Fehely, a 17-time Emmy® Award recipient, feels honored for the recognition. He was nominated by Randy Forsman, a director at KCRA 3 and recent Past President of this Chapter’s Board of Governors.

“I was humbled and honored to be recognized by the Chapter for my service to this organization,” Fehely said. “And it was truly special to share that honor with Susan A. Bradley, our chapter photographer and a woman who is the epitome of selfless service.”

Fehely has served on the Board of Governors for the last three years. His dedication to NATAS is designed to inspire excellence.

“The essence of my service to this organization dovetails with its mission to honor and inspire excellence and innovation and creativity in the realm of TV journalism,” added Fehely, who has been with KPIX CBS Bay Area since early 2015.

“In many regards, I feel like I entered into service to this organization through the back door,” Fehely explained, reflecting that a few years ago he successfully advocated for the Regional Emmy® Awards Competition’s Reporter Craft Category to be split in two — Specialty Assignment and General Assignment. At the time, he had not yet been elected to the Board of Governors or even added to the roster of the Chapter’s Emmy® Awards Committee.

“We had investigative reporters and consumer reporters and feature reporters all of whom often have the luxury of more time and resources competing against General Assignment Reporters who might have a few hours to cobble their stories together,” he said.  “And having done both roles over the course of my career, it was plain to me that each type of reporter was deserving of their own lane in which to compete.”

Fehely said the idea was inspired by his experience in the Atlanta television market and in NATAS’ Southeast Chapter, where he was honored with the first eight of his eventual 17 Emmy® statuettes. 

Today, he describes himself as a bit of a “contrarian” on the Board of Governors, willing to challenge the status quo or advocate for new ideas.

“From Monterey to Eureka, Reno to Hawaii, our Chapter is huge,” Fehely said. “And I think it’s important that all of those regions are represented and have a seat at the table. Ensuring a diversity of experience and opinion on the Board and all of our Committees is vitally important to our mission. And I’ve tried to build those bridges and relationships.”

Amongst his NATAS contributions, Fehely also participates in the Chapter’s Mentor Match program. Currently, he mentors a young journalist who, only a few years ago, got his first on-air TV position in the industry.

“In the early stages of your career, you’re learning and growing and climbing the ladder. The focus is inward,” Fehely said. “But, you eventually arrive at a point in your career where you say to yourself, ‘You know, I’ve learned a few things that might benefit someone coming up behind me.’  This program gives me an opportunity to share some of those lessons and it also refreshes my enthusiasm for the craft.”

What about future service to the Chapter? Fehely explained he would like to expand upon service on the Chapter’s Awards Committee by helping to showcase more of the amazing work being produced by the Chapter year-round.

“There is so much talent, so much creativity, so many probing investigations, so much magnificent storytelling in this Chapter,” he said. “Right now, the focus is on the awards competition at the end of each year and the Emmy® Gala in the middle. I’ve always been of the opinion that we should be celebrating that great work on an ongoing basis.”

Meantime, Fehely would like to launch a series of discussions with journalists throughout the Chapter, highlighting stories, documentaries and investigations they have worked on.

Congratulations again to Devin Fehely and Susan A. Bradley on the occasion of their receiving the 2023 Governors’ Service Medallion!

“Why don’t you give the multimedia class a try next year?” he asked me.

“Writing for a newspaper? I don’t think so,” I laughed.

“No, our broadcast team. Come join ‘In the News at CHS.’”

And I did.

I had no idea how transformative that year would be.

I was shooting video, editing newscasts and interviewing people weekly.

I beamed over each completed project.

I went onto college and received my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in journalism.

I snagged a summer fellowship in New York City working with ABC News.

I sat just off to the side of where David Muir anchored the news every evening.

I was hired in Bakersfield, which meant I was in a market only 1.5 hours from my hometown.

I covered wildfires, murder trials, 5K runs and police corruption.

All of that happened because of that one conversation with Mr. Lucero.

After multiple years in Bakersfield I was hired by the top station in the Fresno market, KFSN-ABC30.

It was the channel I grew up watching.

Now, I know it as the station where I received my first two Emmy® nominations.

It’s also now the station where I won my first Emmy®.

Our weekend evening team was nominated twice for Best Evening Newscast – once for Saturday and once for Sunday – for our coverage of the Oak Fire in Mariposa County.

It was a wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes in our mountain community.

Our small, but mighty, weekend team was able to get critical, comprehensive information out to our viewers.

And through the SF/Norcal Emmys®, we were recognized for our efforts.

Our team, dressed better than we have ever dressed, and gathered in San Francisco on June 3.

We knew we would win an Emmy® that night because it was us versus us, literally.

No one else was nominated in our category.

I was excited, but I didn’t know what it would mean to me until I opened up the statuette’s box and saw my name on it.

