and he decided to get married during his time at City College.

“Without a doubt my wife kept me grounded and she was also there to support me. So there was a great built in support system …” Ojeda said. He smiled and continued to say that his wife is still by his side — 32 years later.

Ojeda continued his journalism education at San Diego State State University. After graduation, he opted to leave his hometown to start his career working for KTAB-TV in Abilene, Texas, in 1985.

Developing his reporting and anchoring skills in west Texas proved to be a big culture shock for the San Diego native.

“I can remember one of my first Texas experiences, is where they had this thing called The Rattlesnake Roundup and it wasin a place called Sweetwater, Texas, and the whole thing is where you go out and you hunt rattlesnakes and you bring them back and they had this big festival and they make boots, belts, key chains and they cook snakes. And (I) was like ‘Wow, you’re not in San Diego anymore,'” he said.

Luckily, Ojeda was able to find a job after spending four months in west Texas at KGUN-TV in Tucson, Ariz. After almost a year in Arizona, Ojeda found his way back to San Diego in 1986 for KFMB-TV, where he reported the news for three years before becoming the weekend sports anchor for Channel 8 for two years. During his time at Channel 8, Ojeda received an Emmy for Best Performance in News and a