Jen Wahl
Jen Wahl is a reporter, meteorologist, and traffic anchor for 12News. Jen joined 12News in February 2016. Prior to joining Team 12, Jen worked at KSNV, the NBC Las Vegas affiliate as a reporter and meteorologist. Earlier in her career, she worked as reporter and weather anchor at KBOI, the CBS affiliate in Boise, Idaho and morning weather anchor at KRNV, the NBC affiliate in Reno, Nevada.
Over the years, Jen has covered everything from immigration and drug smuggling stories at the Arizona-Mexico border to wildfires raging across Arizona and Nevada. She was also recognized with Emmy Awards for her reporting and producing roles in a documentary on border and immigration issues in South Africa, breaking news coverage at 12News and reporting on the 12News morning newscast.
Episode Transcription
This episode is sponsored by Gilbert Independent, Yourvalley. net, dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a nonpartisan newspaper, an online site that covers your town's institutions, development, and events. Describe and follow your Valley. net daily to stay up to date with the latest local news. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and Modern Moments wedding and event venue and produced by Sleepy Time Studios. Man, it's a beautiful day outside. What's the weather today? Do you know? I don't know, but I think we might be able to talk about.
We'll see who we have with us today? Today's guest is a familiar face to many in Arizona, an Emmy Award winning reporter, meteorologist, and traffic. for 12 News. A native to the East Valley, she grew up watching 12 News and made it her goal to work there. Now she's at the heart of Arizona's biggest stories. Early in her broadcasting career, she sharpened her skills in Las Vegas, Reno, and Boise, reporting on breaking news and extreme weather. At home, she and her husband are raising their 4 children and 2 beloved dogs, jalapeno and pancake.
Her path to journalism was unexpected. Starting as an elementary education major at ASU, she found her true calling in storytelling and took a leap into broadcast journalism. From the classroom to the newsroom, her journey is one of persistence, passion and purpose. Let's dive in with this local favorite. Please welcome Jen Wall. Hey, hey, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. It's good to be here. You're like I was. Yeah, she was like I was on the print side and so good that I pivoted.
there's still time. It's never too late. All right, before we get into and all the fun, let's start with what we call rapid response. Nope, it's rapid fire. Here we go. Would you rather sing in public or dance in public? D. What is one of your nicknames? Just one. I know you have a lot, but what's your one nickname? Jenny from the wall. Oh, OK. It's different. Would your 12 year old self think you are today? You're on my 53 year old self would think I'm tired today. Sure, yes, we'll go with yes.
I'm on that. OK, you ever? Oh, have I ever won a contest? Yes. I was at an ASU basketball game and it was in one of the quarters and it was a free throw shooting contest and I beat the other person. No, and I want a sparky bobblehead and also an Emmy and an Emmy, I don't know the sparky bobblehead that it might be better than the Emmy. It's right next to it, I'm sure. Yeah. Would you ever skydive? No. What is your favorite breakfast? Mm scrambled eggs with avocado.
Pretty simple. What is one thing you wish you enjoyed more of being outside and hiking? Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? Introverted extrovert. Yes, I can relate. Do you have a favorite book? Good question. Who has time to read? I don't have time to read. That is. It's the worst answer right now. You do. I do. I really enjoyed It Ends with us. That's the last book I read. It was really good. OK. All right, I have two glasses. One's half full, one's half empty.
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All right, let's get back to your East Valley roots. This is pretty, pretty exciting to talk to someone who's been here her whole life. Tell us what, uh, growing up in East Valley. was like, yeah, we're a rare breed these days. It's hard to find folks that have been here for, you know, born and raised, but we're here and um I grew up in Chandler and I went to Pomeroy Elementary in Mesa and did that until 5th grade, and then my parents really wanted us to move to Gilbert.
They saw the growth that was happening and opportunities for us. So they did that. They moved us and actually one of my best friends from Pomeroy, she also moved to the same school that I was at. So that was fun. We got to We still keep in touch today. Um, that makes it much easier as a kid. Yeah, it was, it was definitely rough to leave. I didn't want to leave, but I'm really glad I ended up in Gilbert. I mean we literally moved like 2 miles you're in grade.
