WGRZ’s Rob Hackford, a journalist, producer, and Buffalo native, will host the inaugural Great Falls Council Volunteer Recognition Dinner on May 3, 2025.
Rob has worked at WGRZ since August 2020, and has anchored Weekend Daybreak since May 2024. Before that, he worked at WSYR-TV in Syracuse. He attended University of Buffalo and graduated from SUNY Oswego’s Broadcast & Mass Communications program. Many of his extended family members live in Western New York, and he recently got married.
Rob is also an Eagle Scout, so we asked him what he thought about that experience now that he is older. He said, “Scouting is one of those foundational programs that you don’t realize its impact until you’re older. As a kid, Scouting was just fun! It was an excuse to go outdoors, explore an interest or learn something new, like tying a knot or finding out that tortilla chips make excellent fire starters.
“As you get older and go from Cub Scouts to Webelo and Tenderfoot to hopefully Eagle, you’ll find those seemingly random tasks had a purpose. Because no matter how bad your Pine Wood Derby car was year after year or how flimsy the tower you lashed together during summer camp … you were problem solving, improving your interpersonal skills, and learning to love the outdoors.
“Scouting isn’t easy, but the most grueling parts aren’t the 100-mile hikes through Philmont with your dad and two brothers when you’ll eat anything including the freeze-dried eggs that are still a little bit crunchy. No, the most grueling parts happen out of sight while you’re planning your Eagle project or grinding through those countless and sometimes monotonous merit badges… when you are trying to lead the Totally Turtle Patrol or even your Troop… and you don’t know what you’re doing half the time, I know I didn’t. But if you’re willing to learn and grow through all that, that tenacity sticks around… because as you go to college or technical school enlist in the military or forge your own path.
“Everything you did as a Scout has an impact. So, for all the current Scouts, keep having fun because your future self will thank you for it.”
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