Lonnie Wong

No

Went to Freeport U. then to UC Davis. Worked at the campus radio station on a whim. Got hooked on journalism...it was the Watergate years...remember when journalists were heros? Now we're scum.

After that, I worked freelance Radio and on freelance TV crews for San Diego and L.A. TV stations and national networks based out of Sacramento for several years.

I got an on-camera job at Fox 40 TV as a reporter when the newscast was lame and they didn't want to pay for talent. Thirty years later, I'm still there. Newscast not as lame and pay is marginally better. I also produce and host a public affairs show on Sunday morning. Even the bosses don't watch it so I get to choose my own topics. My viewer doesn't complain (one or two more if the infomercial or the Sunday sermon on the other stations are boring).

I cover murders, fires, politics, three headed chickens...all the compelling issues of our day, as long as it's between Oroville and Turlock.

Active in the Asian Pacific Islander community. I M.C. a lot of fund raising events and dinners. I get gratuitous applause and they feel obligated to laugh at my jokes, but the food is free.

I helped found several API non-profit groups and am currently president of Asian Pacific Rim Foundation which puts on the Pacific Rim Street Fest in Old Sacramento for the past 17 years.

I am now one of the senior street reporters in the Sacramento/Stockton market after many of my colleagues retired, got fired, or moved on to other professions.

I'm glad to hear so many of you are grandparents and are retired. I got a late start and am having a lot of fun with my 9 year old daughter. Being a single dad is tough though. I'll be working for a few more years to get her through school, either at the station or McDonald's. Broadcasting is a notoriously unstable. Come to think of it, so are people who work in broadcasting.

When I look at my picture in the yearbook, I realize that image is everything. Because I wore horn rimmed glasses and a clip on tie, people thought I was a nerd and smart.

I was a nerd but in reality, but I came close to flunking physics and math. Mr. Guidera wrote next to my "D" in algebra "subject is too difficult for student". I managed to graduate from Sac City College and UC Davis without ever passing a math class.

I tell my college aged nieces and nephews to have some fun...no employer ever asked me for my GPA or my diploma. Apparently intelligence is not required to be on TV.

I had a lot of fun being on the cross-country team.
Those were the days before jogging became popular.
I think they created high school cross-country to accommodate the athletically challenged. It doesn't take a lot to put one foot in front of the other as quickly as possible and repeat until you vomit. We averaged a handful spectators each race, mostly people who were lost and needed directions to someplace on campus.

The varsity course averaged 2.7 miles, a mini-marathon in those days. More recently I've entered fun runs where grandmothers, small children and dogs run farther than that...pushing strollers no less. It's hard not to notice as they pass you.

That's where my high school cross-country race experience kicks in. I grab my side and start limping and give a pained look..."Lady, there's no way you could pass me if I weren't cramping up."

If you do it close to the finish line, you will get a smattering of applause and a few shouts of sympathy..."That's the way to tough it out!"
That eases the humiliation of finishing with a slow time... usually among other runners who are also clutching their sides and limping.

I never bought a letterman sweater or jacket to display the letters and medals I was awarded for long distance running. I felt a little guilty about being put in the same class as football players, basketball players and other "real" athletes. I was always afraid they'd scoff at me.

But then I again, I am smarter than them.