suzanne hudson
by jeanne charters

I had seen her before—at my church—and wondered who this gorgeous woman was. She is tall, willowy though voluptuous, and blessed with wavy brown hair and dark, luminous eyes.

My husband had noticed her, too (surprise, surprise!!) Occasionally, I tried to seduce him to join me at mass by telling him he could ogle his “girl friend”. I had no idea who she was but was drawn to her as someone I felt destined to know better.

Imagine my surprise when I entered the coffee shop to conduct an interview with Suzanne Hudson, the co-host (with Pat Ryan) of Oldies 96.5 “Waking Crew” morning program. There she sat! I had not connected the deep contralto I heard from the altar with the same voice on the radio station.

She looked wonderful as always and greeted me warmly, “Hi, I recognize you from church!”

We started our conversation as tentative strangers and ended it 2 hours later with feelings of understanding, camaraderie and respect. Suzanne Hudson is quite a lady!

“I get up at 3AM every weekday and I want to make sure that I’m current on all the news. From about 3:00 ‘til 4:15, I go through all the newscasts. I have CNN downstairs and ABC upstairs and the Internet in my office. After that, it’s a quick shower and fast trip to work and I’m on the air at 5:30AM. I want our listeners to know they can trust the news, and I’m doing my best to make sure they can trust ours.”

Suzanne grew up in a high-rise building in the heart of downtown Chicago. She earned a degree in Journalism from De Paul University, graduated Summa cum Laude and was class valedictorian. Her broadcast career started at the NBC television affiliate in Keokuk, Iowa, population 14,000. This big city girl learned that she loved small-town life.

“In Keokuk, we did not have a McDonald’s. We did have a Taco Bell, but they were only open from 10AM to 7PM. I had never seen an ear of corn on the stalk in my entire life. I saw my first bald eagle and learned the correct pH level of the soil for soybeans and corn. People actually baked fresh peach pies and brought them to the newsroom. I had never had peach pie before!”

After 9 months of bucolic bliss, tragedy struck. On a beautiful sunny day, the TV tower fell. It was 2,000 feet high. It fell in the middle of a Mennonite village. Three people were killed.

“After the shock wore off, I realized that I was out of work. So, I got a job in Columbus, GA doing political and investigative reporting for the ABC affiliate. I won a lot of Associated Press awards. I credit those awards to an incredible boss who let me investigate anything I felt had merit. That just didn’t happen in TV because everyone, even then, was afraid of lawsuits. My boss, Borden Black, was that rarest of breeds, a female News Director. Borden said to me, ‘If you know you’ve got it right in your heart, then go ahead with the story.’ I worked with her for over 5 years and she was absolutely incredible. Best of all, I never got sued. I have never been sued for a story, and I think that’s because of my commitment to ‘get it right in my heart’. I resigned that job and 2 days later, the station was out of business.

After 9 months of dabbling in morning radio in Columbus, I quit that job. Frankly, Borden was just too tough an act for them to follow.

Then, I came to Asheville and worked at WLOS-TV for 5 ½ years as a reporter.
My mother had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer when I was 19. She was only given a 20% chance of survival. She ended up, however, living for 17 years, thanks to a great doctor and her own incredible spirit. During the time of her illness, my father developed Alzheimer’s. So, when she died, I had to make a decision: Did I want to stand by the side of the road and tell a TV audience that it was snowing, or did I want to take care of my father?”

The decision was simple. After her mother’s funeral, Suzanne brought her father back to Western North Carolina and bought him a house in Hendersonville. She took care of him there and ultimately in a long-term care facility until his death 18 months later.
“After dad’s death, I stayed here and got involved in charity work. One day, my present boss, Bruce Law, saw Pat Ryan and I hanging out together. Pat and I had been friends for 8 years. Bruce said, ‘You guys are kind of funny together. Suzanne, do you have any broadcasting experience?’ I told him just 15 years and 15 A.P. awards. I started on air with Pat 2 weeks later on December 7, 2002.”

Suzanne took a sip of her coffee and smiled. “I am so blessed. Waking up at 3:00 in the morning is tough, but I have never had a better job. I get to work with my best friend, and we have so much fun. I work ‘til 10 AM and then I’m free. I go to bed at 7PM which wouldn’t work if I were married or in a relationship, but it works for me.”
This woman is so dedicated to “doing news right”. I asked her why.

“My parents would kill me if I didn’t do it right. My sister and I were both motivated to ‘do it right’ by both our parents. My sister is a mother of three and a D.A. in Chicago in charge of death penalty appeals. That’s a tough job in Illinois because they have a death penalty moratorium.”

Suzanne credits wonderful parents for her ethics and love of life. “My father was in the astronaut training program for Apollo, Mercury and Gemini. My mother was a civic leader in Chicago and involved in charitable activities.

“Me being a girl was never a consideration for my father. It was always expected that I would do my best at everything. I was never told that there was anything I could not do. He actually applied for me to go to the Air Force Academy (without my permission!) but was OK with it when I declined.”

When asked about her goals, Suzanne replied, “I don’t really have any career goals at all. I like what I’m doing. I will not leave Asheville—I love it here. I guess if I have a goal it is to do my best to be happy and to make others happy.”

Thank you, Suzanne Hudson. Your dad would be mighty proud of you.

Jeanne Charters lives in Fairview with her husband, Matt Restivo. A former V.P. of Marketing for Viacom Television, she started her own award-winning broadcast Advertising agency in 1990. [ charmkt@juno.com; 828-628-0023 ]