Voice

Nothing is so marketable in broadcast news as an authoritative timbre, which almost guaranteed that Brent Boynton’s hiatus from Reno television news would not last. He and KOLO parted company a year and a half ago, and the interim Boynton served as press spokesperson for Jim Gibbons first in the campaign and then when Gibbons became governor. Now he’s back on KOLO.

What made you come back to journalism?

They asked me to come. I would say that getting the call from Channel 8 was literally the last thing that I expected. But Bob Page, who’s the news director, called me up and invited me to breakfast. We talked about an hour and 45 minutes at breakfast.

And settled it right then?

Well, I realized that it was a serious possibility right then. When I first went, I thought, “It probably won’t go anywhere.” But, by golly, it did.

After having been first in politics and then in government services, how will that help you in journalism, or will it?

Certainly it will help. In the past two years, basically, I got a crash course in politics—kind of went to political boot camp. I learned much more about how government works, and I’ve learned a lot about life and about myself. And those are lessons I can use every day. Now there are specific things I learned about state government. Who runs what. I have contacts I never had before that will come in handy. But the larger lessons were truly on a grander scale.

Which does Patricia [Boynton, his wife] prefer, having you as a journalist or in public service?

I like to think she likes to see more of me.

Well, that eliminates both of them.

That’s true. But she sees a lot more of me these days. And she, just like a lot of my friends, sees me as being happier these days. She was wonderful in giving me support for whatever I did, but she’s glad I’m back. … I’m thrilled to be back.

I’m reading here [on the KOLO website] that when you were little you had a reel to reel tape recorder and did newscasts.

I did a little TV newscast, and it was funny because there were more cigarette commercials than there was news, which was reflective of the times, and also the kids glom onto the commercials a whole lot more than they do the news.

You know, as well as anyone, that we’ve seen news people come and go in this market. Some of them just come and put in a couple of years and move on. You didn’t do that. You put down roots. How come? Did you expect that when you came here?

[Long pause] Good question. What hung me up on that was wondering if I expected it when I came here. I don’t think so. I love this place, and I think I matured here in a civic sense. I was never really active in a community before. So not only do I love Northern Nevada, the countryside and the lifestyle and the weather, but this gave me a chance to really feel some closeness with the people and to feel like I am really a part of this community. And when I was looking at a change in work, and I didn’t know if that was going to involve a move or a change of career, I decided to change careers rather than give up living here.