Q&A: New 10TV anchor Kristyn Hartman

There's a new belle of the Columbus news personality ball. Meet Kristyn Hartman.

On Monday, June 4, Hartman takes the chair at 10TV News' anchor desk, a spot formerly occupied by Andrea Cambern. Hartman comes to Columbus from Chicago, where she was an anchor and reporter for WBBM for eight years.

"Will people watch? I'm nervous about that, but I'd be nervous about that wherever I would go," Hartman said. "I'm excited about the opportunity to embrace Columbus the way Andrea did. I'll do it my own way, of course. I can't be a carbon copy."

Last week at Pistacia Vera (she's a sucker for the bakery's shortbread), Hartman talked with me about her hobbies and how she got her start.

The first time I ever anchored was in Joplin, Missouri. It was the morning news. For our morning cut-ins we had manual typewriters and we had to take our scripts and tape them onto a conveyor belt-type thing. I was running really behind on that first day … I was learning the ropes. So I got it all done, ran over to the desk, sat down, put my earpiece in and I heard, "You have 10 seconds." I had no time to even catch my breath. I heard "Go," and I started talking, and I started hyperventilating. All I was able to spit out was "Hello, I'm Kristyn Hartman. Let's go to the break." I must have looked mortified. I never went and looked at the tape. It's live TV. Stuff is going to happen. I've learned that people are far more understanding of it than condemning. We're going to make a mistake. We're human.

My husband, Chris, and I are college sweethearts. We met the first day of classes my freshman year in German class. I walked in he said, "Hey you, want to study?" I said, "It's the first day of classes. No, I don't want to study." I got really, really lucky. Northwestern gave me my career, but more importantly it gave me my husband.

I love traveling. I love photography. I love baking.My dad and my husband love my chocolate chip cookies. It took me many years to get it just the way I want it so ... I probably won't be sharing that recipe.

When I was a kid,I grew up in a house where we all watched the 10 o' clock news. I used to read the paper every day when I was eight. My mom used to cut certain things out of the paper so I wouldn't see them. I won current events contests when I was a kid, and that was really important to me. I was a news consumer from an early age.

I love the mix of sound, video and writing. I think it's a perfect, perfect puzzle. I really love the video component. On 9/11 everyone turned on their television. It was the way we all experienced it together. It's a horrible thing to have to experience together, but everybody saw what happened. [Broadcast journalism] is a really powerful medium.

Kristyn Hartman

Age: 42

Job: 10TV news anchor

Hometown: Chicago

Neighborhood: German Village

Favorites

Favorite quote: "Never, never, never quit - until you change your mind."

Favorite news program: "60 Minutes"

Favorite movie: "Forrest Gump"

Favorite song: "Our Lips Are Sealed," by The Go-Go's, "which is funny because I'm a journalist."

Favorite food: Pizza and cheeseburgers

Favorite magazine: Vanity Fair

Favorite author: Jane Austen