September 20, 2024 • 41 mins
Kevin Wing is a two-time Emmy Award-winning Bay Area television journalist. He grew up in Fremont and was always proud to "show the rest of the country: Hey this is the Bay Area. This is my home."
His website is here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
So whenever we would come up with a Bay Area story or
there was something alreadygoing on, I just wanted to do my
very best to show the rest ofthe country hey, this is the Bay
Area, this is my home.
That's not part of the story,right?
But I felt so honored to beable to represent the network in
(00:25):
covering the stories of ourarea.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Coming to you straight from Fremont,
california.
This is the Fremont Podcast,dedicated to telling the stories
of the past and present of thepeople and places of the city of
Fremont, one conversation at atime.
Now, here's your host, ricky B.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You listened to the opening of the podcast with Gary
Williams and he lives rightover there and so I met him
randomly.
No, let me back up.
I met him when I first movedhere, probably about nine years
ago, and I had met him randomly,talked to him at devout coffee
(01:07):
and then, when he left, somebodysaid do you know who he is?
And I was like I don't know.
And they're like, he's likelike he does Raiders games, he
does Cal, he does Stanfordfootball, he does all these.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
and I was like no way he's like, and he was the voice
of channel 5 for, oh really, ohGod, for a long time.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh, my word.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
You know, for you know, like saying tonight on
Evening Magazine or tonight onEyewitness News right, stuff
like that yeah.
He was their voice.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
And I mean I'll go ahead and get started with you.
This is Kevin Wing.
Kevin Wing has spent much ofhis life here in Fremont, but
probably, if you were to Googlehim, which I did recently, I
Googled you even though my teamdid a great job of putting
together a cheat sheet for me onyou man.
You had a lot of accolades Emmynominated You've been working
(02:01):
for was it NBC?
Here in the Bay Area.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I've worked for NBC in the bay area, or I I was.
I've worked for nbc bay areafor, uh, about 14 years, wow.
And just recently left for anopportunity with cbs news.
Okay, okay, wow, that's that'samazing.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
well, so what I want to do?
So I'm I'm just thrilled thatyou're here and the fact that
you've been a freremont resident.
You love the city here and thismedium of audio capturing
stories and stuff like that.
This is what you do, and Ithink I feel just honored to
have you here.
So even to hear your commentstoward me means a lot, so that's
(02:41):
great.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, I mean that I mean you're a storyteller too,
so that's great.
Well, I mean that, I meanyou're a storyteller too, and I
feel very fortunate to be, ableto tell stories whatever's going
on.
Whether it's going whatever,what's going on in the news or
when I interview people, and Imean the types of stories I
really love to share with myaudience are stories about
(03:05):
people, because we all have astory.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We really do, and I mean I could sit down with
someone, anybody.
There's a fellow sittingoutside right now with a
baseball cap.
I could sit down with him for15 minutes.
Just tell me a little bit aboutyourself, right, and before you
know it, you know, I hope Iwould be able to get him to open
(03:29):
up about his life right.
That's great.
I mean, everyone's lives have astory and everyone has an
interesting story to tell.
That's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And I think that a lot of times it just takes us on
our side.
It just takes like the, I wouldsay, when I say are like the
average citizen resident.
It just takes us stopping tolisten.
You know, a lot of times wethere's stories out there, but
we and and and even peopletelling the stories, but a lot
(04:00):
of times we don't listen.
And so my hope is to be able toand I think this is probably
what you do as well, but my hopeis to be able to capture these
stories in a way that keepspeople's attention and makes
them more interested, makes themmore curious, and be able to
inspire people to get to knowtheir neighbors a little bit
better.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Oh, definitely.
I mean what you do is, ricky.
It's a wonderful thing forFremont.
It brings people together andyou always have guests in your
studio with you who have a lotto share and talk about, and all
(04:40):
of this helps bring thecommunity together.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And that's what it's really all about.
That's great.
Well, let's hear your story.
What got you interested indoing media and the news?
And, yeah, what was that?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
story like for you.
Well, you know, I tell you,when I was about 10, 11 years
old, there were a couple of uhnews events that were happening
okay at that time that got meinterested.
Uh, the day that patty hearstwas kidnapped in in uh february
of 1974 wow I just so happenedto be home from school that day.
(05:19):
My mom kept me home because Iwas sick.
I was you know, had a cold orsomething, and and so, um, uh, I
of course was home and I waswatching the news.
Later that afternoon my momwould come home and and, and she
was watching the news and I was.
It was just unfolding in frontof me and I remember that you
(05:42):
know what was going on with.
Going on with Patty Hearst.
Very, very well, it stuck in me, wow, it stuck with me.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And later that summer Nixon resigned.
So that stuck with me too.
Huh, and I thought, oh, whatthey do on the news on
television seemed veryinteresting to me, so that I
think kind of started it allokay.
Um, of course I started, youknow, writing for the school
(06:12):
papers and all of that.
But once I got into college Iwent to Ohlone and then San Jose
State.
Once I got into college I Ithought I thought, okay, I'll
try the newspaper, the collegepaper, I'll try the college
radio station, and then I'll tryout with the college television
station.
And so between all three Ithought, you know, television
(06:34):
seems more fun.
Yeah, yeah, the others were funtoo, sure, but television
really seemed fun.
Yeah, the university encouragedus to enroll in their
internship program.
Okay, and you know, because youget credit for it.
And so I applied to Channel 36in San Jose, because at the time
(06:57):
they had their own newsdepartment, kicu, and I
eventually got an internshipwith them during the summer of
um, during the summer of 86.
I was there for about fourmonths.
Okay, you know, I would, I dideverything I mean as far as you
know, um, you know gettingcoffee for the anchors, um, they
(07:19):
let me write scripts every nowand then okay which was awesome
yeah, uh because, because bythen I I loved to write.
And so they said hey, you know,there's a.
At the time I remember thisthere was a, a big wildfire in
Yosemite while I was an internthere.
And, um, the producer said, hey, I need, I need you to write a,
(07:40):
a story about.
You know what's going ontonight with the fire up in
Yosemite.
So I did, and I remember thisto this day.
It was the lead on the newsthat evening, for Channel 36.
And I was like I don't believethis.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
That's great.
This is just terrific right,yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
And I still have that script.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Oh my word I have a little scrapbook of career
things as you should.
Yeah, that's awesome, that'sreally cool.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
The following year I had an opportunity for another
internship at Channel 2 inOakland and interned there for
about nine months, uh-huh, andhad a chance to go out with the
reporters, put together anaudition tape, put together, uh,
an anchor audition as well, andthat place, I I will say I was
(08:33):
there.
I, I ended up being there, um,as a reporter and as a as an
assignment editor for about 13years.
Wow, and that place, really, Ireally have to give that place
credit for, you know, making thejournalist who I am still to
(08:57):
this day.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
It really was just a wonderful experience.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
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Speaker 1 (09:19):
My mom and dad moved our family here to Fremont when
I was a month old.
Oh wow, Back in 1963, summer of63.
And that was a long time ago.
They were before I was born.
My mom and dad and my brotherand sister were living in the
(09:42):
Berkeley area.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
My dad was from Berkeley and back in those days
in the early 60s, early and mid60s, they just wanted to, you
know, have a place of their own.
They'd been renting for, youknow, since they had gotten
married.
