Throwback Thursday: Love at Local News 8

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)– While romance can spark anywhere, sometimes it begins in the most unexpected places, even at work. At Local News 8, love has quietly grown behind the scenes for years.

Jeremy & Regan Fregoso

Jeremy and Regan met in the control room back in the 1990s, when the equipment looked a little different and so did their first impressions.

“When I first met her, I thought she was so cocky,” Jeremy said. “She worked at Channel 3 before I did. But later on I was like, oh — I like her. She’s great.”

So how did he know she was the one?

“This is silly... but I just knew I wanted to be with her. That was it," Jeremy said.

For Regan, it was simple.

“He made me laugh all the time. And he still does," Regan said.

Jeremy popped the question during a hot air balloon ride at the Teton Valley Balloon Festival, with friends and family waiting when they landed… and even a Local News 8 camera crew capturing the moment.

Not long after, their firstborn became part of the station’s extended family.

“I remember directing the show with our little baby right there. Sometimes I’d have to give her the bottle, and we’d get through a whole newscast," Jeremy said.

Brooke & Aaron Flake

Brooke and Aaron's love story began on Wyoming's mountains. Brooke had been sent to Grand Targhee for a snowboarding sweeps story. Her original instructor got a flat tire, and fate stepped in. After two months of dating, Aaron asked Brooke to marry her, on live television.

Aaron worked behind the scenes to coordinate a surprise proposal during a segment Brooke was doing about wedding planning.

“I kind of got to know the news director and pitched the idea,” Aaron said. “He told me when to show up and they planned it around her segment.”

“Channel Eight is our story,” Brooke said, “It’s where we met. It’s our origin. We wouldn’t exist without Channel Eight.”

Ariel & Jordan Jensen

Dayside reporter Ariel Jensen, formerly Ariel Schroeder, met her now husband on her very first breaking news assignment while on her way back from covering flooding in Blackfoot, she noticed flashing red and blue lights along I-15. That’s where she met Idaho State Trooper Jordan Jensen.

“I saw the most handsome state trooper I had ever seen,” Ariel says.

Their love story only grew from there.

Early in their relationship, Jordan took Ariel to Island Park to watch shooting stars, her first time ever seeing them.

“A year later, he took me back to that same spot,” Ariel said, “I asked him what he had wished for the year before. He got down on one knee and said, ‘A year ago, I wished you would be my wife.’”

Jordan says he knew early on.

“She made me laugh. We could talk about anything. It just felt right.”

Michael & Carissa Coats

First Alert Chief Meteorologist Michael Coats met his wife Carissa when they were both young and new to Idaho Falls.

“I didn’t know anybody when I moved here,” Carissa says. “You just hang out with the people you work with. It's that young, hip crowd, make friends. And that's just kind of how it started.”

Michael hardly knew anyone either and took the job sight unseen. Many years later, they are still in Idaho Falls.

“Over time, you just realize this is really working,” Michael said. “I could see myself being with her for a long time.”

Carissa says there’s something special about the Idaho Falls community that brought them together

“It really is about local people and the stories they tell,” she said. “We’ll always be grateful for Channel Eight. There’s no other way we would have met.”