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Classifieds

Publication Date: Friday, October 12, 2001

Marathon woman

It's Saturday - Roberta Gonzales' day off. So what does she do? She wakes up at 5 a.m., runs 18 miles and then takes a kickboxing class - all before most of us are even thinking about getting out of bed.

Gonzales is training for the Silicon Valley Marathon later this month, but training seems irrelevant - her life is a marathon.

The weekday begins for Gonzales when she rises at 1:15 a.m. for the commute from her Pleasanton home into San Francisco, where she is the morning weather anchor at KPIX Channel 5. Her day ends at 8 p.m. when she puts the kids to bed and crawls into bed herself at 8:01.

In between, she plans her broadcast; does her own hair and makeup; anchors live for two-and-a-half hours; does several short TV and radio weather spots; answers up to 100 e-mails a day; picks up the kids from school and helps them with homework and baths; and often squeezes in a charity appearance.

"Roberta is one of the most amazing people I know," says KPIX reporter Trish Regan. "She has so much energy. Her schedule is crazy. And then we have these potlucks at work, and not only does she make homemade salsa, but the tomatoes are from her garden!"

Spending the morning with Gonzales at work is like being in the eye of a tornado. Here's the scene...

As the news anchors sit serenely at their desks, reading lines from teleprompters, Gonzales scurries from the anchor desk to the big weather map and back again, spiky heels clicking on the tile, ad-libbing weather forecasts as she goes. Between segments, she powders her nose, cajoles the stage manager into bringing something to the next potluck, and playfully teases the new anchor sitting next to her.

After the broadcast, Gonzales meets with the production staff, then heads back to her office on Battery Street overlooking the San Francisco skyline. Testaments to the professional and personal rewards of her dizzying lifestyle adorn the room. Awards recognizing her philanthropic efforts line her walls. She also has several broadcasting awards, including three Emmys. There are lots of photos of Gonzales hugging people - Willard Scott, her two young sons, and her husband as she finishes the San Francisco marathon.

Gonzales is discussing her volunteer work, specifically her life-long involvement with the Girl Scouts, when, mid-sentence, she jumps up and bolts out of the room, her words trailing behind her. A few moments of silence pass and the phone rings.

"It's Roberta," deadpans her producer, a there-she-goes-again kind of tone in his voice. "She called to apologize for disappearing." She just had to rush up to the studio for one of her weather cut-ins that she does live twice an hour.

Then she's back to her office for a couple of phone calls, a discussion about weather graphics, and she's running again - off to a keynote speech at an exclusive girls' school. As she announces where she's going, someone in the newsroom teases, "Yeah, Roberta, you couldn't get in to (that) school, so now you're going to speak there!"
****

Roberta Marie Gonzales grew up in Barstow, one of three children born to Esther and Jose Gonzales. Her father worked construction and her mother served in the Marine Corps. Gonzales knew early on what she wanted to be when she grew up.

"My mom and dad saved Blue Chip stamps to buy me a tape recorder for my 11th birthday. After they gave it to me, I went around and interviewed everybody all the time, and that's how I knew I wanted to be a reporter.

"I would go to counselors and tell them what my dreams and ambitions were and they would say, 'Pffft, fat chance.'"

Despite the counselors' discouragement, Gonzales had the support of her family, especially her mother, who taught her daughter discipline and determination in pursuing her goals.

There wasn't a lot of money when she was a kid. "So, (for example) to try out for cheerleader, I was told I had to raise my own money for the uniforms," remembers Gonzales. "So my mom and I would make enchiladas and I would go out and sell them on my dad's construction site. So I always had these little goals and these little things going on all the time."

At the age of 17, Gonzales graduated from high school early and headed to San Diego where she pursued journalism and communications studies.

She considered no work too menial as she tried to break into the business. One of her first jobs in television was as the station gardener. "I mowed the lawn and trimmed the roses and spread the snail trail," she says.

She also worked as a messenger for a Mexican independent TV station in San Diego, driving across the border every day to deliver the commercial spots.

Her first big break came at the radio station where she was interning. "One night I was there doing some music research and it was about 10 at night and the DJ just walked off the air. The music director turned to me and said, 'Gonzales, you're on.'"

Gonzales' first television break was even more dramatic. She was working as a minority reporter trainee at an ABC affiliate in San Diego.

"One day - 30 minutes before the newscast - the weathercaster, Capt. Mike Ambrose, had a massive heart attack, right in the middle of the newsroom. So we filmed it, then we called 911," she recalls without a hint of irony. "At 5 'til 5, the news director said, 'Who's gonna do my weather?' and nobody wanted to do it because weather is all ad-lib. So, I said, 'I'll do it,' and I figured it was a great opportunity."

Gonzales continued to do the weather while Capt. Mike recovered and then moved on to San Luis Obispo, where she expanded her knowledge of weather.

"I started walking the fields with the farmers. I started taking flying lessons. I started studying agriculture and weather and meteorology and climatology, and I just kept getting hired for weather."

Before moving to KPIX, she broadcast the weather in San Jose and Chicago, where she also hosted a local children's program. Gonzales and her "best friend" and husband of 15 years, Randy Hahn, sportscaster for the San Jose Sharks, decided to settle in Pleasanton because it's a good central location between their workplaces.

She says, "I just fell in love with Pleasanton. I saw Main Street and it reminded me of 'Mayberry RFD.'" They also knew it would be a great place to raise their two sons, Randall, 8-1/2, and Michael, 6.

Her sons are the reason for her unusual schedule, as she strives to balance motherhood with her career.

"In TV, there are really only two schedules, the morning shift and the evening shift. The morning shift requires me to be at work at 2:45 a.m., but I'm home by 1:30 in the afternoon." She isn't interested in the more prestigious evening shift. "Those people have to be at work at 3, they're done at 11:30 (at night), so when do you see your children?"

"I just don't believe my tombstone will say 'Greatest Weather Anchor.' I hope it says 'Greatest Mom.'" She's there for the kids after school, and with them until bedtime, with the exception of her afternoon run.

Either Gonzales or her husband are usually there to care for the children. When their crazy schedules prevent this, Sylvia, their live-in "auntie," who's been with the family since Randall was a baby, is there to fill in the childcare gaps.

Beyond her work, mothering and marathons, Gonzales volunteers a huge amount of time to local charities.

"I average about 100-110 charity events a year. It's a philosophy I've had ever since I got into this business. I feel so blessed to be where I am that I feel like you have to give back."

The cause that's closest to her heart is the Donna Lee Hanson Memorial Scholarship, which she founded in 1996 in honor of her best friend who died of ovarian cancer at the age of 34. Every year Gonzales selects deserving high school students from her hometown, then travels to Barstow to deliver the scholarships. The first scholarship was $1,000 and it has grown every year. Last year she gave away $3,000 - all out of her own pocket.

So between work, mothering and philanthropy, what does Gonzales do to relax? She runs.

She has completed six marathons and will run her seventh later this month. As she talks about her passion for marathons, she could be describing her own life.

"You know what I really like about it? It doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, how poor you might have been as a child, how wealthy you may be today, how educated you are. If you're white, black, brown, yellow - it doesn't matter, there are no short cuts, you either do it or you don't. It's a really good feeling - challenging your body, pushing your body to its limits."