Two former local TV reporters—one who has reaped international YouTube fame—have created a Web site where they will report pet-related news. A staple of their just-up-and-running Petopia.tv site will be offbeat videos featuring our furry friends.
Nina Jimenez was a reporter and Sunday morning show anchor on KGTV from 2001-07. Michelle Brubaker was the managing editor of 10News.com and did on-air “News Click” pieces about the Web site’s top stories.
Brubaker and her firefighter husband, John, gained their own Web fame as the “Baby Got Back Wedding Dancers.” At their reception, their first dance started as “Unchained Melody” but abruptly segued into a wildly gesticulated version of “Baby Got Back.”
The video got more than 11 million hits on YouTube, and earned the couple guest spots on “Ellen,” “Today,” “The Early Show,” “Inside Edition,” VH1 and a couple London-based TV shows.
“You never know when a video is going to go viral,” says Brubaker. “It’d be great if something we do on Petopia.tv got even half that success.”
Out of the gate, Petopia.tv will produce a video news story—often off-beat—each week, with frequency of posts to increase later, says Jimenez. The site will allow viewers to post their own pictures and videos of their pets, and will offer monthly contests, tips and recommendations on pet topics. There’s also a trainer-on-call who will answer questions for free.
The Dancing Brubakers celebrate their wedding anniversary on September 21. Stay tuned to Petopia.tv to see if a doggie version of the “Baby Got Back Wedding Singers” will be in the offing.
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Ron Donoho is a regular contributor to NBCSandiego.com, editorial director of “Pacific SD” magazine and a contributing editor to sandiego.com. His Web site (sandiegoDTOWN.com) is dedicated to news, sports, culture, happy hours and all things downtown.
