The National Academy of

Television Arts and Sciences

San Francisco/Northern California Chapter

 

GOLD & SILVER CIRCLE

CLASS OF 2013

INDUCTION LUNCHEON

Saturday, October 19, 2013

PARC 55 San Francisco Wyndham Hotel - Union Square San Francisco

55 Cyril Magnin Street, Market at Fifth Streets, San Francisco, CA 94102

No Host Reception 11:00 a.m. ~ Luncheon 12:00 p.m. 

~ Induction Ceremony 1:00p.m. 

 

TICKET INFORMATION:

 Link to purchase tickets and sponsorships

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS BEFORE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4th, AND SAVE!

 

 

 

GOLD & SILVER CIRCLE

 

The San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of NATAS will celebrate some of its best and brightest in the television industry on Saturday, October 19, 2013 as the Class of 2013 is inducted into the Gold & Silver Circle.U

ationalrganization representing minority journalists.

This year's Inductees represent more than 250 years of experience in TV. They are being recognized for their longevity in and contributions to the industry - from Fresno to the Oregon border, plus Reno and Hawaii.

 

CLASS OF 2013

 

One legendary print, radio and television journalist will be inducted into the Gold Circle, honoring her 50 years of dedication to our industry: Belva Davis - Anchor, Reporter, Host, KTVU, KPIX, KRON, KQED.

 

Six distinguished broadcasters will be inducted into the Silver Circle, honoring 25 or more years of service:

 

• SPENCER CHRISTIAN - Meteorologist, KGO-TV ABC 7

• DON FORD - Multi Media Journalist, KPIX 5

• ROBERTA GONZALES - Weekend Weather Anchor, KPIX 5

• LORI SILVA - News Director, KHON 2 (Hawaii)

• JIM SWANSON - Director Local Programming, KRON 4

• KEVIN WING - Producer/Reporter, KTVU/KGO-TV/KNTV/ABC News

 

The Silver Circle is not an award -- it is a society of honor. To be eligible for membership, individuals must have been actively engaged in television broadcasting for 25 years or more (with at least half of those years in the chapter region), made a significant contribution to their local television markets and distinguished themselves within the industry and the community. Silver Circle inductees are elected by current members of the Silver Circle.

 

The Gold Circle honors individuals who have been actively engaged in television broadcasting for 50 years or more (with at least half of those years in the chapter region) and who have fulfilled the same criteria as Silver Circle nominees. Gold Circle inductees are elected by the NATAS Chapter Board of Governors.

 

Neither the candidate nor the nominator need be a member of NATAS.

 

THE GOLD CIRCLE

 

Belva Davis is the first black female TV journalist in the West. She helped change the face and focus of TV news at a time when stories of particular importance to African Americans and women rarely made mainstream newscasts. Belva was born to a 15-year-old Louisiana laundress during the Great Depression and raised in the crowded projects of Oakland, confronted by racism and abuse. As a young single mother struggling to raise two small children, she refused to be deterred and ultimately persevered, rising to become one of the most respected and trusted local journalists in the country.

 

Belva began her career in 1957 writing freelance articles for magazines focusing on African American issues. Within a few years, she was reporting on radio - including KSAN, KNEW and KDIA. She made her TV debut in 1963 at KTVU-TV. She was working as a disc jockey for KDIA, a soul-gospel radio station in Vallejo, when the 1964 Republican National Convention came to the Cow Palace. While she was covering the convention with her photographer, the two were chased out of the Cow Palace by convention attendees yelling racial slurs. The event inspired her to become a reporter. Belva became the first female African American television journalist on the West Coast when she was hired by KPIX-TV in 1966. She spent the next three decades working for KPIX and KRON-TV, becoming an anchorwoman in 1970.

 

As a reporter, Belva covered many important events of the day, including issues of race, gender, and politics. In a career spanning half a century, she has reported many of the most explosive stories of the era, including the Berkeley student protests, the birth of the Black Panthers, the Peoples Temple cult that ended in the mass suicides at Jonestown, the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the onset of the AIDS epidemic, and from Africa, the terrorist attacks that first put Osama bin Laden on the FBI's Most Wanted List. During her career, Belva has battled for racial equality, and brought stories of black Americans out of the shadows and into the light of day. And along the way, she encountered a cavalcade of cultural icons: Malcolm X, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Nancy Reagan, Huey Newton, Muhammad Ali, Alex Haley, Fidel Castro, Dianne Feinstein, Condoleezza Rice and more.

