I have been broadcasting the news in Portland for more than 35 years. First at KATU, where I also did the weather. I used to feature ‘Bob the Weather Cat’ on my Friday forecast. Bob became pretty famous.
I come from a family of 8 children and grew up in San Diego. I have 5 children: Alexandra, Anna, Jake, Michael and Eliana. My wife Shanon and I now have 3 grandchildren: Nora, Lachlan and Ruthie. Ruthie is named after my wonderful 95-year-old mother Ruth.
30 years ago, I lived on the streets of Portland for a week, to report on Portland’s homeless problem. In 2018, I did another series of reports, ‘Unsheltered Truth’ following the lives of 4 homeless people over the course of two months.
I love architecture. In 1996, I produced a documentary on Portland architect Pietro Bulleschi called ‘No Perfect Answers.’ It has aired on OPB a number of times.
I have had a lot of odd hobbies over the years including raising exotic finches, collecting transistor radios and metal detecting. I recently found a 1921 Buffalo Nickel while detecting in a local park.
I have interviewed lots of interesting and famous people over the years. I was honored to sit down and interview Walter Cronkite on stage for a very special evening at the Oregon Convention Center a few years ago. He is one of my heroes.
I have been featuring adoptive children on my ‘Wednesday’s Child’ segments for 25 years. At least once a month I get messages from former children I featured who are now young adults with children of their own. I have been to their weddings and funerals. Families who watch the stories and adopt these children are incredible.
I love fixing things and if I wasn’t an anchorman, I would probably be hosting a home improvement or renovation show. I’m also a pretty good gardener and love mowing the grass.
We have a little dog named Lucy. She’s a Havanese. I have taught her all kinds of tricks. Anyone who comes to our house is subjected to me showing them all the antics Lucy can do.
In my early career I worked in Santa Barbara as a reporter. When Ronald Reagan was president he spent lots of time at his ranch there. I was part of the local Reagan press corp. I learned a lot from the national reporters who were covering the president.