Happy Birthday Bob!
The News 13 family took some time today to congratulate one of our favorite people on a milestone in his life.Bob Juback turned 50 this weekend. When I told my wife we were planning a party for Bob she said "I hope you look that good at 50." I'm not sure how I should take that.
Seriously, Bob is one of the really good guys I've had the chance to work with in the news business. I've worked with some really good anchors over the past 15 years, but none brought the rare combination of skills, knowledge and talent to the newsroom that Bob does.
He has a lightning fast memory of prior stories and events that allow him to bring unique perspective to our editorial meetings and the anchor desk. He is an excellent journalist, who serves a critical role as a gatekeeper - catching potentially embarrassing factual, spelling and grammatical errors before they make air. He has a keen sense of news judgment and what I call a B.S. detector when a politician or someone else is trying to spin a story.
No one I know works harder than Bob. He's usually in the newsroom by 1:30 most afternoons, and stay here until well after 1:00 a.m. recording the radio newscasts you hear on your way into work. He usually shoots his own stories, not because he doesn't trust our photographers to do it, but because he doesn't want to create work for other people.
He also an unbelievably funny guy. Over the past two years, we've shared a lot of laughs as we've talked about everything from football to politics to movies. His jokes in our afternoon meetings bring much-needed levity to the stress of each news day.
Today, I had an opportunity to see another side of Bob. When we surprised him with his birthday party, you could tell he was a little embarrassed by all the attention. But then his mood changed and his eyes welled up when he saw his son and daughter among the faces in the crowd there to wish him a Happy Birthday. The pride he showed as his daughter jumped into his arms was a reminder to everyone in the room, that this is a man who knows what's most important in life. To his family, he's an anchor in the very truest sense of the word.
So Happy Birthday, Bob and thank you for all you do.
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on 09/24 at 03:33 PM
