The Aniak Anchor

MATT NEVALA

June 05, 2008 at 9:11AM AKST

When Aniak’s Andrea Gusty looks squarely into the television camera and tells her stories, she delights in knowing Alaska Natives like her are watching and taking pride in the work.

More important, the reporter and soon-be anchor at KTVA-Channel 11, Anchorage’s CBS affiliate, wants Alaskans of any and all cultures to view the images, listen to the words and learn something they may not have known before.

“It’s definitely something I’ve tried to do,” said Gusty, 25. “Anytime I can go to my managers and say this story is important to rural Alaska, I do. I want to be able to kind of educate urban Alaska. People who have lived (in Anchorage) their whole life don’t really know how people live out in the Bush.”

Gusty, a 2001 graduate of Aniak High, grew up catching salmon, hunting caribou and moose and picking berries from the tundra. She lived every bit of the lifestyle nurtured by her Yup’ik and Athabascan ancestors and relishes it.

This week, after nearly 2-1/2 years working as a KTVA reporter, she’s poised to make Alaska broadcasting history. Gusty will take over as KTVA’s weekend news anchor, and it’s believed she’ll be the second Alaska Native woman to fill an Anchorage anchor’s chair and the first since Bettles’ Shannon McConnell, now executive director of the Doyon Foundation, anchored the KIMO-Channel 13 news in the early 1980s.

“I’m scared, anytime one has change, it’s a little nerve-wracking,” Gusty said. “But one of the great things about the weekend position is it’s only two days. I’ll still be doing what I love the other three days.

“All I’ve ever wanted is to tell stories.”

Gusty’s rise from fishing on the Kuskokwim River with family near Stony River and wearing the sports uniform of the Aniak Halfbreeds in high school to showing up on television screens around Alaska was a determined one. Growing up 92 miles northeast of Bethel doesn’t necessarily conjure up images of lights, camera and action.

While in high school, Gusty became transfixed with an investigative piece on one of those “Dateline” or “60 Minutes” shows about death-row inmates.

“I told myself I was going to go to the best journalism school I can get into,” she said.

As a high school sophomore and junior, Gusty attended two years worth of intensive training days at the Alaska Native Youth Media Institute to further her understanding of the reporting craft.

“She came from that and knew what she wanted to do,” said Cheryl Jerarbek, Gusty’s mother, who still lives in Aniak. “Andrea is well suited to it because it’s how she likes to operate. She likes thinking on the spur of the moment, in the short term and working on deadlines.”

And although it would be an expensive decision, Gusty applied for admission to Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill Journalism School in Evanston, Ill., a suburb north of Chicago.

“I had a single mom, but we figured out a way,” Gusty said.

She was accepted to Medill before graduating from Aniak.

“The money still continues to be a stretch,” said Jerarbek, who works for the Kuspuk School District. “We took out the max family and student loans. It would have been free to go the University of Alaska.

“But she wanted to go to Northwestern.”

However, returning to Alaska to begin her reporting and broadcast career was a must as well. Gusty was familiar with the Midwest, having regularly visited family in Wisconsin.

“Still, four years in Chicago was plenty,” Gusty said.

Gusty remained true to her roots while at Northwestern. In May 2005, she was featured in the Northwestern student newspaper after giving a talk and dispelling many a Lower 48 myth about her Alaska Native heritage.

“We’re not just in school books or history books,” Gusty told The Daily Northwestern at the time. “A lot of people ask if I live in an igloo. I say yes, because our word for house is igloo.”

Gusty became a voice for all Native American issues during her time at Northwestern.

She was one of 0.5 percent of the school’s Native American students while there. Her mom said Gusty was homesick much of the time during college, but the time away also made Gusty certain she wanted to come home for work.

“A lot of the Northwestern kids grow up in a certain background, and they all want to be on CNN or go to New York, Chicago or Los Angeles,” Gusty said. “I had no desire and still have no desire for those big national news markets.

“I’ve been given an avenue (at KTVA) to give viewers something that matters in their day to day life — educating them about cultural traditions and how hard it can be.”

Staci Feger, KTVA’s news director, couldn’t have been more pleased to bring the Alaska-grown Gusty on board in 2005.

“Andrea told me one of the reasons she came back to Alaska was to give a voice to a population of the state that didn’t have a traditional voice in the media,” Feger said.

“That resonated with me.

“Having Andrea in our newsroom has educated everyone.”

Gusty has excelled at KTVA telling Alaska Native stories. Feger points out a series about Alaska Native suicide rates as some of Gusty’s best work.

Feger also called the move to the anchor chair a natural situation and a no-brainer.

“When we first hired her, I told Andrea this is the kind of market where you come in, get the experience and move on,” Feger said. “She told me, ‘Alaska is my home, and this is where I want to be.’ She looks to be the future of this television station, absolutely.”

Gusty makes daily calls to Jerarbek in Aniak, where her mother had to break down and buy a Dish Network satellite package to watch Gusty work. Jerarbek isn’t surprised her daughter wanted to come home and tell as many of her peoples’ stories as possible.

“I expected it to be the case,” Jerarbek said. “Living here, I always tried to expose her to as much of the culture — hunting in Stony River, fish camps, berry picking, Native dancing and beading. It’s a source of great pride.

“I would have been shocked if it wasn’t a focus (of her professional life).”

And with that, comes the recognition from being on television. As in, Jerarbek regularly runs into Bush Alaska residents she knows and doesn’t know who tell the mom they watch the daughter.

“I’m always told how proud of her they are,” Jerarbek said. “It always surprises me.”

Whether in Aniak or Anchorage, Gusty tries to take the recognition in stride.

“One of the great things about the Alaska market is they don’t necessarily see (television reporters) as celebrities but as average people,” Gusty said. “I get calls at the office with people telling me I’m doing a good job, but then they ask if I’ve gained weight.

“Alaska is one big family.”

It’s a family Gusty doesn’t plan on turning her back on anytime soon.

“I plan to go to fish camp this summer and be deep in fish guts,” she said. “I’ve got to stock my fridge.

“Oh, and the people at the station will expect their strips (of fish). And I have to supply the moose for Thanksgiving.”

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.