Fairfield resident Annette Estes publishes book on career in broadcast journalism

FAIRFIELD - A Fairfield woman has written a book about her career in journalism, which included becoming the first female news anchor at a television station in South Carolina.

Annette Estes, a native of Arkansas and now a resident of Fairfield, tells all about her 15-year career in broadcast journalism in her book 'Mouthing Off: Exploits of an Outspoken Anchorwoman.” In 1977, Estes became the first female news anchor at a top 40 U.S. television station, and went on to anchor the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts at two different stations. She became the highest paid and 'most popular television personality in the market,” according to research cited in the book.

Estes gained notoriety for a gaff she committed wherein she uttered a profane remark on the air, unaware that her microphone was still on. Years later, people still approach Estes to ask about the incident and what she really said.

The incident is one of many Estes details in her book, which covers stories about salary and sex discrimination, bloopers, rumors, the celebrities she met and the anchors she worked with.

The 'incident”

Estes devotes a chapter of her book to a blooper that she's still asked about more than 30 years later. The year was 1986, and Estes was in her 10th year anchoring newscasts at WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On this one July night, Estes read the news on air and then 'threw it” to the station's weather forecaster to give the forecast.

Estes noticed something strange this night: the floor manager was crawling on his hands and knees trying to get to the weatherman's mic. It turned out the mic wasn't working, but the weather forecaster was oblivious to the problem. Estes said in that moment she felt frustrated at the sound technicians for what she assumed was an oversight on their part in not checking the equipment before the show.

'I'm judgmental about people not doing the job they're paid to do,” she admitted.

Estes turned to a co-worker and asked 'Why didn't they check the [bleeping] mics?” The show's producer quickly admonished Estes not to say another word because her mic was on. Unbeknownst to her, the staff had turned Estes's mic way up to hear the weather forecaster across the room. Estes didn't realize her comment had been broadcast live until she watched the tape later that night.

Estes apologized for her comments, but that didn't stop a barrage of letters and phone calls from reaching the station. Staffers were instructed to show Estes only the positive letters, just to keep her from obsessing over it. But it turned out that most of the letters were supportive. Estes said that was truly the impetus for writing the book.

First woman

In the book, Estes writes about the TV personalities she rubbed shoulders with during her career, which included working with Diane Sawyer as a young reporter in the 1960s and 1970s. The station WSPA in South Carolina gave Estes a job doing children's programming where she got to interview kids. Estes learned years later that the station was in danger of losing its license because it had no children's program. Estes was interviewed for the job, and even offered to do it for free just to get experience.

'After three months of that, I went to the general manager and said, ‘I need you to pay me, or I'm going to have to look for a job elsewhere.'”

Estes worked her way up to be a nightly news anchor, and in 1977, became the first woman to anchor a Top 40 news program.

Writing

Estes began writing about her career in journalism in 2009, but moved to Fairfield and then let the project sit on the shelf for a decade. Last year, she convinced herself it was finally time to finish that book. She learned about Rodney Charles and his publishing company 1st World Publishing in Fairfield. After she finished writing it, she contacted Charles to get it published.

The book was officially published on March 31. Estes said it's been an odd few weeks because the coronavirus has prevented her from doing the traditional book talks or book signings authors normally do when they release a title. However, she has been able to connect with people on Facebook who have bought the book.

'I've done a lot of Facebook chatting,” she said. 'Otherwise, I don't see anybody. My brother lives in SunnyBrook, and I can't see him [because of the virus].”