In today’s episode we talk with TV news personality Sherman Burdette. Sherman is a 2-time Emmy-Award winning host, reporter and producer for an Indianapolis TV news segment called "Where is Sherman”. It airs live every weekday morning from 7-10 a.m. on FOX59. Sherman talks about how he finally landed his dream job after many years in the business and how to grab his attention when pitching a story.
You can connect with him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/sburdette1
Instagram at: @shermanburdette
Twitter: @shermanburdette
Check out “Where is Sherman” online clips on FOX59’s website: https://fox59.com/morning-news/where-is-sherman/
In today’s episode we talk with TV news personality Sherman Burdette. Sherman is a 2-time Emmy-Award winning host, reporter and producer for an Indianapolis TV news segment called "Where is Sherman”. It airs live every weekday morning from 7-10 a.m. on FOX59. Sherman talks about how he finally landed his dream job after many years in the business and how to grab his attention when pitching a story.
You can connect with him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/sburdette1
Instagram at: @shermanburdette
Twitter: @shermanburdette
Check out “Where is Sherman” online clips on FOX59’s website: https://fox59.com/morning-news/where-is-sherman/
Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host Angela Tuell. This podcast features in- depth interviews with those who report on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes. Today I'm excited to talk with TV news personality Sherman Burdette. Sherman is a two time Emmy Award winning host, reporter and producer for an Indianapolis TV news segment called Where is Sherman? It airs live every weekday morning from seven to 10am on Fox 59. Hi, Sherman. Thank you for joining us today.
Sherman Burdette:Hey, Angela. How's it going?
Angela Tuell:How are you doing?
Sherman Burdette:I'm good. I'm busy. Just like you.
Angela Tuell:Yes. Yeah, so we'll jump right in then. So if you've had quite the career moving around the country, but eventually landed back in your hometown of Indianapolis. Walk us through your career a little bit.
Sherman Burdette:Well, it's been an interesting ride. It's been a long ride. But I actually TV career started right out of Ball State. I worked as a videotape editor at WISH, WISH-TV here in Indy. Worked there for about three and a half years, decided I wanted to kind of go back to that acting bug that I caught a long time ago and moved to LA for a while. But my on air TV career actually began in 1989 / 1990 in a little town, little market called Meridian, Mississippi.
Angela Tuell:When you were like two, right?
Sherman Burdette:When I worked as Yes, when I worked as a sports anchor, down there at a TV station, I don't think is even in operation anymore, WTZH at the time. But so I worked in Meridian, Mississippi, I worked several small markets. I worked in St. Joseph, Missouri. As then a news anchor, then my first real jump into like a medium to large market was in Wichita, Kansas. And I did morning show I did noon show and feature reporting. I did health reporting. I've done political reporting. I've been an assignment editor. I've been a producer, I've pretty much done pretty much every job in the newsroom. And then I was working in Pennsylvania, about 2009 got a call to come work at Fox 59 which is where we are today. So it's been a long journey.
Angela Tuell:It has. So your first TV news job you mentioned was the videotape editor. How did you start then, did you not know really what you wanted to do yet and just kind of getting your feet wet, or how did that happen?
Sherman Burdette:Well, it was a combination, but was the main reason I really wanted to be a reporter. That a couple of things working against one, I had a couple of things working against me. Number one, I looked really, really young for my age, which I've also wearing braces. And those two things combined are like yeah, you're not going to be on air. And I really looking back, I saw a picture. And when I was an editor at WISH and one of my dear friends Patti Spitler sent to me recently, but I looked, you know, I look like I was 12. And that was one thing and the other thing, you know, I really needed to stay home. I was helping take care of my grandparents at the time, were both sick, so I needed to stay in Indianapolis. So I took that job and eventually got to where I am now. But it was a long, long time long journey.
Angela Tuell:At that point, you couldn't start in a market that large on air Usually, I mean, that was something I know work your way up to at that point.
Sherman Burdette:Exactly. How are you different these days? But no, there's no way right out of college you're going to get a job on TV, in a market this size.
