The "Brain" Behind NBC Bay Area

By Audrey Esomonu (`20)

It all started with an internship.

Ivan Corona Ramirez (‘18) is the assignment editor for Telemundo 48 and NBC Bay Area.

He said that people describe the assignment desk as the brain of the news organization, because so much information comes and goes through his team. At Telemundo and NBC, Ramirez assigns reporters to stories, monitors social media, coordinates live remotes with stations around the nation and responds to viewer emails and phone calls.

All stories are done by a team. Corona’s favorite story was about a patient in the U.S. with a special medical visa facing deportation due to the Trump administration's immigration changes.

“The media coverage [the patient] received after Telemundo 48 and NBC Bay Area aired her story helped her go to Washington D.C., talk on the Hill and have her case be reopened,” Corona said.

Ramirez spent the beginning of his junior year at SF State applying for the NBC Bay Area news internship, but he was turned down each time. The spring semester of his senior year he decided to apply again — still no response.

But, in January 2018, Ramirez received a call from a San Jose area code. He reluctantly answered thinking it was a telemarketer. To his surprise it was a manager from NBC Bay Area requesting an interview. Ten minutes later the manager texted him to offer him the internship.

“I knew that luck had something to do with me getting the internship, but I wanted a job and I was not going to let luck decide that,” Ramirez said.

He said he worked really hard at the internship, soaking up as much information as he could, taking notes on everything and always saying yes to any extra task he was assigned.

“At the end of my internship, which was a week before I got to walk at AT&T Park, I got a verbal job offer from the assignment manager at NBC Bay Area/Telemundo 48,” Ramirez said.

He signed his job acceptance letter hours before the graduation ceremony.

“I think the coolest part about my job is that I get to work with people from all over the world, with backgrounds much different from mine, and be able to put out a great newscast day to day.”

Ramirez wants journalism students to not be bothered by rejection.

“Hard work really does pay off. Don't be discouraged when you get many ‘no’s’. Just don’t leave anything up to luck,” he said.