Louie Diaz, a current staff writer and scanner hawk at KHTS Hometown Station, took a short break from the Santa Clarita emergency frequencies in order to share his experiences as a blind journalist.

Diaz has had his ears on radio scanners since he was a kid and has always found excitement in hearing first responder frequency traffic as it happens.

“Growing up, I had a huge fascination with fire engines, ambulances, police cars … basically anything that had sirens and made a lot of noise,” said Diaz. “I always thought that would be a cool profession, to be on this big truck with a lot of sirens or flying by in a police car while chasing bad guys down.”

This childhood fascination developed into a passion, and Diaz set his sights on one day being a dispatcher for first responder agencies that assisted the public during emergencies.

When Diaz graduated from West Ranch High School in 2012, he began seeking advice on pursuing a career as a dispatcher.

But, despite living a life characterized by his “never give up” personal philosophy, Diaz said that he found that there are some obstacles that are just too hard to directly overcome.

Several attempts to get a foothold into dispatching emergency calls were met with an equal number of rejections.

But Diaz said that he was determined to continue to pursue his dream career of tracking and reporting on his beloved emergency sirens, and therefore decided to register at COC and start working towards an associates degree.

While at COC, Diaz discussed his passion for listening to emergency radio frequencies to a journalism professor, who then informed him about the need for his skills at virtually every news station in America.

Diaz began reaching out to local media outlets, while simultaneously building up his reputation on Santa Clarita Facebook groups as a reliable and punctual scanner hawk. His independently constructed portfolio caught the eye of editors at both The Signal and KHTS, with the latter being where Diaz decided to intern after earning his associate’s degree in broadcast journalism.

“I started interning with KHTS in November 2017 and it’s an interesting story on how I got this job. Being someone who is completely blind it is definitely hard to find employment,” said Diaz. “A lot of times people think of blindness as a disability, but I don’t think it is. I like to prove to people that sometimes the people who are blind can see more than people who aren’t.”

Beginning as an intern and working himself up to becoming a staple staff writer within the KHTS bullpen, Diaz now spends most of his time at the station monitoring first responder radio frequencies to relay breaking emergency, traffic or crime information to residents in and around the Santa Clarita Valley.

“As a staff writer for KHTS, some of my responsibilities are writing articles that are assigned to me by our amazing senior staff writers,” said Diaz. “I also have the freedom to write articles on things I find and want to report on throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.”

A long and arduous process that required him to put in more hours than the average intern on weekends and nights, Diaz says that eventually he found a way to turn his blindness into a strength: the absence of one sensory trait has allowed him to sharpen his four others and better apply them to his newsroom skills.

“Once I hear something on the scanner, whether it be a robbery, fire, shooting or bad car accident, it’s my responsibility to call either the sheriff’s or fire department to get the information confirmed. Then I write the story or I’ll give the information I received to whoever might be writing the story.”

Tireless work ethic aside, however, Diaz admits that there are some aspects of the job that remain to be a hindrance for him.

“At the station, my challenges don’t really have anything to do with being blind,” said Diaz. “But there’s minor things, like using a computer. As a blind person, it can be a little bit challenging especially if you’re not familiar with how the screen reading software works.”

While the average sighted person might take the visual relationship they have with their devices for granted, Louie must rely on screen reading software, known as “JAWS,” to tell him what his computer is doing. And even with the additional software, obstacles still arise in even the most simple of daily tasks.

“For someone who is blind, you’re still technically relying on screen reading software,” said Diaz. “So, you need to know about your hotkeys and commit to memory the various computer program shortcuts. Cause, if you can’t remember what those tricks are, it makes it nearly impossible to do certain things.”

But for Diaz, for all the frustration and tedious repetitions he needs to do in order to memorize hundreds of computer functions, the job is all worthwhile. Diaz explained that he finds joy in doing a job that he considers to be not only be a community service, but a spontaneous adventure that keeps him guessing everyday.

“What I like best about this job is coming into the station not knowing what’s going to happen,” said Diaz. “Some people like going into work knowing what the day’s going to hold so they can plan it out. Others —  like me — like going in and just taking the day as it comes. I think that’s why I was drawn to news in the first place.”

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.