Angela Tuell:Right? And now you've been at Fox 59 for 12 years now. We actually work together if you remember for the first time when you were new there.
Sherman Burdette:I know. I do remember.
Angela Tuell:And I've loved working with you throughout the years definitely. And you know you get to do the fun side of news now. So the entertainment, the positive, the make us laugh. You tell us what's going on around Indy type of news. Has his been, is this your favorite position over time? Or have you enjoyed some of some of the others even more? You know, how hat has been really your assion?
Sherman Burdette:Well, you know what? I was an anchor for a long time. I did morning shows. I think I mentioned noon. I did evening. And I really, throughout that journey, decided that I really wanted to get away from the anchor desk. And what's interesting because most people in my business you know, that's what we want to do because the goal is to be an anchor and be that. Right? And that's what I thought I wanted. But along the way, I discovered that, for me, that it just didn't fit my personality. And so I was longing for this opportunity to be a feature reporter or entertainment reporter. That opportunity just never came. And then I was working in upstate New York in Rochester. And basically got canned as the anchor at this Fox affiliate there, although the entire cast actually got canned because a new company came in. And I was out of work for about a year. Actually it was 14 months, to be honest. And during that time, I was trying to find a position that would be if I was going to say in the business, I wanted to be some kind of fun feature kind of thing. Finally landed a consumer job in Pennsylvania which was my was an ex-boss of mine who hired me in St. Joseph, Missouri, hired me to work in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to do consumer lifestyle stuff. And that's how this was born, that I was finally able to make the transition to be to do what I'm doing now. And it was a dream come true. And I got to do it in my hometown. So this is kind of like my, it's kind of like my New York, if you will, you know, a lot of us aspire to go to New York or Chicago or LA. But to me, this was kind of my mean, coming home and being able to do what I do was, you know, my my New York, so it's very, it fits me very much. And it was a kind of a dream come true. That kind of kind of backed way back its way in. If you will.
Angela Tuell:Think of how limited number of jobs are in TV anyway. And then to get a feature type reporting role. That's not even every station has that. So that's very impressive. And I completely agree that you fit that perfectly. I don't know anyone that can step into those shoes.
Sherman Burdette:Thanks, it's just kind of a goofy existence, but it totally, it fits my character.
Angela Tuell:And I know originally, you wanted to be an actor, but while in high school, you said that you had a change of heart. What happened?
Sherman Burdette:Well, you know, it was a change of heart that was really kind of forced upon me, I say, in a sense, in that I announced to my I, my brother and I have a brother named Herman. Okay, so, Herman and Sherman. My brother and I growing up, we grew up. We grew up predominantly with our grandparents. And I remember coming home during high school, and I caught, I caught the acting bug long ago doing plays, and so forth, and church productions and so forth. But, you know, I really caught it in high school, I, you know, I started to kind of excel as an actor, and a host on stage for events. And I came home and I said, "You know what, I'm gonna go to New York, and I'm going to be an actor. And I'm gonna move to New York, and I'm going to work as a flight attendant, and I'm going to be an actor." And my grandfather said, "Oh, that's fantastic. Great for you. But here's the deal. If you go do that, then we're not helping you financially at all, you are totally on your own. Zero help. So but if you go to college, guess what? We'll help you. In fact, I'll pay whatever you don't get. Any kind of scholarship or our scholarship or grant." So I picked going to Ball State, say, and thus the acting bug sort of ended in that, you know, I realized I had to have a major of something, I could actually get the job. Right. I wanted to do theater, but I switched to TV news. But I had been involved in journalism and yearbook production when I was in high school as well. So it was really my second choice, to be honest.
Angela Tuell:But then, at some point early on, you did give acting a go though, right?
