Photo by Beverly Poppe

The studio is vast and chilly and filled with video cameras, stage sets, banks of TV monitors and long cables that stretch across the concrete floor. At one side of the room, in one of two yellow lounge chairs, Kim Wagner sits alone.

Across the way, her husband, Dana, is seated behind a wide desk, bathed in the set's bright lights, casually flipping through the newspaper. Kim cranes her neck and squints her eyes to check on her husband.

"Dana, you're in this next story," Kim calls across the room. Dana continues his reading and in a reassuring tone says, "I know. After the weather, right? I'll be there." He does make it over in time to boost a report about a bartender's attempt to break the world record for mixing drinks in a single hour.

This type of early morning interaction might well happen in the Wagners' kitchen, but they don't enjoy that luxury. By 4 a.m., they are being prepped for their weekday morning telecast, and they greet their viewing audience dark and early at 5. Since April of 2007, the Wagners' personal and professional lives have been intertwined on "Wake Up With The Wagners," KVBC Channel 3's breezy morning news show. The Wagners are joined each day by accomplished local news vets John Fredericks (king of the green screen) on weather and "Chopper" Tom Hawley, who, before circling the valley in the News 3 helicopter, joins the show to report the traffic (usually heavy) and engage in banter (usually light).

The Wagners' home away from home is casual, the action free and fluid. At various times, Kim and Dana appear together and solo, behind the news desk, standing up, and seated cross-legged in those cushy chairs. During breaks they often pace around the studio and coach each other — during a recent broadcast Dana worked with Kim on the proper syllabic emphasis for "endoscopy" and "endoscopic," the type of word that, if mispronounced in a sobering report about a possible Hepatitis C outbreak in Southern Nevada, can wreck an anchor's credibility.

"You can tell when someone is just reading the news, and when someone knows the news and is relating it to you," Kim says. "A viewer can pick up on the difference."

Viewers can also detect when the Wagners are having "a day," or even worse. As parents of a 2-year-old daughter, Kate, the couple says that fronting a daily morning program does invite unique pressure on and off the set ...