On Monday evening, Amelia Santaniello did something she hasn’t done in ages. She left work for the day while the sun was still shining.
The longime WCCO-TV anchor began her new schedule this week, which saw her move to anchor the 4 p.m. newscast and depart the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts she had co-anchored with her husband, Frank Vascellaro, for more than two decades. They are continuing to anchor the 6 p.m. news as a pair.
“It’s really great, I’m really enjoying it,” said Santaniello, 60. “Working nights, there are a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while and that’s great. I like the energy and I like doing the (4 p.m.) show. I think it’s exactly what I needed. After doing 40 years of hard news, and 30 years here, it’s just nice to have this variety. This change is good.”
At 4, Santaniello is working with Erin Hassanzadeh, whose former on-air partner Jeff Wagner has taken over the station’s popular “Good Question” segment. The hour favors features and longer interviews over breaking news, which appealed to Santaniello.
“I had foot surgery this summer and I was off for four weeks. I think that’s when is started to think about the grind of doing the news. I feel like since the pandemic, the news cycle has been nonstop and just sort of relentless. Being off for that month made me realize I need a break, a mental break, from it,” she said.
Santaniello said she had previously talked to the 4 p.m. producer about her interest in the time slot. When the position opened up, the station’s news director came to her with an offer.
“At first, I thought I was going to do the 4, 5, 6 and 10,” she said. “I’ve done that before, filling in. But then they told me I wouldn’t be doing the 10. It didn’t take me long to say that sounds good to me. I thought this is what I need. And I would love to change my hours.” (Santaniello’s workday went from 2:30 to 10:30 p.m. to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m
Given her high profile in the community, it wasn’t a surprise to see Santaniello post a video to Facebook making it clear there were absolutely no issues going on with her husband. She laughed when asked about it.
“Oh, my gosh, it’s funny. No, there’s no trouble in this marriage. In fact, we do laugh about it. And perhaps this will make it stronger. You know, a little time apart. And he’s been extremely supportive because he knows I’m happy. I think he was maybe a little hesitant because we’ve been a team for 20 years here. I love working with the team, too, but I (still) work with him at 6. It’s strange not being with him at 10, but I think that was his only concern.”
So what did she end up doing Monday evening?
“I went home and a friend called and said they were watching the Vikings game and do I want to come over? So I went over to watch the Vikings game,” Santaniello said.
“Just being able to come home, wind down and just kind of have my evening, you know? I can settle in with a book or watch a movie or go to bed early. I will watch the 10 p.m. news, but if I go to bed early, I’m not going to feel guilty.”
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