Van was one of the best and he had an excellent co-anchor in Jerry Jensen, who died of cancer at a young age. I also remember Van when he worked at KNEW radio in the 1960's as a talk show host with Joe Dolan , Travis T. Hip and a young Ray Taliaferro
He was also a “ communicaster,”. ( that’s what they called talk show hosts in the 1960s,) on KNEW, which also carried the Raiders in the mid and late 1960s. Fred Van Amberg was also Bill King’s color analyst on the Raiders’ broadcasts from 1966-68 before he was hired to anchor the news on KGO TV.
No disagreement with your assessment of Van Amburg as the greatest Bay Area anchor of all time, but Dennis Richmond also warrants a mention. As an aside, Pete Giddings was well known for using his celebrity to hang out at bars and hit on the young chicks
Meanwhile we have to deal with Mike Mibach on KTVU. Apparently Mike has been taking lessons from KRON4's Grant Loads, because suddenly he's inserting awkward pauses in the middle of his sentences as he stumbles through the teleprompter copy. And then there's that bizarre hairdo. Didn't think that this market would be the first job out of college for so many lame broadcasters, but here we are. Hey, new KRON GM, you have the power to turn this around...or do you?
Pete Wilson was co-best
ReplyDeleteVan was one of the best and he had an excellent co-anchor in Jerry Jensen, who died of cancer at a young age.
ReplyDeleteI also remember Van when he worked at KNEW radio in the 1960's as a talk show host with Joe Dolan , Travis T. Hip and a young Ray Taliaferro
He was also a
ReplyDelete“ communicaster,”. ( that’s what they called talk show hosts in the 1960s,) on KNEW, which also carried the Raiders in the mid and late 1960s. Fred Van Amberg was also Bill King’s color analyst on the Raiders’ broadcasts from 1966-68 before he was hired to anchor the news on KGO TV.
Jerry Jensen, Dave McElhatton, Dennis Richmond; they are all great, I wouldn't say Van Amberg is the greatest, just among the greats
ReplyDeletePut Pete Wilson, Elaine Corral, Wendy Takuda in that group, apologies if I missed anyone from that era
DeleteVan talked the gunman down.
ReplyDeleteThis is Frank Somerville. The four best male anchors to me were van amberg. Pete Wilson… Dennis Richmond. And Dave Mcelhatten
ReplyDeleteFrank, I' also rank you highly. KTVU has not been able to replace you, not even close
DeleteVan, with Jensen, Giddings and O'Reilly on sports was a newscast worth watching every night.
ReplyDeleteNo disagreement with your assessment of Van Amburg as the greatest Bay Area anchor of all time, but Dennis Richmond also warrants a mention. As an aside, Pete Giddings was well known for using his celebrity to hang out at bars and hit on the young chicks
ReplyDeleteStan Atkinson, Sacramento anchor passed a couple days ago at 92, definitely a class act, RIP
ReplyDeleteDennis Richmond was the best in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile we have to deal with Mike Mibach on KTVU. Apparently Mike has been taking lessons from KRON4's Grant Loads, because suddenly he's inserting awkward pauses in the middle of his sentences as he stumbles through the teleprompter copy. And then there's that bizarre hairdo. Didn't think that this market would be the first job out of college for so many lame broadcasters, but here we are. Hey, new KRON GM, you have the power to turn this around...or do you?
ReplyDelete