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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Former Bruin shines on KCBS morning
news
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF hho@media.ucla.edu When L.A.'s KCBS anchorwoman Suzanne Rico says on air that it would have been nice to skip work today, it sounds like an irrelevant comment. But it's a calculated move that allows her to point out the day happens to be a holiday, Veteran's Day. "The most important characteristic of a television journalist, especially on a show like this, is the ability to think on your feet," Rico said. "You have to switch gears in mid-sentence and if you can't think fast on your feet, you end up looking like an idiot." When it comes to looking smart, the camera doesn't lie. In another case, the teleprompter fails to tell her the location of an upcoming shot and she must recognize it as the Los Angeles International Airport on her own. Without missing a beat, she gets it right, because she knows Los Angeles. She went to UCLA as an undergraduate communication studies student. Since Oct. 23, Rico has been co-anchor for KCBS's morning show from 5 to 7 a.m. with Kent Shocknek, a man whose name and likeness bears a striking resemblance to "The Simpsons" bumbling anchorman, Kent Brockman. Shocknek graduated from USC, and the school rivalry is a running joke. "I didn't know USC turned out (students) that smart," Rico said as a pseudo-compliment to Shocknek. The energetic lightness of the morning show exists both on and off the camera. "I think people want a little bit of energy and some friendly faces to wake up to," Rico said. "Viewers can sense when people do get along and are friends on-air as well as off-air." Rico and Shocknek are friends (Rico spends weekends with Shocknek and his family), even though Rico's only been at KCBS for three weeks. They play off each other, and when off-air Rico says the light glistening off a shot of cars on the freeway is beautiful, Shocknek incorporates that into a live cut-in traffic segment, saying "but she doesn't have to drive in it." Indeed, she doesn't. Rico wakes up around 3 a.m., goes to work an hour later, and is on the air at 5 a.m. five days a week. "I'm in bed by 8:30 p.m.," Rico said. "It's not good for the social life. It's the exact opposite of what I did at UCLA, which was late nights and late mornings." Rico didn't know what she wanted to do after graduating from UCLA and tried advertising for a year. After watching the news one day, she decided she could do it and went to graduate school at San Francisco State. Her first reporting gig was in Sacramento, the 19th largest TV market in the country. She had jobs in Chicago and San Diego before moving back to Los Angeles, the second largest market. While 5 a.m. may not seem like a time teeming with news, Rico and Shocknek beg to differ. After all, an entire day of news has already happened around the world, and writers come in from 10 p.m. until dawn to make sure Rico and Shocknek are up to speed. "It's a competitive game in news, but especially in the mornings," Rico said. "There is so much breaking news going on. If you don't have a big rig over the side, you've got a fire going on. It's a really fast-paced, loose show because you never know what's going to change." The morning show is a stabilizing change for Rico, who is used to running around the world covering everything from the Columbine shootings to the Sept. 11 attacks. She was at Ground Zero working 16-hour days for 10 days on story after story. "I wanted to (work that much) because I didn't want stop long enough to think about what was happening," Rico said. "When I did stop, I would go back to my hotel, sit there and cry. I realized that the world had completely changed from the way we knew it. "They didn't have to drag me," Rico continued. "If something happens, (an earthquake or fire), my first reaction is I've got to be there and be a part of it." During breaks, Shocknek provides lemon-flavored vitamin Cs to Rico, who is usually powdering her face, fixing her hair, and looking over and revising what she'll be reading from the teleprompter. Occasionally, there will be periods of ad-libbing to fill time, and at these moments Rico shines. "If we have to ad-lib for a minute over the Iraqi resolution at the United Nations, we need to know the history, what's coming up, and what both sides are saying," Rico said. "Bottom line is you've got to know your stuff, because if you don't, you'll get hung out to dry." |
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