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Regional Roundup May – Hawaii

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP May - Hawaii

KHON Welcomes Jeffrey Mikulina

KHON officially welcomes former Blue Planet Executive Director Jeffrey Mikulina into the programming department, where he will continue to co-host the “Empowered” series of programs with  Kelly Simek. After obtaining a Masters Degree from the University of Illinois, Mikulina lobbied environmental issues as the Director of the Sierra Club, Hawai`i Chapter, and wrote for the Boston Globe, Hana Hou! Magazine, Backpacker Magazine, and other publications. As Vice Chair of the Honolulu Planning Commission and the 2005 – 2006 Honolulu Charter Commission, he authored charter amendments that require islandwide curbside recycling. Of his13 years with Blue planet, Mikulina says ” We’ve helped change the conversation about climate and passed game-changing legislation. Although we were labeled ‘magical thinkers’ by some, we took what was once impossible and hastened the day that it is inevitable.”

Reporter, Jeremy Lee, Is On The Move

KITV reporter Jeremy Lee will be moving to Hawaii Island to become the station’s Big Island correspondent.

Jeremy began his broadcast career at the ABC affiliate in Southern West Virginia and has since worked in the New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco markets. He is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television.

High Honors: The Board of Governors’ Has Spoken

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High honors: The Board of Governors’ Has Spoken

By Brooks Jarosz
President NATAS SF/NorCal

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that we announce honors that will be bestowed upon three members of the Board of Governors of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), San Francisco/Northern California Chapter.

With a career extending nearly five decades, Pamela Young of KHON 2 was voted to receive the Academy’s highest honor – The Governors’ Award.

Young’s longstanding dedication and devotion to the television industry has spanned several stations including KPIX 5, KQED 9, KITV 4, and KHON 2. She has served as reporter, anchor and host, but also has been active in her community in Honolulu and the Islands. Young has received 12 Regional Emmy® Awards, The Governors’ Service Medallion and Citation, and is part of the Silver Circle. Her accomplishments speak to her hard work and ongoing commitment to excellence.

The Board also wishes to recognize two members for their accomplishments and unwavering contributions with The Governors’ Service Medallion.

Susan Bradley has consistently photographed and assisted in Chapter events for seven years. She has also served on several committees, furthering our goals and membership benefits.

Devin Fehely of KPIX 5 has served on and contributed to the Awards Committee for the last six years. He has also helped lead discussions surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion.

Despite both Bradly and Fehely’s relatively short time on the Board, their outstanding efforts bear being recognized.

Presentations for these three deserving professionals will take place at the 52nd Annual Northern California Area Emmy Awards on Saturday, June 3, 2023. The gala will again be held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by the awards presentation and a four-course dinner.

On behalf of the Board of Governors, a big CONGRATULATIONS to the honorees. Well deserved!

Living on the Spectrum and With the Spectrum

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Living on the Spectrum and With the Spectrum
April is Autism Awareness Month

By Kris Sanchez
Governor

One in 36 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, according to 2020 data, the most recent the CDC has available. But in many of our families, and newsrooms, it’s not about statistics, it’s about our kids.

I started really learning about Autism when my nephew Mateo was diagnosed around age three. I watched my sister, an educator, jump in with both feet to advocate for him and make sure he had the therapies and treatments he would need to live a happy, healthy, and successful life on the spectrum and what that would mean for him. While my sister did that, she also helped the rest of the family understand how we could support them both. That’s meant being more patient, knowing when to ask questions instead of give advice, and to make connections the way Mateo wants and needs, not the way we want and need. Mateo is now a freshman in high, an honor roll student, and is in the marching and concert bands. He always told our family that he considers Autism his super power, because it makes him accepting of all people, and allows him to see the world differently from the rest of us. It’s been a gift for our entire family to see the world through his eyes. It’s a more curious, colorful, and funny place.

I’ve also experienced different parts of the Autism Spectrum through my friend Kari Hall, who is the ‘Today in the Bay’ meteorologist at NBC Bay Area. She and her husband have two beautiful children and both of them are on the spectrum. Her 11-year-old son KJ is now in 5th grade. He receives therapy at school but spends his day in a traditional classroom. He is kind and sweet and we suspect he’ll build the cars or roads we’ll all use someday.