 

Belva's numerous honors include: eight Emmy� Awards from the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences; Lifetime Achievement awards -- including honors from the International Women's Media Foundation, the National Association of Black Journalists, the American Women in Radio and Television, the National Association of Black Journalists; and named one of the top 100 journalists of the last century by Unity, a national organization representing minority journalists. She is a member of NATAS Silver Circle Class of 1989 and recipient of the NATAS Governors' Award (1995).

 

Belva supports numerous non-profit organizations focused on helping people improve and change their lives, such as The Links, Incorporated, an exclusive non-profit organization consisting primarily of professional African-American women, based upon the ideals of combining friendship and community service, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, an international service organization established by African-American college-educated women. Belva is profiled in the Newseum, the world's first interactive museum of news and is co-author with Vicki Haddock of her memoirs, "In My Wildest Dreams." In November of 2012, Belva "retired" from "This Week in Northern California" on KQED TV PBS Channel 9 after 19 years as host.

 

THE SILVER CIRCLE

 

SPENCER CHRISTIAN - Meteorologist, KGO ABC 7

Spencer Christian joined the ABC 7 News team in January 1999 and is the weather forecaster for ABC 7 News at 6 and 9. He also co-hosted The View from the Bay. Christian moved to ABC 7 after nearly 13 years with Good Morning America, where he did national weather reports and specialized in human interest stories. Prior to his years in New York, Christian was weathercaster in Baltimore, and host of the talk show, Spencer's World. He began his television career in 1971 in Richmond, Virginia, as a news reporter, covering state and local politics. While in Richmond, he won the Better Life Award for his reports exposing abuses in Virginia's nursing homes; and, in Baltimore, an Emmy� Award for a series on declining language skills among America's youth. A native of Charles City Virginia, Christian is also an Army veteran with a B.A. from Hampton University. He devotes a good deal of his time to the March of Dimes, Special Olympics, the American Cancer Society, Big Brothers, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, the United Negro College Fund, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and others. In addition, he has served as the ABC Network's spokesperson for children's literacy, and authored the "Spencer Christian's World of Wonders" children books. An avid sports fan, he is also a wine enthusiast and private collector.

 

DON FORD - Multi Media Journalist, KPIX 5

Don Ford's television career began in 1978 in Corpus Christi, Texas. After a short stint there, he moved to KOVR, where in the early '80s, he was the first photographer at KOVR to cover a live shot of the Manteca Flood. He moved over to KXTV for a short while, but was quickly hired at KRON where he developed a reputation for being organized, traveling light and ready to "hit the road" on a moment's notice. KRON sent Ford all over the world from Saudi Arabia / Kuwait border to Central America. In 2001, Ford was hired as the News Operations Manager for KPIX where he instituted new technology procedures including modernizing the entire ENG fleet; negotiating a new helicopter contract and self-tracking system; redesigning the satellite truck; and was instrumental in introducing the first non-linear editing at the station. After five years, Ford returned to working in the field. Ford has been recognized by the Bay Area Press Photographers Association, and has won numerous Emmy� Awards. He joined the Bay Area Press Photographers Association in the early '80s, eventually becoming Vice President. As VP, he grew the video side of BAPPA from a small local group into a true Northern California organization involving hundreds of television photojournalists. A former Eagle Scout, Ford is currently Scout Master of Troop 14 in Albany.

