A big congratulations to CSU Fullerton student Raniel Santos on becoming the recipient of the inaugural Sam Rubin Memorial Scholarship.
Like our dear Sam Rubin, Raniel started off in print entertainment journalism.
“I’ve always been fascinated by film and television, especially music. There’s a saying, ‘I was raised by television,'” he explained to Melvin Robert on the KTLA 5 Morning News. “I’ve always loved writing, English was always my favorite subject in school, from K-12.”
During his junior year in high school, he learned he had the nose for news.
“I [thought] ‘Hey this is something I’m good at, this is something I like doing already.’ So, I might as well go full force with it as I declared my major,” he explained.
Raniel writes for the Daily Titan, Fullerton’s student newspaper, and for the past semester he’s served as the lifestyle editor, it’s his second time in the role. In addition to writing, he’s also on the air! He has his own radio show on-campus called “Indie Encounters.”
“I play Indie, alternative, pop music. I’m actually missing it right now,” he revealed as he was sitting on the KTLA set.
The fourth-year college student explained that receiving the scholarship meant more than he could express.
“My family’s been going through financial trouble, very recently. It’s something that we’ve never had to worry about before. We’re not, like, rich, but we’ve been okay for a while, but we’ve been, like, having a bit of trouble,” he explained. “So I’m trying really hard to try and contribute to helping us in that, but I juggle a lot, so it’s been really hard.”
Raniel said the opportunity to apply for the scholarship honoring KTLA 5’s legendary entertainment anchor came at the right time.
After he graduates, he hopes to a specialty publication like Variety, Pitchfork, Hollywood Reporter or Stereogum. He wants to work at an outlet where he can “focus on writing about music and film and television,” in the form of “reviews, analysis or interviews.”
The Sam Rubin Memorial Scholarship pays tribute to that legacy of nurturing and fostering young talent.