Pete Wilson Dead at 62

[ampmod]

Very sad and shocking news:




ABC7 anchor Pete Wilson died Friday night at Stanford Hospital from a massive heart attack suffered during hip replacement surgery, the station reported today on its Web site.
Wilson, 62, is survived by his wife, Sandra and son Brendan.

"Pete was one of the most valued and respected news professionals in the Bay Area and the country," ABC7 President and General Manager Valari Staab said in a statement. "For more than 30 years, he was welcomed into the homes of thousands of local viewers reporting on every major news event that touched their lives. This is a deep loss."

Wilson had co-anchored the station's 6 p.m. newscast since 2002. Before that he spent 12 years anchoring the news at KRON-TV in San Francisco.

In addition to his television responsibilities, Wilson hosted talk and interview shows including the top-rated afternoon radio program in the Bay Area on KGO-AM 810 NewsTalk Radio.

Wilson, born and raised in central Wisconsin, was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in journalism and creative writing.

The station noted that Wilson has received numerous awards from the Associated Press and others, and a half-dozen Emmy's. Wilson also shared two Peabody awards, including one for his coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake while at ABC7, the station said.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

Very sad and shocking news...

Indeed.

Into what was otherwise a very festive morning at the KRE open house came the news that Pete Wilson had died. Considering the large contingent of KGO people there -- including Steve Kushman (KGO news editor and CHRS president), Peter Cleaveland, John Catchings, Alan Bowker, former anchors Fred Lacosse and Terry Lowry, plus a news crew from Channel 7 covering the event -- there was an awful lot of sadness tempering the joy.

No announcement was made during the event; reportedly, Pete Wilson's mother was flying in from Wisconsin to help out during his recuperation, and had not been advised of his death yet. It was my understanding that the KGO people were asked not to say anything until the family was prepared to allow the news to be made public.

 

[tripton99]

Truly sad news.
Pete was a class act. He tried harder than most to be objective, and I can say from personal observations within the radio station that he had the respect of all who worked with him.


Ron Fell

 

[oaktree]

I am so shocked and saddened at the untimely passing of KGO's Pete Wilson. I, like so many, was an avid afternoon listener to Pete's incredibly interesting program ... not always an easy task, as KGO is 300 miles to the north of me. I would most days leave my station here in time to catch Pete's show and always found it to be informative, warm, sincere, fair and most entertaining.

Pete was a classy, inquisitive and thoughtful interviewer ... not afraid to utilize his broad knowledge and a wonderful sense of humor. He was well-known, of course, for his ability to be opinionated to degrees that evoked both admirers and detractors, but I will miss him greatly for all he imparted to his legion of listeners because he was, "Pete."

My condolences to Mr. Wilson's family, his KGO-TV and Radio family, as well as his many friends who thoroughly enjoyed Pete.

This is a tough loss to the Bay Area radio and television community.

 

[sfradio]

man this is shocking, may he rest in peace

 

[rickradio]

Echoing everyone's sentiments here, I remember when Pete was on Channel 40 here in Sacto doing NewsPlus before he left for the Bay Area in '83...

Not only will Pete be missed, he obviously already is.

Goodbye, Pete, wherever you are, sir. :'(

 

[XM RADIO]

Rickradio, I could have sworn Pete Wilson took over after Van Amburg departed in 1986,, Vans last day at KGO was Aug 31 1986, I dont think it was 1983,, Your spin on this Dave Jackson? Oh yea dave i recorded Vans Last newcast ,, its on VHS Kenny in Concord

 

[callofthewild]

He let almost everyone on the air...and did not cut them off...then he would deal with what they said,,,unlike many who screen and cut off when they can't deal with a caller

 

[LKellerIII]

"Rickradio, I could have sworn Pete Wilson took over after Van Amburg departed in 1986."

Pete did replace Van Amburg and I believe that was his first job in the Bay Area - 86 sounds right. I lived in Marin County in the mid 70s - at that time Viacom cable brought in the Sacramento stations, and my first memory of Pete Wilson was from that 10 PM "News Plus" program on TV40. I remember thinking at the time that he seemed like a major market talent. Later, KRON's NewsCenter 4 was at its best for about a decade when Wilson was anchor. I believe Pete was one of the first anchors to bail out when Young took over.

