[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 191 (Monday, November 9, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO TOM KARLO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SUSAN A. DAVIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 9, 2020

  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Madam Speaker, on behalf of my fellow 
members of the San Diego Congressional Delegation, I would like to pay 
tribute to Tom Karlo, the General Manager of KPBS in San Diego.
  After 47 years with the station, Tom is retiring. These days, very 
few of us can say we have been with the same organization for nearly 50 
years. But when you have, as Tom says, the best job in the world, it's 
not surprising.
  While Tom has been a fixture at KPBS, KPBS is a longtime respected 
fixture when it comes to news in San Diego. And Tom deserves credit for 
that.
  We in San Diego are very proud of KPBS, and it is no surprise that it 
is the highest-rated public television station in America. Every week, 
more than 1.2 million people tune in on television or radio or click or 
stream KPBS content.
  During Tom's tenure, KPBS's top-notch journalists, producers, and 
crew have won numerous awards both locally and regionally, as well as 
nationally. I know my colleagues can attest along with me that when you 
are interviewed by KPBS you had better be prepared because they 
certainly would be.
  Tom himself has won three local Emmy awards.
  When I joined KPBS as a community producer in the late '70s, Tom had 
already been there a few years. As a student at San Diego State 
University studying film and television, he was hired as a part-time 
assistant in 1973. We worked together during several years of public 
television auctions (some of us remember those days) and he was truly a 
man of many disciplines.
  He has done just about every job--director, producer, assistance 
cameraman. In 2009, he was elevated to General Manager and we find 
ourselves working together again as he would come to Washington, D.C., 
for what was a common goal for all of us: protecting vital federal 
funding for public broadcasting.
  Over the years, while his roles have changed, one constant has been 
Tom's self-effacing manner.
  His retirement will be our loss, but it will be his family's gain. He 
is no doubt looking forward to spending more time with them, especially 
his grandchildren.
  My colleagues, Reps. Scott Peters, Juan Vargas, and Mike Levin, and I 
would like to wish Tom all the best in his retirement.

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