Dagmar Midcap puts in her notice at WGCL-TV
Dagmar Midcap in 2008. CREDIT: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Dagmar Midcap, the popular weather reader on CBS affiliate WGCL-TV, turned in her notice with the TV station this morning.
Her bosses weren’t there so she’s not sure when her last day will be. Reached Friday afternoon, Steve Schwaid, WGCL-TV news director, said she is still under contract and had no other comment.
Midcap, who arrived at WGCL in 2007, said the death of her boyfriend, who took his own life in July 2009, precipitated this departure. (For respect for the family, she requested we not release his name.)
She has been meeting with a grief counselor and therapists to grapple with her loss. She has nightmares and has been unable to sleep soundly. She said she takes medication and sleep aids.
“I can’t keep doing that,” she said. “It’s starting to affect me on the air. I can’t think on the air.”
She said she also may have some stress-related vocal cord damage she’s worried might be permanent.
“Doctors told me my body is breaking down,” she said in an emotional interview at the Silver Skillet in Midtown Friday just minutes after she had handed in her resignation. “I can’t stay here. It’s too difficult for me to move forward.”
She said WGCL has been a wonderful opportunity, but she said she can’t cope with being in the city where she fell in love, where everything reminds her of her late boyfriend.
In March 31, 2008, just a year after arriving at the station, she signed a four-year contract through 2012. (She said the station wanted her to stay five.) The station and viewers embraced her. After moving her to evenings, management plastered her face on billboards.
“My job has been to make people happy,” she said. The notes she’s gotten, from the 100-year-old man to the 20-year-old woman, say “I gave them joy at the end of the day, a smile. That was my job.” After his death, “it was difficult to find that joy.”
She said she has been negotiating the past few months to get out of her contract early but had been unable to come up with a date both sides could mutually agree on.
Midcap met her boyfriend in 2007 soon after she arrived. He was a neighbor. They fell in love almost immediately. Their first date was Martinis & Imax at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. They visited Stone Mountain Park, a favorite spot for him.
“We were inseparable,” she said. “He was everything to me. He was my best friend.”
But she sensed his fragility and tried to open up his world. They traveled to Charleston, S.C., Asheville, N.C., Seaside, Fla, and the North Georgia mountains. She bought a home just outside Decatur in hopes he would join her.
The last time she saw him, she said, he had arrived at her home, flowers and an apple pie from Whole Foods in hand. He apologized to her for his negativity and promised they’d always be together. “I thought he was making a breakthrough,” she said. “I didn’t understand what he was really saying.”
Midcap found out about his death July 2009, during the 4 p.m. newscast in her news director’s office. She collapsed in shock. She stayed off air for 11 days.
Coming back, she said, was incredibly difficult. But she put on a happy face and viewers hardly noticed until six months later. “I had one bad night. I wasn’t as perky. I was on the verge of tears on the air,” she said.
Colleagues, though, noticed her withdrawn behavior off air. She’d sometimes cry at her desk, she said.
Two weeks ago, she visited R. Thomas, a restaurant she and her boyfriend enjoyed. It was an attempt to try to get past the pain, she said. Instead, she got sick.
She isn’t sure what her plans are next. She said she has no job in hand and isn’t sure where she is going, though the West Coast is likely. She had worked in Los Angeles and her hometown of Vancouver before coming to Atlanta.
“I have no manager,” she said. “I’ve got nothing.”
Later, in a moment of humor, she added, “I may be picking grapefruits out there. But I’ll do what I need to do that’s right for me. I have to take my health into account.”
One thing she knows she’ll do is work with animals. “They have no malice,” she said, her face lighting up momentarily. “They need our help. They do what they do.”
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304 comments Add your comment
cgatlanta
September 3rd, 2010
4:21 pm
My wife gave me a Dagmar photo/autograph a couple year ago for a Christmas present. It’s one of my favorite things.
Mike
September 3rd, 2010
4:21 pm
Dagmar:
You are one fantastic lady. Though I will miss catching my “weather in the first five minutes”, I wish you the best at whatever you decide to do. But first, be selfish, and take care of DAGMAR.
Rodney: great work.