I’m not one to openly share or express my emotions, but that night I couldn’t help but be overcome by the years of hard work I put in finally being recognized by my peers.

I knew this accomplishment was thanks to countless people along the way, but really came down to the one person who helped springboard my career.

Four days after the award show I raced back to Coalinga.

I coordinated with the high school principal to sneak into Mr. Lucero’s class.

He wasn’t expecting me and he didn’t know our team was nominated, let alone won.  

In front of his current multimedia students, I pulled the statuette of the box and proudly told him I’d won my first Emmy®.

His response?

“It’s about time! Congratulations!”

It was a full circle moment I will cherish forever. 

While I’m disappointed I never got that heirloom from my former math teacher, I think the tradeoff was worth it.

This career has given me the opportunity to connect with people I likely would’ve never met.

I’ve seen places I likely would’ve never visited.

And I have a career I likely would’ve never explored.

I’m so grateful for what journalism has done for my life.

And I’m even more grateful for Mr. Lucero. 

V: And we’re rolling! How crazy has everything been since your announcement?

PM: It’s been overwhelming. People are responding to the news with emails, social media, and phone calls and I really want to thank everyone appropriately. It’s been amazing, and it’s made me very sentimental about my career and my life here in the Bay Area. I feel really grateful.

V: I remember when we came here (KRON) within a year of each other. When you walked into KRON, 1001 Van Ness Avenue, what did you think?

PM: I’m working in the San Francisco Bay Area, that was fabulous for me. I felt at home here so quickly. I felt a part of the community quickly. I had worked in several news markets, so it was a big deal to come to this market and feel so at home.

V: If someone tapped you on the shoulder and said, “Pam, you’re gonna be here for 32 years”, what would you have said?

PM: I feel lucky. How many of us can stay in a great market, in this great job, for this long? Ha. I feel very fortunate.

V: What is the secret to your success?

PM: I don’t know. I’m a survivor. I think a lot of the things we do in the community make a big difference to people. You certainly hope it does, anyway. You participate in events, you try to tell stories that mean something to people, or you try to do something that’s fun and interesting.

Whatever you’re doing you hope that somehow, you’re contributing to make things better. You’re (Vern) on the Sports side so you can have a lot more fun than we newsies can have on the air. Sometimes it’s difficult telling these stories on the news side, but when you can feel a part of a community, then it means something to you too. You’re not just repeating things that don’t affect you, they affect me just like they affect everybody else in the community. I hope that comes through that I am a part of this community and I care.

V: What clicked in your mind that just told you, you know what? Now’s the time.

PM: Well, I have been around a long time, ha ha. I worked nights for 32 years. When you work nights and you come in at three, you can’t come in cold. You have to be aware of the news all day long. So your day may start at three at the office, but you have to be aware of what’s happening all day. You don’t get off till 11 or 11:30 at night and then you come back and it’s the same thing. I get to the weekend and I’m exhausted. Anyway, I wanted time to have more fun and find out what it is like for my time to be my own. More time to be spontaneous, time to travel, to relax, whatever. And after I get over the initial change, I look forward to still doing something where I can contribute. There are so many issues that I care about. I hope to find some place to land that suits me, but more on my terms. It will be nice to find out what ii is like to live your life on your own terms. When you work any job for anybody, you’ve got to clock in, you have responsibilities. I’m looking forward to not having so many responsibilities, where my time is my time.

V: Where do you get the energy to be able to deliver it every night?

PM: Same place you get it. We care about our work. You want to do it well. I’ve grown up a lot here, I’ve made my mistakes, I’ve not always been the very best, but I’ve managed to survive a lot of changes, as you know. All the media companies have changed a great deal from when we both started many years ago in the Bay Area. But we’ve survived it and we’ve certainly grown from it. I just feel really blessed and really honored.

V: Look at this Pam, we’ve gone almost 6 minutes. Last one from me, and I don’t want to start any “water works”, but I will ask you this, what do you think you might miss the most?

PM: Well, it would have to be my co-workers, the interaction that you have every day. Everybody has to work, but when you can go to work with people that you really enjoy, people that you feel are your genuine friends, you care about them and they care about you. You can’t get much better than that in terms of a job. In addition to that, we have an incredible opportunity working in this position. We’re meeting people all over the community, interviewing people who are in positions of authority, telling stories about other people’s lives, things that I would never maybe ever experience in my own life, and so it’s a real privilege to be allowed to do these jobs. And even with the ups and downs, this has just been an amazing experience and I’m going to miss all of that. But I’m still going to tell some stories. I’ll still do some profile reports. The station has been very supportive of that. I will still do some community work. I took the kids today from EOYDC to Marcus Books, and I’ve been doing that for more than a decade.

There’s just so much more joy in life which I hope to discover and explore and I want to do a lot of it with the people I’ve met along the way through this job