Samara Sodos and Jonah Kaplan may be two of the newer faces on Milwaukee TV screens, but off-camera, both seemed very much at home during a recent coffee date with a Chronicle reporter.
That’s hardly surprising for Sodos. She is a Nicolet High School and University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus and Bayside native whose family belonged to Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun.
Hired recently as an anchor and reporter at WTMJ, Sodos’ latest career move has taken her back to the site of her first job.
“I came back because I wanted come back to Milwaukee,” she said. “It had been 16 years. I wanted to be with my family and my friends, and I wanted to do news in a place that meant something to me.”
Kaplan grew up and attended college on the East Coast before taking reporting jobs in Wichita Falls, Texas and Springfield, Missouri. He had two stipulations for his next position.
“I needed a city with a non-stop flight to New York to visit family and a kosher meat market,” he said.
Prior to interviewing for the TMJ reporter job, he also contacted Stefanie Sager, events coordinator at Young Jewish Adults of Milwaukee, to arrange a post-job-interview meeting.
“She gave me a tour of the city, we went out to dinner and talked about Jewish life,” he said, “and I was sold.”
Kaplan’s desk at TMJ is easy to spot. It’s the one with the Torah (rolled to the parsha of the week), a Tzahal (Israel Defense Force)tin and an Israeli flag. Both his parents are rabbis, and his younger brother is serving in the IDF.
Outside of the newsroom, he’s put his song-leading skills to work volunteering weekly at the Jewish Home and Care Center, and he’s attended services at Chabad House. That was how he found out that Sodos was Jewish — one of the rabbis asked if he knew her.
Religion and workdays that begin between 1 and 3:30 a.m. and end shortly before or after noon aren’t the only things Sodos and Kaplan have in common.
Their easy back-and-forth is more that of long-time friends and colleagues than two people who’ve known each other less than a month.
The reason becomes clear when they talk about their past work, and why and what they love about their jobs.
“You have to treat people with respect and compassion, and you don’t ambush them,” Sodos said. “You understand there are boundaries and you try to tell stories in the most compelling way you can. TV news can be very flashy and tabloid-like, but I think it can have so much soul. There’s a real power and deep soul in TV news.”
Sodos pointed to a recent PBS “Frontline” series documentary, “Two American Families,” shot in Milwaukee between 1991 and 2007 by Bill Moyers.
“You remember the details,” she said. “I remember the quivering of the man’s lip as he is standing in church. His marriage is about to fall apart, and you remember all those specific shots. It was 1991. I couldn’t believe they shot it and shot it that well. I was absolutely floored by that documentary.”
Kaplan sees a clear parallel between his parents’ rabbinical jobs and his.
“You have to be a community leader, you have to inspire other people, you have to educate them, you have to communicate with them and you have to deal with tragedy,” Kaplan said.
Both have had their share of on-the-job tragedy.
Sodos still carries a picture of Jessica Lunsford with her. Lunsford, 9, was kidnapped, raped and buried alive in 2005 by a convicted sex offender; and Sodos covered the event.
“I started having trouble sleeping,” Sodos said. “That probably affected me the most and probably affected my sleep for good.”
Kaplan was one of the first reporters to arrive in Joplin, Mo., from outside the city after a 2011 tornado that killed 160 people, injured more than 1,000 and caused $2.8 billion in damage.
They’ve also been able to cover less grim events.
On a trip to Israel to visit his brother, while working in Springfield, he wrote, shot and reported a five-part series called “Journey to Jerusalem,” which can be seen on YouTube.
“I’ve really enjoyed covering soldier homecomings and military reunions,” Sodos said. “When you’re at a bus stop and people are waiting for their loved ones, you can feel the joy around you, you can feel the love and you’re trying to capture it but you can’t because they’re racing toward each other.”
Both also commented on the novelty of — for the first time in their careers — not being the only Jewish reporter in the newsroom. (In addition to Kaplan and Sodos, WTMJ meteorologist Scott Steele is also Jewish.)
“It’s going to be the best Christmas Eve and Christmas Day news ever!” Kaplan said.
Amy Waldman is a Milwaukee-based freelance writer and coordinator of the ACCESS Program for Displaced Homemakers at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
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