Sherman Burdette:Yeah, I moved to LA for a minute. Did some stuff that was in gosh, and after I worked at WISH, I decided to to give it a shot in LA. I was doing some local stuff here through an agency, Helen Wells Agency actuallt is still around. I did some commercial stuff. And I did some some modeling, and I'm not really a stage runway model I'm way too short for that, but I did some print stuff. And I took started taking some acting classes. And I said, you know what, I just, I'm going to do this. A friend of mine was moving there. We roomed together and it worked out for a minute, but I discovered in that process that I couldn't, I just couldn't see myself really merge. It was going it was going to be a long haul become a working actor. Let's just put it that way. And I was not prepared for that haul. In between while I was out there, Angela was really crazy because I worked all these - what they call an L.A. ,at least back in the day - survival jobs. So you know, you go out on auditions and you get your, you know, headshots and you take all these classes and then you work a survival job. And I had, I looked at my memoir or my memoir, my diary, if you will. And I think I worked about 15 different survival jobs while I was in LA, over over a three and a half year period. I mean, I was a delivery driver, I was a chauffeur, I was a bartender. I mean, and I just, you know, I decided, you know what, I can't do this. So that's how I wound up back in TV. And that, that didn't really end the dream, but it just sort of said, "You know what, I cannot do that. And I need a job where I can do both." And that's where I got back into TV news. And that's why I really always wanted to be an entertainment and feature reporter, because it allows me to, to just kind of be me and have fun.
Angela Tuell:Yes, the best of both worlds. Yeah. And I love your advice. And if you want to be on TV just to be on TV, you're in the wrong business.
Sherman Burdette:And you know that. Right? Right, totally, you know, I mean, you know, the grind, that a TV news person kind of puts in on a regular day, between being a producer or being an anchor, being a photographer, being a reporter. And specifically if you're out in the field, as a reporter, or photographer, but so many people want to be on TV. And that was, you know, put you in a reporter position to start typically, and it's a grind. It's a, it's a grind that you have no control over. And once you get into that job, and they're saying, hey, coming into your first job, and you get assigned a story for the day, which is what we call news of the day, or general assignment reporting, you're pretty much a slave to whatever, what we call the assignment desk that kind of assigns reporters and photographers their jobs. You are or your story for that day, you mean you're kind of a slave to them in that, hey, you might start today doing one story in the middle of that, they might say, Wait, breaking news, there's a fire that now we want you to do. Oh, wait, the fire didn't happen and I want to go back to what you were doing. And oh, by the way, you got to put all this together, and you got to be Live at Four and then you got to do something for five, and then we may need to keep you over to the do the 10 or the 11. So it's like this long process of a day. And, and so many people we see it's so much Angela, you know. We were talking earlier, when we started this conversation about Indianapolis, not necessarily being a starter market, if you will, back in the day. Today, we see that a little more, you know, it's like your first or second job, usually second job these days. But you know, they're young. And that really hadn't really been exposed to the the daily grind of that. And we see them just dropping like flies and quitting and getting frustrated. And today there's so much more piled on a reporter. We've got social media and you have to do you got to keep up, you got to write stories for the web, the web. In a given day, one reporter, general assignment reporter, may have three or four different stories. And have to write something, you know, for each media, or medium in that process. It's crazy.
Angela Tuell:It is. I always say to myself, when I say that I was a reporter before we had social media, but it was much it was much easier at that point. I felt like I still had multiple stories a day, you know, there were a lot of one man bands and stuff, but it still is not as it is today.
Sherman Burdette:Imagine that, right? I mean, not doing that trying to do all that today.
