REGINA - Estevan's own Cole Davenport is proving by example that the sky is the limit when one knows what they want, and a small-city origin is an advantage than a hindrance on this path.
In early January, Davenport, who currently reports for CTV News Regina, announced on social media that as of mid-February he will be taking over anchoring CTV News at 5 p.m. Monday-Friday in southern Saskatchewan.
Born and raised in Estevan, Davenport had his very first media experience at the Mercury, where he worked as a paper carrier. His passion for journalism developed early in life, and it took him through several other jobs and destinations.
"The passion for media has always been there. I've had a lot of teachers going through school that really emphasized the importance of video, and through that, I really started to just make videos about whatever," Davenport said.
While still at the Estevan Comprehensive School, Davenport was a part of the ECS radio show. After he got out of high school Lyle McGillivray with CJ 1150 let the young and passionate teen come onboard.
"After a little bit, a couple of people left, and I ended up getting to take over an afternoon show at CJ 1150. That was when I was 17. Since then, it's been quite the ride," Davenport recalled.
His local experiences solidified his vision for his career.
"There's one summer when I was working radio in Estevan. The Saskatchewan Summer Games were in town. There was a crazy storm, and just a couple of things happened and that was such a rush when news breaks that I think I almost got addicted to it a little bit.
"That's where I found my passion for it, it was down in Estevan. And now I get to do it for all southern Saskatchewan, which is just a privilege."
He graduated from the interactive media arts program at the Assiniboine Community College (ACC) in Brandon, where he learned all he could about radio and TV. That experience left him with one main vision of his career path – TV.
While still at ACC, he took a practicum with CTV Regina.
"I got to meet and work with a bunch of great people, learn more about the news than I would have thought possible in six weeks. That was pretty sweet," Davenport shared.
"And then out of that, I managed to get a job in Yorkton. Being from Estevan, Yorkton wasn't too much of a different step. But that was really fun to just be out there and get to talk more of the world's stories."
He was with CTV News Yorkton for a year and then headed to Regina in 2018. Ever since he has been mainly working as a video journalist but also has experience as an anchor and fill-in digital content producer in the Queen City. That lasted until the new exciting opportunity recently came up.
"When I was growing up, I remember watching CTV Regina with my grandparents and just seeing the story of the day and watching the different anchors that came through over those years. And now it's just an absolute thrill to be able to be one of them for somebody else watching the news with their grandparents, whether that's in Estevan or wherever in the south," Davenport said.
He added that growing up in Estevan he picked up knowledge and skills that help him a lot in his career.
"You can ask anybody in this room, I won't shut up about Estevan or the different things that I learned and saw down there. It helps to be able to connect with any community, once you've learned how to connect with the people in your hometown. And just from growing up there, you get to meet pretty much everybody and talk to everybody. And then working out at the radio station, even more so, you are talking to the mayor, talking to everybody. It played such a huge role in everything. It shaped a lot of the stories I like to do, too," Davenport said.
While he is now a big city reporter and is becoming a national news anchor, he said his secret to a successful career in media is to tell any story as if you were telling it not to a big audience, but to one particular person.
"If you go to school for this sort of thing, they'll tell you that you're only ever talking to one, one viewer, one listener, as long as you just keep reading, like you're talking to them, that's the way to do it."
He noted that as the news isn't always the best and often it's not easy to listen to, it can be easier for the audience if they have a calm voice to guide them through the chaos that is the average news day.
"I guess just keep that one viewer in mind. It's not a group of people. It's just one person. It depends on the night, sometimes I want to be thinking about my grandparents, sometimes my mom who passed away a few years ago. But you just think about that one person that would be most difficult to tell some of the stuff that you had to tell. You got to put it in a way that makes it sound like there might be problems, but there's a way to address it," Davenport explained.
He also thanked everyone who helped him grow, supported his first steps in Estevan and keeps supporting him now.
"To everybody who has listened to me on CJ, listen to the newscast I've been doing for the last little while, whether that's on late night or whatever, I appreciate it. And I hope that you felt like that one viewer," Davenport said.