Okay married, okay, and by thenmy dad's sister, my aunt and
(10:13):
uncle had moved here to Fremontthe year before, okay, and so
you know they wanted to.
They thought they'd been outhere already and they'd seen you
know how Fremont was on theverge of growing, but yet it was
still a, you know, still out inthe country.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
So to speak Right Right.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
And they wanted to get away from the, the uh, the
bustle of Berkeley.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, and so, uh, they settled, they settled us in
Irvington and, uh, you know,nice suburban neighborhood, uh,
new schools, new parks and um,uh, you know nice suburban
neighborhood, new schools, newparks and you know, just a nice
place to grow up, and so that'swhere I spent probably the first
seven or eight years of my life.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Okay, and did you go to like the Irvington schools
then as well?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I went to.
So the elementary school in theneighborhood at the time was
Timothy Ricks Elementary.
Okay, it's not around anymore.
I mean it was built at the timeback in the early 60s when that
neighborhood was growing and ofcourse a lot of children were
in the neighborhood right, andthen I guess in the late 70s,
(11:20):
from my understanding, becauseit was basically kindergarten
through third grade, okay, andyou know, by the late 70s the
neighborhood, you know, most ofthose young kids from the 60s,
like myself, you know, had grownup and gone on and there
weren't other, you know, youngkids of that age for the school
(11:45):
to, you know, for them to hostand teach.
So they ended up closing it down.
I don't know.
I think it was Tri-City HealthCenter for a long time, if I
recall correctly, and now Ithink it's part of a church.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I think a church owns it now.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Early 70s, after my dad passed away in the 60s and
my mom at that time decided thatit might be time for a change.
Okay, and she started lookingaround and she loved the Mission
area.
At the time, early 70ss, a newneighborhood was starting up off
of mission boulevard calledmission valley.
(12:28):
Okay, and for those who ummight not know the neighborhood
as mission valley, it's theneighborhood where the lucky,
the luckiest grocery store usedto be okay, the one that just
closed down.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
The one that just closed down, wow, wow and so you
know, basically lost palmas.
Avenue, that neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And she fell in love with it and so she moved us over
there in the early 70s and fromthere I went to Gomes School
and then Hopkins.
After that Hopkins Junior High.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Which I guess is now a middle school.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
I think so, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And then from there to Mission High.
Okay, and so those were reallymy formative years.
I would say Because we weregone from the neighborhood in
Irvington by the time I wasabout eight.
Okay, all right.
Yeah, so the rest of those youknow, I lived at home for
(13:23):
probably another till my early20s, until I got married.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Okay yeah.
What is it like looking at anevent in a community through a
storytelling lens, trying tocapture, maybe, the heart of
whatever it is that needs to becommunicated about what's going
on?
Because I think a lot of us welook at I'm really going to
broad brush this and give ablanket description of this but
(13:50):
I think a lot of us, in ournormal mindset, we kind of look
at the community through a lensof, like a consumer, someone who
, what can I get out of it?
Or what are the transactionarythings within the community?
But, like, when you're lookingat it and trying to capture a
story, when you're trying tocapture a narrative that really
(14:11):
communicates something, anarrative that really
communicates something, what is?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
it like that.
You've learned about how yousee a community to be able to
see things the way that you'vebeen able to see them.
Well, you know, in my years asa journalist and whenever I've
done a story about Fremont,something going on in Fremont,
yeah, something going on inFremont I know that every
community I say this in thegeneral sense, but I think for
(14:45):
the most part, every communitywhen their story is being told,
whether it's an unfortunate, notsuch a good news story.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
It might be about a crime.
It might be about somethingelse.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Disaster or something , yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Or if it's a good news story Sure, you're doing a
story about you know someone wholives here, yeah, or something
(15:40):
that's going on in Fremont thatwill be to the the story.
Whatever the story is andwherever the community is to
really understand what they careabout, understand what they
care about and um to never, youknow, never.
(16:00):
Um the last thing.
I'd ever want to do as ajournalist is to offend uh, you
know people, yeah, yeah, and I,I believe I've done I hope I've
done a pretty good job of justtrying to represent, you know, a
community in the best waypossible whenever I'm talking
about them.
You know, for a new story.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Well, that's great.
I think that I love hearingthat because I know that the
media at least when I hear itfrom people the media gets a bad
rap a lot of times.
You know they get a bad rap.
Oh, they've got to create astory somehow.
They've got to.
They've got to, you know, get,get followers.
They've got to get peoplelistening to them.
So they've got to come up withways of being able to craft a
(16:42):
story so that you know peoplewill listen to them and not not
another news news channel,channel, um.
But so a lot of times you canhave in your mind that there's
just like this plan and thisagenda out there to be able to
just to you know there'ssomething bigger and outside of
(17:02):
the community that people areinterested in.
But I'm listening to you andI'm I'm truly hearing what
you're saying.
Um, I think at the heart ofwhat you want to do is that you
really want to share the goodand, um, the don't want to say
that I think accurate.
But I was going to say more ofthe most honest story of what's
going on so that people can seeit in a way that helps them be
(17:24):
able to see the good in thecommunity.
That's what I'm hearing fromyou, at least.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
No, you're exactly right.
You're exactly right, ricky.
I think every journalist has tohave respect, for, you know,
here we're talking aboutcommunities, right?
We, in our jobs as journalists,we have to do our very, very
best to respect.
Whenever we come into town todo a story, we have to
(17:57):
understand how those stories aregoing to affect the people who
live here, whether it's in agood way or, unfortunately,
perhaps not such a good way.
That's right, yeah, but I nevertake it for granted, especially
in this town, because this ismy hometown.
Yeah, fremont, that's right,yeah, Um, but I, I never take it
for granted, especially in thistown, because this is, this is
my hometown.
(18:17):
Yeah, fremont's my home.
Yeah, um, I, I, I do my verybest all the time as a
journalist never to take um whatI do for granted, Um, and that
I've been given this um, uh,this, uh skill and this tool as
(18:38):
a communicator to tell thosestories.
Right, that's great, Uh, I meanit's a privilege and I never
want.
I would never want any audienceor any you know, whether it's
an audience or the residents ofFremont or any any community to
feel as though I'm uh trying tomake them look not so good.
(18:59):
Yeah, that's great.
Always want to do my best to,you know, put them in the best
life possible.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
What are some of the, what are some of the um
highlights of your, of your umcareer?
And it doesn't necessarily haveto be specifically Fremont
focused, because because I knowyour job wasn't just Fremont,
right when you were doing thework that you've been doing.
You've been doing it all overthe Bay Area, but what are some
(19:31):
of the things?
So maybe there's something thatwas unexpected that you were
able to you know, become awareof or be able to experience, or
maybe like just even somerecognition.
I mean, what are some of thehighlights of your career that
you look back on personally?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, well, you know, my family has always been very
important to me, especially mymom, and she's passed on now.
But when I first started outand she would see me on the news
on Channel 2, that's one of thehighlights.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Of having your family .
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Um, being being able to, to watch you and see what
you do.
My mom was always veryencouraging, always said to me
when I was growing up you know,I want you to do what you want
to do.
Um, you know, you know, and,and when you know what you want
to do, you know to do your bestat it and work hard, and so so
(20:39):
that that that was always ahighlight for me as far as my,
my work in television isconcerned.
