Inauguration Logistical Nightmare

I’m truly honored and excited to be covering the Presidential Inauguration in Washington D.C.  I just received some sobering news from our Shaun Neville, the Special Projects Producer for Hearst-Argyle, which is our Washington bureau where we will be working out of.

“What I can share with you is that this is setting up to be a logistical nightmare.  Secret Service announced perimeter restrictions yesterday and they are the most extreme ever implemented.  Various bridges from Virginia and Maryland will be closed to traffic and Metro is expected to be jammed… Traffic is expected to be very heavy.  I can tell you that folks here at the Bureau are adding 2-3 hours to their commuting time in fear that the crowd estimates of 1-3 million are accurate,” said Neville.

I personally am up to the challenge both mentally and physically.  These trips require an incredible amount of stamina and I can sleep later.  Many people don’t want to deal with the hassels but I thrive off of assignments like this.  This is an important time for our nation and I’m determined to bring the best stories to you!

aloha,

Mahealani Richardson

Mahealani Does A Double Shift!

Are my eyes deceiving me? Mahealani Richardson did the 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. news today, and NOW she’s doing the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. shows!! What a trooper!

Clayton Wakida
KITV 4 Island Television News This Morning Producer

McMack Attack

My props to head football coach Greg McMackin.  I think he was a boxer in a former life.  It’s always great seeing him and according to the coach, he’ll never forget the time when I was camping out in front of June Jones’ office waiting for his resignation.  I blocked McMackin from entering a door with my foot so that we in the media could try to get an interview from him since he was a leading candidate.  Anyway, I had no idea that when we did this boxing fitness segment with him that he’d hit so hard.  The video says it all.  My lipstick ended up on the punching bag.

http://www.kitv.com/video/16811621/index.html

aloha,

Mahealani

mahea@kitv.com

Dangers of Challenging Athletes: We Fall!

Ryan Ozawa, our lost blogger, took a bad looking spill last Friday during a sports challenge against the U.H. Warriors.   He wasn’t seriously hurt, but I know his ego was bruised.  Dan was really worried one of the Warriors would get hurt. Instead, Ryan got a strawberry on his knee and we got jamba juice acai with granola on our clothes. It looked like vomit on my clothes. The same thing happened to me when I fell 2 years ago in a mini-decathlon against Olympian Bryan Clay.  Now I’ve learned when challenging athletes, you can never win, so just take your time and don’t push yourself too hard.

Here’s Ryan’s 2008 fall.

http://www.kitv.com/video/16137151/index.html

Here’s my fall from 2006

http://www.kitv.com/video/10105391/index.html

 

aloha,

Mahealanimahea@kitv.com

 

 

 

Distraction

A challenging morning today. At about 5:22 this A-M, we came out of the commercial break and Mahealani and I were going into a block of short news stories. Just before we went to video I saw … what appeared to be …. a naked woman walking behind the cameras. My eyes went small then wide as I was reading ” … here’s a look at some of the stories we’re following this morning.” When in fact my eyes were following something else. Mahea saw the look on my face and attempted to stop hereself from laughing out loud. The first story was gas prices. I survived. Then next was a bank robbery but Mahea waved it off. I jumped in and read that story but it sounded odd because I sounded really happy while I was reading it. I was actually trying not to laugh. Then Mahea read a story about Filipino war veterans trying to get benefits and she did laugh and apologize. We came out to a shot of Ben, Mahea and I and explained why Mahea and I lost our composure. We then asked one of the studio cameraman to take a shot of what we were talking about. She was a female body builder who was going to do an interview segment a little later in the show wearing nothing but a bikin. End of the story.

But wait.

There is more.

We checked the air check afterwards and when the cameraman took a shot of this woman he zoomed in on her buttocks as I was saying how distracting it all was.  Just another day on the morning show.

Rap’s Hawai’i

Just wanted to say kudos to the cast and crew of Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s Rap’s Hawai’i.  It was hilarious and we were all rolling in our seats after seeing popular skits like “The Young Kanakas,” ”The Hypnotist” with those famous words ”life is bitchen,” and others.   

My schoolmate from Kamehameha Charles Timtim played “Aunty Marialani” and we couldn’t stop laughing.  His comedic timing is so good.  Charles and I met each other in drama doing “The Hobbit.”  I believe Charles was a scary goblin.    

Like many people, I’ve done Rap Reiplinger skits for years.    When I was in elementary, me and a friend would do the skits together and perform them on the recess field.  My favorite skit is “The Brooch” from the “Crab Dreams” record.  It’s about a man shopping for nothing in particular when he is confronted by an agressive saleswoman.  The man reluctantly ends up buying a women’s brooch, but then can’t come up with money which causes the saleswoman to have a heart attack.  Later in life, I entered a speech competition with “The Brooch.”

One can only wonder where life would have taken Rap if he were still alive today.

 Mahealani

mahea@kitv.com

Hot Dogs!

This morning, we finally settled on a long-standing bet. To recap: Dan and Dave picked the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA Championship, while Mahea and I picked the Cleveland Cavaliers. You’ll recall the Spurs swept the series. And it took this long to figure out what we would do, as the losers. Taking a cue from the world-famous Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest on Coney Island, we tried to eat at least one hot dog from Great Hawaiian Hot Dogs.

Mike “Ramsey” Fujita cooked up the weiners, and I think I won, finishing my hot dog first.

Of course, seemingly on cue, there were two dogs and their owner on the sidewalk behind us, and one of them was a wiener dog. Of course I fed them, and the dogs enjoyed the dogs.

The crew didn’t mind that we only ate one dog each. Fujita stayed afterward to cook up some ‘ono steak hot dogs, which promptly disappeared. The dogs didn’t get those. Oh, yes — one was delivered to Dave Hisaka at the traffic management center a few blocks away, fresh out of the cooker.

Our Moloka`i Pa`u Unit Took 1st Place

She’s Part Of The Only Thing That We Had Actually Planned In Advance

This, of course, is Sweetie Pacarro, the Saturday morning producer for the Perry and Price Saturday morning show on KSSK. Sweeite was here as a spokesperson for Kraft foods, to show some summertime grilling tips.

Good thing she’s in broadcasting. Although her segments had been planned far in advance, breaking news made those appearances much shorter than they otherwise would have been. Fortunately, she understood completely why we were moving rather briskly through her segments, and adjusted accordingly.

One breaking news item, as you know, had to do with a drive-by shooting in Kane`ohe that left one man dead. Police were on a manhunt for two suspects in Hale`iwa while we were on the air. And we also had a two-alarm house fire that broke out before dawn, lighting up the dark sky with flames and leaving seven people homeless. Mahealani had live reports through the newscast to keep us updated. And then when the program was over, Dan headed to the North Shore, where police found a second suspect in the shooting. All in all, it was a busy day — and we’re glad Sweetie was here as well.

Salvation Army Fashion Show

It’s that time of year again and this Saturday several of us at KITV will attempt to walk the runway for the Salvation Army Fashion Show.

I’ve done it for several years and it’s always fun finding that fashionable treasure that’s at a steal of a price.

Jill Kuramoto and Pamela Young are fashion show regulars as well! Thanks to the Salvation Army for the photos.

aloha,
Mahealani
mahea@kitv.com