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KRON 4 News Anchors before becoming Independent
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
1069_KIFR said:Day Break: Susan Blake, Darya Folsom and ?Edit John Kessler, now with cbs5
11:30- Emerald Yeh
4:00- Pam Moore and Wendy Tokuda
5:00- Pam Moore and Wendy Tokuda
6:00- Pete Wilson, Pam Moore
11:00pm Pete Wilson and Pam Moore
Weekends Tom Sinkovitz and Catherine Heenan
I'm pretty sure that was it.
OK - since we're doing KRON anchors, can anybody remember the other KRON anchors going back to the 70s, then the 80s? In those days, KGO-TV with Van Amburg and later Pete Wilson killed the competition in the ratings, while KPIX and KRON had only a small fraction of Channel 7's viewers. Both stations reacted by playing "musical" anchor chairs, and would change anchors like people change their underwear. KPIX finally hit gold with Dave McElhatton (about 1977), but KRON continued to flop around, changing anchors every year or so until they grabbed Pete Wilson from KGO-TV (early 90s?).
I can think of Fred LaCosse, George Reading, John Hambrick, Paul Udell, Sylvia Chase, Rita Channon, Roz Abrams, and Jim Paymar, but I'm sure there were others. Failure in San Francisco often lead to success for these anchors in other markets - at least 2 (Hambrick and more recently Abrams) had considerable success in the New York market. Ron Majers was fired from KPIX in the early 70s, and became the most popular anchor in Chicago for more than 2 decades. He resigned in protest a few years ago when the station hired Jerry Springer as a commentator.
I can think of Fred LaCosse, George Reading, John Hambrick, Paul Udell, Sylvia Chase, Rita Channon, Roz Abrams, and Jim Paymar, but I'm sure there were others. Failure in San Francisco often lead to success for these anchors in other markets - at least 2 (Hambrick and more recently Abrams) had considerable success in the New York market. Ron Majers was fired from KPIX in the early 70s, and became the most popular anchor in Chicago for more than 2 decades. He resigned in protest a few years ago when the station hired Jerry Springer as a commentator.
Former KGO-TV anchor Evan White was often seen anchoring from the newsroom when I worked for the station in the early 80's.
There's a fairly comprehensive list of anchors and other on-air talent here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KRON-TV.
Art Brown was the anchor when my family lived in Walnut Creek. Back then, the news set for the late news was a desk in front of a rear projection screen (if I recall correctly almost 50 years later.) The news began with a shot of Brown at the desk with the Ferry Bldg. clock tower in the RP screen, and a fog horn or something similar in the open.
All in glorious black and white, of course!
Ted.
There's a fairly comprehensive list of anchors and other on-air talent here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KRON-TV.
Art Brown was the anchor when my family lived in Walnut Creek. Back then, the news set for the late news was a desk in front of a rear projection screen (if I recall correctly almost 50 years later.) The news began with a shot of Brown at the desk with the Ferry Bldg. clock tower in the RP screen, and a fog horn or something similar in the open.
All in glorious black and white, of course!
Ted.
Roz Abrams is off stting out her contract at WCBS. They played musical chairs at CBS2 and she was taken off the air. Word has it that WNBC will pick her up when the current contract expires.
Another anchor Bob Jimenez, anchored 'Live at 5' and the 6,11 newscasts. Also Suzanne Sanders (Shaw). Remember when she tried to pull a Van Amburg and go by Sanders Shaw? That didn't go too long.
Another anchor Bob Jimenez, anchored 'Live at 5' and the 6,11 newscasts. Also Suzanne Sanders (Shaw). Remember when she tried to pull a Van Amburg and go by Sanders Shaw? That didn't go too long.
"Another anchor Bob Jimenez, anchored 'Live at 5' and the 6,11 newscasts. Also Suzanne Sanders (Shaw). Remember when she tried to pull a Van Amburg and go by Sanders Shaw? That didn't go too long."
