What’s Cooking with Pamela and Gary?
Come along as MidWeek visits Pamela Young and Gary Sprinkle at home for a conversation that reveals why KITV’s husband-wife anchors are two of Hawaii’s nicest people, and most respected journalists. At Home With Pamela Young And Gary Sprinkle, We Learn That She Is A Gourmet Cook, And Come To A Greater Appreciation Of Kitv’s Husband-Wife News Anchors
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At Home With Pamela Young And Gary Sprinkle, We Learn That She Is A Gourmet Cook, And Come To A Greater Appreciation Of Kitv’s Husband-Wife News Anchors
What’s cooking with Gary Sprinkle and Pamela Young, now that they’ve increased their face time on KITV4 Island Television News? Will they stir the pot of TV ratings as fickle viewers surf the channels? Will their mixed plate of intellect, good looks and communications skills be the enduring recipe of success in a rapidly changing industry?
We sat down over a gourmet lunch prepared by Young at their home to chat about the couple’s enhanced news roles and the path they took to get there.
When you’re served a delicious filet of fish on a crisp rice cake, complemented by fresh asparagus and homemade cranberry chutney topped by star-fruit, and presented so artistically, it’s hard to concentrate on an interview. But we endured. Is there more wine?
Savor the conversation with TV’s dynamic duo and see if you don’t agree that their best days are ahead of them.
Sprinkle and Young, each with more than 30 years of experience in the business, provide interesting insights into the magic and mystique of television news.
This is the scoop from Mr. & Mrs. Broadcast News.
Anchors Auwe
Interestingly, Sprinkle and Young don’t define their jobs as news anchors.
“We are journalists,” says Young. “We are reporters, producers, editors, and we also happen to anchor the news.”
Sprinkle, her husband of 23 years, elaborates, “The greater part of our day is spent helping to gather the news and doing our own stories - we’re responsible for certain blocks of our newscast. We work with the producer to put together a show ... deciding the order of the newscast so there’s some sort of rhythm to it. We also have serious discussions about story content. At about 3 o’clock, we put on our anchor hats.
“We’re a little different from most anchors in that, before we are anchors, we are field producers,” Sprinkle says, referring to his Pacific Adventures series and Young’s Mixed Plate features.
“There are not too many anchors who gather, write, produce and edit the news themselves,” he says.
This speaks to the versatility of the pair that has resulted in 14 Emmy awards and makes them sought-after talent in the TV market.
But don’t get the wrong idea. There’s a supporting cast of many others on KITV4.
General manager Mike Rosenberg says there are 43 people on the TV news staff, one of the largest in town.
“The lion’s share of the newscast is done by our reporting staff and producers,” he says. “Gary and Pamela are the type of anchors who like to be involved in the process.”
As Young puts it, “There are anchors who come in, read the news and go home. It differs from market to market, and station to station.”
With the departure of Kim Gennaula (wife of Guy Hagi) from KGMB, it makes Sprinkle and Young the town’s only husband-and-wife news team on TV.
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“There are married couples in the news biz, but not too many anchor together,” Young says. “Station managements try to stay away from it because relationships can break up and there’s no guarantee that a married couple will have chemistry on the air.”
Observers say Sprinkle and Young have chemistry and complement each other. Anchors can be competitive by nature, vying for face time.
Sprinkle asserts, “I want to make Pamela look good.”
Love in the Time of Kokua
The pair might not have even become a pair if first impressions are any indication.
“We really didn’t like each other at first,” Young recalls.
Plus their early career aspirations were on completely different tracks.
Sprinkle wanted to be a professional athlete. That didn’t happen, but he got into sports casting.
“Bob Sevey hired me as a sportscaster in 1978,” Sprinkle says, “and I did that for eight years at KGMB. When he left, the station wanted me to anchor the news at 5 and 10.”
Like a Burns-and-Allen routine, Young polishes off his statement.
“But before that, tell her about your dad and how he was the one to bring Sevey here to begin with,” she says.
Sprinkle responds, “My father, Art Sprinkle, used to be station manager for KULA (later KHVH, KONA, KHON). When asked if he knew of someone for the KGMB job, he suggested Bob Sevey who was working in Phoenix.”
Sevey went on to become Hawaii’s best-known TV news anchor with more than 20
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