You know, when I, for severalyears, I was a producer for ABC
News okay, um, I was based here,of course, um, and I would
report stories for Good MorningAmerica and World News Tonight
(21:00):
and I would cover basically allof Northern California in the
Bay Area, uh, you know, say downto Central California and, um,
I was very proud of this area,the Bay Area.
Um, as far as whatever we werereporting on, whether it was a
news story or a feature story orwe were doing a profile about
(21:23):
somebody, I always wanted to domy very best to represent the
Bay Area in the very best way.
In the very best way.
I mean, I felt very honored tobe able to do that type of work
for ABC for almost 11 years Wow.
(21:45):
You know that they wouldentrust me to do this type of
work for them right.
And so, whenever we would comeup with a Bay Area story or
there was something alreadygoing on, I just wanted to, you
know, do my very best to showthe rest of the country.
Hey, this is the Bay Area youknow.
(22:10):
I felt so honored to be able torepresent the network in
covering the stories of our area.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Of our area.
That's awesome.
What was your?
Did you have a particular niche?
I know sometimes people coverpolitics specifically, or people
cover, you know, weather orwhatever.
What was your niche that youhad, or did you have one
specifically over your?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
career.
I think my niche it's probablydouble-sided is doing stories
about people.
Okay, Something I love to do.
I mean, I love to talk topeople and, as I was telling you
, I love to find out what makesthem tick, what's their story,
right yeah.
Because we all have our ownstories, and I love doing
(22:58):
feature stories too.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
So what does that look like?
A?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
feature story.
Oh God To me in my mind if Iwere to say, for example, if I
were to do a feature story aboutthe Niles District.
Sure, I mean, the history hereis so colorful right.
Right, Um, you know, fromCharlie Chaplin to you know how
this, uh, Niles Boulevard, thishistoric district, has grown
(23:23):
through the years and how umNiles and the city of Fremont
have managed to, you know,preserve what Niles is.
That's the kind of story I loveto do.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Talking to the people who live here and work here.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And why is this part of town so special?
Yeah, I love doing those kindsof stories, very, very much.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
That's cool.
What are some of the stories ormaybe some of the people that
you've interviewed that havebeen?
That might be, maybe maybe thisis a better way of asking it
Like, what are some of theexperiences that you've had in
telling your stories and findingyour stories that might
surprise the average person thatlives in Fremont?
So, like you know you a lot oftimes, you might, you know,
(24:13):
capture some of the big events.
Everyone knows that, you know,the Fourth of July parade is
happening, or there's the Artand Wine Festival or whatever.
Those are some of the bigstories.
Actually, I should say, noteverybody knows about them,
because I'm so surprised howmany people I talk to and
they're like, what is this?
And like, yeah, there's like30,000 people come to this event
and I didn't even know it washere.
(24:35):
You know, um, or maybe it was ahundred thousand people, I
don't know.
There's a lot of people that goto that event, um, but what are
some of the things that youhave covered?
Um, maybe a specific one thatyou remember?
Uh, it was a special one.
Um, that might be a surprise topeople who live in Fremont now.
Or just some things that maybe,uh, people are unaware of, or
or maybe that was a surprise toyou even when you were, when you
were covering a story inFremont.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So a story about Fremont yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Let me let me think.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You know I've, I've, I've always, I've always loved
doing if I've ever been assignedto do a story about Fremont,
whether it's how it's growing orwhat's what's new like with the
downtown area, the developmentof the downtown area yeah.
Yeah, I guess, because I don'toutwardly say, hey, I'm from
(25:27):
Fremont, sure, I'm gonna ownthis story, right, I don't go
that way right.
Yeah right, I, I just I don't, Idon't go that way, yeah, but um
, uh, but on the same token inmy mind I know that I know
fremont very well this- areavery well right.
So, um, so, when I'm doing astory and, uh, you know what I
(25:49):
hope, that, uh, you know I Isuppose what I hope the viewers
and listeners and readers aswell, you know, might, might be
surprised to know is that oh,hey he's one of us, oh yeah, you
know he he, uh, he has historyhere yes he and his family uh,
have strong roots here and anduh, you know he really cares.
(26:13):
You know if, if they look me upor want to find out more about
me, um, they will realize thatoh yeah, Fremont is really, you
know, strong in his, in his life.
That's great.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And um yeah that's cool.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
I mean, I'm, I don't live here anymore, but I, I I'm
still a part of this community,very much, I think, those who
live here and again, of course,I don't live here any longer.
Sure, I wish I did One thing.
This is a very Fremont hasbecome a very expensive place,
that's right.
It is so hard for a lot ofpeople to be able to buy
(26:53):
something here.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Especially someone like yourself, who grew up here.
Your whole life, this is aplace that has been your home.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
It's been everything you've known for a lot of what
you remember.
Oh yeah, exactly, I mean you'reexactly right, I mean this is
my memories of Fremont, you know, go back to you know as far
back as the late 60s right.
And I know how much it haschanged.
I mean I'm grateful that many,many years ago in another
(27:29):
chapter of my life, I mean I wasable to buy a home here at that
time.
But things have changed so muchin terms of how much homes do
cost.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
That's right, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And it's you know.
I know too that the city is.
You know City Hall is.
You know all of our electedofficials.
They're doing their very, verybest to provide affordable
housing for the population andsuch, and I hope they'll
continue to do that.
But even with those, they arestill expensive.
(28:05):
Yeah that's right.
So you know.
Hence, you know I'm more thanjust a few miles away from
Fremont, but you know I loveliving where I live now.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
But yeah, I wish Fremont were more affordable.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
What are some of the things and this is maybe more
towards your craft as astoryteller so what are some of
the things that you maybe justin the craft of storytelling,
that you maybe just in the craftof storytelling that you have
learned about how to be able todiscover those interesting parts
of the story, the things thatreally help people pay attention
(28:44):
?
What are some of the thingsthat you've learned about
storytelling and I know that youwent to school for this, but I
think there's a lot you canlearn in the classroom, but then
you learn a whole lot whenyou're just out there with
people.
I mean, what is there anythingthat comes to mind that you
think was just has been really abig lesson that you've learned
in that, in that art?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, I, uh, that's a great question actually, and I
I would probably say that, um,you know any type of story that
could, you know, inspire thehuman spirit?
That's something I've learnedover time.
(29:23):
I mean the media being a partof the media, mainstream media,
is not just an honor, but it's aprivilege, sure, and I don't
take that lightly, and anyonewho might say that I do doesn't
know me.
Yeah, I mean I have so muchgratitude for the work that I do
(29:46):
.
I mean this is what I've alwayswanted to do and I love doing
it and it doesn't feel like workat all.
That's great.
But I think what I've learnedthrough time, through the years,
is that when I'm able to dostories that can inspire people,
I think that's so important,not just for this area, not just
(30:09):
for Fremont, but for anycommunity.
You know we're all, you knowmost all of us.
You know we have our strugglesthis period of time in our place
(30:33):
in history right now in thisyou know 2024, 21st century.
Place in history right now inthis you know 2024, 21st century
Um, you know we're uh there.
There are so many challenges, Ithink, for society and um.
What I think can bring ustogether, uh, is just
understanding each other, oneanother, understanding one
another more.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
So through the storytelling, I try to look for
that, I try to look for, youknow, any opportunity.
Sometimes there are noopportunities.
Sure, to you know, tell a storyin a certain way.
Yeah, you know, tell a story ina certain way right.