It seems like I'm sure it was, so we weren't as connected with, you know, I feel like. Now it's really easy for me to be connected to all my kids, my kids' friends, parents because of social media and other things. So, yeah, yeah. So we moved over to Gilbert and the rest is history. Talk about what Gilbert was like when you were in high school. What do you remember? It was so different. So I grew up on the west end of Gilbert. I went to Mesquite High.
And you really didn't go past Gilbert Road. There wasn't much of anything. Obviously today, that's much different where I live with my family now, we're in southeast Gilbert, so it is. Um, quite far out there compared to where my parents live still, but, um, I mean, yeah, downtown Gilbert was gonzos and a furniture shop and I forgot, yes, sorry, I was thinking of a Tahoe restaurant when you said that. Norwood is still there. Yes, yes, thank you for naming it. Um, anyway, um, so downtown Gilbert was not a whole lot and we Really just, we ran around and did silly crazy things that we would probably get in trouble for today because of social media.
No, we didn't break the law, nothing like that. I want to say nothing, but you know, um, tray surfing, not sure if you're familiar with that, but some of my guy friends did that and just silly things that, you know, nowadays would probably be frowned upon. But anyway, um, it's really awesome to see how much Gilbert has grown. Yeah. In that time, do you remember a family or an individual who had an influence on you? Yeah, there were several. We love Dr. Kemmer. I know he, he was an amazing English teacher at Mesquite High, and so he actually, fun fact, taught myself, Crystal Henderson, who's a meteorologist.
At Channel 12 as well. And then April Wernke, who is a meteorologist at Channel 3, she went to Gilbert High. So he taught all three of us, and he's still in the valley today, and I haven't talked to him in a really long time, but several years back, um, we caught up and always loved talking with him. And then, um, Mr. Stengel was our student council advisor, and he is now the athletic director at Williams Field High School. So he has a broadcast background and went into teaching, so kind of backwards for me.
But when I was a senior in high school, I grabbed a camera and shot our senior video. I just ran around Mesquite the entire senior year shooting everything and it was so much fun. And I put together this video and I was like, surely this is what journalism is like. I should be a journalist. It's a little different, just little, but no, it was, it was really neat. So, um, him giving me that opportunity to be able to do that just really kind of started those wheels turning of storytelling.
And I still keep in touch with him today as well, and my daughters just did a cheer camp at Williams Fields, um. A couple of months back. So it's really fun to see the impact he's had on the community, and he's really great. I'm East Valley is still a small town. It is love it. I love that. So if you had the spark for journalism in high school, how did you go to ASU for elementary ed? My mom's a teacher, so I just thought I really want to be a teacher.
I love kids. I was teaching preschool gymnastics and Mesa, just like little things like that. And so I always thought that's what I wanted to do. And then when I was student teaching. I just watching the kids do all these amazing things and have these dreams and goals, and I just thought, well, maybe I'll give it a shot and apply to ASU. And I think at the time, They admitted like 18 out of 80 something applicants, and I thought, well, that's a pretty small number, so if I get in, this is it, and if not, cool, it's all good.
And so I was lucky enough to be accepted to the master's program, and here we are. I would think in that moment, it's a little a bit bit of a risk to totally change course. Um, do you remember? Was there somebody in particular that you were thinking of back then, or is there what did that process look like for you? I'm trying to think back to that moment. Not really. I just really wanted to follow journalism and I knew that if it wasn't for me, then I could always go back to teaching, which I always loved and still today, I know that that's an option and it's not off the table.
So, um, but once I got into the Cronkite School, I met Aaron Brown, and he was an incredible CNN anchor. He anchored 9/11 coverage. So learning from him and all of his stories and the other professors who were there at the time who aren't there anymore, I just knew it was for me. So I love that. Yeah. And your mom didn't go like, you're not gonna be a teacher. What? No, my mom is very supportive of whatever it is we would like to do. Yeah. OK. Cool, cool.
