Tuesday, August 7, 2012

George Harris Dies; Veteran KCBS Newsman and Anchor



The Bay Area has lost a truly great newsman and a dedicated radio vet.

George Harris, a KCBS radio reporter, who covered the South Bay and several other beats, including anchoring as well, passed away Monday night due to kidney failure. He was only 61.

KCBS reporter, Bob Butler offered respects to Harris on his Facebook page.

Harris began his stint at KCBS in 1987. Highlights of his career included coverage of the Mt. St. Helens explosion, the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the East Bay Hills Fire and the riots in South Central Los Angeles.

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11 comments:

  1. My deepest condolences. I met George Harris a few times, a class act and a true professional.

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  2. George is a native of Portland Oregon where he began his radio career at KYXI,then moved on to top rated KGW radio, (where he taught me a thing or 2 about natural sound, a relatively new innovation for AM radio at the time) before becoming Sports Director of KING-radio in Seattle. George was not only a rock solid anchor/reporter... he was also one of my closest most trusted friends... I loved him like a brother and will miss him very much... Aloha George I love you.
    Tall Paul Jackson

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  3. Much to young to leave us. He was arguably the best street reporter in the Bay Area right up there with Bob Melrose at KCBS. About ten or so years ago, he was nearly killed while walking by a car. He took a year to recover but still suffered the effects of multiple fractures and internal injuries. But he was determined to come back and he did. I grieve for his loss, for his family and loss of professionalism to Bay Area listeners.Truly a great loss. Ex-KCBS Meteorologist Mike Pechner

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  4. Harris was a good man and a good reporter. It's a shame he died so young. I worked alongside George way back in 1980 when I was doing a sports talk show on KVI, and he was on KIRO or KING (I think it was KING).

    He was versatile and in those days he covered both news and sports.
    The NBA Sonics and Washington Huskies football team were kings of the area in those days, as both the Mariners and Seahawks were relatively new teams and were still scuffling.

    I sat next to George at a few Mariner games in 1980 when Seattle had a forgettable lineup of peole such as Mario Mendoza (the lifetime .200 hitter, but a good fielder) at SS, Julio Cruz (later played on a great division winning White Sox team in 1983), at 2b, Danny Meyer, he of the constantly twitching neck, ala Jesus Alou at 3b, and people such as Rupert Jones and Leon Roberts in the outfield, with people like Rick Honeycutt and Dave Heaverlo the stars the the pitching staff. This was the worst team in t he American league, and Maury Wills was the skipper.


    I remember have some fun conversations with George about baseball that year. Good man. We're gonna miss ya George!

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    Replies
    1. Jeez Bruce, ever heard that 'less is more'?

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    2. Agree with 736pm. It seems we learned more about the 1980 Mariners lineup than the subject at hand....

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  5. What's your problem? I thought Bruce had a good story!

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    1. Yeah! I for one am grateful that "Danny Meyer of twitching neck" fame was featured in an otherwise warm, rambling, tangent filled obituary.

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  6. George was a great colleague in the field and a real pro on the air.

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  7. George was a great pal when we worked together at KING in Seattle in the 80's, always quick to laugh and ready to have a good time. Those were the days when radio was serious fun, and typically our program director, Greg Tantum (former news director at KGO)would hold court nearly every night at some downtown watering hole, and most of us, including George, never got home on time. But the candle burned from the other end, too, and no matter how wild the night before, dapper George was always ready to go at 9am. Good guy. Good broadcaster. Good friend.

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  8. What a guy, that George Harris. He worked so hard every day, always cranking out as many or more stories than anyone else in the KGW newsroom. He was always ready to hit the streets running after a breaking news story. And always ready to tell stories and laugh about the absurdities of life. Glad to have known you, George
    -- Dave Paull

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