In September 2005, after 10 years as a news anchor/reporter, Heather Dawson created the news magazine show Southern California Life as a way of providing positive news to the Southland. After several years of success, Heather expanded the newsmagazine show to the entire state of California. In March 2009, Heather became co-owner, co-executive producer and Host of California Life with Heather Dawson. www.californialifehd.com
The statewide newsmagazine show is now airing weekly in all 10 TV markets including ABC, NBC & CBS. Heather handles every aspect of the show from pitching segment ideas to booking guests, writing scripts, coordinating shoot schedules, social media networking, media relations, sponsorship, reporting, producing and editing as well as managing a team of journalist while remaining a lively host on-camera.
Beyond covering events such as The Oscars and The Critics Choice Awards, Heather has interviewed a variety of influential people including President George H. Bush as well as conducted the last interviews with beloved Cowboy Roy Rogers & Dale Evans.
Prior to California Life, Heather began her broadcasting career as a reporter-at-large for NBC -- developing, writing, shooting and editing her own reports and interviews. In 1995, she became one of the youngest News Directors in the business.
Heather was the International Model Search Winner and Cover Model for American Swimwear Magazine. She was also featured on Baywatch, Bold & The Beautiful, Renegade.
Born in Texas and raised in California, Heather is a graduate of San Diego State University where she holds a bachelor of arts in Communications. Heather enjoys spending time with her husband and three daughters.
Wes Parker grew up in Brentwood, California, and was first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1964 to 1972.
During his nine years with the team he was named team Dodger in 1970 and won both the Lou Gehrig and Brian Piccolo Awards for his work helping young people stay off drugs. He also won six consecutive Gold Glove awards as the best fielding first baseman in the league and in 2007 was voted by the fans the best fielding first baseman of the past half century. Following his career in baseball, Wes went into television and radio, hosting a daily health show in 1984, starring in a nightly sitcom for Norman Lear, and in 1987, he hosted a radio pre- and post-game show for his hometown Dodgers.
Wes resides in Pacific Palisades and continues to work for the Dodgers on their Speaker's Bureau, fulfilling speaker requests at schools, Little League openings, Christian groups and service clubs.
Jennifer's other television credits include writing and producing for PBS in Los Angeles and Sacramento, NBC in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, as well as other networks such as Lifetime, E!, TLC, and The Discovery Channel. Ms. Quinonez is a member of the Writer's Guild of America and was also selected in Fall 2009 to participate in the RIAS Berlin/RTNDA German-American Broadcast Journalist fellowship program.
David Wylie is an award winning news reporter who has been covering Southern California on both radio and television for more than 20 years. Born and raised in the Pasadena area, David is a life long resident of the Southland. In addition to his contributions for KVMD's California Life, David can be heard Monday thru Friday mornings on KOLA 99.9 radio where he is the news director.
Lisa Spalla is veteran TV journalist having worked as a host, reporter, producer and director for shows like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, E! Entertainment Television and Animal Planet. She is currently a Reporter for California Life, as well as, the Executive Producer of TV Watercooler and inFANity on TV Guide Network.
As a member of the Directors Guild of America, The American Federation of Television and Radio and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Lisa is very involved with the entertainment community.
When not working, Lisa treasures spending time with her new son and husband.
In addition to being a reporter for California Life, Monique is the Founder and Host of Wine Oh TV. Wine Oh TV is a place for Wine Oh's and Foodies to get their fill with their very own video window into the wine world.
Monique is a trained journalist and has over ten years experience working in broadcasting. Most recently, she worked as a Host/Entertainment Reporter at KPIX-TV and KSEE 24 and Traffic Anchor/Producer at KPIX-TV. In addition to working as a broadcast journalist, Monique is a trained SAG/AFTRA actor and studied at The Atlantic Theater Company in New York, Warner Loughlin Studios and The Groundlings in Los Angeles, and has worked on various films, television shows and commercials.
Jonathan Khamis graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism. While at Fullerton, Jonathan covered numerous sporting events, including the prestigious Titans baseball program. He then went on to work with KDOC-TV where he covered all matters surrounding Orange County. Jonathan has also worked with baseball Hall of Famer Gary Carter on a television show, and currently works as a video journalist with the Orange County Register covering news and sports. He brings his knowledge and passion for sports to California Life, as he showcases the best teams and athletes the Southland has to offer.
If it has wheels and goes fast, that's where you are likely to find our "Burnin Rubber" segment reporter J.R.Ybarra. As a lifelong motorsports enthusiast, J.R. has been able to weld together his love of anything that has wheels and his broadcast career, with assignments as a producer and announcer for motorsports programming on outlets such as Speed TV, The Outdoor Channel and Fox Sports Net.
When not covering both regional and national level racing events, J.R. has been known to take a few laps as an amateur road racer and shifter kart driver at his home track, The Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Born and raised in Los Angeles, J.R. has now adopted the Inland Empire as his new place of residence. Through his career in broadcasting, J.R. has also spent time as a news reporter and anchor for Silver King Broadcasting and as a radio announcer for various stations in the So Cal region. When not driving his beloved Saleen Mustang around the track, he can also be found "driving" a golf ball or two at a nearby course in the IE.