 

ROBERTA GONZALES - Weekend Weather Anchor, KPIX 5

Roberta Gonzales is Weekend Weather Anchor for CBS 5, with additional reporting responsibilities during the week. Previously she reported the weather on the weekdays for the station, as well as for KCBS-AM. A native of California, Gonzales returned to the Bay Area after six years of weather reporting in Chicago. While there, she was awarded the Illinois Broadcasters Award for "Best Weathercast," and recognized with Emmy� and Gabriel Awards for children's programming. Beginning her career at KPRI-FM and XETV Channel 6 in San Diego, Gonzales worked her way up from a television gardener/messenger to film editor, then writer and eventually reporter and weathercaster at KGTV. She then forecasted at KSBY in San Luis Obispo and KFMB in San Diego before being hired at KNTV in San Jose. While in San Jose, the San Jose Mercury News and the Women's Fund named her "Woman of the Year" in the field of Communications. Gonzales has been voted "Volunteer of the Year" for the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and the National Humane Society. She has also served on the boards of the March of Dimes, American Diabetes Association, and the Girl Scouts. A multiple Emmy� Award recipient, she has been professionally recognized by Associated Press, American Women in Radio and Television, and the Radio Television News Directors Association. In her spare time, she has completed 26 marathons, and five full Ironman in three countries (Canada, United States, and Switzerland)

 

LORI SILVA - News Director, KHON 2 (Hawaii)

Lori Silva has worked in numerous news positions in Hawaii for the past 30 years, including assignment desk, producer and executive producer. Beginning her professional career in January 1983 at KHON, in Honolulu, Silva worked on the assignment desk; then moved on to other news assignments before becoming the station's executive producer for news. She stayed at KHON until 1990 when she moved to KITV in Hawaii, for the next 12 years. During that time, her jobs included producer, executive producer and eventually news director. In 2002, Silva returned to KHON, where she was promoted to Executive Producer in 2006 and eventually News Director. Her work has been recognized with Emmy� nominations for Outstanding News Excellence, and numerous Edward R. Murrow regional awards. Through her volunteer work with the Society of Professional Journalists, Silva has helped employ journalism interns from the University of Hawaii. She has also been responsible for helping launch careers of countless news talent in the Hawaii market. Silva has been active with the Hawaii Shield Law Coalition, which supports a 2008 shield law that is set to expire on June 30^th that allows journalists to claim reporter's privileges in keeping their sources secret in most civil cases.

 

JIM SWANSON - Director Local Programming, KRON 4

Jim Swanson graduated from San Francisco State in 1977 with a broadcasting degree and began his professional career at KRON 4 producing religious shows for the Archdiocesan Communications Center. His first documentary, A First Class Miracle won an Emmy� Award. In 1983, he began producing documentaries, children's shows and live sporting events for KPIX. These included Bay to Breakers, and a 49er post game show called, The Fifth Quarter. In 1996, Swanson returned to KRON to head up their local programming department and has been responsible for Bay Area Backroads, BayCaf�, Henry's Garden; along with live events like Bay to Breakers, Carnaval, Pride Parade, and New Years Live! Swanson has won 15 Emmy� Awards, in categories ranging from sports to history to technical achievement. His proudest accomplishment has been as executive producer of 20 one-hour-long specials chronicling the history of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Over the past 30 years, Swanson has participated on numerous NATAS panels, spoke at a job seminar hosted by the American Women in Radio and Television, and was a guest speaker at a NATAS event on documentary production.

 

Kevin Wing, a Bay Area native originally from Fremont, is a versatile journalist who has been a reporter, anchor, assignment editor, assignment manager, news writer, news producer, local field producer, network field producer, special projects producer and executive producer. At 18, Wing became a news anchor and air personality at Ohlone College's radio station, then anchored TV newscasts at Ohlone, and later, at San Jose State University. Beginning his career in June 1986, he has worked at numerous Bay Area and Northern California stations, including: KTVU, KGO-TV, KNTV, KRON, KICU, KFTY and KIEM. Early in his career, Wing also worked at KFMB-TV in San Diego. At KTVU, where he reported, he was also the original assignment editor for Mornings On 2, a position he held for 10 years. Currently, he is a Bay Area-based freelance network field producer for ABC News' Los Angeles and New York bureaus for Good Morning America and World News. In addition to two Emmy� Awards for best breaking news and best daytime newscast at KTVU for Mornings On 2, Wing has received honors for his work as an assignment editor and news reporter from the Radio Television Digital News Association, Associated Press Television and Radio Association, Telly Awards, Communicator Awards, Joey Awards, the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club and the San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club. He also serves as spokesman for the VTA BART Silicon Valley extension project. Wing speaks regularly to high school and college students about broadcasting and is involved in church and community affairs. He has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association as a board member as well as Chapter President and Vice President. A member of the NATAS Board of Governors, Wing has been Secretary, is currently San Francisco Vice President, and is a 2013 recipient of the Governors' Service Medallion for Distinguished Service. Known, since 2007, for his monthly Gold & Silver Circle profiles for Off Camera, he became the newsletter's Editor in 2013. He also writes Soundbites, an Off Camera feature.