Sometimes a breaking story or anunfortunate, sad news story.
(31:19):
I mean, you don't have muchtime to tell it, but I think
that there's some way that ajournalist like myself can reach
out to the audience in a waythat shows that.
(31:41):
Sure, I may not know youpersonally, I cannot say that I
live on your street or shop atthe same grocery store as you or
shop at the same grocery storeas you, but if there's something
going on in your community,whether it's good, or there's
something that's not so good, Iwould just want everybody to
(32:10):
know that I want to do my verybest to understand the community
and how to get that messageacross, and and and try to tell
a story in a balanced, in a verybalanced way.
Right, Not one sided, you know,get, get everyone, you know as
many opinions and and, and, um,you know, interview as many
people as as I can to to tellthe story completely.
(32:32):
That's great.
I think that's probably thebest way.
That's great.
Just trying to do stories likethat.
That would inspire people,inspire the human spirit.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Well, as we wrap it up, I want to ask you what else
is your life?
What else does Kevin Wing dowith his life besides creating
stories for the media?
Like what are some of thethings that you enjoy doing with
your extra time?
And like do you have anyhobbies, anything else that you
just really enjoy doing?
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, well, I love doing my best to stay in shape
for many, many years.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I mean, I try.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah we all do.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, we all try.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I used to be a runner .
I was a runner for a long time.
All right, and I don't do somuch of that anymore.
You know, as they told me, youknow at the time it's like you
know, running is terrific.
You know, good for your part,and and, uh, and and and
everything, but it's it's alsohard on your joints.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah, that's right yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
So I've, I've embraced other other other ways
to, you know, stay in shape andget out there and get fresh air.
That's great.
I love to be on my bike, that'sgreat.
I even love, you know, longwalks.
And I want to get back intotennis.
I'm, even though I was a runnerfor a long time.
I was also a tennis player fora long time.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
And so, as you know, as I've gotten older, my, you
know, my knees, have, you know,kind of been telling me?
To slow down a little bit but Iwant to get back out there
again on the courts and, um, Imean, tennis is such a wonderful
sport and, uh, not not just forexercise, but just um, to have
fun.
That's great.
So I love all that.
I love to read.
I love to travel, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Do you?
I'm just curious.
I don't even know that this istrue of you, but do you have you
dabbled?
I know you said that you didsome writing for the newspaper.
You helped out at Ohlone.
You dabbled in.
You did some radio work andthen most of what your career
has been with television.
Have you done anything elsethat maybe does not pertain to
(34:51):
news along the lines of the samemedia?
Have you tried writing anybooks or short stories?
Have you done anything likethat?
That maybe wouldn't be directlyconnected to your news career
but it's kind of along the samelines of what you, what you love
.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Uh, yeah, you know, uh, I'm an aspiring author.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Uh, I want to write some children's books, something
I've always wanted to do.
Uh, children's books with witha message, right, um, you know,
a good message, you, you know,for the kids to to read, that's
great and um, and, and one dayI'd like to, um, if I'm, if I
may be so uh, bold to say, but Iwould like to write a story,
(35:38):
I'm sorry, a book just about myown life experiences.
That's I'm, and I'm hoping toinspire people with that in the
sense of um, you know, we, we,we, all of us, just need to be
kind to one another.
Um, it's not that hard you know,and I'm not trying to preach to
(36:00):
anybody, Um, but I think thethe, the premise of this book
comes from my own experience asa kid growing up here in town.
I was born with a birth defect.
It didn't really surface untilI was around seven or eight and
(36:20):
my mom took me to the bestdoctors UCSF Med Center.
The best doctors UCSF MedCenter.
They said we can take care ofhim but we've got to wait until
he's full grown.
We may have to wait until he'sout of high school.
(36:40):
During that time of my lifethere was a lot of taunting and
bullying and teasing that wasgoing on, and so I know it might
sound strange to say I'mgrateful for that experience,
(37:01):
but it helped me to be more, tohave empathy for others, and I
got a second chance as well.
Not everybody gets a secondchance.
Yeah, my mom asked me aroundthe time I was 20 and she said
do you, do you want to gothrough with that surgery?
And I said yeah, mom, because,um, you know, I'm tired of being
(37:28):
stared at, I'm tired of being,you know, you know someone
pointing a finger at me orwhatever.
And I, I do believe that ithelped.
Once I had the surgery, um, nodoubt it changed my life.
Yeah, and I I owe that to mymom because, um, uh, the the
surgery was considered cosmeticand so the insurance company at
the time wouldn't pay for it Wow.
(37:49):
So she made some wonderfularrangement with UCSF Med Center
back then to go through withthe surgery and to pay for it,
say over the course of four orfive years Wow, and that was a
gift to me that's great, that'sawesome.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
And so.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
I'd like to write a.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
That's awesome and so so I'd like to write a book
about that that's awesome, youknow, and and uh, hopefully to
inspire other people.
I hope you do, I hope you do.
I hope it's something that youreally really are able to do,
pursue.
Those kinds of stories are arereally important for us and I
think that oftentimes you canhear, um, you hear about those
situations after the fact whenthere's been a disaster or a
(38:30):
tragedy connected to it.
You know people have beenbullied, made fun of or whatever
, and you, just you hear, youhear about it when their life
has gone a bad direction or aplace that that it it's not, you
know, not good.
But to hear a story where youwent through some of those
horrible things but then to haveyour mom be able to come along
(38:53):
and really help you, see youthrough that and then, like you
said, give you a second chancewhere you are able to experience
a whole different experience,you know a whole, a whole
different um experience afterthe fact.
And I think that that's that'sjust really really cool.
And now you're out theretelling other people's stories
(39:13):
and helping them make uh help,helping uh share um what made,
to make what's made a differencein with them as well.
So I think that's great.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Really, really cool.
It's what I love doing.
Yeah, I love telling thosestories.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
That's great.
I love telling those stories,that's great Well, kevin, thank
you so much for being with us onthe podcast.
I've loved having you here.
It's a privilege, and you knowI'll look forward to reading
your book someday.
I look forward to hearing yourstory and being able to share it
with my kids as well.
Thank you very much, ricky.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
I appreciate that.
Thank you for the invitation tobe here today.
This has been an honor for meand, as I was mentioning to you
earlier, I'm a fan of yourpodcast.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Oh, thanks.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
And I'm very honored to be here with you Awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Well, thank you for that.
This episode was hosted andproduced by Ricky B.
I'm Gary Williams, andrew Kvetis the editor.
Scheduling and pre-interviewsby Sarah S.
Be sure to subscribe whereverit is that you listen so you
don't miss an episode.
You can find everything we makethe podcast and all of our
social media links atthefremontpodcastcom.
(40:22):
Join us next week on theFremont Podcast.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
So when I was a student at Ohlone back in the
early mid-80s, Okay.
And this is, of course, after Igraduated from Mission High,
and at Mission High I was on theschool paper there, okay, and
that's where I really fell inlove with journalism.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
So when I got to Ohlone, um, I of course signed
up for the college newspaper andI was with the college paper
for, I think, for a couple ofyears, um, and at one point I
was doing the college paper notjust as a writer but, as you
know, a page editor andeventually, um, uh, editor in
(41:04):
chief, okay, okay, but I wasalso spinning records and
playing the role of newsdirector for KOHL Radio, wow,
and then being an anchor for thetelevision newscast for Ohlone
right, so I was doing all threeat the same time at one point.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
So whenever we would come up with a Bay Area story or
there was something alreadygoing on, I just wanted to do my
very best to show the rest ofthe country hey, this is the Bay
Area, this is my home.
