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Duane Shimogawa

dshimogawa@hawaiinewsnow.com 

Click here for Duane's blog "Par-Duane Me"

Growing up on a cattle ranch just outside of Lihue, I never thought my career would be in television. I actually thought I'd follow in my father, Duane Sr.'s footsteps or boot prints in this case, as a cowboy.

I would tag along at rodeos, chase cows and ride horses as a child. At the same time, I picked up on how hard my mom and dad worked for everything we achieved. If there's one thing living on a ranch has taught me, the value of hard work would be it. My family's meat cutting business also showed me what hard work was all about. Getting up at the crack of dawn to de-bone meat and scrape bone shavings off different cuts of meat doesn't sound really appealing, right? Well, we did it, with or without a smile. It toughened us up and at the same time, instilled that hard working attitude in all of us.

As I gravitated towards sports, it was my sister who would take after my dad. She would compete in barrel races and raise everything from a steer to a pig, as a member of 4-H.

Basketball would become my passion from my elementary school days until my first two years of college. I would eat, sleep and breathe the sport. At times, my mom had to come out and stop me from playing because dinner was getting cold or the ball would hit her or my dad's vehicles in the garage.

But hoopin' it up would be my vehicle to college. After three successful seasons on the varsity squad at Kauai High, I chose to continue playing at a tiny school in Iowa, yes Iowa!

It is there that I learned how lucky I was to grow up and live in Hawaii. I would often get the question, "So why did you leave Hawaii to come to Iowa?" I got so tired of answering that question, that I jokingly gave different answers to everyone.

After two years in the Heartland, I found myself losing interest in basketball and searching for another passion. Interning during summers at KFMN radio, piqued my interest. I transferred to Central Washington University, where it had a broadcast journalism major, which is what I was looking for. I also chose Central because I wanted to get a little closer to home and my dad once shipped cattle to the town where the college stood.

After working at the college's radio station, newspaper and TV station, I found out that TV was the media for me. It's the most powerful media because it encompasses sound, writing and video.

It would also become my new passion. CWU had a small broadcast journalism program, so I got a lot of attention and pointers from professors. After doing basically every job in the TV program, reporting stories became my focus. I love it because it allows me to tell a different story each and everyday. It may sound easy to some, but it's a big challenge. One that would take me back to Kauai after college to become a radio announcer at KFMN radio and the sports editor of The Garden Island newspaper. My first TV job would land me in Yakima, Washington (KNDO-TV), before interning at KING-TV in Seattle and then to Kalispell, Montana (KCFW-TV).

While "cutting my teeth" in the Mainland, I had one eye on Hawaii. Coming back to the place where my family and closest friends were and also to the place where I learned the values of hard work and perseverance, only made the most sense.

KHNL/K5 News gave me that opportunity and now I'm glad and thankful to be apart of another great team of individuals at Hawaii News Now. I look forward to meeting you and helping you tell your story, now that you've read mine.