Tritia Toyota (born March 29, 1947) is a former Los Angeles television news anchor and a current adjunct assistant professor in anthropology, Asian American studies and the media at the
University of California at Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
.
Early life and education
Toyota was born in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
. She earned a master's degree in journalism from the
University of California at Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
in 1970, and later earned a PhD in anthropology.
Career
Toyota began her broadcast career in Los Angeles in 1970 as a radio reporter with
KNX-AM
KNX (1070 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs an all-news radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KNX is one of the oldest stations in the United States, having received its first broadcasting license, ...
. In January 1972 she was hired as a general assignment reporter at
KNBC-TV
KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned-and-operated station, o ...
; she became weekend anchor there in 1975, and was promoted to the 5 p.m. edition of ''NewsCenter 4'' in 1977 followed by the 11 p.m. newscast in 1978.
Toyota quit KNBC (which became ''News 4 L.A.'' at the time of her resignation) in March 1985 and, after a standard three-month period between contracts, signed on as a news anchor for ''Channel 2 News'' at
KCBS-TV, where she was reunited with many of her fellow KNBC alumni (
Jess Marlow
Myron Jess Marlow (November 29, 1929 – August 3, 2014) was an American journalist. He was best known for his work on television in Los Angeles, California, where he spent the bulk of his career.
Early career
Marlow began his television caree ...
,
John Schubeck
John Schubeck (March 18, 1936 – September 26, 1997) was an American television reporter and anchor, and one of the few to anchor newscasts on all three network owned-and-operated stations in one major market.
Schubeck was born in Detroit, M ...
and
Kevin O'Connell).
Initially anchoring at 6 and 11 p.m., by the early to mid 1990s Toyota was relegated to the morning and midday editions of ''Channel 2 Action News''. On November 17, 1999, the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' reported that Toyota had left KCBS and that she previously had been removed from early morning and noon newscasts in September and October 1999. The story also reported that Toyota had been offered an opportunity to continue at the station and that she had declined.
In 1981, Toyota, along with reporters Bill Sing,
Nancy Yoshihara, David Kishiyama, Frank Kwan, and Dwight Chuman, founded the
Asian American Journalists Association
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational and professional organization based in San Francisco, California with more than 1,500 members and 21 chapters across the United States and Asia. The current presi ...
. Toyota is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at UCLA. In 2009 she published a book "Envisioning America: New Chinese Americans and the Politics of Belonging".
Personal life
Toyota is married to Michael Yamaki and lives in the Los Angeles area.
In popular culture
Los Angeles
punk rock band
The Dickies
The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy mel ...
recorded a song called "(I'm Stuck in a Pagoda with) Tricia Toyota." It is unclear whether the misspelling of Toyota's first name was deliberate or accidental.
Toyota is also mentioned in "The L.A. Song," a song by L.A.
hip-hop group
People Under The Stairs, from their 2002 album ''
O.S.T.''.
"The L.A. Song" on Song Meanings
/ref>
The TV news reporter character Tricia Takanawa on '' Family Guy'' may have been inspired at least in part by Toyota; KTTV
KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...
Fox 11 reporter Tricia Takasugi has also been suggested as a source for the character.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toyota, Tritia
American writers of Japanese descent
Television anchors from Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Living people
Journalists from Oregon
1947 births
American women television journalists
American women journalists of Asian descent
21st-century American women