by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Visiting a restaurant for an evening out can present a problem for Ken Amaro, the long-time consumer protection reporter for Ch. 12.
“I used to do a segment called ‘What’s Not on the Menu’ [that uncovered health and cleanliness issues in restaurants] so when I go out for dinner I get a ‘Why are you here?’ reaction. It’s funny. Some people will come right out and ask and some people just watch me cautiously.”
Then there are the people who want Amaro’s help in solving a problem or need his advice on an issue.
“I try to stay approachable,” he said, adding that his youngest daughter isn’t always thrilled with the recognition. “Sometimes she prefers that her mother drop her off at school. She’s 11 and trying to maintain a low profile.”
Whether it’s his distinctive voice or his ever-present bow tie, Amaro gets noticed — and approached — in a crowd.
“At the Shrimp Festival over the weekend, a man passed me and wanted to know if I wore clip-ons,” he said. “Of course I don’t.”
Most of the people who approach him don’t want to comment on Amaro’s fashion sense. They want him to tell their story and they want to know why he hasn’t returned their calls.
“I was walking down Bay Street the other day when a lady driving by hollered out the window at me, ‘I’ve been trying to call you!’ I didn’t know who she was talking to at first.”
Fielding 100 phone calls a day and just as many e-mails, Amaro knows he can’t possibly answer every one.
“It’s sad that I can’t get back to everybody,” he said. “I really enjoy helping people and being a resource for them. I might not be able to turn their story into a piece on the show, but I’ll still try and make a phone call for someone if I can.”
Amaro’s reputation for confronting scam operators and resolving conflicts carries a strange sort of power. He’s not a lawyer, but people seek his advice. He’s not a police officer, but people rely on him to fight for justice.
Sometimes he doesn’t even need words to get his job done.
“A story I was working on the other day involved a family who had paid a man $3,000 for a headstone for a family member’s grave back in October and he still hadn’t delivered,” said Amaro. “I hadn’t said anything and the man just put his hands up and said, ‘I’m wrong, I’m wrong, I’m wrong,’ ” said Amaro. “He promised to put up the headstone by Friday. I follow up on those stories to make sure what needs to get done gets done.
“I don’t have any supreme powers. I’m just a guy with a 40-pound camera behind me who can embarrass someone in the court of public opinion.”
When he works as a mediator at the Duval County Courthouse he has to assure the interested parties that he’s left his camera behind.
“When they see me, they automatically start looking for it,” he said.
Amaro was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and sometimes returns with his wife and four daughters to visit family still there. He moved to the States to attend the University of Connecticut, but the freezing temperatures didn’t suit him.
“I wanted to do radio and someone suggested Jones College,” said Amaro, “and that’s how I ended up in Jacksonville.”
In the early days of his career, Amaro worked weekends at a local radio station and weekdays in a television production studio. It was television where he ultimately settled, and in the early 1980s, he moved to Ch. 12, where he covered education, the military and City Hall.
It’s been over 12 years since Amaro’s news director asked him to try his hand at consumer reporting.
“I’m not exactly sure why he chose me,” said Amaro, who has been at the station for 18 years. “I remember that I had just won an Emmy for a piece I did on AIDS and prostitution, but I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or not. I guess it has to do with the old cliche about being in the right place at the right time.
“It’s turned out to be a very rewarding experience. I ran into a man today who thanked me for help I’d given him six years ago. I think it was the journalist Nellie Bly [she largely pioneered an investigative style that was often called ‘stunt journalism’] who said that the role of a journalist is to become a voice for the voiceless,” said Amaro. “I try to be that. When people reach a point when no one is listening and they have no one to call, they can call us.”