 

 

THE MEMBERSHIP

 

This year's Inductees will join the ranks of television luminaries such as: Pam Moore, Marty Gonzalez, Ysabel Dur�n, Dave McElhatton, Wendy Tokuda, Rigo Chacon, Sydnie Kohara, John Kessler, Dennis Richmond, Ross McGowan, Ed Pearce (Reno), Nancy Osborne (Fresno), Pam Young (Hawaii), Joe Fonzi, Cheryl Hurd, Dan Adams (Sacramento), Luis Echegoyen, Rita Williams, Don McCuaig, Sherry Hu.

 

THE EVENT

 

A no-host reception begins at 11:00 a.m., the luncheon at noon, and the Induction ceremony complete with video tributes runs from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. You'll enjoy a delicious meal with fine wines, a decadent one-half pound of See's Chocolates plus a "goodie bag" full of treats to take home!

 

THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND

 

The 2013 TV Academy Collegiate Scholarship Recipients will be presented at the luncheon along with samples of their work. Proceeds from the luncheon go to the TV Academy Scholarship Fund, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. All but $55 per person is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. This is a great opportunity to help support the young people who aspire to careers in our industry. Your donations are always welcome.

 

Don't miss your chance to remember the "Good Old Days," catch up on latest gossip and meet the new kids on the block.

 

TICKETS & TABLES

 

Purchase your tickets and tables by Friday, Oct. 4 and SAVE!

ticket/table prices, sponsorship/salutations and/or scholarship donation information

.

 

  

By Kevin Wing

 

• Albert Cheng, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Digital Media, Disney/ABC Television Group
• Fred Graver, Head of TV Team, Twitter, Inc.
• Mark Greenberg, President & CEO, EPIX
• Erik Huggers, Corporate VP, Intel Media
• James Packer, President of Worldwide Television and Digital Distribution, Lionsgate
• Peter Tortorici, CEO, GroupM
• Blair Westlake, Corporate VP, Media & Entertainment Group, Microsoft
• Anthony Wood, Founder & CEO, Roku

 

Plus, panelists include senior executives from such notable companies as:

Machinima, Redbox by Verizon, Orange, Disney/ABC, National Geographic, Cisco, Akamai, ITV Studios, MSN & Bing, Red Arrow International, NBCUniversal, Huff Post Live, PBS Digital, Shine America, Unicorn Media, Flixfling, Bloomberg LP, MobiTV, Discovery Communications, TIVO, Bunim Murray, Telemundo, nimbleTV and Brightcove.

       At the Next TV Summit, (LINK TO http://www.nexttvsummit.com/agenda/) presented by Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News, you'll learn about new technologies including cloud solutions, apps, devices and platforms that affect video viewer habits and opportunities for monetization of content. In addition, registration includes attendance at the first-ever Digital Leadership Awards for achievement in content, entertainment and technology, as well as an "Opening Night Party," sponsored by Lionsgate.

       Don't delay and register today-space is limited. (LINK TO http://www.nexttvsummit.com/registration/ 

 

  

  

        Newsroom, a name synonymous with KQED Channel 9 from 1968 through the 1970s, is returning to the station's airwaves this fall in the form of KQED Newsroom, a new program that succeeds This Week in Northern California, a station mainstay for two decades.

       KQED is announcing KQED Newsroom as a new multi-platform service for television, radio and online, and three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and anchor Thuy Vu will be its host.

       Scott Shafer, the award-winning host of KQED Public Radio's The California Report, will join Vu as senior correspondent.

       The new weekly television program will build on the public affairs roundtable format that has been the core feature of This Week in Northern California, which KQED Newsroom will replace on its Friday evening television schedule. New segments will give viewers access to features and stories from all KQED News sources with newsmaker interviews, debate segments and field reporting.

