Hilton Head Monthly Magazine

The first time the “on air” sign went on, Ally McNair was, in her own words, “a wreck.”

“As riveting as this may sound, I had to interview a selectman about a town warrant,” she says about her first interview for a localaccess station in New Hampshire. “I remember being so terrified that the whole time I kept going, ‘Uh huh,’ and my head was shaking.”

These days, McNair, the host of WHHI’s “The Lowcountry Report” and “Prime Time Seniors” is much more confident on camera, with a fluid delivery and natural on-air ease. But that sort of thing takes time. “It wasn’t something that came to me naturally; I really had to work at it,” she says. Wayne Morris, WHHI station manager, says McNair’s diligence has paid off. “She has a real eye for news,” Morris says.

McNair, 54, describes herself as a New Englander “through and through.” The Connecticut native graduated from the University of Vermont and has lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She and her husband – a “crazed golfer,” she says – relocated to Hilton Head Island in 2009 after years of vacationing in the  area.

“The hottest days of last summer, when it was really, really humid, I missed (home),” McNair said about New Hampshire. “but just from a comfort level, because I  feel like I am starting to call this place home.”

After graduating college, one of McNair’s first jobs with a microphone was at a small, 1,000-watt radio station in Massachusetts. McNair was a DJ and did the  news. “It was a blast,” she said. “You had to do everything.”

She served as a producer at WMUR, the ABC affiliate in Manchester, N.H., before going on to medical reporting in Concord, N.H., and weather in Portland, Maine. From there, she moved on to her own show, “NH Outlook,” a nightly news and public affairs show on New Hampshire Public Television that McNair  hosted in the early 2000s. She got the gig after proving herself anchoring several months of live coverage on radio and TV during an impeachment inquiry and trial of the New Hampshire state Supreme Court chief justice, coverage that earned her an Emmy nomination.

“There’s something about the medium,” McNair said about TV. “I like to connect with people, even though I can’t see them on the other side. I just hope some of who I am comes through.”

Morris described McNair’s role at WHHI as that of an acting news director, in addition to host. McNair said she hopes to some day see the show go five nights a week. Until then, McNair will continue exploring her new hometown. She sees her show as an extension of her “getting to know you” phase.

“I’m meeting all of these people I otherwise would not have met,” she said. “I feel like I am starting all over again, but doing what I really like to do. Someone says to me, ‘Gee, why don’t you ask the mayor about crime; there seems to be a lot of it.’ Then to have him come in and address it is just awesome.”

WHEN TO WATCH
Watch “The Lowcountry Report” at 8 a.m. and 6 and 8 p.m. on WHHI-TV (channel 3 on Time-Warner and channel 200 on Hargray). whhitv.com