LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — We're kicking off our Women's History Month coverage by highlighting Women in Weather here in Southern Nevada.
According to one American Meteorological Society survey, 29% of forecasters and 8% of chief meteorologists today are women.
Those numbers used to be even slimmer in decades past.
Back in the 1970s, the studio here at Channel 13 looked a little different. At that time, there were far fewer women working in the industry.
"Once I got a microphone in my hand, it was like my whole life began," said Marla Letizia, one of Las Vegas' original female anchors.
Las Vegas native Letizia, known then as Marla Renee on air, has held a few roles in the Las Vegas broadcast world.
"My first job here at Channel 13, when I entered back into my own hometown after graduation, was doing audio production."
"I was a really good director, and I could call shots. You know, stand by camera two, take a two shot, stand by to take camera two," she continued.
She transitioned from behind-the-scenes to on air.
Working as a talk show host...
"It was called Las Vegas Turnaround."
...and then weathercaster in the '70s and '80s at Channel 13.
"Three minutes to do national and local weather. I was pretty serious about it and got it done," she said.
At the time, she was the only female anchor in town.
"I didn't understand that I was breaking ground at the time," she said. "When I did leave at the age of 28 or 29, I was told that I would never be young enough to enter back into broadcasting once I left and once my kids were raised, and I believed that for a really, really long time until six years ago, when I entered back into broadcast at the age of 66 years old."
She said life and career goals don't have to happen all at once.
"You have a long life to work it all out and to continue growing."
In 2025, forecasters have lots of tools available to give you the weather: radars, satellites, computer models and more.
But back then...
"Everything was manual, right, meaning that there was no green screen, there was no click of the button. I put the numbers of what the degrees were on a magnetic board for every major city in the county. And then when I was done with National Weather, I would pull back the board, and behind it was another magnetic board that had Nevada, and that's how we did it."
Since the '70s, technology and fashions may have changed, but the newscaster's role, being a voice for the community, hasn't.
"Live television is an absolute metaphor for real life. When ever something went wrong, you really just learned to roll with it."