So talk about that then that you went and studied. I know a little bit about that. Well, there's. OK. But she did go to school where I went to school. Did you go to Walter Cronkite. OK, well, so talk a little bit about that, would you, for those who don't know. Yeah, it's a fantastic program. The master's program is a little different. It's more fast paced and so you're done in about 103, 2.5 years. So the 1st 2 years are some reporting classes, some just general communications classes, and then your last semester, I think I did 2116, I can't remember now.
That's terrible, but I, I did a producing semester, then I did a reporting semester, and then I, it was called News Watch. It's, I think it's called something a little different now, Cronkite News Watch, so you were We basically put on newscasts, and we did, we covered legitimate stories in Arizona. It's still happening today. It's a wonderful program. And so we did that. We worked with ABC News in New York. So that was really neat. We got to um cover some really great election stories. I was reporting live election night with John McCain at his headquarters.
We went to South Africa, we covered border and immigration issues. That was incredibly eye-opening. So, There are so many opportunities there are so well connected to jobs around the US. I mean, as long as you put in the time and the work, you, you can go really far with that program. Yeah. What do you think you most enjoy about, I mean, it's fast paced, it changes, and you have to be At least surface level knowledgeable about a lot of different topics, um, which I think a lot of people would find overwhelming.
What do you enjoy about the job? The storytelling element and working with folks in the community. I love being a voice for the voiceless and sharing the wins in the community and our neighborhoods. Um, I always tell my friends, you know, sure, tell me what you think is a good story idea, because it probably is. I'm a resource. I know you, you're in the community. And if it's a really great story to you, it's probably something we should be sharing on 27. And so just being really connected and yes, we have to share the hard and, you know, sad and important advocacy stories, but also I love celebrating the wins in our community too.
I love that. As you navigate having a family with having a career, what do you, how do you do it? What do you find, how do you find the balance, or do you? Lots of caffeine. Um, it's, I mean, it's a struggle. My husband's really supportive, so I do. He gets the kids ready for school every day, and then I pick them up from school, take them to all of their things. Um, and that's why I worked at the shift that I worked, because I want to be able to be there for them as much as I can.
I don't want someone else raising my kids if possible. So we pile in the truck every day after school and go to dance, gymnastics, baseball, get the baby, and then I try to get to bed on time. It rarely happens, as you can probably tell sitting here. And then he, um, you know, takes over at night around 210 or so and it's 25 or 210, which is so bad. I'm working on that. I actually that's I I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's terrible but lots of caffeine, lots of support.
And then I have an incredible um workout crew that is just, it's a bunch of moms and Gilbert and I love them and you. Yeah, that's great. Lots of connections there. And do you have like, is that your jam then? Is that why you had to make that connection, chatting with you guys at the end of my day. So if I sound. Like I'm falling asleep, disclaimer, or I forget a name of something. Well, now you know why. OK. So what does the news? We start at 25:123.
That's when we go on, yes. It depends on the day. I was just talking with my boss about this the other day, sometimes 212:224, sometimes 27:30. It just kind of depends on what I'm doing that day. Yeah. Dang, that's like crazy. Oh, wrapping things up and I'm. Yeah, right. What would you say is one of the biggest preconceived notions about your job? That we have hair and makeup people that somebody puts on my hair and makeup every day. That is all I know, right? Who would have thought? I used to.
I mean, some people do, some people don't. It's just kind of work that into what you think is important when you're trying to figure out where you want to work. So, yeah, no, I shop at the Target Sephora just like everybody else. She's just like us. Yeah. Great. When you look back on your career, so I'm curious how you got from ASU to Las Vegas and then Reno and then Boise and then back. So Boise was the first, well, it's different now, but, and that, oh my gosh, I've been in the news industry since when did I start?
2011. So that long. So it's changed a lot, but then starting in Boise was a pretty big market to start in. So typically you start in like really small markets. But now that the industry's changed, I think there's more opportunity for folks to start in even larger markets. Anyway, Boise was the Spot that reached out that was the best opportunity for me and I remember Aaron Brown emailed me cause I I emailed him and I said, hey, what do you think? And he goes, this lady wants to give you a job, get on that airplane.