Tom
September 3rd, 2010
4:22 pm
Time to move along
She brightens every day
All good luck, Dagmar
Newsee
September 3rd, 2010
4:24 pm
Dagmar, you are the most interesting gal I know. I wish you all the luck in the world and I hope you get an awesome gig working with animals!
Tom
September 3rd, 2010
4:24 pm
Sad………Love you Dagmar!!
PaulieOldSchool
September 3rd, 2010
4:26 pm
Sorry for your pain, Dagmar. Take care of yourself and best of luck in whatever you do in your life. Maybe the day will come when the thoughts of Atlanta will not be so painful. I wish you well in your journey.
Glen
September 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Thanks goodness for Facebook, where we should be able to follow her future endeavors. Dagmar, I wish you the best. take the time to heal your heart. We really do care down here about you and hope you gain the peace you need. I go ton your FB page because you seem to be such a caring person, and this story only highlights the deep of who you are as a person. May God bless you………..
johnny
September 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
You were a joy to watch and your in my prayers.
William
September 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Dagmar, you are the one bright spot on the any of local news channels. I didn’t know of your loss and your pain until now. I guess I’ll have to get my weather news directly form the Internet now, and it won’t have such a pretty face or personality that made me break out in a smile every time I saw you. Time will heal, I’ve been there. Wish there was some way to keep you with us all here, but I understand. Reach back to us when you can. We want to know you will be ok. Love to you.
Duane
September 3rd, 2010
4:29 pm
This is the best column you have ever written, and I am so sorry for Dagmar’s loss. I wish you well wherever you go. Try to take comfort in the thought that you were a bright spot in what appears to have been your boyfriend’s very dark and confused life.
Billy Bob
September 3rd, 2010
4:31 pm
I love her. She was and is a ray of sunshine even when the skies were gray (did I say that? or am I remembering a song?). Wow, you really have had a wonderful impact on Atlanta. Much, much love and best wishes.
Bobby Coccyx
September 3rd, 2010
4:32 pm
She’s a good kid
Kathy
September 3rd, 2010
4:32 pm
Love Dagmar! Unfortunately moving across the country is not going to take away the pain. My prayer is that she can find peace here in Atlanta and that she realizes there was nothing she could have done to save this man. Severely depressed folks sometimes reach a place where the guilt of worrying about what their loved ones will think or how they will cope once they are gone, becomes secondary to the need to rid themselves of the consistent pain of depression by going through with what seems like the only relief from it at the time. God Bless you in whatever decision you make.
This Too Shall Pass
September 3rd, 2010
4:41 pm
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
May God be with you Dagmar, he will see you through. Be blessed.
sean
September 3rd, 2010
4:47 pm
we will miss her so much, she seems so nice and it great to see that on tv. I am so sorry for her loss and can only pray that she is able to get through her pain.
bulldog bubba
September 3rd, 2010
4:48 pm
I have not been a fan of the CBS46 newscast in a long time.They have made such radical changes in the way they report the news I can’t watch anymore.It is apparent they will push someone with sorrow in their heart due to a devastion in their life because “the show must go on”!I agree with others that she should have had more grief time – whatever she needed but she is the only reason people tune in to watch,not Harry the Pothole guy.Dagmar may God lighten the sorrow in you soul and you find a peace that you have not felt in a long time.It is never easy loosing a close loved one.God Bless YOU!!!!
KPA
September 3rd, 2010
4:50 pm
take care, we’ll miss you
Mike
September 3rd, 2010
4:51 pm
Very sorry to hear. Dagmar will be missed. She brightened our days even as she was going through some darkness. That was the thing that was most beautiful about her.
chalkdawg4
September 3rd, 2010
4:51 pm
I was the attorney who closed on the purchase of your home. You were such a sweetheart. Sorry for your tragedy. I know the hopes you had for that home and how hard you worked to make the deal happen. All my best wishes for the future.
DLink
September 3rd, 2010
4:53 pm
A person I loved dearly died recently and it hurts unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. After a week of not being able to eat, I called a military commander to find out if it ever gets better, only, I demanded a time limit (I literally thought I might die from grief). So, 2yrs was his answer.
