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Carlos Amezcua, Marc Brown, Christine Devine, Laura Diaz,
Rick Garcia, Pat Harvey, Sylvia Lopez, Michaela Pereira

Rick Garcia

Rick Garcia represents a unique line of broadcasting talents that includes Bryant Gumbel and Jim Lampley: Sportscasters who have made the transition to newscaster. With his forceful manner and 6'2" athletic build, Garcia reports the sports weeknights for the FOX 11 News at 10. Then, starting at 11 p.m., he co-anchors My13 News with Lauren Sanchez. Both Mexican, they represent the first weeknight Latino anchor team in Los Angeles broadcast television. My13 is a decidedly off-beat news cast, and its style generates ratings particularly with the young Latino viewing audience. It is a format Garcia is very comfortable with.

"In order to make the transition from sports to news you have to be well-rounded," he said. "My bosses knew I was capable and was able to think on my feet. I was offered the opportunity to do news many years ago and I just wasn't interested.

"When I was approached about my current position, it was different because they said, 'We want to do a more personality-oriented newscast.' They had Lauren Sanchez doing the newscast and thought my personality would fit well with hers."

In doing a news program different from all others, Garcia saw it as "a neat challenge." Trading insights, jokes, and insults with the buxom, raven-haired Sanchez, Garcia is enjoying his role of My13 newscaster. "We have fun with the show without taking ourselves seriously," Garcia said. "I'm having a lot of fun doing it."

Growing up in the Antelope Valley, fun and games was a way of life for Garcia. "It was a wonderful community and a great childhood," the news anchor said. "We didn't lock the doors. We had horses and chickens in that area. I'm still very fond of that community."

Garcia lived in a family of five: his parents, an older brother, and a younger sister. He indicated that his friends were of various ethnic and racial backgrounds. "I wasn't brought up to focus on ethnicity or color. My closest friends and buddies were of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. Later on, I started to understand cultural pride. My grandparents were from Mexico. I remember it hit me as a kid when Fernando Valenzuela came on the scene in 1981 and started pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was from Sonora, the same Mexican state my grandfather was from. I remember seeing their pride in this Mexican kid making it in major league baseball.

"That's when it dawned on me how we wrap our arms around people who are like us and it's important to us for that reason."

While recognizing this principle, Garcia continued to mix freely with other kids he grew up with. He shared a strong friendship with Joel Forte, who is Black and his business partner. They attended Quartz Hill High School together, as teammates on the varsity football team. "We teased each other," he grinned. "I was Hispanic, he was black. We trash-talked just like everyone else. Joel and I joked with each other about our races but we really never looked at each other that way."

Growing up, Garcia's influences also reflected his open-minded attitude. He sighted as his sports heroes Muhammad Ali, the late Wilt Chamberlain, and Roman Gabriel. Additionally, he is a huge admirer of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To that end he bought a framed picture of Dr. King at the March on Washington with text of the "I Have a Dream" speech and the recording of the entire oratory as it happened inside the frame that can be played with the push of a button. The dual sportscaster/newscaster reflected on Dr. King during this interview.

"Here was this brilliant man," he explains, "who graduated from Morehouse College at 19. He was brilliant! You read his writings and you can see this. And, sadly, you see a lot of Civil Rights/religious/political leaders who are poor imitations of Dr. King.

"The man could move and motivate people like no one else could. Looking back on it, I think when he was assassinated it set this country back decades. He preached a nonviolent approach to solving problems, changed the world, and then he was gone."

Garcia's road to broadcasting actually started on the Quartz Hills High School football team, although indirectly. "I was always a frustrated jock," he said. "My dream was to be a quarterback in the NFL. As I grew up I realized that wasn't gonna happen. Broadcasting, for me, was the next best thing."

Garcia started out as a radio broadcaster while in college at Cal State Northridge at KAVL-AM. He was a play-by-play man for local teams (high school, junior and city colleges) out in the Lancaster, California area. Shortly thereafter, he landed his first television job as a sportscaster in Palm Springs with local cable station KTN. After moving on to television stops in Arizona and New Mexico, the Antelope Valley native made his way back to L.A. with FOX 11 sports in 1987.

He was nurtured by the FOX sportscasters at the time, Stu Nahan and Joe Buttita. "They were very friendly and helpful. Stu took an interest in me," Garcia said. "Joe would offer constructive critiques of my performance. I learned from them to be very helpful to others who seek advice from me."

As a newscaster, a broadcaster is not encouraged to offer his or her advice on volatile political issues they report about on the air. However, the issues of immigration reform, walkouts and police violence in response to protest do concern Garcia.

"Many of those kids just wanted a day off from school. Kids are kids," he said. "Now I do think some were passionate about it because they have relatives, friends who are affected by immigration policies and laws. So for them, I respect that and understand that passion.

"It is not an easy issue to solve," he continued. "You have several million people here illegally now. Even staunch right-wing politicians admit there are not enough buses and vans to send them back."

As for the infamous May Day Melee, he offered an honest opinion. "That was a poorly handled situation. I think [Police Chief William Bratton] has dealt with it really well to this point.

He didn't try to make any excuses. He had some people who were out of control. I am a pro-police person. The LAPD, the Sheriff's Department are so important to our society. But like all areas and organizations in society, there are some bad apples.

"I think [the police supervision at MacArthur Park] was poorly organized on their end. I think they enflamed that situation at the park that day."

While the legacy of that day is recognized as a negative moment in Los Angeles history, Garcia looks for a simpler way to be remembered. "I want to be known as a good father to my children," the broadcast journalist revealed. "Professional accolades, while they are fun to receive, I don't think that's what I'm here for. The greatest thing we can do is raise our children."

Click a name to read more:

Carlos Amezcua, Marc Brown, Christine Devine, Laura Diaz,
Rick Garcia, Pat Harvey, Sylvia Lopez, Michaela Pereira