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Keri and Jason six years hosting CTV Morning Live

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 11:37 PDT, Fri May 12, 2023

Last Updated: 12:22 PDT, Fri May 12, 2023

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It is not often that two TV hosts sit down with other TV hosts to talk shop, but that’s what happened recently when Our City Tonight met with CTV Morning Live hosts, Keri Adams, and Jason Pires. The award-winning morning hosts just celebrated six years together. This is a wonderful milestone for TV and they talked about what keeps the show fresh, their friendship, and waking up at 3 a.m.

OCT: Congratulations on celebrating your sixth-year hosting CTV Morning Live.

JASON PIRES (JP): I can’t believe it’s been six years. When you start a show, you don’t envision how long it will be for, but we’ve been enjoying every day. I’m very fortunate because Keri “inherited” me and I could not ask for a better co-host/anchor. We have worked together for a long time, and I think the world of her, so for me it was like winning the lottery for co-hosts.

KERI ADAMS (KA): Thank you. I was working with another co-host when Jason joined the show. It was great because we already knew each other, we were already friends and had worked on other shows together in the past, so this was an easy transition.

OCT: Your chemistry is excellent, we know you both off camera and can say that you really are genuine friends even away from the show. TV will sometimes throw people together and say, “Go have chemistry together” and that is often not what happens. But with you two, it is real.

JP: I think especially for a morning show, it is all about chemistry. The viewers are smart, they can tell when two people don’t get along, that they’re not being genuine, and that’s what I love about Keri. What you see on camera is also what you see off camera. I know who she is (in person) and that is who she is on air, and that is why I am so comfortable with her on air. I know she always has my back.

KA: And vice versa with Jason. When we’re off camera, we talk a lot, I tell him some of my biggest, darkest secrets. There is trust there, and it is great to work beside a friend.

OCT: You both have done lots of “non-morning” work in your careers, but hosting a morning show is a different world. There are people out there who are good news broadcasters, but morning shows are about delivering the news, sometimes tragic news, but then five minutes later you are sharing a human interest or comedic story. Not everyone can do that and you both handle that five days a week. Have there been challenges along the way in this ever-changing media landscape?

KA: You are right, morning shows are different. You have the gamut of stories, you are not just doing hard news, you are doing the “here’s what you need to know when you wake up in the morning” stories, here is the softer side of things, here are human interest stories, and there are sharp turns throughout that process. It’s like we are there for the viewer, who is sitting in their bathrobe at home, drinking their coffee, and trying to get started with their day. It’s always an honour to welcome people and have them welcome us into their homes.

As for the changes in media, “live” is so much a part of what we do, and social media is also a big part. When I first got into this industry, I was a photojournalist, which meant I would shoot my own stories and report them. That was twenty-five years ago, and we are doing that more now than ever. It is called a “multi-skilled journalist” at CTV, where our reporters are in the field reporting their stories and filming their own stuff. They are doing more with less but still doing amazing work, and local reporting is very important.

JP: To echo what Keri was saying, everyone is expected to do more with less, and that is what I like about our team and the morning show. You are expected to fill three and a half hours each day and if you are waking up really early like we do, you’d better like what you do, and we all do, and I think it is because of the variety, it is not just hard news. Honestly, I think if it was just hard news, I would have been out of there after a year. But we get to show our personality on the show, we have fun guest segments, cooking segments, and we both like the idea of entertaining the viewers. Keri and I agree that we want to give the viewer the news but hopefully with a chuckle over breakfast and we like that challenge.

KA: I think after years in this industry I have found the place where I belong, this show allows me to show some range, and I love that.

You can catch Keri and Jason weekdays on CTV Morning Live, 5:30 to 9 a.m. To watch the video interview in full go to richmondsentinel.ca/video