And I’ve found that to be right, as I’m approaching that 2 yr mark myself. I’m just now able to throw his name into casual conversation of the things we used to do together. The body remembers for two years, and mind never forgets. He will never be gone, but, your body will forgive the mind its trespass in about 2 yrs.
I have that on the very best authority. Only time heals the loss.
Love will find you again Dagmar. Give it 2yrs, though. Location doesn’t make the difference, only time. The mind never forgets, I promise – the body forgives. You should keep people smiling, when you’re ready, don’t lose yourself to introspection. Best wishes on your adventure in life from Georgia, no matter where your feet hit ground. LJK
atlantalibran
September 3rd, 2010
4:53 pm
Best Wishes to you Dagmar! Your personal happiness comes first always!
Dave
September 3rd, 2010
4:55 pm
Sorry for your loss and will promise you that the pain will ease with time. Good luck in the future and we’ll miss you!
Caring Soul
September 3rd, 2010
4:56 pm
Dagmar’s story has touched me as I’m sure a lot of others. I can only imagine what she must be going through, and have sent up prayers and am envisioning her wrapped in the white healing light of God’s love. So very sorry to know of your pain. God Bless You.
Keep the Faith
September 3rd, 2010
4:58 pm
Your great smile and pleasant demeanor brought a lot of joy to people in the Atl. May God be with you and bring that same joy. Big pains eventually turn into big gains. I wish that for you in your future
Reid in EAV
September 3rd, 2010
5:05 pm
RH, fantastic, sensitive reporting to pull this together so gracefully and graciously. I say this as a fellow pro.
Dagmar, no human being should have to endure this. It sucks. All my best to you.
Kcooltmc
September 3rd, 2010
5:07 pm
I’d like to give her a hug !!
Bigdawg
September 3rd, 2010
5:07 pm
Good luck to you, Dagmar! You have brightened the day of many an Atlanta male! May you find peace and sense of purpose. Take care of yourself!
GB
September 3rd, 2010
5:09 pm
We wish you the best Dagmar, good things will come your way. And Rodney, thank you for showing us that class still exists. Well done!
DWR
September 3rd, 2010
5:09 pm
I’m personally floored at the news of Dagmar’s resignation….. I can only thank her for brightening up my days with her time on the air. She has a wonderful charisma that truly warmed my heart…. and I feel terrible for her loss. I deeply hope that she finds peace within her self and finds what she deserves…. Love.
Theron Sapp
September 3rd, 2010
5:10 pm
Best of luck to Ms. Midcap, who always seemed to be a woman of class and talent.
And thank you Mr. Ho for an excellent story — and for moderating the comments today. It makes me think what a wonderful thing the AJC blogs could be if only the editors would scrub the boards now and then.
John Whiteley
September 3rd, 2010
5:11 pm
My heart goes out to you.I hope you can find a way to move on quickly.
You are such a great spokesperson.Would you consider being a spokesperson for Depression and mental illness. You could be an advocate and honor your freinds memory. Best wishes
SALLYB
September 3rd, 2010
5:14 pm
As hard as is is to believe now,,,Find solace in the words of old King Soloman : “THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS.” There is a beautiful story that accompanies these words which can be found many places if one is interested.
Connie
September 3rd, 2010
5:16 pm
Ms. Midcap, I cannot believe the strength and courage that lies within you to have suffered this long and outwardly smiled! But, as the old saying goes, you must bend in the destructive strong wind so that you do not break.I guess you know your breaking point. I hope this departure from Atlanta will help you regain your inner strength and give you some much needed peace. God be with you on your journey.
john parker
September 3rd, 2010
5:17 pm
atlanta just got a little colder now with out you here and not on the air no more here so good luck and god bless you dagmar what ever you do from now on good luck
Atlanta Gal
September 3rd, 2010
5:18 pm
Deat Dagmar,
I know all of us are so sad about your loss. Best of luck to you but most importantly best of health and happiness. And you know the way back home here to Atlanta and we would love to see you back!
Mj
September 3rd, 2010
5:19 pm
So sorry to hear this. I loved watching her and hate to hear that she is going through this. Best wishes to her in whatever she does.
