Here’s how KTVB anchors work on engaging this Idaho community: ‘Celebrating who you are’
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Hispanic Heritage Month
As part of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), the Idaho Statesman is running a series of stories highlighting Latino Idahoans. Check here for our latest reporting.
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Here’s how KTVB anchors work on engaging this Idaho community: ‘Celebrating who you are’
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Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories highlighting Latino Idahoans as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
This isn’t the first rodeo for KTVB en Español talents Hector Mendoza and Brenda Rodriguez.
The two TV reporters met at a station in Eureka, California, in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, when they started a news program in Spanish. That newsroom is where their real-life friendship began. Their comfort with each other is obvious on KTVB’s sleek set, where a teleprompter recently read, “habrá baile, música en vivo y mucho más,” part of a discussion about a First Thursday event in downtown Boise.
“If it’s not us, then who?” Mendoza said of the Spanish program. “Hopefully … we’re going to be that glue or that bridge that will connect one thing to the other.”
KTVB en Español has been available for three years. But in the past year, KTVB has started a twice-weekly show that runs Tuesdays and Fridays on social media and at ktvb.com/espanol.
And it’s not just their work in Spanish that helps the Latino community, the pair said. Appearing on TV speaking English also helps with Latino representation. Mendoza is a bilingual weather anchor and Spanish reporter. Rodriguez is a reporter and anchor for both KTVB and KTVB en Español.
On Tuesday, a video played of Mendoza reading the weather forecast right as visitors entered KTVB’s studios.
People have told them they watch, Rodriguez and Mendoza said, even though they don’t know what is being said in English — simply because they are on TV. Parents tell them that their children are able to see someone who looks like them succeeding in a certain career.
Including the Latino community means their “stories being heard ... and you can actually see them,” Rodriguez said.
Both Rodriguez and Mendoza have been appearing at different events to get more involved in the community. And they’re helping bring the Latino community in for studio tours, so they can see “that they can physically be here,” Rodriguez said.
The two grew up in different environments — Rodriguez in mostly white Idaho, Mendoza in California, which is far more diverse. But both told the Idaho Statesman that they struggled in childhood as minorities.
Rodriguez, whose family is Mexican, used to pretend she didn’t speak Spanish at school, she said. While trying to fit in, she saw being different and being a Latina as a weakness, she said.
Mendoza, who is of Mexican and El Salvadoran descent, said he had a harder time learning English than some of his siblings. Mendoza got made fun of for his accent and for his English-language ability when he was younger, he said.
But over the years, and with family support, both have realized their strengths. Now their bilingual ability opens doors and helps them connect with others.
“Everything I am is actually my superpower,” Rodriguez said.
“What I take from things I’ve learned is being a hard worker, never giving up, just being super resilient,” Mendoza said. “It’s just exciting. It’s fun being Latino. It’s all about celebrating who you are.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
