{"id":34564,"date":"2026-03-23T07:23:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=34564"},"modified":"2026-03-23T07:23:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:23:28","slug":"ann-varnum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/ann-varnum\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Varnum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ann Varnum never dreamed of having a television career. Even after almost 50 years at WTVY, she didn\u2019t think of herself as a broadcaster. So why would we give this honor to someone who didn\u2019t live and breathe broadcasting? Because Ann Varnum lived and breathed Dothan, Alabama and the entire Wiregrass area … and she used television to show her dedication to that audience. Whether she knew it or not, Varnum was a broadcaster like no other and is more than deserving to be included in the Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe never really intended to be a broadcaster. She was a person that just wound up in broadcasting, \u201c says Ken Curtis, WTVY news director. \u201c She wanted to share positive news and give people a platform to talk. She wanted to be involved deeply and to be rooted in her community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t have any experience. She’d never been on the radio, never been on TV,\u201d says her son Trant Bullard. \u201cShe got her master’s at Auburn \u2013 a double major in English and Theater. If I remember correctly, she even got accepted at Julliard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then there was marriage \u2013 a family \u2013 and Varnum started teaching. It was during this time that she moved into broadcasting.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a great personality and had that theater background,\u201d explains Bullard. \u201cSomeone recommended her for the television job. She went, was interviewed for the job and that’s when she started working full-time for the TV station.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long before it became clear that Varnum was the right person for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnn probably would not have worked out anywhere else. But in Dothan, Alabama, she was a perfect fit,\u201d says Curtis. \u201cShe had a lot of guests and many of them would be CBS stars \u2026 and the program they wanted to be on was Ann\u2019s.\u201d <\/p>\n

She soon became a fixture on morning TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople woke up to her and her morning program for years. They started their day with Ann Varnum,\u201d smiles Curtis. \u201cThe thing about Anne, what you saw on TV is exactly what you got when she was away from the camera.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was just easy to talk to,\u201d says Darcy Butterfield whose father, Jerry Vann also worked at WTVY.  She got to know Varnum when she visited her dad at the station. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would see Miss Ann running into people – she didn’t know them, but they acted like they knew her. She would give them just as much attention as somebody who was a friend\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnn remembered everyone’s birthday,\u201d says Reginald Jones, former WTVY anchor now retired. \u201cNot only did she remember, you would come into work that day and you would see a birthday card on your desk. And she’d have a little goody inside the envelope, too.\u201d  <\/p>\n

\u201cMother has shared with me that Miss Ann gave a scrapbook to my daddy when he retired,\u201d says Butterfield. \u201cI think she kept scrapbooks on a lot of the older WTVY people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jones says she was tremendously supportive of the news staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would watch the newscasts\u201d, he says. \u201cAnd afterwards she would text us or email us complimenting something she saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith was a major part of Varnum\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

 \u201cWe were in church every time the doors were open,\u201d laughs Bullard.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe lived her Christian life. And this day and time, you know, sometimes it\u2019s not popular to talk about that, but Ann never backed down from her beliefs,\u201d says Curtis.<\/p>\n

 \u201cShe\u2019d sit and pray with people in the newsroom,\u201d he continues. \u201cShe always had time to guide them professionally. There are broadcasters all over this country that are looking back today saying that Ann Varnum had an influence, a positive influence on their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Varnum\u2019s legacy remains strong.  Butterfield says, \u201cI think Ann was<\/em> the TV station.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones agrees. \u201cShe’s pretty much synonymous with WTVY.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’s been gone now for almost six years,\u201d says Curtis. \u201cBut if you went around and said, \u2018Ann\u2019, people would still say \u2018Varnum!\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ann Varnum never dreamed of having a television career. Even after almost 50 years at WTVY, she didn\u2019t think of herself as a broadcaster. So why would we give this honor to someone who didn\u2019t live and breathe broadcasting? Because Ann Varnum lived and breathed Dothan, Alabama and the entire Wiregrass area … and she … Continue reading Ann Varnum<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34564","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34566,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34564\/revisions\/34566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}