Thuy Vu KQED Newsroom  Premieres Oct. 18

     "KQED is transforming all of our services to meet the changing needs of the people of the Bay Area as they seek news and information on new digital media, like smartphones and laptops, along with television and radio. This was the right time to transform our popular Friday night television public affairs program to a multi-platform service of KQED News," says John Boland, KQED's president. "The new name, KQED Newsroom, signals a change, but also reminds us that KQED has been innovating to better serve the public for nearly 60 years. This will not be the Newsroom of the 60s and 70s, but rather a 21^st century service with a name that recognizes our heritage."

      "KQED Newsroom's new format will give us flexibility to cover and analyze news through a local lens and draw on the diversity and innovation that makes the Bay Area such a fascinating place," says Joanne Elgart Jennings, the show's executive producer. She was also executive producer for the last two years of This Week in Northern California and oversaw Belva Davis's expanded coverage of the 2012 election.

      Elgart's other executive producing credits include the quarterly series of KQED award-winning investigative specials co-produced with the Center for Investigative Reporting and the PBS prime-time program, Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders. Prior to joining KQED, Jennings was a producer for the PBS NewsHour for thirteen years.

      "We could not have a better team to pull it off than Thuy and Scott, whose varied journalistic and life experiences complement one another," Elgart says.

      "This is a rare, exciting opportunity to create a new weekly program that will build on KQED's commitment to and history of quality, insightful journalism. Our primary focus will still be news and current events, but we'll also examine other topics that shed light on what makes life in the Bay Area and California so special," adds Vu, who is no stranger to KQED audiences. Vu started her journalism career at KQED Public Radio and National Public Radio, and has served as a frequent guest host for Forum and This Week in Northern California.

      Vu, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, was recently co-host of KPIX 5's Eye on the Bay and has been a news anchor and reporter for various Bay Area stations, including KGO-TV ABC7, KPIX 5 and KTVU Channel 2. In 2011, Vu's special series on the devastating legacy of Agent Orange sprayed during the Vietnam War won nine regional and national awards, including the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award.

     In 2010, Vu was named Outstanding Reporter/Correspondent by the National Alliance for Women in Media. Vu, who emigrated from Vietnam in 1975 and lived in two refugee camps before resettling with her family in Minnesota, has received four national awards from the Asian American Journalists Association, as well as honors from American Women in Radio and Television and the Peninsula Press Club.

     "I'm thrilled to be working with the smart, talented producers at KQED and with our new senior correspondent, Scott Shafer," Vu says. "I'm a fan of his work on KQED Public Radio, so I'm ecstatic that we'll get to work together."

     "I know Thuy and I both want to make KQED Newsroom the kind of program that feeds the Bay Area's appetite for smart, thoughtful and balanced content that's also entertaining and memorable," Shafer says, who has been a correspondent and host for KQED Public Radio's The California Report since 1998. He will continue as host for the award-winning radio series. Shafer has also worked as a correspondent and host at KPFA Radio in Berkeley, KFBK Radio in Sacramento and KOIT Radio in San Francisco. He has been honored with awards from Public Radio News Directors (PRNDI), the Society for Professional Journalists and the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento.

     The KQED Newsroom team also includes producers Robin Epstein and Monica Lam. Epstein has been with KQED Public Television since 1991 and has worked as a producer on This Week In Northern California, Check, Please! Bay Area and Bay Window. Prior to joining KQED last year, Lam worked at the Center for Investigative Reporting, where she produced investigative videos, including the half-hour documentary America's Prison Problem for Al Jazeera English. As an independent filmmaker, she produced and shot programming for the PBS NewsHour, Frontline and Independent Lens.

     Editor's Note: In the September issue of Off Camera, Thuy Vu will begin the first of a two-part exclusive series on her new program, KQED Newsroom. Watch for her story next month and also in October.

  

        

Gold & Silver Circle Profiles is wrapping up summer vacation. The monthly profile series will launch its seventh year in Off Camera when it returns in the September issue.

