Bulldog to Broadcaster: A personal profile on UMD Alumnus Natalie Grant
Photo from KBJR 6
At 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, as most of the city is settling down in their pajamas and getting ready for a good night’s sleep, Natalie Grant’s night is just getting started. Grant takes a deep breath, puts a smile on her face and the teleprompter starts to run.
“Good evening, I’m Natalie Grant, thank you for joining us.”
Grant is a University of Minnesota Duluth alumnus that graduated in 2019. She is now a reporter and weekend anchor for the local news station, KBJR 6. Over the last year, local news stations have been extremely relevant in our lives, but most people take for granted the difference reporters and anchors, such as Grant, are making in their communities.
When taking a quick glance at Grant’s desk, the first thing that the eye is drawn to is a UMD Bulldogs flag pinned proudly on the side of her cubicle. Coming from a long line of Bulldogs, Grant always felt a certain pull to UMD.
“I kind of always knew that I was going to be a Bulldog at one point or another,” Grant said.
Not only did Grant know that she was going to be a Bulldog someday, but she also knew that she was going to work in broadcast journalism since her early years of high school in Eden Prairie,
Minnesota.
As she started to grow out of certain activities such as theater, she was on the hunt for a different outlet that allowed her to continue being an outgoing leader — this is when she joined her school’s broadcast program, Eagle Vision News.
“My friend was in the broadcast program, and she's like, ‘You should just join and take this class,’ and I was like, okay, yeah, whatever. Like if you say so, and I fell in love with it,” Grant said.
Grant was constantly trading stories, writing up commercials, producing, anchoring and doing everything else that took place in a real newsroom. From that moment, she knew that broadcast journalism was what she was meant to do.
“This is what I think I was supposed to do with my career and what I want to do for a really long time,” Grant said.
After graduating from UMD, Grant started to work for the local news station KBJR 6. She started off as a producer for the station but knew someday she wanted to become a reporter.
“Some things led into another, and one of the former anchors on CBS got moved to mornings, and so then I advocated for myself, and I was like, ‘Hey, I'd really love this opportunity,’ and they took a chance on me,” Grant said.
Grant is now a reporter and weekend anchor for KBJR where her job is a fast-paced process with quick deadlines and lots of interviewing — Grant loves every second of it.
“Some people are only anchors, and I like the fact that we get the opportunity to be both,” Grant said. “ It's hard to get burned out in the shift because you're doing so many different things.”
But the thrill of the job isn’t the only reason Grant continues to work in broadcast journalism. She said she values the role that local news plays in a community such as Duluth.
“Your local news people are working because they care about getting accurate, local information to you… I think local news is essential,” Grant said. “Our job at the end of the day is to tell the truth and to report the local issues in our community.”
Between spitball fights and hilarious commentary among the staff from both CBS 3 and KBJR 6, whose stations share a building, the whole energy seemed to bounce right back to Grant — when she was smiling and laughing, the rest of the team followed suit.
“She is not afraid to have fun,” said CBS 3 Duluth meteorologist Peter Kvietkauskas.
Kvietkauskas explained that before Grant became the KBJR 6 weekend anchor, she worked with him at CBS 3 where they had a chemistry that not only made for a great pair in the workroom, but was also able to relate onto the screen for people at home.
“People [watching] TV want to see people that are having fun and get along because if you don’t, then you’re watching it [and] it just kinda seems awkward,” Kvietkauskas said.
He also talked about the importance of Grant’s weekend anchor job for the city of Duluth.
“If we didn’t do a weekend show [with] the weekend anchor, there’s a lot of news that would just get thrown to the wayside,” Kvietkauskas said.
When asked about his favorite story about Grant, whether it be in the office or not, Kvietkauskas could barely keep a straight face, which says everything in itself.
“What am I allowed to say?” Kvietkauskas said. “We have lots of bloopers. Bloopers that should not be talked about; bloopers that can’t be talked about!”
But at the end of the day, Kvietkauskas appreciates the work of Grant and how her passion for her job reflects the whole energy of their station.
Jessie Slater, the assistant news director for KBJR 6 and CBS 3, also expressed the hard work that Grant puts into making sure the community of Duluth is getting their news.
Slater said Grant is always willing to work on her days off or for multiple days in a row just to put out a perfect story. “She really separates herself by having that willingness to get the story no matter what,” Slater said.
Grant also plays an important role at the KBJR station due to her close relationship and love for the city of Duluth.
“She cares a lot about Duluth and our viewing area as a whole,” Slater said. “It's always really great to have an employee who is from here and already knows our area, which she does… I think that is also something that really separates her from other employees.”
As the 10 p.m. show grows closer and closer, Grant curls her hair and heads to the news desk with her laptop in hand.
Once at the desk, Grant checks the cameras and attaches her mic, making sure that she is set up for success when the cameras start running. After she gets herself all set up, she starts to run her lines.
Every single word she reads slides off the tongue and is stated with poise and authority. Her hand gestures have the same stern energy, but her bright smile instantly lightens up the mood for the cameras — this mood is kept constant as the cameras start to roll, and the 10 o’clock news begins.
Between commercials and takes, Grant can be seen scrolling through her phone, singing to herself or making fun of her producer through her headset — it is clearly a picture of someone who loves what they do.
Grant reports and anchors the news for the city of Duluth because it is her home away from home, it is the place she loves most in the world and has a hard time putting into words how much the community means to her.
“[Broadcast journalism] was always the end goal and to be here actually doing it in a city that I love with a community that I love is kind of surreal sometimes,” Grant said.