By Julie Watts

Emmy Gala Chairperson

     It is time to get out your gowns and brush off your tuxes for the 43rd Annual
Emmy� Awards Gala on Saturday, June 14 at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel.      

    Whether or not you are a nominee, you won't want to miss this year's event. 

    Festivities begin at 6 p.m. with a fabulous Emmy�Pre-Show Reception, featuring a bubbly bar, cash bar, red carpet and much more.

    At 6:45 p.m., guests will sit down to a four-course meal and the Live Emmy� Award Show courtesy of our marquee Emmy� sponsors - Steve Padis Jewelry and Forevermark.

    To keep things moving, on-stage acceptance speeches will once again be limited to 30 seconds and one speaker per award. However, each recipient will be invited to give a second speech on the red carpet where they can thank anyone and everyone who contributed to their success. 

    Both speeches will be broadcast live via our first-of-its-kind interactive EmmySF dual webcast. Speeches will also be archived and available to share after the show via social media, text, email or embedding courtesy of our Emmy� webcast sponsor -  Anvato.

   Congratulations to all of this year's nominees! We look forward to seeing you in June!

When did you first realize that you wanted to be in television news?  

I think when I realized what I wanted to do with weather forecasting would probably require working on TV. 

When did you become fascinated with the weather?  

Around the 3rd grade when I was more interested watching thunderstorms instead of running away from them.

Who has inspired you in your career?  

I'm partial to those who really helped me at my KNBC news internship. For broadcast meteorology I would say it was Fritz Coleman at KNBC who gave me plenty of room to work in the chroma key wall, gave tremendous advice and wrote my first recommendation letter.  You will not find a kinder, funnier and more helpful person in the business.

Who has inspired you as a person?  

My wife for all her academic and professional accomplishments overcoming many obstacles in getting where she is today.  Both my Mom and Dad for their creativity as artists and their patience and understanding as they trusted me in a career path that must've seemed almost impossible to achieve.  What are the odds your child wants to a be a tv weatherperson and actually does it?  If the roles had been reversed I'd like to think I'd be just as supportive.

Before NBC Bay Area, where did you work before?  

Its sort of like a Johnny Cash song, I've been everywhere up and down the West Coast but in order we have: ABC Network News Bureau/KNBC in LA, KESQ Palm Springs, KSBY San Luis Obispo, KCRA Saramento, and KIRO in Seattle. 

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

Well, like the weather things change sometimes in subtle ways and other time substantial.  A more typical routine is being up at 2:30am if I'm filling in on a morning shift, spending an hour or so going through forecast models while applying makeup (still hate that part of this business) and then going on-air.  Good or bad, I'm almost always on Twitter and even off-air, I'm posting news stories or weather/science images I find interesting.  I guess the news cycle for me, never really shuts down. The days may also include doing some work for my Cal State East Bay course I teach from time to time and helping with some family businesses focused on the "other" cloud, as in cloud computing software. 

You've worked at NBC Bay Area for a decade. Do you think you've changed, as a person as well as a meteorologist, since you began there?  

 think I've changed with the technology of the times.  I really enjoy the immediacy and connection you can make viewers via social media and other apps these days.  Now having spent 17 of my 20 years in television forecasting for California weather patterns, I feel more confident than I did back when I joined KNTV nearly 11 years ago.  Its nice not having to always look things up for a change and feel like you can be more of a resource.   

Do you like ice cream? 

Okay, that's a ridiculous question. Up to now, no one has said that they don't. What's your favorite flavor?  Usually anything mint is a safe choice, though I'm also partial to chocolate with some peanut butter added in. 

Tell us about your home life. How do you spend your weekends? Do you have any hobbies?  

Well the weekends are pretty much 24/7 on television with naps in between, so my hobbies and home life fall on weekdays... I enjoy getting time to do storm chasing or working with the talented group at the SJSU meteorology dept. on some projects, especially their Fire Weather Research Lab.  And then, there's Spartan Races and CrossFit.

Tell us more about your workout routine. Seeing what you post on Facebook, I'd say this is anything but routine.  

Please tell us more about your passion for fitness and exercise and staying in shape. 

What charitable organizations are nearest to your heart? 

I think I know of one that you consider very special to you.  The Lupus Foundation of Northern California and Lupus LA. They do some great work providing information and outreach services for those suffering from lupus which does run in the family.  We're also active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Asian Americans for Community Involvement.      

Perfect meal for dinner?  

I guess it depends on the day, but I will rarely turn down a nice rib-eye steak and giant baked potato.  Others call for a supersized plate of Italian food or sushi.

Have a guilty pleasure?  

