Sal Castaneda Might Be in Position to Cash In at KTVU

   SAL CASTANEDA is too modest (quietly) a man to acknowledge he's the MOST POPULAR personality at KTVU (Fox2) but we might soon find out if management agrees ...The well-liked Channel 2 Morning Traffic anchor and co-host of "The Nine" has a contract coming up and is well-positioned to become the HIGHEST PAID talent at KTVU.

Castaneda has been at KTVU in various positions for almost two decades. He grew from doing local radio traffic hits, landed the 2 gig and became instantly ingrained into KTVU's repertoire with an insatiably likeable personality among viewers and management alike. His give and take persona and simple-man disposition is a rarity in the business, so much so that Castaneda can handle traffic, reporting on the street and anchoring news as easily as a reporting a fender bender on 880 during a rainy day.

His always-smiling demeanor and upbeat 'tude resonates with viewers too, especially women. I've never heard anything negative about Sal nor has anyone said a bad word about the Bay Area native. That's a rarity in today's cutthroat TV News biz.

Castaneda makes roughly $400,000 (with ratings incentives) --I would expect he get a decent raise and sign long term at KTVU, a move which makes sense and keep Sal at Jack London Square for years to come: try 3 years (with a 4th KTVU/Fox option) at roughly $500,000. That's a lot of money in today's biz but Castaneda has earned it; furthermore, FOX has its local, homegrown talent in check. Makes too much sense.