And so, yeah, I did, and we moved there. And then while I was there, I was filling in for weather and I decided I liked that. So then I could have left Boise for Reno or West Palm Beach. So it was either there or Reno. And I would have been a reporter in West Palm Beach or a morning weather anchor in Reno, and I thought that I would never like living in Reno and was so wrong. It is the most incredible city on the planet. It is a hidden gem. Yes.
Why is this such a hidden gem? Because basically anywhere you live, you're about 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe and hiking, and that's when I say we miss hiking. I mean, we didn't have kids yet. So in the winter, we were skiing every weekend. Sometimes when we got off work, we would go skiing or and every weekend we hiked in the summer, and I was just always outside and it was a wonderful, amazing people. It was really fun. I mean, we didn't spend a lot of time in the casinos downtown, and I think, you know, it gets kind of a Uh, reputation for that, but, you know, I mean, there's a beautiful uh river right through downtown, and it's just gorgeous.
So, yeah, I went there, and then we would have stayed there, honestly, we loved it. My husband didn't want to leave, but we wanted to get back home, um, we have in to Phoenix. So then I tried. To get out of my contract, which is a fun little thing in this industry. And it wasn't possible. However, I figured out a workaround to get to Las Vegas because my station in Reno owned the Vegas station. So I emailed the Vegas news director and said, hey, I want a job.
You got one? And he said, yes. And so then we moved to Vegas, and then we were there and then um I kept in touch with the current, the news director at Channel 12 at the time, basically the whole time I was gone. I was like, I want to work for you. I want to work for you. And so he eventually Had an opening About 2 years into my contract, so, all right, fine. What do you think were some of the biggest lessons learned in that journey starting out and then making your way back home?
Biggest lessons were, you know, hard work is worth it and sacrifice, and that it's OK to change your mind as well, you know, something, I think sometimes we get on a path and we think we have to stick with it and I don't think we necessarily have to. I think we can keep our eyes open for whatever. Life changes and you think you're going to go one way and then it doesn't always go the way you think. So it's OK to be flexible. I love that. When you're out there reporting, let's just say you get a very interesting or it goes the wrong direction.
Well, how do they train you? What do you do to keep yourself on track on Ben's the only person you can and you can't string a sentence together. How do you make that work? That's funny. Uh, you know, that honestly hasn't really happened. I think. No, she hasn't run into you. I guess. Well, I am curious like what are some of your craziest experiences? I know I'm trying to think of all the things. You know, I'm tired already. No, you're fine. I'm on a lot of breaking news in the morning and so we don't typically have a lot of live interviews because it's in the middle of the night.
And if we do, honestly, they've pretty much always been fine. I remember one time we interviewed a guy that had helped try to save somebody from a burning truck and they couldn't save that person and he was just Yeah. During the interview, we could tell he was struggling and it was affecting him. And so at that moment, you know, the producers could tell as well, and it was like, you know, let's stop, like, let's get this guy help, let's get the cameras out of his face and just cause you could, yeah, what he'd seen was really hard.
So in that kind of a situation, you know, my producers are talking to me in my ear. My photographer is looking at me and I work with my photographer so closely that it's we have a really good relationship so you can kind of tell when you need it it's like baseball he's pulling on, you know, yeah, so then we, you know, stopped that interview and got the gentleman help, but If sometimes in the middle of the night, you know, honestly, one of the biggest issues we have is folks that are intoxicated or on drugs or whatever that are a potential threat to our live shots, walking up behind us, yelling at us, a safety risk.
So, Again, my photographers are amazing. I've been working with them for a really long time, and they, we just know like our safety is number one, and if anything seems sketchy in the least bit, we're done, we're out, no news report is worth that. So, do you find um that it's a challenge to find the balance between storytelling and Like you said, with this one individual, like being a little bit intrusive in a time in a sensitive time, like is there. Is there a balance to that?
