Interview by Chris Ching

We've turned the tables on Allie Young by interviewing the former Channel 97 news anchor about what it's like to work on Stockton City News and being one of the most recognizable faces in town. While the San Joaquin local and recent UOP grad has recently moved to San Francisco, Allie sat down with us to chat about her experiences. After finding out all she had accomplished in her four years at college, I proceeded to sulk over all the hours I wasted at UCSC drinking beer and watching Beavis and Butthead. But I digress...

How did you start working for Channel 97?

That's a weird story. I was on the dance team for UOP, so right around 9/11 we were asked to go buy these patriotic outfits to wear. I was in the mall shopping, and I ran into Floyd Crame who is the everything man at Channel 97 - he's the cameraman, he's the editor, producer. He was doing what we call the question of the week. He approached me, and asked ten questions on random facts about Stockton. We got to talking, and I told him I was a Communications Major at UOP. I wanted to get into Broadcast Journalism, so he asked if I wanted to intern. I was all for it. It was a right place, right time thing.

Tell me about your very first newscast?

I chose a story that I was comfortable with, so I said "Why don't we do it on the UOP dance team?" It was fine. I didn't wear anything I should have worn like a collared shirt, but I didn't have any coming up from high school. I didn't wear professional clothes. Floyd was real nice . He just said "I can tell your comfortable in front of the camera, but the rest you need to work on." (laughter) But it was fun.

The next story was on the Powercat which is our mascot, and then I started to get into more city oriented stories.

What do you think goes into being a good newscaster?

You have to be personable. You need to be able to talk just back and forth and be natural. You want to flow the questions together so it's more conversational. People get more comfortable, and you get more out of it that way. You might get more information that you wouldn't have got otherwise if you'd just followed your papers.

It's really hard. One of the toughest things to get down is to sound conversational, but again having a structure to your voice which isn't natural. And not looking like your eyes aren't following the teleprompt. You have to look natural, but you're sounding not natural. It's confusing.

How would you practice?

I would watch News 10 or pick someone who I really liked and model after them. Practicing my voice was always the hardest thing, because my voice has always been higher than my age.

Who did you model after?

I like Cristina Mendonsa . I think she's great. She 's casual, but has that news tone. I also like Sharon Ito.

Have you seen Anchorman?

No, I want to (laughter).

Was there ever a desire to tackle more controversial subjects as opposed to Stockton All American City?

The reason why the channel came about was we were trying to give Stockton a better image. We'll never tackle anything bad about Stockton.

I guess that would be a no.

Yeah, that's a no. If you want to see that tune into News 10. There was no channel that really showed the good things about Stockton.

Why do you think Stockton has that bad image?

Our crime rate was high at one time, and it's gone down. I came into Channel 97 when we started the rebuilding of Stockton. The feeling was we've had some bad mayors, but now were trying to build up the city again, which is great. I guess some bad choices were made in the past and things didn't go as maybe they should have. I think so far we've been doing a great job at getting the city back up.

Here, I've always felt safe. I think that you never know until you've lived here or until you have visited.

What was your best experience working at Channel 97?

One of the coolest things I did was a motorcycle group who every year give toys and presents to children. And it was just neat because when you think of guys on motorcycles you don't think of a caring, cuddling type of person. I like finding out I'm wrong when I assume things. They're totally outgoing guys. It was really heartwarming.

What was your worst experience?

Well, I was sent to interview Michael Moore. And I was brainstorming with Floyd what kind of questions can I ask this guy. He's not gray - he's black or white. The question we decided I should ask is "What will you do if Bush gets re-elected?" and he looks at me dead in the eye and says "He won't be re-elected." My heart was racing like a million beats a second. I was like "What do I say to that?"

I was speechless, because here's this guy, he's well known, and I don't want to argue with him.

What's it like when you get recognized?

It feels kind of weird. I might be what you call a local celebrity, but [news casting] is just something I like to do. I've had some people come up and ask for my autograph, and I'm like "Are you kidding me?"... I'm not sure to take it seriously or not... but I don't want to deny them if they really want it.

It's flattering. It's cool for me to know that people actually tune into the program and are interested in the city because all we do is play events and local news. If you recognize me, you're tuning in which is great.

We like to ask everyone these questions... where's your favorite place to eat in Stockton?

I love Dave Wong's and Cocoro. I worked at Cocoro so I'm kinda biased towards them. They have the most amazing Japanese food. The atmosphere is awesome there. Dave Wong's - I just love that place.

Favorite place to hang out?

I love going to the downtown theatre.

What's your favorite movie?

The movie I've been watching lately is Zoolander. I just watch it over and over. I think it's funnier every time I watch it. It's a stupid movie, but it's hilarious.

To learn more about Stockton City News and Channel 97 click here.