Tim Collier
September 3rd, 2010
5:24 pm
I have to say god bless you dear and that he’s hear with you. You’re one of the rare angels that could report the weather and still put a smile on our faces. Just remember we all love you here in Atlanta and would welcome you back with open arms anytime. Enter your comments here
Shane Franklin
September 3rd, 2010
5:24 pm
Thank you for your amazing weathering abilities! I wish you the absolute best! You have to do what is right for you and I hope the station helps you in this matter. May God bless and watch over you.
4 Jacks
September 3rd, 2010
5:26 pm
Always good luck and God bless you Dagmar. You are not just a beautiful woman, but moreso a beautiful spirit. Atlanta, my home town, has been made a better place by your smile and your positive spirit. Maybe one day you will visit again, but if not, thank you for the time you have spent with us making alot of us smile as we feel the true warmth of your sprit. May God lead you to the peace you seek wherever it is, and remember, you are loved.
Jonathan
September 3rd, 2010
5:33 pm
Come home to Canada, Dagmar. I needed to come home (although I didn’t realize it for a long time), and it was the best decision I’ve made in years. Head to the Rockies for a while and just breathe (sez the guy in Ontario, but a Calgarian at heart). It wouldn’t hurt, and might help. You were my nightly “cheery Canadian beacon” when I was in Atlanta, and your nightly weather broadcast is one the very few things I miss from Atlanta. You would be an excellent director of a Canadian federal or provincial humane society. With you at the helm, I see lots of donations flowing in. Just a thought. Take care.
Roy
September 3rd, 2010
5:33 pm
Dagmar,
I hope you read these, and I wish you peace. I’ve missed you the past few weeks on the weather, and was hoping it was just a temporary blip, as I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like you on the air. May I recommend you read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, and “The Sedona Method” by Hale Dwoskin. They have helped me tremendously.
Newsie
September 3rd, 2010
5:35 pm
WGCL has been good to Dagmar and her needs in going through this awful time in her life. No one pushed her. Dagmar is a wonderful person who will be missed, but there are many other wonderful, talented people at that station worth watching.
SouthernBelle
September 3rd, 2010
5:35 pm
I’m so sorry for your loss, Dagmar. I had no idea you had experienced such a tragic loss. Please know that God and time will heal your pain. I wish you well on your endeavors.
Roney
September 3rd, 2010
5:42 pm
Dagmar has one of the most soothing voices on Atlanta tv and her upbeat personality makes the news of her late boyfriend and the impact upon her even more amazing.
She does not have to bear any cross of his death and should look to honor herself first with the gift she has been given.
Fly higher above the storm versus wallowing within it or sinking.
That is where the greater reward is and opportunities for lasting love reside.
Best wishes Dagmar and we are going to miss you locally but hope you get to continue shining on a higher level!!
Shawn Giacoboni
September 3rd, 2010
5:43 pm
Wherever you find your place, and you will, it will be a better place for having you. My best to you Dagmar and thank you for shining your light upon us all. You’ll be missed.
pray
September 3rd, 2010
5:50 pm
it doesn’t seem like it now….but time really does heal your wounds. God is with you…He never left you. And He will help you through this…
KD
September 3rd, 2010
5:51 pm
Dagmar, so sorry for your loss and I pray God’s peace, grace, understanding, and healing will be with you through this difficult episode. Thru Him, you will heal and find happiness again in time — trust that. I remember emailing you when you first arrived in Atl about our shared passion for riding motorcycles. When you are up to it, eventually, a nice long ride with a scenic backdrop with time reflecting on the best memories of your beau is something I recommend….be blessed!
Janet and Darrell Butler
September 3rd, 2010
5:57 pm
It’s really hard to carry on after loosing a loved one. We hope you find peace. We will miss your bubbly
peronality. It will not be the same without you. Just remember that you are loved by alot of people here in Atlanta!
Good Luck
ugateacher
September 3rd, 2010
6:01 pm
This makes me so sad. She is so uplifting and pleasant- I just loved watching her every night. I never sensed that she was in any pain. God bless her and keep her always.
Phaedra
September 3rd, 2010
6:09 pm
Dear Dagmar, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Please take all the time you need for you to heal. You are so pretty and have a beautiful soul as well.
I changed my hair color because of you!
We shall all miss you but want only what is best for you. Blessings to you.
Lovely interview, Mr Ho.