Born
in Schenectady New York, Jeff spent the first nine years of
his life in different areas of upstate New York, until his
family moved to Los Gatos California, where he grew up and
attended school. In 1974 he joined the Air Force Reserves,
where he was assigned to Travis Air Force base in Fairfield
California and served for six years.
In October of 1990 Jeff attended a broadcasting school in
Sacramento California. It was during the News module when
Jeff realized that reporting was his passion, which he found
to be both challenging and rewarding. In November of that
year he was able to secure an Intern position as a news assistant
at KZAP in Sacramento, where he worked under the tutelage
of News Director Chris Davis. One of his favorite duties was
covering Sacramento Kings Basketball games, which included
interviews of players. After graduating from broadcasting
school in March of 1991, unbeknownst to Jeff, Chris Davis
arranged an interview for him with the News Director of KFBK
in Sacramento, a News Talk radio station.
Jeff was hired by KFBK as a stringer, and wrote stories from
assignments given to him by his supervisor, covered breaking
news stories, and was later teamed with a senior reporter
to cover news at the State Capital. Jeff continued working
at KFBK until July of that same year, when he was informed
that due to budget constraints he was being let go.
After several attempts to return to broadcasting, Jeff realized
his short broadcasting career had more than likely come to
an end. In 1994 he opened his own coffee shop and Deli in
Rio Vista California, and became involved with local community.
He first served on the Board of directors for the Rio Vista
Chamber of Commerce, and later decided to run for City Council
and was elected that same year.
Several years later while living in Santa Cruz California,
he learned of the News Director job opening at KRKC, so he
contacted the station. Jeff did a phone interview with KRKC
Station owner and General manager Bill Gittler. An interview
date was set up at the station with Operations Manager Michael
Davis. About four days later Jeff was informed he was being
offered the position, which he quickly accepted. Three weeks
later he moved to King City and began his duties as News Director.
Settling into the job, Jeff aquatinted himself with the local
community, elected and law enforcement officials as well as
business leaders. Realizing the scope of the agricultural
business in the area, Jeff also made contacts within that
industry. In October of 2004, he was named “Monterey
County Farm Bureau Media reporter of the Year”.
Since coming to KRKC in 2002, Jeff has produced several features
for KRKC including weekly political segments and Inside Agriculture,
a weekly segment addressing topical issues concerning local
agriculture. Jeff also added Farmview, an agricultural commentary
program to the stations programming.
As KRKC News Director, he has instituted a professional quality
to KRKC News, promoting it as “The South County News
Leader” and insuring coverage of breaking news, city
government, and local events, is unsurpassed in timeliness
and accuracy. KRKC local news and information not only brings
news from the city, county state and federal levels, but also
the impacts it has on the local residents and communities.
Some of the many Live Remotes he has performed include a special
King City Council meeting in March of 2003 and King City Candidate’s
night in October of 2003. His most enjoyable remote was Capital
Clear Speak from the state capital in Sacramento California
in June of 2004, where as one of only 22 media representatives
asked to participate in that event, he had the opportunity
to interview State Administration Officials and Legislators.
Jeff’s philosophy on news is that it should be fair,
objective and accurate. He believes it is the obligation of
every journalist to exclude personal bias or opinion and report
the facts as they present themselves. To that end he has set
a high standard for KRKC News and has worked diligently to
maintain and improve those standards on a daily basis.
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