Thanks, 1069 - I had remembered Bob Jimenez, but you beat me to it. I also remembered Valerie Coleman. If you google her, you find she is now Valerie Coleman-Morris, and markets financial and tax preparation aids. She probably got into that business following her post-KRON time as a financial reporter on CNN.
I also remember Suzanne. I was watching a night or two after she'd adopted the "Saunders Shaw" thing. She introduced sports and Gary Radnich who said "Thanks...uh...Saunders" and kind of snickered. She was back to Suzanne Saunders within a few days.
Speaking of (Fred) Van Amburg...supposedly one of the nails in his coffin was the widely publicized temper tantrum he threw when ABC tapped Suzanne to be his co-anchor. He had been anchoring solo for a year or so since the death of Jerry Jensen, and apprently didn't appreciate the attempt to cut down his camera time. As I remember, it wasn't too much later that Capital Cities bought ABC and blew "Van" out the door. According to news reports, penny-pinching Cap Cities canned him because of his high salary. But Ronn Owens had Van on his KGO radio talk show shortly after the firing (Ronn was one of the few ABC employees that admitted to liking Van). On Ronn's show, Amburg stated that he had offered to stay on for less money, but Cap Cities wasn't interested.
Thanks, 1069 - I had remembered Bob Jimenez, but you beat me to it. I also remembered Valerie Coleman. If you google her, you find she is now Valerie Coleman-Morris, and markets financial and tax preparation aids. She probably got into that business following her post-KRON time as a financial reporter on CNN.
I also remember Suzanne. I was watching a night or two after she'd adopted the "Saunders Shaw" thing. She introduced sports and Gary Radnich who said "Thanks...uh...Saunders" and kind of snickered. She was back to Suzanne Saunders within a few days.
Speaking of (Fred) Van Amburg...supposedly one of the nails in his coffin was the widely publicized temper tantrum he threw when ABC tapped Suzanne to be his co-anchor. He had been anchoring solo for a year or so since the death of Jerry Jensen, and apprently didn't appreciate the attempt to cut down his camera time. As I remember, it wasn't too much later that Capital Cities bought ABC and blew "Van" out the door. According to news reports, penny-pinching Cap Cities canned him because of his high salary. But Ronn Owens had Van on his KGO radio talk show shortly after the firing (Ronn was one of the few ABC employees that admitted to liking Van). On Ronn's show, Amburg stated that he had offered to stay on for less money, but Cap Cities wasn't interested.
"The Van Amburg story is the exact as I heard it."
Glad my memory is reliable at least part of the time. Pete Wilson replaced Amburg, and it was said at the time that Pete signed a contract for a fraction of what Van was making, so there is probably truth to both stories. ABC probably considered Van worth the big bucks in the 70s when "Channel 7 News Scene" was the 800 lb gorilla, but by the time Cap Cites took over, I believe the ratings were more or less tied between KGO-TV and KPIX (Dave McElhatton). As said above, KRON news continued to be a ratings loser until they snagged Pete Wilson away from Channel 7 probably 8 or more years later.
Glad my memory is reliable at least part of the time. Pete Wilson replaced Amburg, and it was said at the time that Pete signed a contract for a fraction of what Van was making, so there is probably truth to both stories. ABC probably considered Van worth the big bucks in the 70s when "Channel 7 News Scene" was the 800 lb gorilla, but by the time Cap Cites took over, I believe the ratings were more or less tied between KGO-TV and KPIX (Dave McElhatton). As said above, KRON news continued to be a ratings loser until they snagged Pete Wilson away from Channel 7 probably 8 or more years later.
Roz Abrams has been on WWOR-TV NYC for around 10 years. I watched it as a superstation on Dish, but They picked up Mynetwork junk & lost interest.Lkeller said:OK - since we're doing KRON anchors, can anybody remember the other KRON anchors going back to the 70s, then the 80s? In those days, KGO-TV with Van Amburg and later Pete Wilson killed the competition in the ratings, while KPIX and KRON had only a small fraction of Channel 7's viewers. Both stations reacted by playing "musical" anchor chairs, and would change anchors like people change their underwear. KPIX finally hit gold with Dave McElhatton (about 1977), but KRON continued to flop around, changing anchors every year or so until they grabbed Pete Wilson from KGO-TV (early 90s?).
