John Soderman is now beginning his tenth season covering the South Bay for the PPR. The reason he does it is simple: "I feel like we are providing a real service. We are basically validating the high school football experience for these kids, their coaches and their parents. The fact is most will never play at the college level. This is their 'last hurrah' in many cases. High school football, in my opinion, is the last vestige of innocence in this sport. After this level it becomes more political, more about money. By KUSI showing up at their games and putting them on TV we are basically saying, 'We care about you...what you're doing means something.' This is expecially true in the South Bay where many of the kids come from less than affluent homes."

Soderman has been with KUSI for ten years. He has been in the business of TV news for a total of twenty-five years working in a total of eight different markets including Los Angeles and Denver. Prior to entering the TV news business he worked as a police officer for three years for Tustin P.D. in Orange County. Before that he served for two years in The United States Marine Corps.

Soderman's sports backround includes three years as a minor league baseball pitcher with the California Angeles and Oakland A's. "I was horrible,"he quipped. "I had three pitches: double, triple and home run."

What is your favorite PPR memory?: "While doing a live shot about a murder in the South Bay in the middle of summer, a car drives by. The driver honks...sticks his head out of the window and yells: "Soderbro!!!! P-P-R....South Bay rocks...do the dance!!!"