  

Craig Heaps has worked in Bay Area television news for more than 25 years. As someone who has been in front of the camera as well as behind the scenes at KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland, Heaps has been a vital element to the station's success as an accomplished reporter, producer and writer. Bay Area viewers are not only familiar with him. So is the rest of the country. Heaps has also served as a San Francisco-based correspondent for CNN. Still a mainstay at KTVU, he has recently embarked on a new chapter in his life. Legally blind for many years, Heaps recently graduated -- along with his new guide dog, Chase -- from the Marin County-based Guide Dogs For The Blind. This month, he talks with us about this new beginning along with other aspects of his life.

 

Where did you grow up? 

I grew up in Los Angeles, in the Florence district in Southeast L.A.

 

Do you have siblings? If so, are you the oldest? Youngest?

I am the youngest of four children. My brother is the oldest. We have two sisters in between.

 

When did you first realize, and at what age, that you wanted to work in television news?

I was fascinated by broadcasting, even as a child. In high school, I was exposed to some of the best sportscasters around - Vin Scully, Chick Hearn and Dick Enberg. I thought I might become a sportscaster. But in college, I began working for the student radio station at Stanford University, covering protests against the Vietnam war. I became a Communication major, with a journalism emphasis.

 

Who has inspired you in your career? As a person?

I was a big fan of Tom Brokaw when he was an anchor in Los Angeles and when he was White House correspondent for NBC. (I got to drive him to the airport as part of my first job as a production assistant in the news department at KRON. That was on the night that Sara Jane Moore took a shot at President Gerald Ford in San Francisco.) I also loved watching Lloyd Dobyns and Linda Ellerbee on NBC News Overnight. Their reporting was wry and intelligent, clever and incisive. As a person? My parents and siblings were always my greatest cheerleaders. And I was happy when I felt I had made them proud.

 

You've been at KTVU a long time. When did you first start? Where else have you worked?

I began at KTVU in 1986 as a casual reporter. I became full-time in 1997 as a reporter, news writer and news producer. I also worked for CNN in the San Francisco bureau from 1986 to 1997. My career began in 1975 as a production assistant at KRON. From there, I became a reporter in Medford, Oregon, a reporter and bureau chief in Santa Cruz for KSBW in Salinas, and newscast producer, and then medical reporter/segment anchor in Wichita, Kansas. I also worked for a time as a correspondent for The Nightly Business Report on PBS.

 

As a journalist, every day at work is different from the one before it. Can you describe a "day in the life of Craig Heaps"?

Right now, I'm a writer for KTVU Channel 2 News at Noon, at 5 and Bay Area News at 7 on KICU. I arrive at 10 a.m. and meticulously arrange my desk the way I like it. I then begin writing stories for the noon broadcast. After that, I move on to the 5 p.m. broadcast. Once that's done, I proceed to the 7 p.m. newscast. I head home at 6:30. The tasks themselves don't change much. I gather information and locate video. I write the copy for the anchor to read, I make graphics for the story. I send the story to editing with video instructions. I then repeat those steps.

 

What are your favorite types of stories to report or write about? Your least favorite?

As a reporter, I love those stories that touch on the human experience. That includes the most inspiring stories because they speak to what's best in us and the most tragic or morbid stories because they touch on our shared mortality. When possible, I always wanted to touch those universal human emotions. For example, when I reported from Bosnia in 1996, I followed a woman back to her home two and a half years after the war had driven her and her family out. She came back to a bombed out shell of her three story home and we recorded her raw emotions as she surveyed what she had lost. Even though she was in Bosnia, I knew that people in the Bay Area could identify with the loss of the home and the displacement she had survived.

 

Would you please share with us about your recent experience with Guide Dogs for the Blind? How is it going to change your life?

I have been legally blind for thirty years. My vision is extremely limited. But it is no worse now than it was when I reported on the war in Bosnia, children of war in Uganda, the Loma Prieta earthquake, the East Bay Hills firestorm, wildfires, riots, protests or the O.J. Simpson arrest in Los Angeles. I worked very hard for a long time to deal with my vision in the most invisible way I could. But about fifteen years ago, I began using a blind cane. A couple years ago, I became convinced a guide dog would be an enormous aid for me. I applied to Guide Dogs for the Blind and was accepted as a student.

