From New York to Castledaly

Former television producer and radio show host Kathleen Novak Crosson is something of a rare species in the rural area just outside Moate that she currently calls home. Though born in New Jersey, Kathleen lived for over 30 years of her life in New York. Her husband John is from the same city and the couple's 17-year-old daughter, Kayle, was brought up for the majority of her life so far in New York too. Yet after effectively taking early retirement, John and Kathleen, their daughter Kayle and their rescue dog Aidan now call Castledaly home and are delighted with the move they made there in 2007. Though a city dweller with a broadcasting career in New York behind her, Kathleen says she's always been drawn to country life. "I'm very interested in farming; I always listen to 'Country Life' on Midlands 103," she laughs. Both John and Kathleen have American and Irish citizenship, so they have ties to the country. However John's family originally came from Kildare, while Kathleen's came from Sligo. Farming and indeed countryside can be had the world over, so a move to Moate could be seen as unlikely. In fact, the family's decision to move to Moate was made on the back of nearby education options for Kayle. "I had such a very extensive career in media that we effectively took early retirement," Kathleen explains. "We were very impressed with the Irish education system, and we still are. Kayle's in her fifth year in Our Lady's Bower and she's had a wonderful education there." Having decided on Ireland, the whole country was their oyster. "Coming out of a city we didn't want to move to a city, so we ruled out Dublin right away," Kathleen says. "We looked at several schools. When we found Our Lady's Bower we looked at where it was located, right in the middle of Ireland. We thought: 'That's good, because we're equidistant from the West and Dublin - we can get to places. We can see more of the country and do holidays at home, and so forth. It just seemed to happen." The change is quite stark however. Back in New York, Kathleen's career began in her final year of university. Studying English and Theology, she began to work with Ed and Pegeen Fitzgerald, who broadcast a radio show on RKO radio from their apartment overlooking New York's Central Park. "They just found me very interesting. They had no children and I sort of became the daughter they never had," Kathleen explains. After working with the couple for four years, she then began producing a number of other programmes for the same company. Later she began a stint as a entertainment reporter. "If I sound like I'm name-dropping, I am," she laughs, listing names of people she's interviewed including Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Harrison Ford and even Sesame Street's Big Bird. In the mid 1980s Kathleen got her own radio show on ABC New York, focusing on news and current affairs. In 1989 she made the move to television. "At that time all these shock jock broadcasters were becoming all the rage and it just wasn't my thing," she says. "So I made the transition to television." Busier than ever, her new job saw her over the next twelve years produce all kinds of programmes - most of which were live - including the Charlie Rose show that's still on Bloomberg. Along with producing, she taught at New York University, wrote a column for a weekly publication called City Guide and edited a New York travel guide. "I was so busy I was meeting myself coming and going in and out of the house," she says. "When I got pregnant, I was like: 'Hold on, I'm going to kill myself'," she says. It was then, in the lead up to 2000, that Kathleen said goodbye to broadcasting. Seven years later came the move to Ireland. The transition from a busy career and life in New York to rural Westmeath involved, according to Kathleen, "a steep adjustment phase". Now, however, the family are very much a part of their local community. "Change is difficult but it's also really good," Kathleen says. "One of the things that was just so pleasant about the move is that we have the kindest, most caring neighbours. They're all just lovely." Furthermore, even though she says her days certainly aren't as frenzied as in New York they are still full. "My husband always says that to say you're bored is the greatest sin," she says. "I find that our life here is just as interesting but in a different way than life in New York city." One of the things that keeps her busy is reading, and Kathleen says the first person she met upon moving to Moate after her neighbours was Moate librarian Lorna Farrell. "She is just remarkable," Kathleen says, adding that she thinks libraries are under utilised and should be much higher on the national priority in every country. Remarkably, Kathleen says she doesn't miss her past life at all. "I look back on it with great satisfaction," she says. "I'm very happy that I did it and I loved it at the time, but I'm the kind of person who loves what I'm doing when I'm doing it. When we moved here getting to know the local scene became my priority." Now in fifth year, Kathleen's daughter Kayle is showing some interest in the media world her mother once inhabited. "She's drawn to it genetically," Kathleen laughs, explaining that alongside her own career in the media her husband John's father was the political editor at the New York Daily News. On April 16 last Kathleen visited Our Lady's Bower to address the debating society her own daughter founded last year on the subject of a media career. "What I told them was that you really have to go into it with your eyes wide open," she says. "It's extremely demanding."