KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Rhonda McBride
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Alaska is still the last frontier of great storytelling. And what better place than Channel 2 News to tell those stories? KTUU's culture of excellence drew me here, especially the opportunity to work with some of the station's award-winning photographers.
Currently, I'm the Morning Edition reporter, a shift that allows me to spend more time with my son, Matthew. I also enjoy reporting on rural and Native issues -- that's where my expertise is.
Outside reporters cover similar stories. City council meetings. Crime. But when you go out to a village, you have an opportunity to cover stories that no other reporter in the country would ever do.
On a recent trip to St. Lawrence Island on the Bering Sea, I was surprised when a woman came up and asked, "Would you like to see someone blow up a walrus stomach?" You can imagine the images that went through my head. How could we resist not checking this out? As it turned out, a man was inflating a walrus stomach like a balloon. In Yup'ik culture, the stomach skin was used to make drums and water proof bags -- sort of a predecessor to Ziplock bags.
Perhaps I appreciate these sorts of experiences more than your average reporter because of my days as news director at KYUK-AM/TV in Bethel, a community about 400 miles west of Anchorage that is completely off the road system.
I spent 10 years at KYUK, a public television and radio station with a colorful history. There, I learned firsthand about life in the Bush, working alongside Yup'ik Eskimo reporters who shared their knowledge about their culture, language and subsistence way of life. I am the reporter I am today because of their investment of time and patience in me.
I also spent about two years working for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage, producing Alaska News Nightly, a statewide news program that gave me a chance to talk with reporters from all over the state.
Some of our viewers may also know me from my work at KAKM-Channel 7, Anchorage's public television station. For two years, I hosted a public affairs program called, "Consider This," as well as the election debate series, "Running."
Prior to moving to Alaska in 1998, I worked at KOLO-TV in Reno, KTNV-TV in Las Vegas, Nev., and KMVT-TV in Twin Falls, Idaho.
One of the joys of my life is playing music with my family. My husband, Michael, is an accomplished song writer and guitarist. My son, Matthew, has taken to the fiddle. As for me, I'm learning to play the upright bass. They put up with my attempts to join them. And thank goodness, they help carry the darned thing.
