KOVR Channel 13 meteorologist Dave Bender took a rather unconventional path to a career in television.

At 16 years old, he was already attending college and working as a busboy in a restaurant when he met a group of animal trainers from the San Diego Wild Animal Park. They asked him if he’d like a job cleaning cages, and the next thing Bender knew, he was working with exotic birds and animals. Over time, he worked his way up to an animal trainer position, and he even made several appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman. The experiences on Letterman were so memorable that he decided to redirect his career to broadcasting. “I was watching the weather on TV one day, and I thought, ‘I could do that!’” Bender recalls with a laugh. He began working at a variety of stations across the country while simultaneously learning the ropes of computer graphics design and meteorology.

Kelly and Dave

Photo by Dante Fontana, © Style Media Group.

Now that he is established in his career as an Emmy-Award winning reporter, Bender does what he can to give back to his community. He gives talks at local schools and volunteers his time as an emcee and auctioneer for charities, such as Twin Lakes Food Bank and Big Brothers Big Sisters. “You get so much more back than you put in,” Bender explains. “You feel good about yourself, knowing you’ve done something good.”

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