Marianne Kushi

Updated 11:27 AM PST, Tue, Aug 4, 2009

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"Go with the flow."

That's what it takes to cover the news. One minute you could be covering a house fire, the next minute you could be sent on a jet plane to the other coast to report on illegal immigrants jumping ship in the Atlantic. Marianne Kushi says that's one reason why she chose journalism as her career.

"There is hardly a dull moment and you get the chance to meet and see people you'd never ordinarily encounter and bring their story to the viewer."

"I'll never forget the time when I was working in Seattle. A long-lost son saw his homeless father on television. The boy traveled across Washington state to search for his father and found him only to find out that his dad was happy the way he was living."

Marianne started out at KCBS in Los Angeles, then worked her way up the west coast as an anchor/reporter in Bakersfield then on to KOMO-TV in Seattle and KFMB-TV San Diego and came full circle back to KCBS as a reporter and fill-in anchor. She returned to San Diego to work at NBC 7/39 where she now co-anchors with Jason Austell on NBC 7/39 News in the Morning newscast.
Marianne has earned numerous awards including several emmys and a Golden Mike.

It is sometimes risky business covering the news in order to inform the viewer she says. She cites the L.A. riots and the time she and her crew were ahead of the path of a raging fire moving down the Malibu coast. Firefighters warned them that the mammoth flames could pour over and envelop the fire truck they were using for cover. Fortunately they were able to do their live shot and get out in time.

But it is not only the excitement of the job that drives her to do it.
As an anchor, Marianne says if she can give the people who are watching the news something "they didn't know or ever see before" then she knows she is doing her job. "It's fun to go with the flow you never know what will happen."

Drop Marianne a line: marianne.kushi@nbcuni.com.