Well I'll admit at least to one and that's Netflix.  Darn you taking away my free time releasing an entire season of a show (House of Cards) like that, but I also love you for it.  On the topic of TV I'd call watching "Ghost Adventures" a guilty pleasure.  Sometimes you just need to see people scaring themselves over nothing in the dark to get a laugh after a long day. 

What do you enjoy most about your work?  

Getting a chance to share my love and interest for science in a televised setting is pretty neat.  I've also enjoyed "paying it forward" helping several production associates, news and weather interns get their careers started. I'm especially proud of LA weather producer Ferd Furer, KOLD's Aaron Pickering, KNWA's Gina DeVecchio and most recently a very talented Tracy Hinson now at KSBW getting out there as broadcast meteorologists.  When I'm long gone, it feels good to see people you helped leading the way as the next generation of TV talent.

Have you had any mentors, and if so, who? Who do you look up to? 

Back to my KNBC days as an intern and later news desk assistant it was assignment editor Paul Skolnick who taught me the importance of persistence and accuracy.  I certainly looked up to Fritz Coleman who reviewed my videotapes (dating myself there - M2 cassettes) and was a constant source of support.  Wendy Tokuda as well, provided great guidance on my writing and reporting.  I was really very lucky.    

What do you do to relax?  

Well if I had an unlimited budget, I'd go to Hawaii as much as possible.  I feel a real connection to the Hawaiian Islands and its is immediately calming every time I've been there.  It may sound a bit strange, but I find my endurance and CrossFit competitions and workouts help too.  Perhaps not in the relaxing sense, but they are great stress relievers which is something equally important when you work in TV news.

What do you like most about working at NBC Bay Area?  

The people, and I know it sounds clich� - but its true.  I remember the place from its Park Avenue days and now getting some momentum with some really innovative platforms that are changing the ways news and weather are presented which I really enjoy. 

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 to 10 years? 

Hopefully I could still be delivering your daily weather forecast in some way. I think as broadcast news evolves into an on-demand mobile platform I'm hoping there were always be a need for a local weather specialist who can explain the nuances of the forecast in a way computers really can't.  I'd also like to work more on the research side of meteorology and continue as a CSU guest lecturer.  Then there's the other cloud, as in cloud computing where I'm lending an assist to family-run startup called Avadencia that looks pretty disruptive for job cost forecasting for energy and construction companies.

Who is your favorite television journalist?  

Tom Brokaw.  I grew up watching him as the Nightly News anchor and was always impressed with his calm, insightful delivery.  I'm also a fan of Diane Sawyer as I once worked with her at the ABC Network News Bureau in Hollywood many, many years back.  She endured being put on hold, late scripts and poor penmanship on my field tape log notes and did so with a smile.  She never treated me poorly even though she was a network correspondent at the time, and I always admired that about her.  I love her for that because there were other monster egos I also had to deal with who shall not be named who would've made Ron Burgundy look like a cub scout. 

San Jose Mercury News, or USA Today?  

USA Today for the backpage weather infographic and the Merc as a local news source. 

What's your favorite TV show?  

There are a few in no particular order.  Game of Thrones, True Detective (spoiler alert: outstanding finale), House of Cards, and Arrow (I'm a big comic book fan)

Go to the movies lately?  

Last may have been "American Hustle" Not lately, but looking forward to the "Godzilla" reboot and "Captain America 2".  I tend to gravitate toward science fiction films since my dad worked in art direction, matte paintings and special effects design (which may have inspired my own backyard attempts with model ships and planes).       

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

I'm mostly serious, but when I get goofy - watch out.  I can turn into Phil from "Modern Family" pretty easily. 

If you could do it all over again, is there anything you would change about your life?  

I'd like to live once and know once was enough. So the goal is to live without regrets and I hope I don't have any when my time comes.

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

As a meteorologist, I think the handful of flooding and severe weather days from Sacramento, Seattle to San Jose were watermarks on the TV career.  As a reporter/editor/journalist, I think it was "On Thin Ice" our climate change broadcast from Alaska to the Bay Area that was on the leading edge of trends in Arctic and West Coast weather trends and research.  We did that series in 2010, earned the AMS award for science reporting and have subsequently seen the mainstream media far more climate change awareness savvy today than just a few years ago.   

What's the most favorite thing about your job? Least favorite thing, if anything?  

I really enjoy the people I work with, many I consider good friends I've known for years.  I've really enjoyed working on projects such as "Dreams to Dust" the NBC Bay Area Japanese internment special and "On Thin Ice" which won an American Meteorological Society award for science reporting.  Winning Emmys felt great to do at least once, but I feel more pride helping a handful of interns land jobs in the business as broadcast meteorologists.  That's my way of paying it forward and doing it four times so far feels really very good.

