”

Citing the time she spends with her friends as one of her favorite downtime activities, Page admits to enjoying the social climate offered by the city, from the restaurants and culture to the area surrounding the Susquehanna River. A fan of traveling, Page also likes to hit the road when her schedule allows. On the down side, however, working in the television news business means that you have to schedule around sweeps months.

“A lot of times you have to make your plans around sweeps months,” she said, pointing to the timely scheduling of her wedding as an example. “There are four months out of the year that you’re not allowed to take off. So you have to plan your life around those four months, but that comes with the territory. I’m not complaining, that’s part of the business.”

Page gets to the station in mid-afternoon and immediately begins preparing for the show. “We go in, we have a planning meeting, we go over what the stories of the day are, we give suggestions. Sometimes we’ll write some of the stories and we set up for other stories. There’s always something to do, it’s not like we’re sitting around waiting for the show to start,” she said. She also reveals two bits of insider knowledge: there are no make-up stylists and those papers she shuffles on camera are the real deal — not just props. “People think we have folks coming in to do our make-up and hair, but we don’t. It’s all me,” she said, laughing. And while she does read from the Tel-e-Prompter, it is a necessity to have the script on paper in the event of a technical glitch, much like the one that occurred the night before our interview when the Tel-e-Prompter crashed. “[People] think they [the papers] are just props, but they really are scripts and you’ve got to have them or else you’re going to be lost.”

But Page’s job is also fun, providing her the chance to do things like fly planes and act as a living dummy for the Harrisburg Canine Police dogs in the name of a story. “We have jobs that can be a lot of fun sometimes, that allow you to do things that you wouldn’t be able to do in every day life. Like, for example, flying a plane, going behind the scenes at “Wheel of Fortune,” covering inaugurations. We get to do things that the normal person in the public doesn’t get to do or get to see … that’s probably the best thing. You get to see things and meet people that you never thought you’d get to meet.”

And it’s fun on the screen, too. Even when she wishes it wasn’t — like when she was recently caught voicing her opinion without realizing she was on the air. “We were doing a story on the Grammy nominations and they turned my mic up early and they weren’t supposed to and the last clip of video was from Creed and the lead singer [Scott Stapp] and I was telling everybody that I thought he was so hot and right then they turned up the mic,” laughs Page. “I think the only thing that came over was ‘hot’ or ‘he’s hot’ and I didn’t know what to say, so I looked at Greg and I just started laughing, I had to make a joke out of it, so I just said, ‘hey, what can I say? I’m busted. I’m talking about him, I think he’s attractive…’ What was I going to do? I couldn’t play it off. So that was pretty embarrassing. I was actually laughing pretty hard, I had tears coming out of my eyes.”

Passionate about her job, Page doesn’t know what the future holds for her, but whether it be delivering local or national news or on a news/entertainment program like “The View,” she knows she will still want to be in the anchor chair. “I still want to be on the air, continuing along the career path, and where it takes me, I don’t know,” she admits.

But, for now, she is in Harrisburg and she is happy. She enjoys her life, she enjoys her job, and she enjoys the mixture of working in a city that offers her both a feeling of closeness and anonymity. “I like to have fun, I think I’m a normal person, I know a lot of times people will look at the people on the news and they see them as these ‘news anchors’ and they see them in that mold and I don’t like to be like that, I’m just me and I try to have a good time,” she said. “But people don’t usually recognize me. It’s really funny, because I go out, I’m not made up, I have my baseball cap on, my glasses — I like it that way.”

Kirsten Page can be found reporting the news on WHP-TV 21at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.