Fox6's Andrea Nakano is an avid fan of the San Francisco 49ers. This doesn't seem to bother the San Diego Chargers, though.
In a field dominated by white males, with few woman sports anchors or reporters, Nakano has been weekend sports anchor for Fox6 Channel 8 (KFMB) since February 2007. San Diego has five major network stations but less than three women cover sports. Nakano works with the network's Sports Director, C.S. Keys and former Chargers linebacker Billy Ray Smith on the weekly Chargers Power Report.
In an interview, Nakano said she considers the Bay Area her American home and Tokyo as her other hometown. Her father was a business man and the family moved around among Japan, London and America. Andrea is very active in the community. She is the vice president for the San Diego chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. She also is a board member for the Japanese American Citizens League-San Diego.
A bubbly young lady, Nakano met this reporter at a Starbucks coffee house after spending a little time in the gym. Dressed in a Channel 8 fleece jacket and a 49ers pink hat, she dashed in and offered to pick up the tab for coffee. Nakano, who is "forever 30", admitted during the conversation that she has not had a lot of opportunity to have a social life. Due to the demand of the news industry and with her weekend anchor desk responsibility, it is difficult to spend quality time with friends and family. This was a rare one-on-one session for a student journalist. The Q&A session follows:
Q: Do you find being a woman in the sports field challenging for your career growth?
A: Yes, it is challenging. Men automatically assume you don't know as much as they do. Honestly you don't. They have grown up in an environment where they watched sports with their dads. No one in my family was interested in sports; I really had to learn them on my own.
Q: Do you think that you get the same level f respect from the players and teams you cover?
A: For the most part in San Diego, the players have been very courteous to me. When I first started out I was at the Padres Spring training. They tried to make it easy for me. With the Chargers too. They know they have a job to do and they know I do, too.
Q: Did you always want to be a sportscaster?
Q: I just switched in February from news to sports. I got a taste in Monterey, right before I came to San Diego. My heart really wasn't into newscasting anymore. I didn't like the repetitive nature of it. Every labor day you did a labor day story about the beach. Every summer you do a summer story.
Q: What is your greatest professional accomplishment?
A: I've been persistent, I have never given up. Being a television broadcaster is very hard. You have to deal with people writing in to the stations about your look. There is a lot of pressure.
Q: So you would get criticized for your appearance?
A: Back in Eureka I was 190 lbs. People would make comments about my weight. I was told that I looked like Rosie O'Donnell. But I always thought that this was for me.
Q: What will your life look like in 10 years?
A: (only half joking) I will finally be done with this in 10 years. I will finally be able to focus on what I didn't focus on before - family, friends, a social life. It is hard to have a social life in this industry.
Q What journalist do you admire and why?
A: I like Michelle Tofoya, the sports anchor on ESPN Monday Night Football.
Q: Who do you dream of interviewing?
A: I dream of interviewing Bill Walsh. Since I am a big 49ers fan I would have loved to have interviewed him. Also Chris Webber, I'd love to talk basketball with him. When I lived in Sacramento Chris wasn't with the Kings then. He came in and completely turned the team around.
Q: What is the biggest misconception about the field of broadcast journalism?
A: That it is glamorous. My first job I was paid $16,500 per year! My parents still needed to bail me out.
Q: When you have decided to put your microphone down and call it quits, what do you want to be remembers for?
A: I hope people can look up and see that I am a woman, a woman of color that broke into this field. There are not many Asian sports anchors.
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