Least favorite?

Favorite music? What's in your iPod (if you have one) or collection of CDs?

What's playing on my iPhone right now is a diverse list of mostly alterative/rock/movie soundtrack songs.  Here's a sampler in case you're really curious: Young Man Dead - The Black Angels, Feral Love - Chelsea Wolfe, The Beginning of the End - Nine Inch Nails, Whaddup (LL Cool J, feat. Chuch D., Travis Barker), some random Hanz Zimmer tracks and "The Angry River" - from the True Detective series. Note: those are great gym/running songs. ;-)

I do have a pretty extensive collection of U2, Prince and Peter Gabriel albums and of that group I was a pretty huge Prince fan growing up and met him once at his old LA nightclub many years back.  Prince remains the most amazing musician I've seen.

Wine tasting, or a cold bottle of beer?  

Don't get me wrong, I love Napa and Sonoma and enjoy wine but I'll generally take a beer 95% of time. 

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

In no particular order there are:  bungee jump from a hot air balloon (which by the way dropped too low seconds before I jumped so I held on while they fired the burner to gain enough height), skydiving, riding above the cable rig on the top Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and then some would say there's CrossFit.

From a journalistic standpoint, how would you prefer viewers to see you?  

I'd like to be seen as someone who is a reliable meteorologist who can break down scientific concepts into something understandable and relatable.  At my inner core, I'm a science and weather nerd and I still get excited to show that off at every opportunity.   

Favorite spot in the Bay Area? Favorite vacation destination? Where have you yet to travel to?  

Locally, there are several and like most people I do enjoy Napa and Sonoma though I'm also partial to Santa Cruz and the boardwalk down there.   Favorite vacation destination would be Hawaii and I'd love to travel to in no particular order to Japan, Australia/New Zealand and France/U.K.  

What do you like about social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus? Does it help bring in new viewers?  

I think Twitter of the bunch is the most news relevant of the three yet all have strong value.  Twitter has become an unfiltered stream of beat checks, news tips and breaking news feeds that it really has redefined news gathering and aggregation of content and that applies in my field too with broadcast weather. We need to lose the idea of our newscasts being tied to hours and times.  Sooner than later I believe there will be no such thing as 5pm, 6pm, 11pm etc. newscasts, rather you will just have the news on demand.  That is where social media and Apps really should enhance the viewer experience and hopefully drawn in folks who wouldn't normally watch your newscasts. I believe you'll soon see stations employing their own "App stores" to encourage more of this platform cross promotion and I'm excited for those possibilities especially as they apply to science and weather reports. 

       Early every spring many local NATAS members anxiously await the local Emmy nomination announcements.  These professional broadcasters can likely relate to local high school and college students wishing for professional recognition of their own work.

       Beside the local Emmy celebration, Norcal NATAS presents two other similar events focused on broadcasting excellence: the High School Awards and College Scholarships.

       Judging has just finished on this year's High School Awards. A total of forty-eight entries (a greater than a 50% increase from last year) arrived from a dozen schools in northern California and Hawaii. The ten program and craft categories included news programs and individual news stories to animation, music videos and long-form fiction. Volunteer judges from the NorCal Board of Governors score entries in a similar fashion to our local Emmy Award. Each judge gives a one to ten rating in each of three areas, Content, Creativity and Execution.

      High School students from the Oakland Unified School District can hone their broadcasting skills at TV station KDOL. Media Enterprise Alliance (MEA) runs this station located near the Oakland Museum. Executive Director of MEA Jeff Key says: "NATAS provides an opportunity to have their work judged by professionals in the field, add a prestigious award to their resumes, and to expose their work to a wider audience." 

      Mt. Tamalpias High School AIM teacher, Sharilyn Scharf says "The NATAS Awards are our students' greatest validation of their film work.  They look forward to the competition every year and take great pride in winning." According to Scharf, two students who received NATAS awards last year were accepted into the University of Southern California's film school this year.

     As this year's high school awards finish running their course, it will be time to judge then distribute college students with scholarships. There is $16,000 available this year for talented young broadcasters. The deadline is June 16th 2014.

     The San Francisco Northern California Chapter of The National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) sponsors seven awards: five $2,000 scholarships and two $3,000 scholarships. Each award is named for former NATAS members who have honored our chapter.

     Four are memorial: The Peter J Marino Jr. $2,000 award recognizing production; The Sheldon "Shelly" Fay Award, recognizing videography; The Kenneth Sloat Langly Award recognizing writing; and the "Miss Nancy" Besst Award recognizing an outstanding graduate student.

     One of the named scholarships is still active in our academy: The Rigo Chacon Reporting Scholarship.