Kari’s daughter Bella is “six going on 16” in Kari’s words. In Kari’s pictures, you can definitely see a mischievous sparkle in Bella’s eyes when she flashes her gorgeous smile. Although Kari had the experience of KJ’s diagnosis, Bella’s life on the spectrum is a very different one. Bella is non-verbal and suffers from severe food aversions. In January of 2022, Bella just stopped eating altogether. Unbeknownst to our morning show family, between workdays, Kari was rushing back and forth to the hospital, meeting with specialists and eventually, learning how to maintain Bella’s feeding tube. Kari handled it with such enormous grace that we were shocked to hear the load she was carrying alone.

“I was really struggling with whether or not to share what was happening in my personal life, I didn’t want to burden people. But when I did, I realized how many people were willing to help with advice and encouragement and prayer,” Kari shared with our team and our NBC Bay Area viewers. That’s her advice, “share with people what you’re going through.” You can see our discussion here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrMwNzaJhDk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

After more than a year of Applied Behavior Analysis – ABA therapy – Bella’s learning to communicate, she’s learning self-care skills and about safety, and she’s opening up to eating. She still uses a feeding tube to keep hydrated, but is back at school. Kari is now a powerful advocate for her family and others and is a frequent emcee for the Silicon Valley Autism Speaks Walk.

Here’s a recent interview Kari did with a nurse and parenting coach about what families can and should do after diagnosis. https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/health/autism-awareness-what-families-can-do-after-diagnosis/3203585/?fbclid=IwAR098Ksll6nb5ncDEe-s9I_qUqV8pxw-cxWSSpuoOTJN30keiNnwACGDl3k

Autism is also part of the family of NATAS Governor and Vice-President of Small Markets, Nazy Javid, whose “bonus sons,” are both adults on the spectrum. Nazy echoes what a lot of us know first-hand. “They teach us not to sweat the small stuff, and they simplify our outlook on life, for there is so much joy in the little things,” Nazy wrote in a post honoring Parker and Sean on April 18th, Adult Autism Awareness Day. You can see it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrMwNzaJhDk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If you have an ASD diagnosis in your family, you want to be better informed the next time you cover an Autism story, or you’d like to lend support you can find more information in the links below.

https://www.autismspeaks.org/

www.autismsociety.org

Longtime Bay Area News Producer Leaves TV After 41 Years

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Longtime Bay Area News Producer Leaves TV After 41 Years

By Kevin Wing
Chapter Vice President, San Francisco

A longtime Bay Area news producer has wrapped up a 41-year career in television news, most of it spent in the Bay Area.

Randall Yip announced in early April that his illustrious Bay Area TV news career was coming to an end and he was leaving KGO-TV ABC7 in San Francisco after 20 years as a senior producer there. 

Yip joined the station in 2003. He is no stranger to Bay Area television. Besides his work at KGO-TV, where he built upon and protected the station’s brand with its most popular reporter, 7 On Your Side’s consumer reporter, Michael Finney, as a champion for the consumer, Yip also interacted with station followers on social media and generated and cultivated news contacts to win exclusive leads. 

He is also the founder and executive editor of AsAmNews, named in 2019 as the No. 1 Asian American news site by Cision Media. In his role there, Yip leads a staff of more than 20 journalists and interns for the all-volunteer, daily news website. Though he has left TV news, Yip will now focus even more on his non-profit news site. 

“It’s been a wonderful ride in television,” Yip said. “I’ve had the opportunity to help consumers right a wrong as well as educate them about their rights. I’ve been blessed to launch several newscasts with teams of professionals that became lifelong friends and just as importantly, I’ve mentored the next generation.”

Prior to joining KGO-TV, Yip was morning news executive producer, from 2001 to 2003, at KNTV in San Jose, the now-former ABC affiliate that has been an NBC-owned station, branded today as NBC Bay Area, since 2002. From 1996 to 2001, Yip was executive producer of Good Day Oregon at KPTV in Portland. He began his television career in 1982. From 1983 to 1985, he was with KMST (now KION) in Monterey. 

Student Production Award Recipients Announced

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Student Production Award Recipients Announced

The Board of Governors of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022-2023 Regional Student Television Production Awards for Excellence.

Entries were submitted by high schools with media programs in the chapter’s region – Visalia to the Oregon border including Reno, Nevada and Hawaii – for work done during the 2022-2023 school year. The “Award for Excellence,” an engraved glass pillar, is presented to the school with each student recipient receiving a certificate.


