C.J.: KSTP-TV's Josie Smith talks personal tragedy and traffic

KSTP-TV traffic reporter Josie Smith's usually upbeat demeanor was tested in a most tragic way. Smith, who previously provided traffic reports for WCCO-AM for 11 years, was off work because her baby girl died shortly after birth. I decided not to explain her absence to curious readers until she was feeling better. She is better but understandably not completely recovered. "It's very, very difficult," she told me. "It's only been a few months, so it's very fresh. I think maybe a couple of years from now, you know, it will be easier." We talked about this at the end of this Q&A, which I had been trying to arrange months before she and her husband suffered their loss. Readers have been bombarding me with questions about why Smith is the only Twin Cities traffic reporter who sits while talking about the roads instead of standing at the road map, which you will see her doing in my startribune.com/video. She has a lot more personality than she shows us on TV.

Q: I'm here to investigate whether you have legs and feet?

A: Yes, ma'am [Laughter]. Short legs. But they're there.

Q: How many e-mails have you received asking why you do the traffic sitting instead of standing at the map?

A: Ah. I haven't been flooded or anything, but probably at least 10.

Q: I've received more inquiries than that!

A: Other people get e-mails and we got a call a couple of days ago, too. Somebody said, "I just want to know."

A: When I came over they wanted to do things a little bit different and we talked about having the police scanners and the traffic cameras and being able to call when I needed to call local officials on some sort of traffic incident and talk to MnDOT. So I have everything right in front of me, instead of having to walk somewhere. They like that feel; it's real newsy.

Q: Will you ever stand?

A: You've probably seen me standing in promos maybe. I've been doing some things because it's summer: going out, talking about construction and I've been standing. People maybe have only seen a couple of them.

Q: Does being seated mean you only dress for TV from the waist up to the neck?

A: Obviously I'm fully clothed when I come to work, but I only have to worry about here on up, which is kind of nice if my slacks are all wrinkled, ehhhh. I don't want to look like a slob when I come in but, ehhh.

A: A long time ago. And that's the truth. [Laughter] They don't catch me [she said in a trucker voice].

Q: I do kind of regret that I didn't take you on a little driving test today, so I could decide if you are a good driver.

A: That would have been interesting. I would have been like so scared because 'she's going to report everything.'

Q: You were off the air recently because of a personal tragedy.

A: I was pregnant. We were expecting our first child, a daughter, and I went into labor six weeks early and she didn't make it after she was born.

A: Yes. I had a natural delivery, it wasn't a C-section. I think they always put the babies on you now.

Q: Are you doing OK now?

A: It's very, very difficult. It's only been a few months, so it's very fresh. I think maybe a couple of years from now, you know, it will be easier. It's obviously very difficult to see other families happy. I thought, 'Yeah, this is great' and we were really excited. It really brought us a lot of joy and then all of a sudden …

Q: Any plans to try again?

A: Yeah.