Exclusive interview with Keith Jones, Morning Anchor Tampa Bay

Keith Jones, the morning anchor of Tampa Bay 10 News (WTSP), did not exactly want to become a "news" guy back then. Wait until you read what he reveals about what's really behind the reasons he is doing what he is doing today and where he was when the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 occurred! This successful professional who posesses a great and contagious sense of humor,  grew up in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. Based on a baseball scholarship, he was able to attend Barry University in North Miami. Now it's time to see what Keith Jones has to reveal!

1. How do you describe your immersion into such competitive field? Tell us about your first job as a reporter! Actually getting into this field was an absolute accident. I went to school for a business degree. My career goal  was to own a chain of sporting goods stores. For whatever reason, a prerequisite for the particular field of study… was an impromptu speech class. So here I am, a freshmen in college on the first day of class and the prof decides to illustrate what the class is all about. The professor made each of the students get up and talk about a random topic of her choice for 15 seconds. The professor called on me. I was given my topic (don’t recall what it was) and started talking. She had a stop watch, clicked it and said, "Your time is up". In the not-so-unusual-smart-aleck-form I said, “No, I have more”. She said, “Fine, go 30-seconds on this topic”. I did. She clicked the stop watch and I said, “Nah, I have more on this one too”. This scenario repeated itself until I was yapping for 2 and half minutes. After class, the prof called me over.  I’m thinking great, first day of college in my first year and I’m already busted. She asked what my major was and I explained business and what my aspirations were. She said, you absolutely have to do something in broadcast, whether it be radio or tv. So I started snooping around some production classes, then journalism classes and discovered I was pretty creative and fairly decent in front of the camera.

My first reporting position: I was hired the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach right out of college. Not a typical starters market, but I was fortunate to begin my career here. It was pretty harsh. Long days, unbearable work load, horrible shifts, etc, but I wouldn’t trade it. All of the aforementioned was a tremendous learning experience. I learned early on it was going to be a sink or swim first job. Typically a kid out of college has to begin in a small market, make his/her mistakes, and eventually move up. I knew my mistakes had to be few and far between and couldn’t’ be repeated. I learned I wasn’t very good LIVE (lack of experience), but was a good story teller. In fact, I was nominated for an Emmy Award within my first 6 months. So I lived,…. I learned and moved on from West Palm.

2. You have been able to cover fascinating stories and experience closely events that have impacted the whole nation on a concerning level. Considering that you need to be elaborately trained and significantly skilled in your job in order to cover breaking news, how did you make it through during the September 11th crash of United Flight 93 in Somerset , Pennsylvania ? How did you cope with your own reactions vs. your duty? I think it was the disbelief of what was happening. At first everyone was transfixed on what was happening in New York City . Then the Pentagon was hit. Then Somerset. At the point it became clear all three were connected. I was sent to Pittsburgh International where I was able to get updates from the Aviation Authority. I remember this voracious appetite for any and all information. After several hours there, I was dispatched to the scene in Somerset , PA. It’s a long drive and we were learning this was a terrorist attack. I remember talking with my photographer about how scary this was. The uncertainty.The angst. What I was feeling was no different than other Americans. Your adrenaline takes over in situations like this and it helps suppress your inner fear and emotions. I spent an entire week in this field. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, stressed, etc. Leave it to my oldest daughter to force the tears to my eyes. She asked me why the bad men crashed planes into buildings. As journalists, we cover SO many horrific stories with ugly details. Honestly, like cops, we become numb to them. You have to or you’d end up in a deep depression. That’s not to say we’re completely devoid of emotion, but as a coping mechanism you just learn to say, “here we go again”. The stories that just kill me are stories in which children are hurt in some way. I always think, “geez that could be one of my daughters”.

3. How is your daily schedule like working for Tampa Bay 10 News? How do you get prepared for every appearance? My day starts at 2:45am. I curse this shift every morning, but then praise it at 12:30 in the afternoon when my day is done and I have the rest of the day to do, well… whatever. I’m in the shop by 3:30am, sit down and start copy editing scripts and discussing the stories our reporters are on. At 4:45am I go shave and get dressed and I’m on set for the 5:00am newscasts. Our broadcast runs for 2 hours so lots of coffee on set is a must.  When our show is over we start working on the “cut ins”. These are abbreviated newscasts that run at 7:25, :55, 8:25, :55.  After that, we start working on our rundowns for the Noon show. We’re constantly writing scripts and re-writing as new information comes in.

