Shawn Rutherford

What's your name?
Shawn Rutherford

What's your position?
Austin News Today and Austin News At Noon Weather Anchor

When did you start at KXAN Austin News?
October 1998

What was your most memorable story?
Watching Jim Spencer interview a old man who had been a victim of the Moore Oklahoma tornado... heart-wrenching.

How did you get started in TV?
I originally worked for a couple of engineering firms: software and database programming, man/machine interface stuff.

Where did you go to college?
UTSA (University of Texas at San Antonio)

What's your hometown?
Goliad, Texas

What's your favorite thing about Austin?
It's an open environment. Just about anyone can live here, as long as they accept everyone else, very open-minded environment.

Who has been the most influential person in your life? Why?
My dad, a true renaissance man. He could do anything.

What's your guilty pleasure?
Lunch and conversation at my favorite restaurant: Café' Latte in Leander.

How would you like to make a difference?
I'm trying to do that, right now. This past year, my family and I decided to foster two children. We now have a 10-year-old daughter and recently were awarded full custody of a premature baby girl. My cup runneth over.

What's your favorite band or musician?
In Austin, you can't have a favorite because there are so many that are tops in their genres: Del Castillo, Kevin Fowler, W.C. Clark, Jimmy Vaughan, etc. etc. You just can't go wrong, seeing a live performance by so many groups and singers, here.

What's your favorite movie?
Hunt For Red October. It defines what I believe is a perfect movie: a true battle of the minds.

What's your favorite TV show?
Um, it's on another channel. It's on HBO: Entourage, something about the chemistry of the four guys. I guess every guy wants a group of friends like that.

What's your favorite food?
Again, it's Austin, so many places here serve up the pinnacle of their specific flavor.

Tell us about your family.
Not perfect, but honest, loving, and fun-loving. We do our best to work through life's challenges, sometimes with success, sometimes with failure, but we go through it together. I have my wife, Kathy, my two sons, one adopted daughter and two foster children (sometimes three).

You can e-mail Shawn at Shawn.Rutherford@kxan.com .