The ability to capitalize on timing and bravery-on-demand helped Tamara Taggart become a highly recognizable face for BC news viewers.
At dinner time and during the late night newscast, Taggart reads the weather for BC CTV. "My original intention was not to be on the air. Ever," she says. So, what happened?
Taggart lived on her own and looked after herself from an early age, which made working and surviving priorities. She had neither the luxury nor the time to think about post-secondary schooling. But, a look inside herself sent Taggart in search of a British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) calendar to research the Broadcast and Media Communications program. She applied for the program and got in, choosing the radio option over television and broadcast communications.
"I remember like it was yesterday - one of my instructors telling me that I would never go anywhere in radio," says Taggart, laughing. "And, she was right. I went somewhere in TV!" After finishing up the BCIT program, Taggart worked in radio promotions and marketing. She also had a stint working for a concert promoter, which she landed by offering to work at no charge for two weeks. She proposed that the promoter hire her if he was pleased with her work - and he was.
In 1997, Taggart landed her first on-air experience, a moment she neither expected nor sought. At the time, she worked in the marketing and promotions department for Vancouver Television and the station was about to launch a new series of about-town features. On the first day of shooting, everything was ready to roll, except for one essential detail: they had no host. The producers grabbed Taggart from her marketing and promotions duties and literally shoved her in front of cameras to host the features. Taggart laughs when she recalls phoning her best friend for wardrobe assistance on that first day of taping. "She came over and we traded clothes in the bathroom at work," says the BC CTV personality (Vancouver Television became BC CTV in 2001).
After stints reading the morning traffic, and co-hosting the breakfast show on Vancouver Television's giant eggs-and-toast set, Taggart has settled down to forecast the weather. However, she continues to host the about-town features, the launching-pad of her career in television. She says five years ago she would have bet every last penny against any suggestion she would be presenting the weather on the six o'clock news with Bill Good and Pamela Martin. But if a career change were forced upon her by life circumstances, she'd probably take it in stride. "If I had to change my occupation, I don't know what I would do. I do know that the answer would probably already be there for me. I have kind of been very fortunate that way."
CP: Who are your role models, and why?
TT: Two people that I work with: Bill Good and Pamela Martin, because they have been in the business for a long time and they have been very successful in the business. I have known them for a year and I feel like they are my family.
CP: Is there a secret weakness nobody knows about Tamara Taggart?
TT: I have a weakness for animals. I would take every animal home that I come across if I could. I have two cats now, as of less than a week ago. I only live in a small condo, and I am one cat closer to becoming the crazy cat lady.
CP: Any advice for people getting into broadcasting?
TT: I guess my advice would be that, if it's something that will happen, timing is everything, unfortunately. Be relentless without being a pain. If you truly, truly, truly want it, it will happen. Definitely.