Christina Erwin is new to Los Angeles from Dallas, Texas; where she graduated from Texas Christian University with a Broadcast Journalism degree. Since graduating she has worked as reporter/entertainment anchor for Fox News affiliates across Louisiana. Christina has spent much of her career covering sports, also working for the Dallas Cowboys and 103.3 ESPN radio.
You can also watch Christina recapping episodes of Ugly Betty on TV Guide Network. When not working Christina spends her time sightseeing around her new home state.
Jose has been in video production for almost 20 years. He started his career at KHIZ TV in master control, where he quickly moved on to photographer for live newscasts and media production. Soon after, Jose was promoted to be the director of live news casts at the station. Years later, his career took him to The National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California to work as a civilian contractor for the U.S. Army to produce military training media. Jose went on to become lead of the International News Network (similar to CNN), a mock network newscast for military training purposes. Currently, Jose continues to be a training development specialist out at Ft. Irwin, a News Stringer for various news outlets, along with contributions to California Life HD.
Award-winning Broadcast Journalist Ron Hyde joins the staff of California Life as an Anchor/Reporter. Ron spent the last two years as a News Anchor/Weather Anchor at CBS13 in Sacramento and before that, ran a video production company, RONHYDE.NET which showcased narrated HD videos for corporations and websites. He also worked as a sports anchor on NBC-11 in the SF Bay Area.
Ron was the Sports Director at KCRA-TV in Sacramento and also, on occasion, anchored the morning news. He also anchored news and sports at CNN in Atlanta. Ron was born and raised in the San Jose area and attended Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose and was a High School All-American in baseball. He earned a B.A. in Journalism at the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of the Mass Media Institute at Stanford University. Despite getting seriously injured in college, Ron was offered tryouts and minor league contracts from the Angels and Twins. Before his first TV job in Duluth, Minnesota, Ron worked for a few years as an Engineering and Technical Writer in Los Angeles. Ron is married with three young kids and lives in the Sacramento area.
Suzanne Pajot is a freelance TV reporter based in Palm Desert, CA. She has more than 15 years of experience in the news business, specializing in feature and investigative reporting. Her work can currently be seen on California Life HD, a weekly show based in Los Angeles that airs in L.A., S.F., San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Monterey and Palm Springs.
Suzanne is a hardworking, ethical, dedicated journalist. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley and worked behind the scenes at KNJO Radio (Thousand Oaks, CA), KTVU-TV (Oakland, CA), KCAL-TV (Los Angeles) and San Francisco Public Access. She lived and worked in Paris, France for two years, then returned home to Southern California to become Technical Director and then Assignment Editor at KADY-TV (Oxnard, CA). In 1997, she moved to KESQ-TV (Palm Desert, CA) as an Assignment Editor and soon became their lead hard news reporter, often conducting interviews in English and Spanish for their sister station, KUNA-TV. In 2002, she took a reporting job at WLNE-TV (Providence, RI) and headed up their Special Projects Unit. In 2006, Suzanne returned to Palm Desert to be near family and then began reporting for KMIR-TV. She later transitioned to freelance work in order to spend more time with her husband and three young children.
Jacques Luben was born in Paris, France. In 1990, he co-founded www.IncPlan.net. This Delaware based firm offers its entrepreneurial clients a wide range of business services including company incorporations, full virtual office set-ups and banking consulting.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and receiving a Masters degree from Columbia University, Jacques occupied senior commodity positions at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley in New York City. He has also served as Executive Director of Platinum Guild International (USA) a leading trade association that operates in 6 countries.
Amanda's professional career has mostly been spent in California politics. She has managed and been involved in notable campaigns locally and statewide, as well as appeared as a guest key-note speaker at numerous events and on television shows talking about the emerging importance of the youth vote in California. Amanda is a graduate of California State Monterey Bay with a B.A. in Global Studies. After returning to her native Monterey County, Amanda joined the My Network television affiliate in her local area, KOTR My11, as the on-air talent.
Audra Stafford is excited to share her love of entertainment (and Southern California) with California Life! As the entertainment reporter for ABC-10 in San Diego, Audra covered such star-studded events as the Academy Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards and Dancing With the Stars. She has interviewed many of Hollywood's and Broadway's finest actors, directors, producers and musicians, including Frankie Valli, Robin Williams, Jon Voigt, Helen Mirren and Jerry Bruckheimer. She was also one of only two journalists in the nation to be embedded in a production of CATS during its national tour.
As a correspondent for BroadwayWorld.com, Audra showcases San Diego's renowned theatre community, including the Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse and The Old Globe. She has also covered the hit Las Vegas shows Le Reve, Cher, MANILOW, Donny & Marie and Human Nature. Audra is a distinguished graduate of San Diego State University's Television, Film and New Media Production program, where she earned two Student Emmys. She also received an Emmy for her work as producer of 10-4 San Diego. Audra is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild.
In memory of Tom R. Sparks (1976-2009), his family and friends have set up a scholarship fund at USC's Annenberg School of Communication to help graduate students in Broadcast Journalism achieve their dreams. The scholarship will be awarded to students who share in Tom's love of life, show a commitment to the field that Tom held so dear, and who display a touch of Tom's eclectic personality. We hope that through this scholarship, Tom's legacy at USC will live on for generations to come.
http://www.californialifehd.com/tsparks.pdf
