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Ashton
Do and Angie Blum
July
11, 1999
Adele
Arakawa is one of the most recognized faces in Denver as the lead
anchorwoman for
channel 9. We wanted to find out more about Adele and how she
got to where she is today. Two of our youngest members interviewed
Adele and found some candid advice about the journalism industry
along with small facts about Adele herself. Ashton is 12 and is
Vietnamese-American. Angie is 15 and is half Vietnamese and half
Caucasian American.
Angie:
When you were younger, did you want to be an anchorwoman?
Adele: I got started in the
business when I was sixteen. So, if you want to call that getting
into the business young, then that's exactly what it was. I started
out in radio when I was sixteen years old and I have been doing
it ever since. So I've been in it a very, very, very long time.
When I started out, I had a minor in journalism, and a major in
education. I had started out with hopes of becoming a teacher
and kind of got a little sidetracked 'cause I really liked the
business and worked summertime jobs in the radio. So that's kind
of how I got started.
Ashton:
What is your ethnicity?
Adele:
I'm half-Japanese and half-Caucasian. My mom is Japanese and Arakawa
is her maiden name. And my dad is Caucasian. My mother was a war
bride. She was born and raised in Maui, which is where her family
lived. So I'm what they call in the islands "Hapahaoli", which
means I'm half white.
Ashton: What is the greatest
challenge of being an anchorwoman?
Adele:
The hardest job is to keep sure that everything that you say on
the air is accurate, fair, and valid.
Ashton:
Yeah, because I watch you every night almost and its seems that
you barely mess up.
Adele:
[Chuckling]...I still do once in a while and get words tripped
up. The Channel 9 line of anchors primarily serve as copy editors,
which means that we have a set of producers and writers for each
show, and we do write some of our own material, but it's too much.
We can't write three shows, on large part it's done by someone
else. However, it does not go on the air unless we have copy-edited
it, which means that we go through every single script every single
word that's applied to us and check it for everything from spelling
errors (because we are closed captioned and it goes to the TV
screen for many people) and making sure that the facts are right
and if it's a story that has two sides, that it is balanced.
Angie:
What advice would you give someone pursuing the same career?
Adele:
First of all, I advise you to not get into that [career].
Ashton
& Angie: What? [We were shocked]
Adele:
Hey! I'd hate to say that. But first of all, there is a misconception
that it is glamorous [and] that it is highly paid. In some aspects,
it is not glamorous. It's a lot of long hours and a lot of hard
work. And if you want to get into the business because you want
to be on TV or you want to be on the air, as in radio, then please
don't do it. Because frankly, all of us old timers don't want
you to do it. You have to want to be a journalist, and you'll
want to be a good writer. You want to tell a story and you want
to be a public servant by informing people of what's happening
in their community. You have to have that mind set. You do get
to do things and go places and meet people that you might not
ordinarily meet or do in a "typical lifetime". However, you have
to do it because you love it, and not do it because you think
that you will get rich or think that you're going to be famous
someday. Because those two things aren't likely going to happen.
 Ashton:
Okay, how much do you enjoy your work?
Adele:
Well, I enjoy it because it's the only thing that I have ever
done. I couldn't do anything else, because I don't know how! I
have been here for a very, very long time. I've been in it for
about twenty-six years now, so, I've seen it change a lot. Frankly,
there are some bad times, though. It's hard...it's a tough business.
It's competitive and there are a lot of young people getting into
the business for the wrong reasons right now. So it's a little
frustrating now for people who have been in it a long time. But
the payoffs are that you do feel like you're making a difference
sometimes and you feel like you are fulfilling an obligation.
You do have a large responsibility and you want to do it right.
So those are the payoffs.
Continuation
of the interview 
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