That's not part of the story,right?
But I felt so honored to beable to represent the network in
(00:25):
covering the stories of ourarea.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Coming to you straight from Fremont,
california.
This is the Fremont Podcast,dedicated to telling the stories
of the past and present of thepeople and places of the city of
Fremont, one conversation at atime.
Now, here's your host, ricky B.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You listened to the opening of the podcast with Gary
Williams and he lives rightover there and so I met him
randomly.
No, let me back up.
I met him when I first movedhere, probably about nine years
ago, and I had met him randomly,talked to him at devout coffee
(01:07):
and then, when he left, somebodysaid do you know who he is?
And I was like I don't know.
And they're like, he's likelike he does Raiders games, he
does Cal, he does Stanfordfootball, he does all these.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
and I was like no way he's like, and he was the voice
of channel 5 for, oh really, ohGod, for a long time.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh, my word.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
You know, for you know, like saying tonight on
Evening Magazine or tonight onEyewitness News right, stuff
like that yeah.
He was their voice.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
And I mean I'll go ahead and get started with you.
This is Kevin Wing.
Kevin Wing has spent much ofhis life here in Fremont, but
probably, if you were to Googlehim, which I did recently, I
Googled you even though my teamdid a great job of putting
together a cheat sheet for me onyou man.
You had a lot of accolades Emmynominated You've been working
(02:01):
for was it NBC?
Here in the Bay Area.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I've worked for NBC in the bay area, or I I was.
I've worked for nbc bay areafor, uh, about 14 years, wow.
And just recently left for anopportunity with cbs news.
Okay, okay, wow, that's that'samazing.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
well, so what I want to do?
So I'm I'm just thrilled thatyou're here and the fact that
you've been a freremont resident.
You love the city here and thismedium of audio capturing
stories and stuff like that.
This is what you do, and Ithink I feel just honored to
have you here.
So even to hear your commentstoward me means a lot, so that's
(02:41):
great.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, I mean that I mean you're a storyteller too,
so that's great.
Well, I mean that, I meanyou're a storyteller too, and I
feel very fortunate to be, ableto tell stories whatever's going
on.
Whether it's going whatever,what's going on in the news or
when I interview people, and Imean the types of stories I
really love to share with myaudience are stories about
(03:05):
people, because we all have astory.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
We really do, and I mean I could sit down with
someone, anybody.
There's a fellow sittingoutside right now with a
baseball cap.
I could sit down with him for15 minutes.
Just tell me a little bit aboutyourself, right, and before you
know it, you know, I hope Iwould be able to get him to open
(03:29):
up about his life right.
That's great.
I mean, everyone's lives have astory and everyone has an
interesting story to tell.
That's great, that's great.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And I think that a lot of times it just takes us on
our side.
It just takes like the, I wouldsay, when I say are like the
average citizen resident.
It just takes us stopping tolisten.
You know, a lot of times wethere's stories out there, but
we and and and even peopletelling the stories, but a lot
(04:00):
of times we don't listen.
And so my hope is to be able toand I think this is probably
what you do as well, but my hopeis to be able to capture these
stories in a way that keepspeople's attention and makes
them more interested, makes themmore curious, and be able to
inspire people to get to knowtheir neighbors a little bit
better.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Oh, definitely.
I mean what you do is, ricky.
It's a wonderful thing forFremont.
It brings people together andyou always have guests in your
studio with you who have a lotto share and talk about, and all
(04:40):
of this helps bring thecommunity together.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And that's what it's really all about.
That's great.
Well, let's hear your story.
What got you interested indoing media and the news?
And, yeah, what was that?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
story like for you.
Well, you know, I tell you,when I was about 10, 11 years
old, there were a couple of uhnews events that were happening
okay at that time that got meinterested.
Uh, the day that patty hearstwas kidnapped in in uh february
of 1974 wow I just so happenedto be home from school that day.
(05:19):
My mom kept me home because Iwas sick.
I was you know, had a cold orsomething, and and so, um, uh, I
of course was home and I waswatching the news.
Later that afternoon my momwould come home and and, and she
was watching the news and I was.
It was just unfolding in frontof me and I remember that you
(05:42):
know what was going on with.
Going on with Patty Hearst.
Very, very well, it stuck in me, wow, it stuck with me.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And later that summer Nixon resigned.
So that stuck with me too.
Huh, and I thought, oh, whatthey do on the news on
television seemed veryinteresting to me, so that I
think kind of started it allokay.
Um, of course I started, youknow, writing for the school
(06:12):
papers and all of that.
But once I got into college Iwent to Ohlone and then San Jose
State.
Once I got into college I Ithought I thought, okay, I'll
try the newspaper, the collegepaper, I'll try the college
radio station, and then I'll tryout with the college television
station.
And so between all three Ithought, you know, television
(06:34):
seems more fun.
Yeah, yeah, the others were funtoo, sure, but television
really seemed fun.
Yeah, the university encouragedus to enroll in their
internship program.
Okay, and you know, because youget credit for it.
And so I applied to Channel 36in San Jose, because at the time
(06:57):
they had their own newsdepartment, kicu, and I
eventually got an internshipwith them during the summer of
um, during the summer of 86.
I was there for about fourmonths.
Okay, you know, I would, I dideverything I mean as far as you
know, um, you know gettingcoffee for the anchors, um, they
(07:19):
let me write scripts every nowand then okay which was awesome
yeah, uh because, because bythen I I loved to write.
And so they said hey, you know,there's a.
At the time I remember thisthere was a, a big wildfire in
Yosemite while I was an internthere.
And, um, the producer said, hey, I need, I need you to write a,
(07:40):
a story about.
You know what's going ontonight with the fire up in
Yosemite.
So I did, and I remember thisto this day.
It was the lead on the newsthat evening, for Channel 36.
And I was like I don't believethis.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
That's great.
This is just terrific right,yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
And I still have that script.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Oh my word I have a little scrapbook of career
things as you should.
Yeah, that's awesome, that'sreally cool.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
The following year I had an opportunity for another
internship at Channel 2 inOakland and interned there for
about nine months, uh-huh, andhad a chance to go out with the
reporters, put together anaudition tape, put together, uh,
an anchor audition as well, andthat place, I I will say I was
(08:33):
there.
I, I ended up being there, um,as a reporter and as a as an
assignment editor for about 13years.
Wow, and that place, really, Ireally have to give that place
credit for, you know, making thejournalist who I am still to
(08:57):
this day.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
It really was just a wonderful experience.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Please consider donating $1 a month on a
reoccurring basis to help thispodcast that you enjoy.
Buymeacoffeecom.
Slash TheFremontPodcast slashmembership.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
My mom and dad moved our family here to Fremont when
I was a month old.
Oh wow, Back in 1963, summer of63.
And that was a long time ago.
They were before I was born.
My mom and dad and my brotherand sister were living in the
(09:42):
Berkeley area.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
My dad was from Berkeley and back in those days
in the early 60s, early and mid60s, they just wanted to, you
know, have a place of their own.
They'd been renting for, youknow, since they had gotten
married.
Okay married, okay, and by thenmy dad's sister, my aunt and
(10:13):
uncle had moved here to Fremontthe year before, okay, and so
you know they wanted to.
