Raymond Villeda is a journalist on the move both on and off the air. Since his graduation from Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2007, the television news reporter has worked at three stations: WSKM-NBC in Syracuse; WSYR-ABC in Syracuse; and, now, WFSB-TV in Rocky Hill. In addition, he recently qualified for the Boston Marathon.
His move to the Hartford market is beneficial both personally and professionally. Villeda is now closer to his parents, who live in Bridgeport, and he has moved from a television market ranked 83rd in the nation to the local market that is 30th. “It’s better to be an hour-and-a-half away than five hours away,” said Villeda, who almost daily talks with his mother on the phone. “I’m so excited to be here. It’s such a great market for people to come to. Not to bash upstate New York, but the quality of life here is much better.”
Villeda, whose family comes from the Honduras, was raised with Spanish as his first language. “I love the diversity of this region,” said Villeda, who has used Spanish professionally on major stories like the April 3, 2009, Binghamton, N.Y. shooting at an immigration services center where 13 people were killed by a gunman who later committed suicide. Villeda was able to connect with a Spanish-speaking hostage and his fiancée for an interview. “It was because of that I was able to interview them. It would have been a barrier for everybody else up there,” said Villeda.
When not working the 3:30 a.m. to noon shift, Wednesday through Sunday, Villeda said he is an avid runner. He ran in the Wine Glass Marathon Oct. 4 in Bath, N.Y., through upstate wine country. Villeda ran the course (which he self-deprecatingly referred to as “flat”) in 3 hours, 8 minutes and 7 seconds. That placed him 39th out of a field of 1,500 and earned him a spot in the 2010 Boston Marathon. “I feel like that was one of my biggest accomplishments,” said Villeda, adding he’s not sure if he’s going to run it because it means training during the winter months. At least if he does, he concedes, he’ll not be training in the harsh upstate New York winters.