I can think of Fred LaCosse, George Reading, John Hambrick, Paul Udell, Sylvia Chase, Rita Channon, Roz Abrams, and Jim Paymar, but I'm sure there were others. Failure in San Francisco often lead to success for these anchors in other markets - at least 2 (Hambrick and more recently Abrams) had considerable success in the New York market. Ron Majers was fired from KPIX in the early 70s, and became the most popular anchor in Chicago for more than 2 decades. He resigned in protest a few years ago when the station hired Jerry Springer as a commentator.
S
searadiofreak
Guest
Sorry, see below...
S
searadiofreak
Guest
Lkeller said:OK - since we're doing KRON anchors, can anybody remember the other KRON anchors going back to the 70s, then the 80s? In those days, KGO-TV with Van Amburg and later Pete Wilson killed the competition in the ratings, while KPIX and KRON had only a small fraction of Channel 7's viewers. Both stations reacted by playing "musical" anchor chairs, and would change anchors like people change their underwear. KPIX finally hit gold with Dave McElhatton (about 1977), but KRON continued to flop around, changing anchors every year or so until they grabbed Pete Wilson from KGO-TV (early 90s?).
I can think of Fred LaCosse, George Reading, John Hambrick, Paul Udell, Sylvia Chase, Rita Channon, Roz Abrams, and Jim Paymar, but I'm sure there were others. Failure in San Francisco often lead to success for these anchors in other markets - at least 2 (Hambrick and more recently Abrams) had considerable success in the New York market. Ron Majers was fired from KPIX in the early 70s, and became the most popular anchor in Chicago for more than 2 decades. He resigned in protest a few years ago when the station hired Jerry Springer as a commentator.
All pretty accurate. Van Amburg was simply great! Look for him in a great cameo in the 1970's movie, "The Candidate".
Pete Wilson is a substantial talent, no question. Dave McElhatton seemed to be your friendly father figure and did a good job.
Ron Magers, yes did go on to great success in Chicago at WMAQ, and the whole Jerry Springer thing is debatable for his demise there, becuase soon after he ended up as a principle anchor at WLS (ABC7), and is still one of the main anchors there today.
Bob Jimenez, I always liked too. He had the unique ability to be friendly and intense at the same time!
"Ron Magers, yes did go on to great success in Chicago at WMAQ, and the whole Jerry Springer thing is debatable for his demise there, becuase soon after he ended up as a principle anchor at WLS (ABC7), and is still one of the main anchors there today."
I didn't say the Jerry Springer thing was responsible for Majer's "demise," I said that he resigned from WMAQ in protest when the station hired Springer. It was national story at the time - otherwise I wouldn't have known about it in faraway San Francisco. As befitting a well-respected TV journalist, WLS jumped at the chance to get him. His co-anchor at WMAQ - Carol Marin - also resigned over the Springer thing, and she ended up doing stories for 60 Minutes for awhile - I'm not sure of what became of her after that.
As I remember, my point in all that was that KRON and KPIX used to jettison anchors frequently in the 70s- some of them very GOOD anchors like Majers- because they couldn't make a dent in Van Amburg's dominant ratings
I didn't say the Jerry Springer thing was responsible for Majer's "demise," I said that he resigned from WMAQ in protest when the station hired Springer. It was national story at the time - otherwise I wouldn't have known about it in faraway San Francisco. As befitting a well-respected TV journalist, WLS jumped at the chance to get him. His co-anchor at WMAQ - Carol Marin - also resigned over the Springer thing, and she ended up doing stories for 60 Minutes for awhile - I'm not sure of what became of her after that.