They thought they'd been outhere already and they'd seen you
know how Fremont was on theverge of growing, but yet it was
still a, you know, still out inthe country.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
So to speak Right Right.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
And they wanted to get away from the, the uh, the
bustle of Berkeley.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, and so, uh, they settled, they settled us in
Irvington and, uh, you know,nice suburban neighborhood, uh,
new schools, new parks and um,uh, you know nice suburban
neighborhood, new schools, newparks and you know, just a nice
place to grow up, and so that'swhere I spent probably the first
seven or eight years of my life.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Okay, and did you go to like the Irvington schools
then as well?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I went to.
So the elementary school in theneighborhood at the time was
Timothy Ricks Elementary.
Okay, it's not around anymore.
I mean it was built at the timeback in the early 60s when that
neighborhood was growing and ofcourse a lot of children were
in the neighborhood right, andthen I guess in the late 70s,
(11:20):
from my understanding, becauseit was basically kindergarten
through third grade, okay, andyou know, by the late 70s the
neighborhood, you know, most ofthose young kids from the 60s,
like myself, you know, had grownup and gone on and there
weren't other, you know, youngkids of that age for the school
(11:45):
to, you know, for them to hostand teach.
So they ended up closing it down.
I don't know.
I think it was Tri-City HealthCenter for a long time, if I
recall correctly, and now Ithink it's part of a church.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I think a church owns it now.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Early 70s, after my dad passed away in the 60s and
my mom at that time decided thatit might be time for a change.
Okay, and she started lookingaround and she loved the Mission
area.
At the time, early 70ss, a newneighborhood was starting up off
of mission boulevard calledmission valley.
(12:28):
Okay, and for those who ummight not know the neighborhood
as mission valley, it's theneighborhood where the lucky,
the luckiest grocery store usedto be okay, the one that just
closed down.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
The one that just closed down, wow, wow and so you
know, basically lost palmas.
Avenue, that neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And she fell in love with it and so she moved us over
there in the early 70s and fromthere I went to Gomes School
and then Hopkins.
After that Hopkins Junior High.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Which I guess is now a middle school.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
I think so, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And then from there to Mission High.
Okay, and so those were reallymy formative years.
I would say Because we weregone from the neighborhood in
Irvington by the time I wasabout eight.
Okay, all right.
Yeah, so the rest of those youknow, I lived at home for
(13:23):
probably another till my early20s, until I got married.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Okay yeah.
What is it like looking at anevent in a community through a
storytelling lens, trying tocapture, maybe, the heart of
whatever it is that needs to becommunicated about what's going
on?
Because I think a lot of us welook at I'm really going to
broad brush this and give ablanket description of this but
(13:50):
I think a lot of us, in ournormal mindset, we kind of look
at the community through a lensof, like a consumer, someone who
, what can I get out of it?
Or what are the transactionarythings within the community?
But, like, when you're lookingat it and trying to capture a
story, when you're trying tocapture a narrative that really
(14:11):
communicates something, anarrative that really
communicates something, what is?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
it like that.
You've learned about how yousee a community to be able to
see things the way that you'vebeen able to see them.
Well, you know, in my years asa journalist and whenever I've
done a story about Fremont,something going on in Fremont,
yeah, something going on inFremont I know that every
community I say this in thegeneral sense, but I think for
(14:45):
the most part, every communitywhen their story is being told,
whether it's an unfortunate, notsuch a good news story.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
It might be about a crime.
It might be about somethingelse.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Disaster or something , yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Or if it's a good news story Sure, you're doing a
story about you know someone wholives here, yeah, or something
(15:40):
that's going on in Fremont thatwill be to the the story.
Whatever the story is andwherever the community is to
really understand what they careabout, understand what they
care about and um to never, youknow, never.
(16:00):
Um the last thing.
I'd ever want to do as ajournalist is to offend uh, you
know people, yeah, yeah, and I,I believe I've done I hope I've
done a pretty good job of justtrying to represent, you know, a
community in the best waypossible whenever I'm talking
about them.
You know, for a new story.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Well, that's great.
I think that I love hearingthat because I know that the
media at least when I hear itfrom people the media gets a bad
rap a lot of times.
You know they get a bad rap.
Oh, they've got to create astory somehow.
They've got to.
They've got to, you know, get,get followers.
They've got to get peoplelistening to them.
So they've got to come up withways of being able to craft a
(16:42):
story so that you know peoplewill listen to them and not not
another news news channel,channel, um.
But so a lot of times you canhave in your mind that there's
just like this plan and thisagenda out there to be able to
just to you know there'ssomething bigger and outside of
(17:02):
the community that people areinterested in.
But I'm listening to you andI'm I'm truly hearing what
you're saying.
Um, I think at the heart ofwhat you want to do is that you
really want to share the goodand, um, the don't want to say
that I think accurate.
But I was going to say more ofthe most honest story of what's
going on so that people can seeit in a way that helps them be
(17:24):
able to see the good in thecommunity.
That's what I'm hearing fromyou, at least.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
No, you're exactly right.
You're exactly right, ricky.
I think every journalist has tohave respect, for, you know,
here we're talking aboutcommunities, right?
We, in our jobs as journalists,we have to do our very, very
best to respect.
Whenever we come into town todo a story, we have to
(17:57):
understand how those stories aregoing to affect the people who
live here, whether it's in agood way or, unfortunately,
perhaps not such a good way.
That's right, yeah, but I nevertake it for granted, especially
in this town, because this ismy hometown.
Yeah, fremont, that's right,yeah, Um, but I, I never take it
for granted, especially in thistown, because this is, this is
my hometown.
(18:17):
Yeah, fremont's my home.
Yeah, um, I, I, I do my verybest all the time as a
journalist never to take um whatI do for granted, Um, and that
I've been given this um, uh,this, uh skill and this tool as
(18:38):
a communicator to tell thosestories.
Right, that's great, Uh, I meanit's a privilege and I never
want.
I would never want any audienceor any you know, whether it's
an audience or the residents ofFremont or any any community to
feel as though I'm uh trying tomake them look not so good.
(18:59):
Yeah, that's great.
Always want to do my best to,you know, put them in the best
life possible.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
What are some of the, what are some of the um
highlights of your, of your umcareer?
And it doesn't necessarily haveto be specifically Fremont
focused, because because I knowyour job wasn't just Fremont,
right when you were doing thework that you've been doing.
You've been doing it all overthe Bay Area, but what are some
(19:31):
of the things?
So maybe there's something thatwas unexpected that you were
able to you know, become awareof or be able to experience, or
maybe like just even somerecognition.
I mean, what are some of thehighlights of your career that
you look back on personally?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, well, you know, my family has always been very
important to me, especially mymom, and she's passed on now.
But when I first started outand she would see me on the news
on Channel 2, that's one of thehighlights.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Of having your family .
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Um, being being able to, to watch you and see what
you do.
My mom was always veryencouraging, always said to me
when I was growing up you know,I want you to do what you want
to do.
Um, you know, you know, and,and when you know what you want
to do, you know to do your bestat it and work hard, and so so
(20:39):
that that that was always ahighlight for me as far as my,
my work in television isconcerned.
