Morning show trades Phoenix studio for Yuma streets

Yuma basked in the media spotlight Tuesday when a popular morning TV show traded its Phoenix studio for the streets and businesses of Yuma.

"Good Morning Arizona," shown on KTVK-TV, began broadcasting its Tuesday show from inside Lutes Casino at 5 a.m. and moved out onto Main Street just after sunrise.

The show began a two-week tour of small and smallish towns around the state on Monday. Their first was Wickenburg and the show headed to Lake Havasu City after Yuma.

On-air personalities said they loved getting to take their show on the road - and showing off Arizona.

"We're trying to show places people might not think about going to," weatherman Brad Perry told The Sun. "Now they can see, wow, there really is something they can do in Yuma."

Perry said he wanted the rest of Arizona to take a second look at Yuma.

"Yuma isn't just a place to stop and get gas on the way to San Diego," Perry said. "If people get off the interstate, they're going to find a downtown that's growing. I remember coming here four years ago and it was really dead. Now it's looking great."

Tuesday's show of "Good Morning Arizona" featured local faces including a chef from the restaurant Ciao Bella demonstrating a recipe and a performance by a mariachi group from Gadsden Elementary School District.

The show also conducted live pieces from Main Street shops such as Twigs.

Mayor Larry Nelson said he loved seeing his city enjoy such deserved attention from the rest of Arizona.

"It's neat because this tells the rest of the state what Yuma's all about," Nelson said. "Yuma has been one of the best-kept secrets in the Southwest for so long."

In an earlier newspaper article, city leaders encouraged residents to show up on Main Street en masse for the shooting, saying that 1,000 smiling faces would be great for the cameras. Tuesday's crowds, however, proved to be much smaller.

"Now we have a few hundred people," said Charlene Shanahan, a community relations specialist for KTVK-TV. "At 4:30 a.m., we already had viewers - about 20 - then by 5 a.m., there was between 50 and 100. It's really been a great show."

At several points, show staffers gathered up interested locals onto bleachers for their collective time on the camera.

To create such a temporary studio space, TV crews started setting up wiring at Lutes at midnight the evening before.

On-air personality Scott Pasmore said the biggest challenge for him was simply leaving the comfort and security of studio walls.

"I work in a studio with a couple cameras, so I'm not always comfortable in front of a bunch of people," Pasmore said. "But, you know, this has really been fun. We've had a really great time here in Yuma."

Tuesday's show featured the work of 26 staff people who are traveling the state in KTVK-TV vehicles, plus a few more rented cars, with a huge satellite truck following along.

But for one crew member, coming to Yuma meant coming home. Gilbert "Gibby" Parra, who works on the video side of the show, said he loved getting to show his friends his beloved hometown.

"People here have been saying for years 'When are you going to bring your show down here to Yuma?'" Parra said. "It's been 13 years in the making, but it's finally come true."

Parra graduated from Yuma High School in 1990 and started his career in Yuma at KYEL-TV.

Since being with "Good Morning Arizona," he's been sent to on-location stories including the Oklahoma City bombing and the death of Princess Diana.

"You name these places, it's where I've gone, places I never thought I'd get to be," Parra said, adding words of encouragement for young people in Yuma. "I found something I love. As long as you do that, there's no stopping you."

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Darin Fenger can be reached at dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.