     The Big Picture's George Lang will generously underwrite two $3,000 scholarships, each to go to one outstanding Graduate and one outstanding Undergraduate student.

     These scholarships memorialize two former Lang co-workers and KGO-TV journalists: Jerry Jensen, who co-anchored at KGO-TV from 1969 to 1984; and Steve Davis, an anchor/reporter at the station from the 1970s to the early 1990s. 

      Scholarship applicants must be actively engaged in a collegiate-level curriculum in one or more areas of the television industry. They must attend a college in Northern California (Visalia to the Oregon border), Hawaii, or Reno.

      All entrants submit a sample of their work, their transcripts, an essay, and a letter of recommendation from their professor or dean. All entries are screened by a panel of judges culled from the NATAS Education Committee. The Committee meets to decide the recipient in each category. The Committee can award or not award a scholarship for each category.

      In 2013, the panel could have awarded seven scholarships. Keeping with the high standards enjoyed by our local chapter, The Scholarship Committee decided to only award those individual entries that rose to the highest professional level. The $2,000 The Peter Marino Production Scholarship, the $2,000 Rigo Chacon Reporting Scholarship, and the $2000 Kenneth Sloat Langley Writing Scholarship had no recipients.

     This year we would love to award all seven prizes. The deadline for submissions is Monday June 16, so if you know of any qualified college students, please let them know about these awards or send them this link: http://emmysf.tv/graduate.html

     The scholarships will be presented during this year's NATAS Silver & Gold Circle Induction event on November 1 at the Parc 55 San Francisco Wyndham Hotel. For more information go to: http://emmysf.tv/silver-circle.html

     This chapter awards these scholarships to encourage individuals who demonstrate leadership and talent in advancing the artistic, cultural, educational and technical qualities of television.

"How do I become a news anchor?"

"What does it mean to work on the assignment desk?"

"My professor says writing is the key to working in news. Do you agree?"

"Is it hard to read a teleprompter?"

"How often do you use Twitter?"

"Are internships important to getting a job in news?"

"What is the difference between a producer and a director?"

"How do you decide what stories to cover each day?"

     Those are a sample of questions some curious students asked during a Career Day and Job Fair on April 12 hosted at KRON in San Francisco.

     The NATPE Educational Foundation along with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Academy (NATAS) and the California Broadcasters Association sponsored the event.  Students from 38 Bay Area Colleges and Universities were invited to the free event.

     About 160 students packed KRON's Studio B where a panel of nine media professionals from radio, television and cable told the students about their career paths and gave valuable advice on getting started in the business.  The panel included Candace Hirleman Archer, vice president of Creative Services at KGO-TV; Michelle Griego, news anchor at KPIX; Tom Raponi, president and general manager at KTVU; Joshua Johnson, morning newscaster at KQED; Kimberly Tere, general assignment reporter at KNTV; J.D. Freeman, media and entertainment market president at Clear Channel Communications; Emily McLaughlin who works in public relations at PAC-12 Networks; and James Crowe, digital sales manager at KRON.

    The two-hour session also included a "mock interview" between Scott Howard, news director at KHSL and a student from Santa Clara University. This allowed the students to see how to prepare for a possible internship or first-time job interview.

    Following the panel and lunch, the students attended a job fair where they had the opportunity to speak with representatives from KRON, NATAS and Clear Channel Communications. To give the students motivation to join NATAS and to work hard for their own award one day, they got their picture taken with an Emmy!

    KRON news staffers, including reporter/anchor Justine Waldman and anchor Grant Lodes, took the students on a tour of KRON.

    It started in the newsroom where students learned about editing systems, how the breaking news set works and saw what happens behind the assignment desk.  The students also visited the control room. But the highlight was a tour of the studio. Students took turns sitting in the anchor chairs and reading the teleprompter. They also played around in the Weather Center and tested out the weather wall. They were fascinated by everything from the computer-control cameras to the lights hanging high above. There was plenty of time for selfies and a great group photo.

     The entire day gave the students a chance to learn what life might be like if they work in news one day.  They said they felt energized, inspired and enlightened by the experience. Lots of students said they appreciated the chance to network with professionals and see a newsroom, many for the first time.

     Clear Channel Communications awarded three very deserving students each a $1,500 scholarship.

     Pat Patton, the director of programming at KRON, was instrumental in organizing the event. He was on the NATPE board for a number of years and was the CEO/Chairman of the organization. His involvement is why KRON was chosen to host this bi-annual prestigious event.

     This was the 26th Career Day sponsored by the NATPE Education Foundation. Both Foundation President Lou Klein and Career Day Producer Dick Block said this was one of the best panels and most successful Career Day events in the organization's history.

Link to watch seminar