You know, when I, for severalyears, I was a producer for ABC
News okay, um, I was based here,of course, um, and I would
report stories for Good MorningAmerica and World News Tonight
(21:00):
and I would cover basically allof Northern California in the
Bay Area, uh, you know, say downto Central California and, um,
I was very proud of this area,the Bay Area.
Um, as far as whatever we werereporting on, whether it was a
news story or a feature story orwe were doing a profile about
(21:23):
somebody, I always wanted to domy very best to represent the
Bay Area in the very best way.
In the very best way.
I mean, I felt very honored tobe able to do that type of work
for ABC for almost 11 years Wow.
(21:45):
You know that they wouldentrust me to do this type of
work for them right.
And so, whenever we would comeup with a Bay Area story or
there was something alreadygoing on, I just wanted to, you
know, do my very best to showthe rest of the country.
Hey, this is the Bay Area youknow.
(22:10):
I felt so honored to be able torepresent the network in
covering the stories of our area.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Of our area.
That's awesome.
What was your?
Did you have a particular niche?
I know sometimes people coverpolitics specifically, or people
cover, you know, weather orwhatever.
What was your niche that youhad, or did you have one
specifically over your?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
career.
I think my niche it's probablydouble-sided is doing stories
about people.
Okay, Something I love to do.
I mean, I love to talk topeople and, as I was telling you
, I love to find out what makesthem tick, what's their story,
right yeah.
Because we all have our ownstories, and I love doing
(22:58):
feature stories too.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
So what does that look like?
A?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
feature story.
Oh God To me in my mind if Iwere to say, for example, if I
were to do a feature story aboutthe Niles District.
Sure, I mean, the history hereis so colorful right.
Right, Um, you know, fromCharlie Chaplin to you know how
this, uh, Niles Boulevard, thishistoric district, has grown
(23:23):
through the years and how umNiles and the city of Fremont
have managed to, you know,preserve what Niles is.
That's the kind of story I loveto do.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Talking to the people who live here and work here.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And why is this part of town so special?
Yeah, I love doing those kindsof stories, very, very much.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
That's cool.
What are some of the stories ormaybe some of the people that
you've interviewed that havebeen?
That might be, maybe maybe thisis a better way of asking it
Like, what are some of theexperiences that you've had in
telling your stories and findingyour stories that might
surprise the average person thatlives in Fremont?
So, like you know you a lot oftimes, you might, you know,
(24:13):
capture some of the big events.
Everyone knows that, you know,the Fourth of July parade is
happening, or there's the Artand Wine Festival or whatever.
Those are some of the bigstories.
Actually, I should say, noteverybody knows about them,
because I'm so surprised howmany people I talk to and
they're like, what is this?
And like, yeah, there's like30,000 people come to this event
and I didn't even know it washere.
(24:35):
You know, um, or maybe it was ahundred thousand people, I
don't know.
There's a lot of people that goto that event, um, but what are
some of the things that youhave covered?
Um, maybe a specific one thatyou remember?
Uh, it was a special one.
Um, that might be a surprise topeople who live in Fremont now.
Or just some things that maybe,uh, people are unaware of, or
or maybe that was a surprise toyou even when you were, when you
were covering a story inFremont.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So a story about Fremont yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Let me let me think.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You know I've, I've, I've always, I've always loved
doing if I've ever been assignedto do a story about Fremont,
whether it's how it's growing orwhat's what's new like with the
downtown area, the developmentof the downtown area yeah.
Yeah, I guess, because I don'toutwardly say, hey, I'm from
(25:27):
Fremont, sure, I'm gonna ownthis story, right, I don't go
that way right.
Yeah right, I, I just I don't, Idon't go that way, yeah, but um
, uh, but on the same token inmy mind I know that I know
fremont very well this- areavery well right.
So, um, so, when I'm doing astory and, uh, you know what I
(25:49):
hope, that, uh, you know I Isuppose what I hope the viewers
and listeners and readers aswell, you know, might, might be
surprised to know is that oh,hey he's one of us, oh yeah, you
know he he, uh, he has historyhere yes he and his family uh,
have strong roots here and anduh, you know he really cares.
(26:13):
You know if, if they look me upor want to find out more about
me, um, they will realize thatoh yeah, Fremont is really, you
know, strong in his, in his life.
That's great.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
And um yeah that's cool.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
I mean, I'm, I don't live here anymore, but I, I I'm
still a part of this community,very much, I think, those who
live here and again, of course,I don't live here any longer.
Sure, I wish I did One thing.
This is a very Fremont hasbecome a very expensive place,
that's right.
It is so hard for a lot ofpeople to be able to buy
(26:53):
something here.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Especially someone like yourself, who grew up here.
Your whole life, this is aplace that has been your home.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
It's been everything you've known for a lot of what
you remember.
Oh yeah, exactly, I mean you'reexactly right, I mean this is
my memories of Fremont, you know, go back to you know as far
back as the late 60s right.
And I know how much it haschanged.
I mean I'm grateful that many,many years ago in another
(27:29):
chapter of my life, I mean I wasable to buy a home here at that
time.
But things have changed so muchin terms of how much homes do
cost.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
That's right, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And it's you know.
I know too that the city is.
You know City Hall is.
You know all of our electedofficials.
They're doing their very, verybest to provide affordable
housing for the population andsuch, and I hope they'll
continue to do that.
But even with those, they arestill expensive.
(28:05):
Yeah that's right.
So you know.
Hence, you know I'm more thanjust a few miles away from
Fremont, but you know I loveliving where I live now.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
But yeah, I wish Fremont were more affordable.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
What are some of the things and this is maybe more
towards your craft as astoryteller so what are some of
the things that you maybe justin the craft of storytelling,
that you maybe just in the craftof storytelling that you have
learned about how to be able todiscover those interesting parts
of the story, the things thatreally help people pay attention
(28:44):
?
What are some of the thingsthat you've learned about
storytelling and I know that youwent to school for this, but I
think there's a lot you canlearn in the classroom, but then
you learn a whole lot whenyou're just out there with
people.
I mean, what is there anythingthat comes to mind that you
think was just has been really abig lesson that you've learned
in that, in that art?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, I, uh, that's a great question actually, and I
I would probably say that, um,you know any type of story that
could, you know, inspire thehuman spirit?
That's something I've learnedover time.
(29:23):
I mean the media being a partof the media, mainstream media,
is not just an honor, but it's aprivilege, sure, and I don't
take that lightly, and anyonewho might say that I do doesn't
know me.
Yeah, I mean I have so muchgratitude for the work that I do
(29:46):
.
I mean this is what I've alwayswanted to do and I love doing
it and it doesn't feel like workat all.
That's great.
But I think what I've learnedthrough time, through the years,
is that when I'm able to dostories that can inspire people,
I think that's so important,not just for this area, not just
(30:09):
for Fremont, but for anycommunity.
You know we're all, you knowmost all of us.
You know we have our strugglesthis period of time in our place
(30:33):
in history right now in thisyou know 2024, 21st century.
Place in history right now inthis you know 2024, 21st century
Um, you know we're uh there.
There are so many challenges, Ithink, for society and um.
What I think can bring ustogether, uh, is just
understanding each other, oneanother, understanding one
another more.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
So through the storytelling, I try to look for
that, I try to look for, youknow, any opportunity.
Sometimes there are noopportunities.
Sure, to you know, tell a storyin a certain way.
Yeah, you know, tell a story ina certain way right.
Sometimes a breaking story or anunfortunate, sad news story.
