(continued)

Down-sides

     Yet, in spite of these lofty attainments, Chinese American broadcasters would also be brought down and humiliated.  Chris Chow jokes that he was "first-hired and first-fired" at KPIX. He was told, "We're no longer running a trainning school." Some said it was because his hair was too long, that he was "intractable." Others said he was "a threat, too militant, too radical." It should be noted that Chow was one of several heads that rolled when the station had fallen to number two in the ratings. The others included the program director. For a time he was blackballed by the industry until he made a comeback at KCET Los Angeles in the late seventies.

     The station replaced Chris Chow with Linda Shen, the first Chinese American TV news reporter in New York City (WNET-TV, 1972). Shen joined Suzanne Joe (KRON) in the emergence of Asian American women on the air. A serious reporter who won an Emmy for reporting on a pilgrimage to the Tule Lake internment camp, Shen later quit the business because she "was forced to do unethical things" to generate ratings for the station. She bristled when asked to do a gang story, and refused any such assignment because (a) she didn't know anything about the subject and feared for her life and (b) she knew there was no way the truth could be told with the style and ethics of television news.

     Within a year, KGO hired Felicia Lowe to counter the competition. Her reporting was distinguished with two Emmy nominations, and the station featured her picture in display advertising. Yet, quality work was no guarantee of longevity. A new news director decided to replace Lowe with Linda Yu from KATU Portland.

     Irrespective of ratings, the emergence of Chinese and Asian American women in TV news, especially as anchors, has been phenomenal.  On the national TV networks, witness Julie Chen, Connie Chung , Ann Curry, Carol Lin, Lisa Ling, and others. In major cities across the country, there are Joie Chen, Angela Correa, Sophia Choi, Denise Dadoor, Sandra Gin, Cynthia Gouw, Susan Hirasuna, Sherry Hu, Terilyn Joe, Melissa Jue, Lisa Kim, Cathy Kiyomura, Gina Lew, Shari Macias, Lina Nguyen, Barbara Tanabe, Wendy Tokuda, Eme Tominbang, Kaity Tong, Tritia Toyota, Kristen Sze, Thuy Vu, Emerald Yeh, Denise Yamada, Pamela Young, and the list goes on.  In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Honolulu, a majority of the stations have at least one Asian American woman on-air, and if they have an Asian American anchor, it is a woman.

     The push for ratings and the emphasis on sex appeal in television news has led to the seeming decline in numbers of Chinese and other Asian American men (because there are many more women on the air).  By the 1980s, the trend was so rampant that Ben Fong-Torres, himself a radio announcing pioneer (KFOG, 1967), was able to publish one of the first and extremely few articles in a Sunday newspaper written by a Chinese or Asian American person: "Why There Are No Male Asian Anchors."

     That question is still being asked and debated today.

   There has been progress however, following the 1970s when Mario Machado, Sam Chiu Lin, and Ken Kashiwahara were anchoring the news in Los Angeles and Hawaii. For two years in the late 1990s, James Hattori co-anchored the weekend news on Bay Area's KRON-TV. Today Ted Chen, Rob Fukuzaki, Curtiss Kim, Kent Ninomiya, David Ono, Rick Quan, Russell Shimooka, and John Yang anchor the news or sports in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Honolulu, while ESPN's Michael Kim talks about sports to a national audience daily.

Benefiting The Community

     The real tough question now is, has the community benefited? Has the inclusion of Asian American on-air journalists made a difference in what news is selected, which people are chosen to speak, and how the community's issues are presented? That has yet to be fully assessed.

     Has more Asian Americans on the air meant more, better, and regular coverage? When you look at how the Asian American communities were smeared and battered with a broad brush with the John Huang-Democratic campaign finance scandal and the Wen-ho Lee-U.S. nuclear spy scandal, the coverage of Chinese American issues has been abysmal. One of the few exceptions was ABC's Nightline program that Sam Chu Lin worked on behind-the-scenes (June 18, 1999), which illustrated how Asian Pacific Islander Americans have been stereotyped by the scandal, history, and the media.

     As the fastest growing population in the United States with high levels of income and education, and at least one-third the population in San Francisco, Asian Americans should at least be getting one serious story a day in each of the newscasts of each and every station in the market. With ownership, management, and other decision-making ranks of the broadcast industry virtually, completely, predominantly held by non-Asians, perhaps that is an area that should be pioneered next.  Who will pick up where Leo Chan (now retired) left off?

     For so long the voice of the Chinese American community has been silent, muffled, or suppressed. For a time it was thought in silence there is protection. If you do not make yourself obnoxious, you will not be touched. Now, silence is self-defeating. Now, to be respected in America, to have your issues heard and your needs addressed, you have to be able to speak up. That's why we honor those Chinese American broadcast pioneers who have paved the way and made it just a little bit easier in mass media.  That is why a national historical museum and learning center is so important to not only celebrate, but to teach and inspire and sustain the knowledge and truth that shall make us free, equal, and happy.

Note: The author wishes to thank all those who contributed comments, suggestions, and thoughts for this article and regrets that he could not name all the people who deserve to be acknowledged in this piece. May the story continue to evolve and be told in more ways by more people and more often.
                                                             - Christopher Chow

This article was originally printed as part of the gala benefit program by the Chinese Historical Society of America. The article,"Casting Our Voices - Chinese American Broadcast Pioneers" is reprinted by special permission from the Chinese Historical Society of America and its author Christopher Chow.

The 2000 gala benefit raised more than $183,000 towards the goal of matching the City and County of San Francisco's half a million dollar grant. The proceeds will be used to build a museum of Chinese American history in San Francisco, a project that was begun more than 36 years ago and is now close to completion. To learn more about this project to preserve this important history for future generations, please go to the www.chsa.org

In April, 2001 the Chinese Historical Society of America honored pioneers "From Aerospace to Cyberspace" at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. The gala raised more than $350,000 toward the museum's building fund, and was hosted by emcees Suzanne Joe Kai, co-founder of AsianConnections.com, Ben Fong-Torres, broadcaster and author, and Lorna Ho, webcaster for Yahoo! Finance Vision.

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