Angela Tuell:I can't even imagine. And I do know that, you know, that to be on TV just to be on TV. I mean, I there are so many friends of mine that are still in TV that started you know, when I was as well, but I feel like we did it to be a journalist. I mean, I still consider myself a journalist, even though I'm in the PR world, you know, at this point, but you do it for the love of that. And if you don't have that it is you just you can't stay in it. I mean, it doesn't, it doesn't
Sherman Burdette:Uh uh - it can't. It's just not, it's not work. gonna, you know, that whole, hey, I'm a pretty face. Look at me. Wooo, I'm on TV. And don't get me wrong. There are a lot of very attractive people in TV, who wind up making very successful careers, but I think they're the ones who also realized, "well, you know what, it ain't all about how I look or feel. It's about me getting the grind done." And I think underneath they are, too, you know, true journalists or two storytellers who are committed to that. And I think one of the things that frustrates me about that, Angela, is that you know, when there's some people who think that you know, you're a reporter, you have a specific agenda or you're on this side of the political spectrum are you're on this end. I tell people all the time as a you by saying that you definitely do not understand the grind of at least a local TV news reporter. Local TV news reporters don't have time to have agendas. They really gotta pump out so many, you know, you're running from seeing the scene and half the time. You know, I don't, I don't think viewers actually realize how smart you have to be to do that kind of job. Because you have to learn quickly. You have to gather quickly, and you have to be able to tell a story quickly, even if you don't have all the particulars, you have to still be able to put that together and take it into the context to say, you know, what, we don't know everything. But here's what we know. And to be able to do that on the fly. You can't, you you got to know, you got to know how to dot your i's and cross your T's. And that's where I think people just really have a huge misconception of what being a local TV news reporter's about.
Angela Tuell:Yeah. You don't have time to think through which side would I, would I, would I agree with. And I remember in the newsroom, too, always hearing from, you know, news directors, did you get both sides, did you get both sides. I mean, that's, that's all you're doing out there trying to find someone on, on each side of the story or of the angle so that you can tell the full story. So yeah, that's gonna be I mean, when I was reporting, too, that wasn't an issue as much of the, you know, not trusting journalists. And that sort of, or as much as it is today. So that's a whole 'nother wrench thrown in there. It's very hard.
Sherman Burdette:It is. Yeah. And it's under attack. I mean, it's people who just, you know, we encounter people who see us and even in my little fun, moreover, hey, they see you're at Fox, and they think a certain way, because you work for Fox affiliate. And it's, you know, but anyway.
Angela Tuell:You know, I didn't even think about asking you about that, because I was thinking in your type of entertainment type role that you wouldn't be getting, that you wouldn't be getting that. That's too bad. You know, what would have been some of your most memorable stories?
Sherman Burdette:You know, it's kinda hard. I think, you know, so what I guess what, I would back that up and say what I think most people don't realize in my particular position that, you know, what they see on TV, in that three, three to say, nine or 10 minutes in the morning, from seven to 10 on our morning show is a very small part of my job. You know, behind the scenes, I produce, I plan, I write everything that goes on our air, or that's in my segment. I have my hand on it behind the scenes. There's not one segment where I don't. Everything is I'm, I'm involved in each and every segment. So it really, you get really very consumed and you kind of really have to know what you're talking about backwards and forwards to be able to do it. And we kind of do it in a fun way and try to get the story told and all kinds of things. But usually, because I say that in that they kind of run together after a while. And I usually the way I always look at it is okay, what was my favorite story of the week? That's kind of how I go about it. Because it kind of, and I think, you know, one of the stories I've done this week, is related to a place that's happening and up and coming in Indy on the near West Side called 16 Tech. It's a fantastic, innovative district. That features as biotech services or sciences. There's an office space for people who are entrepreneurs, they're trying to start a whatever a tech business or you name it, there's a maker space for people who are creative, and they make things. And to have a business, there's a marketplace for people who are a chef and they have a dream of owning some sort of restaurant or coffee shop or whatever, and this whole innovative district. And it's done in such a way that allows young entrepreneurs or even older entrepreneurs to get a start, and they get it to be able to have like a little stall like a restaurant stall, for example, and test to see how well they might do. And along the way, it's like an incubator, they get advice on how to be a business person, how to run a small business. And it's amazing thing. It's really up and coming just really getting started. The grand opening of it is actually on June 21, I believe. But it's a really cool thing. So that was this week's my favorite thing because there's so much involved and it's a really awesome thing for Indy.
Angela Tuell:Yeah. So, you know, with doing stories every day, I'm sure you're bombarded by businesses, companies, publicists, PR people. You know what, what are some of the best ways to get in touch with you but also some of your pet peeves and you know, ways to, to help you instead of make your job harder?
