By Mark Ambrogi
Nicole Pence is back to getting up in the middle of the night and she couldn’t be happier.
After being an anchor for NewsPoint at 11 p.m. on Fox59 for 15 months, the Carmel resident joined the “CBS4 This Morning” show on Sept. 14. Both stations are owned by the Tribune Media Company.
“I prefer mornings,” said Pence, who will join Tim Doty and Marianne Lyles on the anchor desk from 5 to 7 a.m. “I like the connection you have with the viewer. I like the personality you can show in the mornings. Nights are a little more serious because you are wrapping up all the news of the day. In the morning, you can share something personal or you can talk about something that is going to happen that day that is light.’”
Pence, 31, has another reason for favoring the switch. She and husband, Jason Becker, are expecting twin boys in December.
Pence said the morning schedule will be conducive to spending more time with the family.
“I get to come home and have all afternoon with my babies and early evenings with (Jason),” said Pence, a niece of Gov. Mike Pence. “Before at night, you go in at 1:30 in the afternoon and I wouldn’t get home until midnight. So there is big time commitment that you are in that studio and you can’t leave because there are several different newscasts.”
Following the show, she will put together stories, attend community events and be done by about noon.
“The morning opportunity is a good thing for her career and the best thing for our family,” Becker said.
Previously, Pence had worked on the WTHR-13 morning show on weekends for 1 1/2 years and was the morning anchor at the NBC affiliate in Lexington, Ky., for four years.
CBS4’s show will have a new look locally with a three-anchor desk.
“All the other morning shows have a male and female anchor and we have three,” Pence said. “That brings extra resources. We’re going to have extra content.”
