Where does Joel go?

I’ve been quite obsessed with the 11:00 news. And not just any station, CBS station KOIN channel 6. Not the whole news, just the first big story. It goes something like this.


“The top story tonight is. . . . We now go live on scene with our KOIN reporter Joel Iwanaga. Hello, Joel. . .” And then there is the story.

So for the past couple of weeks, there’s been good old Joel at some news worthy location reporting. Yesterday he was at the interstate bridge talking about delays on I-5. And then in a parking lot, he was discussing winter car preparation. This past week there were Iwanaga sighting in Hillsboro, Gresham, and West Linn. He’s like a “Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego” character.

I find myself wondering where he will be next. Will he be by the capital in Salem reporting on politics? Or at the coast, reporting on the winter storm? Or by a store in NE Portland after a robbery? Who knows where that Joel will go?

He must travel a lot of miles a week in his job. Wherever the news is, they send Joel out. I wonder if he gets to work and they say, “hold on Joel, we need you to drive to Corvallis. There’s a story of a car that ran into a house.” So off he goes. He grabs a quick bite at a fast food place and jumps in the vehicle along with the camera crew. He goes off to the front lines while the anchors are getting make up and sitting in there air conditioned or heated studio drinking lattes and herbal tea.

Another Joel sighting is just around the corner on the evening news. Way to go Joel. Way to go.