Sherman Burdette:Yeah, yeah, that's a tough question in that, there, it's really kind of an individual thing depends on the, the business that we're covering, because you know, we do restaurants, we do shops we try to do we do events, fairs, whatever that obviously, last couple year last year. So that has not been the case. But one of the things that I, that really kind of gets to me when it when it comes to, let's say, a PR side of a person's like we call it as you know, like pitching a story to a reporter or something. In my particular case, we're talking features, we're talking fun stories and things that are positive messages for the community. One of the things that irritates me or a pet peeve on the PR end is not knowing what a TV news reporter in my case needs. In other words, sort of walking them through everything that I would need. For example, for the restaurant, and they've got a PR person representing them, and they asked me, so what do you want? What do you want to talk about? What kind of dishes should we put out to for the for the morning show? What kind of... And to me, I should not have to answer that question for you. You should know what you want to promote, you should have, that person who's handling that business should know, okay, if it's a pizza parlor that specializes in specialty pizza, then guess what, you want to promote your specialty pizzas. You want to promote your signature pizzas. If there's a signature salad, you know, that's what you want, you want to send them that message. That's the message you want to send the public. And we often run into PR people who don't seem to understand that and rely on the reporter to tell them what they want, which, you know, is such a lazy way of being a PR person. A good I mean, you're a good PR person, because you always know, you know, you like me, you know the message behind what, what you're representing, you always send out what that person what you're representing. Now, it may not be on my end exactly what I want But that's when I get a chance to tell you, okay, no, we want this. We want this, we want this. I've never had to tell you, Hey, what is this all about? You always, you always tell me what it is. So and that's what a lot of PR people miss. It's irritating as heck. But I do say this, these days, couple ways, email, Instagram. The best way right now Instagram has become my favorite way, like getting people reaching out to me. I love it. I love it. I love Instagram, somebody sent me an Instagram message. And there's something that they know about. I mean, they know their business. You know, don't send me something to say, Hey, I got a new business. Come check it out, which I get a lot. You know, it's like, okay, that's not a good, that's not a good come check it out. I'm not responding to that. Right? You gotta tell me what it is. What is it? Oh, we do this. And we do that you really got to come see it here. Email me, call me. You know, that's what you want. And then that gives me then a foundation or platform to go, oh, here's, here's my invitation to reach out and I can then go I'm going to or I am not, but I don't respond to Hey, come check us out. Or here's, here's my you know, I get an email. We got a new we got a new pizza joint, a new restaurant, we come see us.
Angela Tuell:Yeah. Okay. And also, you don't have time to do that research in depth. What makes you special? Why should I cover that?
Sherman Burdette:No. Yeah, I don't have to. It's a lot when you're responding to every single email. And like I mentioned, every little thing that happens with Where is Sherman? comes through me, it goes nowhere else but me. So I have, you know, yeah, sometimes answering emails at seven or eight o'clock at night, after being up at 5am. But, you know, it's part of the gig.
Angela Tuell:So how do you find and choose the stories each day? I know, you plan ahead. But I mean, how do you, how do you choose which ones and find them a lot of times? You mentioned Instagram.
Sherman Burdette:There's a lot of factors to that. And that's something that people don't understand. If we're going to put you on TV, you got to be TV worthy. You've got to do the person on the other end of whatever business it is, you know, they have to do their groundwork that they look good on camera that in terms of what they're selling. They're, they have a nice space that's clean and appropriate to show on TV. You know, I recently had someone who was all excited and they pitch me something and they were, they kept calling me and you know, I looked on their Instagram page and I saw really all they had in front of literally what they had in front of their house was like a hotdog cart in front of their house. And they call it they call it a restaurant. And they say you said You got to come see our place, we got great food, we got this got this and he kept calling and I, yeah, I didn't respond because in that situation, I don't really know how to respond to say, guess what? No, you know, someone else in this position might have really, really reached out to them and said, Oh my gosh, no, that's not what we want. That's really what the heck are you reaching? I find it hard to say something like that to someone. So I usually just kind of don't respond. And I take that maybe somebody on the other end might see that I didn't respond. I mean, they're not interested. Right? Yes. As opposed to saying, Well, sometimes they don't they keep going, you know, you're like, I just don't want to say no, I don't want to tell you why. And maybe I should, but I just not, you know, I'd rather, I'd rather that person kind of figure it out. Like if you look and see what we do on TV, you might see that you're, what you're talking about doesn't really fit that. You don't have it together enough yet for us to even help you. Which is a pet peeve of mine is that, you know, business will say, Hey, we're, we want you to come and showcase us. And then we get there and you don't have your ducks in a row. And then people come to your place and they're not satisfied. And they think it's something that we did. That makes us look bad, too. So, you know.