 

 The instructional program is a two-week, live-in experience. The students arrive on Sunday and live in the dormitory at GDB's San Rafael facility. Each student receives his or her dog on Monday afternoon. With a student-to-instructor ratio of two-to-one, students receive hands-on direction for two weeks in commands, dog care, correcting dog missteps, adapting to home and work, riding public transits, etc.

 

It is both a humbling and inspiring experience. GDB provides everything at no cost to the students. By the time you read this, I should be a novice guide dog handler, the two of us navigating the world on our own.

Anyone who would like to read about my experience with Guide Dogs for the Blind can check out my blog, Blind Faith: My Life With a Guide Dog, at http://craigdogdays.blogspot.com/ 

 

What's your favorite ice cream?

I have to pick only one? If pressed, I might go for Rocky Road. But, vanilla with a chocolate shell is up there, as is orange sherbet.

 

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I love being the first to know and then present information in a clear and concise, but comprehensive way to the viewers. I love telling stories that have meaning.

 

Do you have any mentors, and if so, who? Who do you look up to?

I can think of three people who significantly influenced my work (although there are many more who were part of the refining process over the years.) First would be Bob Jimenez. Bob was the weekend anchor at KRON when I was a production assistant. He encouraged me to find my first reporting job. He then became a correspondent for NBC. I would send him scripts and tapes of my reporting work, and he would critique my work and send it back. He made me a much better writer. I worked for four years at KAKE TV in Wichita, and there met Larry Hatteberg. Larry is a national figure among NPPA photographers. Larry taught me an enormous amount about telling stories with pictures and sound. I worked for many years with Jim Branson. He retired five years ago as the news managing editor at KTVU. Reporters affectionately called script review with Jim as being "Branson-ized." Jim's thorough and thoughtful daily reviews refined my writing greatly, adding clarity. As Jim often said, "Words matter."

 

What do you do to relax? What hobbies and/or activities are you involved with?

I find sleep enormously relaxing. I try to work in seven to eight hours a night. I like to watch sports. My favorite teams are Stanford (any sport), the Giants and the 49ers. I have a number of TV shows I like to catch when I can. My wife talked me into buying a new house a few years ago, so I can no longer list home repair and maintenance among my hobbies.

 

What do you like most about working at KTVU?

My co-workers. I have had the privilege over the years of working with people who were not only excellent journalists but also outstanding human beings.

 

Who is your favorite television journalist? Is there anyone in the business who you emulate?

I'm not sure I emulate anyone at this late stage in life. I have a hard enough time being me on a consistent basis. So that's what I focus on.

 

Who is your favorite author?

My tastes are eclectic. For fiction, I lean toward popular authors such as John Grisham, Thomas Perry, Alex Berenson, and writers of a similar genre. For non-fiction, I'm all over the place. In the last couple years, I listened to a great book on memory called Moondancing With Einstein. I listened to another on the history of money. I listen to a lot of audio books during my BART ride to and from work.

 

San Francisco Chronicle, or USA Today?

Chronicle. It's more relevant to my daily life and work.

 

Personality-wise, are you more of a goof than you are serious?!

I'm more of a wiseass than either one. I grew up in a home where sarcasm was practiced as an art form and puns were perpetual. I love plays on words. If I were a comedian, I would probably be better at improv than at standup.

 

Okay, I've known you a long time, so I'll let you get away with that one. If you could do it all over again, is there anything you would change about your life?

I would have found and married my wife sooner. She and our two children are the best things in my life.

 

Any words of wisdom for the next generation of broadcast journalists?

Don't expect news to look the way it does today. Delivery systems are changing too quickly. Who thought twenty years ago we'd be watching TV on our cell phones? I'm not sure it's what Marshall McLuhan meant, but it seems to apply: The medium is the message. The change in how information is delivered can't help but affect the content as well.

 

Favorite vacation destination?

Somewhere most people don't go. I've been to Cuba. I would love to see North Korea. Anywhere is fascinating if you keep your eyes and ears open. If there are people, it's about how they live. If the geography's dramatic, that's engaging all by itself. Sometimes you get both in the same place.

 

During your career, has there been a story that you've "owned" that, up to now, has defined who you are as a journalist?