4. What is the part that you enjoy the most about your job?
Probably the people I work with. We have a tremendous crew in the morning. We work well together and most of all we have fun together. I enjoy the fact no day is the same. Each day is different.  I enjoy the fact anything can happen on live t.v. and something unexpected usually happens. I enjoy meeting new people out on stories or a live broadcast. In addition to all this…. Where else could I get paid to tell stories?

5.Tell us about the time that you and your family have donated to the American Heart Association and the Children's Hospital. Are you guys still in active with them?
People get involved with charities for a myriad of reasons. Mine is personal. My oldest daughter was born with an incurable heart disease.We didn’t know until she turned 1 year. In fact, we spent her first birthday in the hospital when she got diagnosed. She wasn’t supposed to live but 2 years. After numerous open heart surgeries, 2 artificial mitral valves, 2 pacemakers later…. She’s 14. To help raise awareness that kids have heart disease too, my family is intimately involved with the Heart Association. We engage in fundraisers, emcee events, share our stories with groups, etc. And since we spend so much time at Children’s Hospital, a place that has treated us very well, we offer our time and efforts their as well.

6.What are the topics that you are particularly passionate about and truly enjoy to the fullest when covering a story or even when you are just carrying a regular conversation? The stories I enjoy the most are features or positive stories involving kids.  I’m tongue in cheek with my story telling which lends itself to a log of humor. I love to combine natural sound, sound bites, creative writing and camera shots into one piece that leaves the viewer smiling, laughing, and informed. There’s an art to it and for me, it’s a lot of fun to meld these items into a compelling story. As for what I like to talk about… hmmmmm… usually my kids, because they are a wealth of stories. Unbeknownst to them… they’re entertaining and provide for a plethora of anecdotes. Additionally, I was apparently born with the gift of gab and can talk to anyone about anything.

Exclusive interview with Chip Carter

Chip Carter, on the right.

Chip Carter, of Tampa Bay FOX 13, is not just  the channel's sports director, he's much more beyond that. He has been part of the most sensational sports events in the past two decades ever since he joined the channel in 1988. Chip is a graduate of The University of New Hampshire and he won an Emmy Award for a racing television special.  Surrounded by great sports players, cameras, and fans, Chip Carter takes his job seriously! However, his love for it is so broad that, to him, it's not really a job; it's actually gathering up with friends to talk sports!

1. How did you come to be the sports director for FOX 13?
 I was working in Knoxville and was hired to come down here, whats funny is that on my first year wedding anniversary, my wife and I came to Tampa and I told her then that this would be a nice place to work.
2. How was it like when you won your first Emmy Award? Can you share with us that fascinating story?
The cool thing about winning an Emmy is that your work does not compete against others in the state, the work has to compete against a high standard and if it doesn't meet that standard -- you don't win.  Television is a total team effort to make everything look good takes a lot of communication; the first Emmy I won was for a half hour racing special that a lot of people were involved with so that was really cool to see it all come together.

3. How is your schedule like each time  you are covering the Super Bowl?   

Great schedule -- unbelievable to be there, I think I have covered something like 12 or 13 Super Bowls...long hours though, because we are covering it for every portion of our 8 hours of news a day so that means, morning, noon and night...its not unusual to work 90 to 100 hours during Super Bowl Week.

4. What was one of your most memorable moments out of all the NFL seasons that you have covered?
Has to be the Bucs Super Bowl, to be in San Diego covering the team with Jon Gruden as the coach was a lot of fun -- !

5. What are some of your favorite Tampa Bay Rays baseball players?
I don't really have a favorite player, we spend a lot of time with all of them....its just a really good group of guys to deal with.....they are really personable, know that we have a job to do and just make it fun to do it.  Having Joe Maddon as the manager, I think sets a really good tone and that makes it a lot easier I think.  We are actually really lucky with the coaches we have here in all of the sports USF with Skip Holtz and Guy Boucher with the Lightning and Raheem Morris with the Bucs, they are all very dynamic, good to deal with -- have great personalities...and know how to work with the media.

6. You're evidently a very professional and highly respected sports anchor. How is the dynamic between you and your fans everytime you see them during sports events?
Covering high school football we get a great conversation going with viewers that come up to say hello...I LOVE that -- that is why I am in this job really to share the sports experience with people...if I could invite the entire market into the studio with me, I would -- thats what I feel like I am doing when I am standing in the studio is just telling friends what happened at the game, relating a story and giving them the compelling parts of it.  I don't take anything for granted in this job, you have to work hard to be good at it and you have to work hard to maintain your reputation -- viewers don't have to watch Fox, I know that they have choices so our staff -- we have the largest sports staff in the market, works very hard to make sure that we are their choice when it comes to sports news on anything in Tampa Bay.  Its not a job really, it just doesn't feel like a job....its more of a chance to sit down with friends over a pizza and talk sports....thats what I hope we are creating.  So when viewers come up to say hello or say that they watch us all the time....I always make sure to give them a huge thank you because it really is appreciated.