The “Award for Merit” is presented to each student in the form of a certificate. A total of 178 entries were received from 19 high schools. Eleven Pillars for Excellence and 29 Certificates for Merit are being awarded.

“Our regional student production award-winners represent future broadcast journalists, filmmakers and entertainers, and our goal is to recognize their efforts and encourage their pursuit of excellence,” said chapter Education Chair Toby Momtaz. “Once again, we express our gratitude for the third year in a row, as a generous couple has made a substantial donation to cover all the expenses of the contest.”

Six high schools will receive Pillars of Excellence, Buchanan High School, Clovis; Franklin High School, Elk Grove; Granite Bay High School, Granite Bay; Gunn High School, Palo Alto; Moanalua High School, Honolulu, HI; and Wai’anae High School Searider Productions, Wai’anae, HI.

Certificates of Merit also going to 11 high schools: Abraham Lincoln High School, San Jose; Buchanan High School, Clovis; El Diamante High School, Visalia; Franklin High School, Elk Grove; Granite Bay High School, Granite Bay; Moanalua High School, Honolulu, HI; Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto; Redwood High School, Visalia; Tamalpais High School, Academy of Integrated Humanities and New Media (AIM), Mill Valley; Wai’anae High School Searider Productions, Wai’anae, HI; and Whitney High School WCTV19, Rocklin. The “Award of Excellence” Pillar recipients will move forward to a national competition between all 19 chapters of NATAS. National recipients will be announced in the Fall of 2023.

View and download the full release here. 

Regional Roundup April – Smaller Markets

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP April - Smaller Markets

SINCLAIR CHANGES – Statement from VP/GM John Manzi

“As it continues the evolution of its stations in Northern California, Sinclair Broadcast group is making some changes to the way it produces news to ensure long-term success. As of April 3, Eureka (KAEF) joined Chico-Redding (KRCR), teaming up as ‘The Northstate’s News’ brand.

The Eureka Market will continue to air the morning show, Daybreak, Monday through Friday from 5 to 7 a.m., which is a regional newscast covering Redding, Chico and Eureka. The company plans to add a new regional newscast on KAEF in Eureka from Monday through Friday at 5:30 p.m., as well as telecast regional newscasts Monday through Sunday at 10 p.m. on KBVU and Monday through Sunday at 11 p.m. on KAEF. Monday through Friday at 6 p.m., they will continue to produce and telecast on KAEF, a Eureka-specific newscast.

Though viewers in Eureka will see some different faces on the air, they will also continue to see familiar faces. They will receive the local news, traffic and weather affecting their communities.”

KEAF Bids Farewell to Dania Romero 

Anchor/Reporter Dania Romero anchored her last newscast in Eureka on March 31. She is moving into a reporter position in the Monterey-Salinas market, closer to home and family. View her on-air goodbye to North Coast viewers here. 
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KRCR’s Christian Biaggi Moves Into Tech

Content Creator Christian Biaggi worked his last day on April 3, leaving the business for a career in tech.

Bill Brennan Moves Into Acting News Director Role – KITV 

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Bill Brennan Moves Into Acting News Director Role - KITV 

By Pamela Young
Governor

After four years as KITV News Director, Janice Gin will vacate her position April 1. Janice will continue to work for the Allen Media Group in Hawaii, focusing her time on KITV/KIKU morning news strategy and formats and Local Now platform.

Managing Editor Bill Brennan will be Acting News Director until the conclusion of a news director search. Brennan has been supervising the news staff and developing news strategy at KITV for the last 18 months following a 10 year stint as Director of Communications at the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit. He also worked previously as the Press Secretary to then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann, and Executive Producer at KHON2.

Bill Brennan, courtesy KITV

Regional Roundup April – Hawaii

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP April - Hawaii

Robert Buan, courtesy KITV

KITV Welcomes Robert Buan to Morning Show 

The KITV morning news team will expand in April with the addition of Robert Buan, who will join Cynthia Yip on the anchor desk. Buan started his broadcast career as an announcer with the Oakland A’s. He currently hosts “Country Fastball”, a syndicated radio program on the Tennessee Radio Network. Robert was born in Kansas, raised in Spokane, WA, and graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in political science. He is also a certified yoga instructor.