As I remember, my point in all that was that KRON and KPIX used to jettison anchors frequently in the 70s- some of them very GOOD anchors like Majers- because they couldn't make a dent in Van Amburg's dominant ratings
S
searadiofreak
Guest
I hear you on Magers. Didn't mean to imply his "demise". Just wonder if he really wanted to go to WLS and perhaps used the Springer thing as the reason. Carol Marin went over to CBS WBBM and tried to do a serious, PBS-type newscast at 10pm. Failed in the ratings and 'BBM went back to its regular format. I believe this was around 2000.
X
XM RADIO
Guest
I was, a big fan of Van Amburg, in fact his last newscast on KGO was Aug. 31 1986, and I recorded his last show and still have it on VHS!! Pete Giddings, Jerry Jensen, and Van Amburg will always be to the the best Journalists this Bay Area ever had, Van deserved every nickel he earned! He made KGO what it was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kenny in Concord
"I was, a big fan of Van Amburg...Pete Giddings, Jerry Jensen, and Van Amburg will always be to the the best Journalists this Bay Area ever had, Van deserved every nickel he earned!"
Well, Kenny - I agree with you about Bobby Ocean and John Mack Flanagan - I guess we can't agree about everything. When I moved from LA to San Francisco, "Channel 7 News Scene" was extremely popular. For years, I had been watching news on KNBC and KNXT (now KCBS-TV), and independent KTLA. They were all top notch, with anchors like Tom Brokaw, Tom Snyder, and Joseph Benti. By comparison, Bay Area news was low budget and backward, in general. And I couldn't BELIEVE people in the supposedly sophisticated Bay Area were so addicted to hokey Channel 7.
There were those really tacky prime-time teasers ("Penis found on railroad tracks. Details at 11:00"), I believe the term is "if it bleeds, it leads." That was News Scene. How about those idiotic blue blazers with the 7 logo, the ad-libbed "happy-talk," those comic-book graphics, and Van's self-important delivery. From what I gather, his ego was bigger than his salary. After Cap Cities canned him for the MUCH superior Pete Wilson (for a fraction of Van's salary), Ronn Owens interviewed him on KGO radio. Van sounded like he had been hit by a bus - he couldn't even imagine that Channel 7 would consider broadcasting news without him.
Giddings was another huge ego. When KGO Radio's Weather guy (Leo Cellino) was out, they would use Joel Bartlett (who was then on KPIX!) as a fill-in rather than Giddings, because Pete was so difficult to work with. Jensen always seemed OK though, like a down to earth guy.
Well, Kenny - I agree with you about Bobby Ocean and John Mack Flanagan - I guess we can't agree about everything. When I moved from LA to San Francisco, "Channel 7 News Scene" was extremely popular. For years, I had been watching news on KNBC and KNXT (now KCBS-TV), and independent KTLA. They were all top notch, with anchors like Tom Brokaw, Tom Snyder, and Joseph Benti. By comparison, Bay Area news was low budget and backward, in general. And I couldn't BELIEVE people in the supposedly sophisticated Bay Area were so addicted to hokey Channel 7.
There were those really tacky prime-time teasers ("Penis found on railroad tracks. Details at 11:00"), I believe the term is "if it bleeds, it leads." That was News Scene. How about those idiotic blue blazers with the 7 logo, the ad-libbed "happy-talk," those comic-book graphics, and Van's self-important delivery. From what I gather, his ego was bigger than his salary. After Cap Cities canned him for the MUCH superior Pete Wilson (for a fraction of Van's salary), Ronn Owens interviewed him on KGO radio. Van sounded like he had been hit by a bus - he couldn't even imagine that Channel 7 would consider broadcasting news without him.
Giddings was another huge ego. When KGO Radio's Weather guy (Leo Cellino) was out, they would use Joel Bartlett (who was then on KPIX!) as a fill-in rather than Giddings, because Pete was so difficult to work with. Jensen always seemed OK though, like a down to earth guy.
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