7. Are you and your family still active in the Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid Florida Program? Can you share with us your experience with it? 
We have 3 golden retrievers at home....Fletcher is the one we adopted, when we got him he weighed 55 lbs and wasn't housebroken -- didn't really know how to behave in a house.  We think he might have been chained because he just paced in a circle around the family room. The Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid Florida starts the process of finding these goldens new homes and I know the work the foster homes put into the effort is a key part of that process -- the foster home is the first home the golden has and they use that time to figure out his personality, take care of any medical issues etc...just a key part of the process.....and then when we adopted him...I really think he just feels as if he finally has his permanent home.  We use to do a lot more volunteering in terms of personal effort and time with the group -- but as we continue to live here, we branched out to hook up with the Tampa Humane Society -- (Cathy Bellatin) does a great job with them...as well as other organizations.....I try and push as much as possible the work  GRRMF does....in terms of the yearly calendar and their needed donations.....using the contacts that I have to keep the mission of that group upper most in people's minds, same thing with the Tampa Humane Society as well.

Exclusive interview with Steve Jerve

Steve Jerve, the chief meteorologist of Tampa Bay's Newschannel 8, is a book full of fascinating and captivating life chapters. This Minnesota native played basketball while he was majoring in Speech. After graduating, he decided to begin a new journey: this time, in meteorology. His first job as a weather anchor was in Minnesota, where as at one point, he simultaneously also worked as a reporter, photographer, producer, and editor. Subsequently , he kept growing within this competitive field throughout Orlando and St. Louis, where he won an Emmy Award in 1996 for weathercasting in the Mid American region. Steve is a full member of the American Meteorological Society.  The AMS was founded in 1919 and has over 14,00 members. He is also proud to be a Certified Boadcast Meteorologist. The program in charge of certifying candidates do not make this mission an easy one for them. Aplicants need to go through very extensive and rigurous testing. In addition to that, they have to prove that they have already a Bachelor's Degree in Meteorology while all their current work is reviewed to assess their level of competence.

1. How did you go from speech communication to meteorology and when did your interest for this fascinating career begin? It was largely a job opportunity that led me into weather.  I was working as a news reporter/anchor at my first station in Austin , MN (Home of Spam, the canned meat) and I used to fill in for the weather person…and the sports person…etc.  I had some meteorology for my core course in a liberal arts degree and they were pretty good courses, so I did know something about the science.  The guy that hired me in the business moved to Jackson MS and offered me a full time job in weather and I took it because it paid more and was a good opportunity to learn something new and see if I liked it.  I went back to school at Jackson State U. for meteorology and continued my education at Mississippi State University . Plus, forecasting weather for 25 plus years, you pick up a few things.

2. I was actually living in Puerto Rico when the island got hit by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and I still remember that it was one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit us. Where were you at at the time and how was your experience covering this hurricane?  I was working at WFTV in Orlando and was at the National Hurricane Center in Miami reporting on Hugo for my station.  I was one of many members of the media there covering the storm.  So, I watched it from afar.  I also did the same thing for category 5 Andrew in 1992 and got stuck in the storm as it came through South Florida.

3. Standing in front of the cameras to talk about the weather requires a lot of confidence, skills, and knowledge. What are all the tools that you use when you get prepared for  each weathercast segment?

All of above in your question.  This job requires a unique blend of science, communication and knowledge and skill with graphics.  I’m not saying I do any of it well, but I try.  We use computer models to forecast the weather, then work on putting that forecast into graphics that you see on air to explain to viewers the weather situation.  I love this job because it is so challenging in so many areas.
More below the video...

4. What did it take for you to become a certified broadcast meteorologist?

Ive been an AMS seal holder since 1992, and that required a lot of college credit coursework.  The CBM seal was added in the mid 2000s and it requires a 100 question test administered by the AMS.  It was a tough test and I’m proud to have earned it.  I got it in 2006.

5. How do you describe the dynamic that exists between you and your colleagues in the studio?

It’s an excellent dynamic.  We’re a big professional family, those behind and in front of the camera.  We all work together to try and do the best newscast possible, there are some real professionals here.  My on air colleagues are my friends and it works best that way.  People can detect if youre not genuine on camera.  Just be yourself, it’s not that hard.