I'm not usually listening to radio in the mid afternoon, so I didn't catch his KGO show very often, but was always impressed when I did.

One thing most eulogies of Pete won't remember was his many hours of contributions to Bay TV - the KRON experiment in local television public service news and feature programming. Pete hosted many local talk segments on Bay TV - and the breadth of his knowledge and ability was always obvious.

RIP Pete.

 

[tripton99]

No question Pete came to KGO TV in '83. But I don't think it originally was to replace Van Amberg. That came naturally when everyone burned-out on Van and about the time Van did his Houdini in '86. Van, or Fred, became the Howard Hughes of broadcasting when he left Ch 7. Don't think Amberg ever worked again.

 

[gibby88]

I can remember Pete doing the 5:00 news and Van doing the 6:00. I was very young (about 6 or 7 years old), and I remember the toss from the 5:00 show to the 6:00 show, which had a completely different set.

What's insane is that my earliest memories of Pete were from NewsPlus on KTXL, and I wasn't more than 4 years old when he went to KGO.

(I must be older than they tell me, because I can also remember Dan Christopher on KOVR-TV in Sacramento, and from what I understand, he left Sac before Pete.)

 

[LKellerIII]

"No question Pete came to KGO TV in '83. But I don't think it originally was to replace Van Amberg. That came naturally when everyone burned-out on Van and about the time Van did his Houdini in '86."

The public did not necessarily "burn out" on Van Amburg. What happened was - Capital Cities, a small but very successful broadcasting company bought ABC. It was one of those cases in which a very successful small corporation with lots of cash bought a bigger corporation. Cap Cities was famous for being tight with a buck, and they balked at paying Amburg's high salary. Channel 7's ratings had been declined a little since the glory days of Channel 7 Newscene in the 70s (Dave McElhatton was getting popular at KPIX), but ratings were still good. But as I remember, Van had also embarrased himself some months before by throwing a well publicized temper tantrum when management teamed him with co-anchor Suzanne Saunders.

So dumping Van and giving Pete Wilson the main anchor seat was a smart move, and a money saving one, too. Turned out to be a good choice. Wilson's manner was unique - he had authority, but he never seemed to take himself too seriously like the egocentric Amburg.

As for Amburg pulling a "Howard Hughes" - based on the big salary he had been receiving, I'm sure he retired in luxury.

 

[Newname]

Pete Wilson joined KGO in '83, as channel 7 was beginning to make the transition from the team of Van Amburg and Jerry Jensen co-anchoring the 6 and 11 PM newscasts to having Amburg do 6 PM only. At the time, Jensen was seriously ill(he would die of pancreatic cancer in the spring of '84), and in his last months on the air, he was reduced to a two-minute summary of the evning's top stories. Meanwhile, Wilson co-anchored the majority of the broadcasts, sometimes with Amburg, but more often with female co-anchors when Amburg was absent.

 

[DyingMedium]

As a kid, I remember Pete Wilson at KTXL 40 in Sacramento. I went to work with my father at KTXL a couple of times and Pete was nothing but nice and funny with a wicked sense of humor. Being 10 years old, I was surprised that I liked him more than Cap'n Mitch.

It was the 70s and he had the whole gold chain thing going. But, I remember my dad saying "he won't be here long, he's too talented"....and he wasn't. GREAT broadcaster...Very sad to hear he's gone.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I went to work with my father at KTXL a couple of times and Pete was nothing but nice and funny with a wicked sense of humor. Being 10 years old, I was surprised that I liked him more than Cap'n Mitch... It was the 70s and he had the whole gold chain thing going. But, I remember my dad saying "he won't be here long, he's too talented"....and he wasn't. GREAT broadcaster...Very sad to hear he's gone."

Speaking of the 70s, here's a link to a nice tribute to Pete, accompanied by a mid 70s era photo - from the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee where Pete worked prior to KTXL:

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/8649321.html