View from the Bay is a local show, period. That's how it was intended. Local TV used to be full of these shows during local access hours on network affiliates, and on the independents. KPIX (CBS-5) in San Francisco had a show called People Are Talking for a decade or more in the 70s and 80s. These shows largely went away by the 90s when stations decided they were too expensive to produce - most of the production capacity switched over to expanded local news, especially those long morning news blocks.
The only interesting thing about View from the Bay is that KGO-TV decided to produce it at all.