Yeah, I mean, and those are conversations my photographer and I have, and if we feel that someone isn't OK, absolutely not. I am, my job is not, um, I don't know, I just, human first. I always say that human first. Job second. And if I, we don't feel that they're OK to be on camera, then no, I mean, we're not. I know there's other places that not even here in Arizona, but like paparazzi and stuff like that. Like, no, I don't ever want to have that reputation.
Um, so, you know, there are times where you have to do those door knocks where you know a family has just been through a horrible situation and a lot of times. We can work around it by going to a neighbor and saying, hey, do you know them? A lot of times I do. Do you think that they would want to talk about this? And sometimes the families want to talk, sometimes it is cathartic for them, and it's a release, and then other times it is just way too soon.
And so I have found that a really good way is to to go through people like that to kind of gauge first, and then Or, or just the neighbor can talk, you know, um, so I always try to be respectful because yeah, I don't, I don't know if that answered your question, but I don't think it is hard to, to strike that balance and know. It's so hard when you are asking people questions on the worst day of their life. And yeah, and you never know. Like I said, sometimes they really want to talk and sometimes they don't, and whatever the answer is.
You ever got stuck on like a thing? No, I, you know, doing, yes, I'll mention Groundhog Day, you know, like the same thing. I'm sorry I misunderstood or like you just didn't really want to do, but you had to do because it's like any other job I'm sure where the swine flu, you guys remember that? When I was in Idaho, if I had to cover the swine flu one more time, I was gonna lose my mind. Have you ever had to do a gig on top of a mountain?
Yes. How about a hot air balloon? I feel like I did when it was tethered, but I can't remember for sure. I. I went up in a helicopter with the camera and shot, but I wasn't. I'm gonna apologize for him. I don't know. These are the questions I'll go. I did a report on a bull. Are there any stories over your career that you just love that stick with you? Oh my goodness. Yes, stories that I love. Let me think. Well, you're thinking. What's your favorite news reporting movie?
I, this isn't a movie, but I love the morning show on Apple TV. It's fabulous. Oh yeah, it's so good. Is it? Yeah, not all, you know, it's Hollywood, but yeah, there are many moments where I'm like, you can go back to your question? If there's that's. Oh my goodness, I should have thought of this before I came in. There are so many. What's the first one that comes to mind? As long as it's clean. I know. No, I don't like. Well, why would that be your favorite, Ben?
I am drawing a blank right now. This is awful. OK, so you, you alluded to the evolution of the industry. I'm curious what the evolution has looked like. Yeah, it is, it's constantly changing with the internet and now streaming, and so, which is kind of cool. We are doing a big push towards streaming at 12 News um because that's how a lot of folks are watching. TV now, Netflix, Hulu. And apps and things. And so what I like about that is it's potentially opening up the door for more long form content, where with TV we are stuck with 5, 2 minutes, usually, maybe even less.
And so there's more freedom to tell longer stories, you know, we can put the shorter version on TV and a longer version on streaming. And folks want to see it and they want to sit and watch. So yeah, I think that's really cool. That is great. How about from a workforce perspective? Is it, um, you mentioned that maybe it's easier now for newer reporters to get into larger markets, potentially, yeah, it's just different. You're getting to, I think if you are a, not always, but a younger reporter or newer in the industry, you have opportunities to jump into some larger markets and learn from some more veteran reporters, anchors, producers right off the bat, whereas maybe You you would need to make different stops prior, yeah.
Are you concerned? That AI and bots are gonna take your job. No, I mean, it's something we talk about. I don't know. She's laughing, but I'm serious. It's legitimate. I could we could record your voice and have AI report everything we wanted to say in your voice. And you could sit back and just drink all day long. AI right now. I thought that was the case. She had that twinkle in her eye. Santa Claus, one of the, you know, I think that it's something to pay attention to, but I think at the end of the day, we still want human interaction.
