Meet Matt Johnson of FOX 11 & Good Day L.A.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Johnson.

Matt, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My interest in current events and love for TV News turned into my dream job. I now work for FOX 11 News and “Good Day L.A.” a morning broadcast I grew up watching.

My passion for news started as a kid growing up in the Inland Empire. My mom, Georgia, encouraged me to write a kid’s column for “The Daily Bulletin”, our local newspaper. From the start, it was a hit.

While attending college at Cal State Fullerton I worked with “Rolling Stone Magazine” and Reported for a local news program serving Orange County.

After college, my professional adventure began zigzagging across the country reporting for news stations in Albuquerque, Reno, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Portland and San Diego.

Now, nearly a decade and a half after the adventure began, I am a EMMY award winning journalist living my dream in my hometown.

I love adventure, travel, movies, good food and spending time with my French Bulldog Mr. Gatsby.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Persistence and passion are the two main ingredients for success. That is what I tell young journalists when I speak at events and journalism classes.

It’s also not an easy business to break into. I remember mailing out dozens of VHS tapes with my best reporter clips, in my second hand 1990’s jackets, wondering if I would ever get an interview.

Once I had a job, I was lonely experience at first, working all holidays, living paycheck to paycheck in small towns, and learning on the job.

Looking back, the friendships formed and the experiences from those times are some of the best in my life.

Being a SoCal native definitely helps me connect to the viewers. We share experiences, we share memories in the community. This is home.

My job is so exciting because I could be standing in front of yellow tape one day and be on the red carpet of a Hollywood movie premiere the next.

I have jumped out of planes over the desert, swam with dolphins in San Diego, rode elephants in Thailand, interviewed U.S. presidents, climbed ancient temples in Belize, participated in the Red Bull Flugtag, and traveled to Mexico to cover major earthquakes. Just a few examples of things I have covered in my career.

I have a passion for breaking news and covering big events, but I am probably best known for my fun personality on “Good Day LA”, I am a people person and I love sharing other people’s stories.

People come up to me all the time and tell me how much they love watching me on the morning news. My reporting (or … screaming) on the “Guardians of the Galaxy Ride” at Disney California Adventure and my recent visit to the haunted house in Orange County, both reports went viral. The Haunted House report has been viewed more than 20 Million times on Facebook alone. Which is both embarrassing and funny. I mean, I am an EMMY award winning journalist after all.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Not one thing. Every bump in the road and detour has led to this point in my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mattjohnsonnews.com
• Instagram: @mattjohnsonnews
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/MattJohnsonNews
• Twitter: @MattJohnsonNEWS

 
Image Credit:
Josh Kaplan
Bradford Rogne
Brian Shaw
Robert Luketic

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