Bosnia 1996. I think I did some of the best work of my career there. I committed to tell the stories of how the war had affected the people who survived it, and not the usual story of what American soldiers from the Bay Area thought of Bosnia when they were assigned there as part of the NATO force.

 

What's the most favorite thing about your job?

Least favorite thing, if anything? I made a decision when I graduated from college that I would have fun instead of making a lot of money. I skipped law school (although I worked on an MBA for a time). And I've had a lot of fun. Sometimes I don't feel as if it's as fun as it used to be.

 

Favorite music? What's in your iPod (if you have one) or collection of CDs? Favorite TV show (besides The Ten o'clock News)? Favorite movie?

Mostly I gravitate to the music of my youth in the 1960's and 1970's. Right off the top of my head, that means The Beatles, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Credence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, Starship. One of the albums I still listen to is Will the Circle Be Unbroken with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a whole group of Grand Ole Opry stars. It's hard to pick a favorite TV show. My favorite movie is Young Frankenstein. It's the only film I ever paid to see more than once.

 

Wine tasting, or a cold bottle of beer?

Depends on the occasion. Both are relatively rare for me. I'm more of a diet soda guy.

 

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

Wow, I'm not sure. It might have been being a legally blind guy climbing over the rail of the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the catwalks underneath (for a story, with the bridge guys' permission and help). Or it might been when I could still see and visited my aunt and uncle in the Panama Canal zone. Their neighbor took me along on his job measuring ships as they came into the canal. I had to step from the bow of a small launch onto the ladder of a ship at about forty miles an hour.

 

Favorite spot in the Bay Area?

The football field of the old Stanford Stadium. I was a student manager for the football team and had many wonderful memories there.

  

 

By Erika Engle

Honolulu Star-Advertiser

 

      "Mahea has been an integral part of this newsroom for more than 10 years," says Chuck Parker, the station's news director. "She will be missed."

      Richardson has worked at KITV for 11 years, primarily as morning news anchor. She covered the first inauguration of President Barack Obama, and was also in Washington, D.C. to anchor KITV's coverage of funeral services for U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

      Most recently, she anchored the noon newscasts during Tropical Storm Flossie.

      Richardson had been scheduled to take a break from the morning news this month due to her role in Gridiron 2013: Sequester This, a musical variety and parody show that raises funds for the Hawaii Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

      Janice Gin, the longtime assistant news director at KTVU Channel 2 in

Oakland, has left the station.

      Gin, who was previously a news producer at KTVU in the 1980s, rejoined KTVU in February 2000 as associate news director. Her title was later changed to assistant news director.

      A Bay Area news veteran and a 2011 inductee of the Silver Circle of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Gin left the station July 3.

      In addition to her years at KTVU, Gin was also an executve producer at KGO-TV ABC7 in San Francisco.

 

 

By Erika Engle

Honolulu Star-Advertiser

 

      Hawaii subscribers to DISH Network satellite television service lost the ability to view KGMB-TV, KHNL-TV and KFVE-TV in the latest re-transmission dispute.

      The TV stations' Alabama-based parent company, Raycom Media, has blacked out its stations' signals from DISH Network in 36 markets nationwide after negotiations failed to reach a new re-transmission consent agreement, or arrangement in which DISH pays Raycom for its content.

      In Honolulu's case, the content is national programming from CBS, NBC and MyNetworkTV, local newscasts, and other shows.

      In a statement, DISH says Raycom was seeking a "massive price increase," and that it had offered to pay the same rates as do primary competitors for the same content, "but Raycom refuses to sign a contract," the DISH statement says.

On its corporate page, Raycom says DISH "has refused to enter into an agreement with us."

      The Hawaii News Now website still carries the same message for DISH Network subscribers, posted July 2.

      Above that message, however, is an advertisement for DISH competitor DirecTV. Down each side of the message to DISH subscribers, identical messages in dramatic lettering read:         "Attention DISH Network subscribers. Your station is no longer available on the DISH Network. But you're still paying for it!" The message encourages customers to call a toll-free number to get a rebate.

      There is no indication as to when a new agreement might lift the blackout and return Hawaii News Now programming to DISH customers.

  

 

     The Pew Research Center has asked Americans to rate certain professions by their perceived contribution to society.