So also, I, I'm still out in the community physically grabbing interviews and videos and I. feel, think that it would be very difficult for AI to do that. So, That aspect I'm not concerned. Do you use it much at all in what you do today? Like probably for research maybe or something or no, not really yet. There's discussions about how to use it. 11 way that I love that has taken so made my job much easier is we have a program where we can put our um Video clip our sound from our interview into the program and upload it and then it summarizes and it lists all of the soundbites.
And so instead of having to log everything where you actually for folks who don't know, you sit there and you listen to the whole interview and you type it all out. Um, I click boop, it's up online and I can look at everything that was said, and I can keep referring to it. So that part of AI has been incredible, but we have to be careful with ethics and everything. So it's a lot of discussions that are happening, but I mean, No, I'm not worried about it taking over newsroom.
Yeah, I was just asking because, you know, industry has to have some type of impact from change, right? And I'm sure it will. And hey, OK, so a story that I loved that I did, you asked was AI and education and how it's changing here in Arizona. So I've been following that and I thought that was really interesting because I have kids in East Valley School District and so I was curious what different schools are doing to implement AI and how they're um making sure that it's done correctly and safely and I learned there's a lot of great folks in Arizona that are working on this behind the scenes and our kids are learning a lot and they're going to be wizards by the time they graduate.
It's actually just the evolution in the last few years. I have kids in high school and, you know, I think He's a senior now and when he's a freshman, AI was in a conversation and now it's about teaching them how to use it responsibly. And I think somewhere in the middle there was um a resistance to it, like AI is not allowed and it's incredible how fast it's changed and important to teach them to use it the right way. Yeah. So in your spare time, you talked a little bit about hiking and and what what do you enjoy doing?
I don't have a lot of free time. I enjoy spending time with my kids, honestly, try to, you know, get out with my girlfriends every once in a while, but my free time is really spent working out. I love that. That is my age? No, she's 1 now, excuse me. She's 116, 7, 10. OK, so I'm just trying to put in a lot of a lot of little leagues. Yes, he is, yeah, he, my son plays baseball and then, yeah, what's your favorite parking Gilbert? Favorite parking. Oh, Free Stone's an oldie but a goodie.
I am, please excuse my brain by this hour, the one that's on Jermaine that has all the fun slides. Gilbert Regional. Yes, I love Gilbert Regional too. My kids love that one. So that's a good one. I think it's under me, maybe I'm wrong, I'm sorry. It's out there, Queen Creek and something. Yeah, OK, and it's, it's only beginning. It's going to be a big park someday. So yes, we. favorite restaurant in Gilbert? I love Buck and Ryder so much. Yeah, it is so good because of the food or the drinks all the food, yes, drinks are dangerous, but they're tasty.
Yeah, the food's delicious. All of it so good. Yeah, yeah, I love that whole area. Yes, is a lot of fun. It is. OK, we've gotten caught up now. What's tomorrow look like? Look in your crystal ball. Yeah, maybe the, maybe the next 5 to 10 years. I was literally thinking tomorrow I'm like, wow, we have to pick up that now, um, next 5 to 10 years. Oh, I honestly, I don't know. I hope I'm still working at Channel 12 and Still, hopefully my kids are still crushing it and all the things that they love and hopefully we're still living in Gilbert and enjoying life and still telling stories around the valley, but everything changes so often.
Who knows? We're flexible. Yeah, I love that. OK, any last minute advice for those that are wanting to go into journalism? Last minute advice, just make sure you do your research, and it is a rewarding career, but The hours are wild and. What I'm told it's a passion career. So if you're looking to be financially set, um, just consider that and um You know, just make sure you really are getting into it for the right reasons, because it is a lot of work, but sounds like you need to know your camera crew too.
You need to know your camera crew. You get to work with some of the best people in the biz and It's a lot of fun. OK, good, good. Sarah, last words. Thank you. Thanks for spending some time with us today and we appreciate getting to know you and the way that you engage in our community and serve the valley. Thank you. Sarah's glowing right now. This is fun. I appreciate. It's been a great conversation, so thanks for joining us. And I know you out there have enjoyed this conversation because we certainly have.
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