Galen Ettlin has lived all over during his career in broadcasting, but has now returned back to his hometown of Portland, Oregon to start a new chapter at KGW News. Galen has already had a very successful career in journalism, and in March 2020 he joined KGW ready for new possibilities and experiences. When Galen was about to start at KGW, the CoronaVirus pandemic hit, but he still made the most of the situation: “I started working from home, generating videos for our digital platform.”
Galen attended Glencoe Elementary School and Mt.Tabor Middle School leading up to Franklin High School. During his time at Franklin, Galen started to get involved in extracurriculars his Junior and Senior years, including president of the National Honors Society, setting up a food pantry with fellow students, and performing at cultural events where he sang in Chinese. Galen took 5 years worth of Chinese while at Franklin High School with Marilyn Mi, who influenced him to take on television broadcasting and journalism. Galen has always been a good student, “so genuine, thoughtful, funny, and kind. Couldn’t ask for more,” says Roger Groom, Galen’s 7th grade science teacher at Mt. Tabor Middle School. Part of being an amazing student is always being eager to learn. “If I don’t know how to do something, I’m going to try to figure it out on my own,” Galen tells me.
In 2010, Galen graduated from Franklin High School and a week later started a summer Chinese training intensive at Middlebury College in Vermont. An intensive where participants pledged to only speak, write, and read in Chinese. That Fall, Galen attended the University of Oregon. During his time at UO, Galen travelled to China, where he did a media internship at an entertainment company, working as a production assistant for multiple reality television shows.
Today Galen has been nominated for and won multiple awards, including being nominated for two Emmys! His first Emmy nomination was when he was working at a T.V station in Burlington, Vermont; it was a spotlight on what mental health supports looked like for students in Vermont and New Hampshire. Galen’s nomination fell in the education category against the much larger Connecticut and Boston stations. “I obviously didn’t win the Emmy because they had a little more production value, but that was definitely something I was proud of,” he says. Galen’s second nomination was alongside his co-anchor Celine McArther, with a series titled “The Fix: Mothers & Babies in Crisis.” The series followed Miranda Sevene, a 9 month pregnant mother addicted to heroin. This series was also nominated for a National Edward R Murrow Award, and together Galen and Celine won the award earlier this month.
Be sure to catch Galen on KGW8 to see his award-winning journalism skills.
Galen Ettlin inside the KGW8 studio. Galen is loving his new job at KGW.
