415 Media Scientific Study: KTVU's Sal Castaneda Is The Most Popular Bay Area TV Personality in The Morning; Wednesday First Take

 Of all the e-mail I get, and I get a lot, many of you inquire about KTVU's morning traffic reporter, Sal Castaneda --and most of the mail is positive.

That's semi-unusual too because in today's Internet-infested world, it's usually bad people and bad things that dominate the landscape.

Sal is cool. Sal is a good guy. Sal seems to be eternally happy and clubby. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he's that way off camera too. In fact, I'll go a step further: Sal Castaneda is the most popular Bay Area TV personality in the morning, not just on KTVU.

That's not a stretch, just the facts.

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KTVU's 'Mr Traffic'; Sal Castaneda lights up Bay Area AM

Traffic is important business in the Bay Area.

On radio, its part of the AM/PM drive-time zenith, or haven't you heard about 4000 times a day, "traffic and weather together" and "traffic on the 8's?"
Traffic reports on TV? Get serious. KTVU's Sal Castaneda is serious about it, working the Oakland-based FOX2 early-morning news blocks and "Mornings on 2."
He is, by my account, "Mr. Traffic", the most recognized, formidable, congenial traffic reporter on the local TV airwaves.

Castaneda, who has been at Channel 2 since 1999, is both solid and unassuming. He knows what he is and what he isn't, and that's what makes him so popular. Sure, covering the Bay Area's vast highways for pile-ups, 'fender-benders, big-rig mayhem, is vitally important, yet Castaneda knows he's not curing cancer. It's a smooth, steady, series of reports, with a steady diet of occasional humor. And it works.

Castaneda is also a general assignment news reporter for the 5 and 6 PM news, (and a good one at that,) but to me and many morning viewers, Sal's forte is reporting the traffic conditions on the roads.

Now, Sal, about that big-rig situation on 880...

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