(31:19):
I mean, you don't have muchtime to tell it, but I think
that there's some way that ajournalist like myself can reach
out to the audience in a waythat shows that.
(31:41):
Sure, I may not know youpersonally, I cannot say that I
live on your street or shop atthe same grocery store as you or
shop at the same grocery storeas you, but if there's something
going on in your community,whether it's good, or there's
something that's not so good, Iwould just want everybody to
(32:10):
know that I want to do my verybest to understand the community
and how to get that messageacross, and and and try to tell
a story in a balanced, in a verybalanced way.
Right, Not one sided, you know,get, get everyone, you know as
many opinions and and, and, um,you know, interview as many
people as as I can to to tellthe story completely.
(32:32):
That's great.
I think that's probably thebest way.
That's great.
Just trying to do stories likethat.
That would inspire people,inspire the human spirit.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Well, as we wrap it up, I want to ask you what else
is your life?
What else does Kevin Wing dowith his life besides creating
stories for the media?
Like what are some of thethings that you enjoy doing with
your extra time?
And like do you have anyhobbies, anything else that you
just really enjoy doing?
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, well, I love doing my best to stay in shape
for many, many years.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I mean, I try.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah we all do.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, we all try.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I used to be a runner .
I was a runner for a long time.
All right, and I don't do somuch of that anymore.
You know, as they told me, youknow at the time it's like you
know, running is terrific.
You know, good for your part,and and, uh, and and and
everything, but it's it's alsohard on your joints.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah, that's right yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
So I've, I've embraced other other other ways
to, you know, stay in shape andget out there and get fresh air.
That's great.
I love to be on my bike, that'sgreat.
I even love, you know, longwalks.
And I want to get back intotennis.
I'm, even though I was a runnerfor a long time.
I was also a tennis player fora long time.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
And so, as you know, as I've gotten older, my, you
know, my knees, have, you know,kind of been telling me?
To slow down a little bit but Iwant to get back out there
again on the courts and, um, Imean, tennis is such a wonderful
sport and, uh, not not just forexercise, but just um, to have
fun.
That's great.
So I love all that.
I love to read.
I love to travel, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Do you?
I'm just curious.
I don't even know that this istrue of you, but do you have you
dabbled?
I know you said that you didsome writing for the newspaper.
You helped out at Ohlone.
You dabbled in.
You did some radio work andthen most of what your career
has been with television.
Have you done anything elsethat maybe does not pertain to
(34:51):
news along the lines of the samemedia?
Have you tried writing anybooks or short stories?
Have you done anything likethat?
That maybe wouldn't be directlyconnected to your news career
but it's kind of along the samelines of what you, what you love
.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Uh, yeah, you know, uh, I'm an aspiring author.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Uh, I want to write some children's books, something
I've always wanted to do.
Uh, children's books with witha message, right, um, you know,
a good message, you, you know,for the kids to to read, that's
great and um, and, and one dayI'd like to, um, if I'm, if I
may be so uh, bold to say, but Iwould like to write a story,
(35:38):
I'm sorry, a book just about myown life experiences.
That's I'm, and I'm hoping toinspire people with that in the
sense of um, you know, we, we,we, all of us, just need to be
kind to one another.
Um, it's not that hard you know,and I'm not trying to preach to
(36:00):
anybody, Um, but I think thethe, the premise of this book
comes from my own experience asa kid growing up here in town.
I was born with a birth defect.
It didn't really surface untilI was around seven or eight and
(36:20):
my mom took me to the bestdoctors UCSF Med Center.
The best doctors UCSF MedCenter.
They said we can take care ofhim but we've got to wait until
he's full grown.
We may have to wait until he'sout of high school.
(36:40):
During that time of my lifethere was a lot of taunting and
bullying and teasing that wasgoing on, and so I know it might
sound strange to say I'mgrateful for that experience,
(37:01):
but it helped me to be more, tohave empathy for others, and I
got a second chance as well.
Not everybody gets a secondchance.
Yeah, my mom asked me aroundthe time I was 20 and she said
do you, do you want to gothrough with that surgery?
And I said yeah, mom, because,um, you know, I'm tired of being
(37:28):
stared at, I'm tired of being,you know, you know someone
pointing a finger at me orwhatever.
And I, I do believe that ithelped.
Once I had the surgery, um, nodoubt it changed my life.
Yeah, and I I owe that to mymom because, um, uh, the the
surgery was considered cosmeticand so the insurance company at
the time wouldn't pay for it Wow.
(37:49):
So she made some wonderfularrangement with UCSF Med Center
back then to go through withthe surgery and to pay for it,
say over the course of four orfive years Wow, and that was a
gift to me that's great, that'sawesome.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
And so.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
I'd like to write a.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
That's awesome and so so I'd like to write a book
about that that's awesome, youknow, and and uh, hopefully to
inspire other people.
I hope you do, I hope you do.
I hope it's something that youreally really are able to do,
pursue.
Those kinds of stories are arereally important for us and I
think that oftentimes you canhear, um, you hear about those
situations after the fact whenthere's been a disaster or a
(38:30):
tragedy connected to it.
You know people have beenbullied, made fun of or whatever
, and you, just you hear, youhear about it when their life
has gone a bad direction or aplace that that it it's not, you
know, not good.
But to hear a story where youwent through some of those
horrible things but then to haveyour mom be able to come along
(38:53):
and really help you, see youthrough that and then, like you
said, give you a second chancewhere you are able to experience
a whole different experience,you know a whole, a whole
different um experience afterthe fact.
And I think that that's that'sjust really really cool.
And now you're out theretelling other people's stories
(39:13):
and helping them make uh help,helping uh share um what made,
to make what's made a differencein with them as well.
So I think that's great.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Really, really cool.
It's what I love doing.
Yeah, I love telling thosestories.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
That's great.
I love telling those stories,that's great Well, kevin, thank
you so much for being with us onthe podcast.
I've loved having you here.
It's a privilege, and you knowI'll look forward to reading
your book someday.
I look forward to hearing yourstory and being able to share it
with my kids as well.
Thank you very much, ricky.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
I appreciate that.
Thank you for the invitation tobe here today.
This has been an honor for meand, as I was mentioning to you
earlier, I'm a fan of yourpodcast.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Oh, thanks.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
And I'm very honored to be here with you Awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Well, thank you for that.
This episode was hosted andproduced by Ricky B.
I'm Gary Williams, andrew Kvetis the editor.
Scheduling and pre-interviewsby Sarah S.
Be sure to subscribe whereverit is that you listen so you
don't miss an episode.
You can find everything we makethe podcast and all of our
social media links atthefremontpodcastcom.
(40:22):
Join us next week on theFremont Podcast.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
So when I was a student at Ohlone back in the
early mid-80s, Okay.
And this is, of course, after Igraduated from Mission High,
and at Mission High I was on theschool paper there, okay, and
that's where I really fell inlove with journalism.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
So when I got to Ohlone, um, I of course signed
up for the college newspaper andI was with the college paper
for, I think, for a couple ofyears, um, and at one point I
was doing the college paper notjust as a writer but, as you
know, a page editor andeventually, um, uh, editor in
(41:04):
chief, okay, okay, but I wasalso spinning records and
playing the role of newsdirector for KOHL Radio, wow,
and then being an anchor for thetelevision newscast for Ohlone
right, so I was doing all threeat the same time at one point.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
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