Angela Tuell:Yeah. And I'm sure you've learned over the years. What works best pretty much.
Sherman Burdette:Yeah, you know, I always trying to tell people trust me, we know what we're doing when we have a guest. And a lot of times we have type A, Type A owners, you know, running a business, you know, used to kind of being in control. It's difficult for them to give control over to someone. You know, I understand it because it's theirs. But I always said, Look, trust me. We're here to make you look good. You know, don't overthink this.
Angela Tuell:Yes, PR people too.
Sherman Burdette:I bet you do. Yeah, that's your that's your job. And you know, and if I'm asking you a question, you give me the right answer, give me the honest answer. Give me this, give me that. And know that this is what we're here to do. We're here to prop you up not to cut you down. And I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm going to do my best not to make you look bad on TV. And here's what I need from you to make that happen. So anyway,
Angela Tuell:I know everyone that I've worked with that you've done segments on has have thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm very happy with it so.
Sherman Burdette:Well I hope so. That's the goal.
Angela Tuell:Yes. And you know, many of your segments include trying foods all over Indy, not not all of them, you know, but but a good number. What have been some of your favorites? I have to hear some, some goo advice and tips on where w should go
Sherman Burdette:Oh, some good restaurants. You mean? Yeah. Good places in general. Yeah. I tell you what, there's a really exciting Italian restaurant marketplace happening on the north side, actually near Allisonville Road off 82nd Street is called Catello's. It's one of my favorite it's it's Italian cuisine. It also has fish - I'm a fish person - but they have fresh fish. They have aged, they have aged beef. They have pre they also have a storefront where you can buy pasta and gelato and fresh meats and sauces. It's fantastic. It sits right off of it. Yeah, it's a hidden gem. Trust me. It's off of 82nd Street, and if you're familiar with Allisonville Road. Allisonville Road between, where, well it's still there Designer Shoe Warehouse if you're a shoe person or there is and there was an old Marsh that was one and that strip mall but it's right in between those two, there's a Starbucks that's kind of in front of it. And I guess the best description would be it used to be The Fox and Hound. But it's now Beautiful, beautiful place. That's one of them. That's one of my favorites. That's a new favorite. I have some standard favorites that one of those being Traders Point Creamery in Zionsville that I think people we haven't experienced it. It's something that you really need to do organic. It's it's just an amazing place to go visit and see you it's right on an organic farm and with cows and you've got pics. Yeah, and it's on this beautiful farm and they have a fantastic brunch, which is my favorite is their their Sunday brunch. We have something that's coming up. That's really fantastic. I'm excited about this. There's a new toy shop called Monon Toys and Crafts. It's brand new, just opened in the last week or two. For those who have kiddos or if you have kiddos in your life, the aunt uncle god mother, father, whatever, little ones, this store specializes in a toy from around the world. So international toys. They're all hand, they're mostly handcrafted toy. So it's not something that you're gonna find. You're gonna find it what they have in their shop on Amazon or, or at Walmart, or, obviously their are other names but anyway, big box store, you're not gonna find. These are really, really cool. They're more like heirloom toys, if you will. And I am so excited to feature - where're actully featuring her this week. That's something that, to me, and I guess I buried the lead in that this is a mom, who's a mother of two who decided she wanted a quality toy for her kids and decided to open her own shop and and do that because she couldn't find. So I mean, the best things to me is just telling these small stories, or small business stories that I am firm believer that we all have a story. And you know, NPR that's kind of what you do, or you tell people's stories or their business or whatever. And I love it when someone someone that we're able to share and showcase what they're doing. But yeah, that's one of my upcoming favorites.
