Look everyone. I’m on television!

Posted on March 13, 2011

CLICK IMAGE TO SEE VIDEO: Kinda scary seeing myself interviewed on television for the first time, but I had tons of fun being on Chronicle Live.

 

Growing up my sister Paula and I watched way too much television- according to our mom. Paula was even a TV star at a young age when she appeared on the local Bay Area show Captain Satellite, broadcast on KTVU Channel 2. I remember crying in the studio so loud when I was watching with my mom and dad I had to leave. I was like four years old and I thought the make-believe space ship we were all in was really taking off into outer space! As we got older we became experts on every afternoon program from Kimba to the Jetsons to Speed Racer to the Flintstones to (of course) The Brady Bunch. My sister parlayed the knowledge of television and commercials she acquired laying on our couch in Fremont to a monster career in media and advertising. Me? Not so much.

Over the last few years with the explosion of more and more sports networks on TV there are many studio shows featuring sports writers sitting in a studio talking about the news of the day and local teams. One such show made it’s debut in the San Francisco Bay Area around two years ago to help promote the new network Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area. Chronicle Live airs five days a week at 5pm and I rarely miss a show. Greg Papa is a terrific studio host and he usually has a great lineup of guests, most of them from the talented pool of Bay Area scribes. I watch the show quite often and have always wondered what it would be like to sit around the coffee table and be on live television. Little did I know, I would finally get a chance last week. Not in the studio, but on a patch of grass behind the Cactus League home of the Padres and Mariners in Peoria, AZ. Someone could have won a ton of cash if they would have picked PEORIA in the pool to guess where my first TV interview would take place.

Why in the Hell would anyone want to interview me? Well, TV stations love to promote their own programming, and I happen to have many of my photographs featured in a new CSN produced documentary about the 2010 Giants magical season entitled “Legends: 2010 San Francisco Giants” that was debuting on Saturday, March 12. The nice folks at CSN thought it would be fun to have me on Chronicle Live to promote the new show, and to also let me promote the new book that Brian Murphy and I have coming out in a few weeks about the 2010 Giants season “Worth The Wait.” They originally wanted me to appear in studio, but since I am entering my third week of covering spring training here in Arizona they wanted me to do a remote interview from down here last Friday afternoon.

Ever since my good friend Matt Maiocco started working at CSN as their NFL Insider last spring I have given him a bad time about his sensitive eyes that make him squint every once in awhile when he does interviews outside. Well let me tell you, after my experience in Peoria on Friday afternoon I will NEVER give Matty a hard time again. Regular host Greg Papa was off on Friday, so I had the pleasure of having host Dave Benz ask the questions through my earpiece. What a unique experience sitting in  a chair staring at a camera with someone talking in my ear. This was the real deal, but I was not nervous. I was simply trying not to become the butt of one of Maiocco’s jokes because I squinted the entire time. Man it was hard keeping my eyes open!

The interview ended up lasting around five minutes and I felt good about it. Benz was terrific and easy to work with. He was very conversational and did his homework. He actually pronounced my name correctly and knew much about my background. By the time I started editing my pictures later at my hotel  that I shot earlier at the game between the Rangers and Reds in Surprise I started getting some text messages from friends who were watching the show back in the Bay Area. Most people seemed to enjoy it. I was very anxious to see the video myself, so I was pleased then they posted it on their website later in the evening. Once I saw the segment on my laptop I was happy with how everything came out. Check out the video of my appearance on Chronicle Live.

What a fun experience! I hope to have another chance of doing this again sometime. The best thing about being on this show was the compliment I got from my sister on Facebook. “Just watched with Randy, seriously, great job. You are a natural. We both were blown away. Who did your hair and makeup?” That made me laugh so much. Of course I was simply wearing a baseball hat and a t-shirt like I always do at the ballpark. There was no green room, no snacks, and no makeup! Maybe all those hours of watching TV with my sister on KBHK channel 44 after school finaly paid off.