Angela Tuell:I can't wait to check that out. Do you know what day it is this week?
Sherman Burdette:It's Thursday.
Angela Tuell:Okay, well, before we go, we have to talk about your dogs Frank and Lucy. They tend to steal the show a lot on social media some competition.
Sherman Burdette:Yes they do. But you know what? It's all good. I that's that's been the intent. I, I'm a huge, huge dog person. And Frank and Lucy are both they're golden doodles.
Angela Tuell:Gorgeous. Beautiful dogs.
Sherman Burdette:Thank you. So thank you, Frank is what we call an actually, he's a golden doodle. He's with color. But they call him a red golden doodle but he's actually an apricot, excuse me, but he's actually a brownish red golden doodle, golden retriever, poodle mix. And then Lucy, who's also a golden doodle, golden retriever which is a poodle mix. She's a golden doodle, but she's a black golden doodle. And she's of the mini variety but she's on the large size of mini, but they are both way too different personalities. Lucy is goofy and crazy and funny and she's seven years old and Frank is nine going on 10 and he's the lover cuddle with me, I love you, please take care of me. And he's the one who actually follows me around all the time.
Angela Tuell:Well, they are gorgeous. I love seeing your photos so adorable. And they're the ones you want to cuddle with you look at them the photos and you want to kiss and hug them.
Sherman Burdette:And I tell you, Frank, Frank is definitely that way. Lucy's not she's not really a color she so she will love on you. She likes to roam. And you know, be adventurous and mischievous and cause trouble but Frank is like, he's like, yeah, just just touch me. Just hold me.
Angela Tuell:Have you had any golden doodles before them?
Sherman Burdette:I have not. I actually have. The story is this. Frank, my partner Bill, had Frank when we met. And Frank was about just a little over a year old so he was still puppy-ish. And every, Frank and I met and just kind of fell in love. Let's just put it that way and ever since Frank has attached himself to me as his person.
Angela Tuell:So you and Bill had to stay together because of Frank?
Sherman Burdette:Yes, it's everyone. I always think, well Frank is obviously your dog. He is my dog. He's our dog really, I should say, but he was definitely, you know, I didn't bring him home as a puppy but we he became mine. And then Lucy we have together and as a puppy and she is very much Bill's dog. Okay, and lost and lost in the shuffle is our cat, Ava, who we don't get to show much because she doesn't like me. She doesn't like pictures taken of her. But we also have a cat.
Angela Tuell:And Frank and Lucy get along well with her?
Sherman Burdette:Oh, yeah. Actually Ava came first. Ava was the original. Frank was added. And then Lucy so Ava kind of really runs the show. They don't mess with Ava.
Angela Tuell:That's kind of always the case with cats,
Sherman Burdette:Yeah. Yeah, don't mess with Ava. She will. right? They play fight a lot. They don't fight but they do play fight.
Angela Tuell:Well, thank you so much, Sherman. It was so great to talk with you. And we'll, we'll keep watching you every morning.
Sherman Burdette:Thank you. And thanks for having me on. And I'm glad you're doing this. This is this is cool. I love your little conversations. It's an awesome thing. And thank you for asking me to be a part of it.
Angela Tuell:Definitely. Thank you. If you live in the Indianapolis area, you can tune in to see Sherman on Fox 59 Morning News weekdays from seven to 10am. Or if you're outside of the area, visit Fox 59.com under Morning News slash Where is Sherman to view his segments online. That's all for this episode of Media in Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined, available anywhere you get your podcasts. You can find more at CommunicationsRedefined.com/podcast. I'm your host, Angela Tuell. Talk to you next time.