WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL TV NEWS ANCHORS?
My Top 10:
1. Van Amburg
2. Dennis Richmond
3. Dave McElhatton
3. Dave McElhatton
4. Kate Kelly
5. Pete Wilson
6. Evan White
7. Bob Jimenez
8. Jerry Jensen
9. Marcia Brandwynne
10. Steve Davis
5. Pete Wilson
6. Evan White
7. Bob Jimenez
8. Jerry Jensen
9. Marcia Brandwynne
10. Steve Davis
Talk about a trip down memory lane! Pretty much liked them all.......
ReplyDeletenumber 3! real and such a sweetheart.
ReplyDeleteI went to school with Rusty - my friend Nadine's boyfriend - Dave's wife was a generous sweety, too!
DeleteLike the majority, but loved Dave McElhatton
ReplyDeleteGrew up watching Dennis Richmond and Elaine Corral. Best Bay Area team ever.
ReplyDeleteAgree 100% We've never had anything better then Dennis and Elaine.
DeleteI was watching KTVU the night Elaine Corral announced her retirement, which apparently was a surprise to everyone, including Dennis Richmond.
DeleteTerilyn Joe, Cheryl Jennings, Carolyn Tyler, and Elaine Corral.
ReplyDeleteRich, great list! ...but, no Harold Greene? KIDDING! JUST KIDDING!!
ReplyDeleteTerilyn Joe - distinctive, left her mark but not around long enough to get a full page in the history books.
ReplyDeleteDennis Richmond, my all time favorite. The last of the great iconic Bay Area anchors.
ReplyDelete1. Dave McElhatton
ReplyDelete2. Dennis Richmond
3. Ron Burgundy
4. Doug Moore
LOL! Stay classy, SF.
DeleteValerie Coleman was the BEST and most intelligence news personality in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City has ever had. She has it ALL, BRAINS, BEAUTY AND STYLE. Belva Davis, Ray Wills, Ben Williamson, Gerri Lange, Claire Mack, Dorothy Reid, Carlotta Campbell, Ray Taliaferro and of course Dennis Richmond, you all were the BEST! As a young lad, I enjoyed flipping the stations so I could get a chance to watch you all until I graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in San Francisco. And because of you all I attended CSULB and graduated with my BA Degree in, you guess it, Broadcast Journalism. And I was very fortunate to have met Valerie Coleman, Belva Davis, Claire Mack and Carlotta Campbell.
DeleteSan Francisco/Bay Area Finest!
God Bless and B1
D. Zaire Terry
I miss the days of Brick Tamland doing the weather over at KNTV
ReplyDelete1. Van Amburg
ReplyDelete2. Pete Wilson
3. Jerry Jensen
4. Dennis Richmond
Karna Small and Terry Lowery. Its been so long, I know one of them did a commercial promo where they were at home in a nightgown with a cup of coffee. For some reason I can see both in that nightgown..
ReplyDeleteI liked Wendy Tokuda and yes,Emerald Yea. And KRONs best weekend ever anchor Ysabel Duron.
btw- What do you make of Wiki's KGO page that makes NO mention of Van Amburgh and the happy news team?
Good list, Rich. I would move Van Amburg down two slots, and fit Wendy Tokuda in there somewhere. I was too young for Wanda Ramey, but seems like she should slip in for breaking new ground as a pioneering female anchor.
ReplyDeleteI liked Wendy too Peter...did you know her father-in-law was Monte Hall, the game show host on "Let's Make a Deal."
DeleteWendy Tokuda made English teachers cringe -- especially during election coverage. "Newsome is OUT ahead, Gonzalez is trailing BEHIND." She was the Queen of Redundancy! She does NOT deserve a place on this list.
DeleteGood list Rich. Can't argue with you. You probably are too young enough to remember watching "Hello everyone, I'm Roger Grimsby, here now the news," on KGO TV back in the mid and late 1960s?
ReplyDeleteOr how about Ed Hart and John Weston on KRON during that same period. Good journalists.
And if young readers want to imagine what the 70's and Ron Burgundy days were like? You had to have seen the Judd Hambrick buildup by ch2. It started with "Judd is coming" full page ads in TV Guide. All you saw was his nose. Then,the same line a few days later..his ears,his hairline, etc. Just the 70's thinking to perfection. Judd was ok. No embarassment. But he came,and then he left.
ReplyDeleteThink actor Bruce Campbell in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead camp horror movies doing the news.
Like that.
I have to add Doug Moore and Maggi Scura to that list as well.
ReplyDeleteKate Kelley, Evan White
ReplyDeleteAnna Chavez would make my list.
ReplyDeleteOh I forgot about her! Very sexy woman.
DeleteDoug Moore and Maggi Scura. (Why so SF/Oakland-centric for a "Bay Area" list?)
ReplyDeleteTo me, Van Amburg will always be the Mount Everest of Bay Area anchors. I grew up watching him and everybody else that came after him seemed like a lesser light. I do, however, have great fondness for Dave McElhatton who was also superb and on top of that, just seemed like an all-around great guy. Dennis Richmond was also a great pro. Alas, there's nobody around here even close to their realm these days.
ReplyDeleteTop 10: Pete Wilson, Van Amburg, Leslie Griffith, Dennis Richmond, Dave McElhatten, Pam Moore, Kate Kelly, Elaine Corral, Wendy Tokuda, Julie Haener
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to George Reading? Let's turn the clock back even further and include blasts from the past like Roger Grimsby and John Weston and Wanda Ramey. But as 1:08 pm says, the current crop of talking heads doesn't even match the legends listed. However, Dan Ashley comes close. One thing's for certain: none of the legends would've gone on their knees like the current talking heads to say thanks for trusting us. They knew better.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Reading, my all time favorite Bay Area newsman, lives in Monterey. For years he was a docent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
DeleteAt KRON, George and Fred LaCosse (I'm not sure on the spelling) were a great on-air team. Fred married Terry Lowrey.
Belva Davis, KPIX eyewitness news @ noon
ReplyDeletei think you mean Barbara Rogers?
DeleteI've worked with many on the list, and are all good people beside talented on the air. Pete was a master. One who has not been mentioned is Suzanne (Saunders) Shaw. I worked more than 30 years in the business; she's my all-time favorite and a total class act.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Suzanne is a class act and a very nice person overall.
DeleteWhat about Dana King?
ReplyDeleteNope, not list worthy. Turns out she was way over compensated, and annoyed viewers with her coy/judgmental "Hmmms... and smirks"
DeleteI don't remember Dana King ever saying "Hmmms...and smirks."
DeleteAs mentioned above, Ron Burgundy
ReplyDeleteEvan White was the best with close tie for second between Dennis Richmond and Dave McElhatton. Whatever happened to White? Is he still around. He was the best.
ReplyDeletePete Wilson
ReplyDeleteWhat was the name of the Channel 2 broadcaster who had an alcohol problem? George Watson, or something close to that? I liked him, until he was dismissed. Where did he end up? Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteGeorge died. He and Suzanne Saunders Shaw anchored the news at KSBW in the early seventies. I was the weather girl who always bugged the ND to let me do stories. We used CP-16 film cameras in those days. Lots of work, lots of fun. George was a great guy and very talented. I know he always wanted to just own a rare book store. He and Suzanne fell in love, got married, life happened. I was so sad to hear of his booze battles and health issues later.
DeleteI believe George Watson is still alive. Googled his name and no obit showed up...at least the KTVU George Watson.
DeleteI would love to wrong on this one. It was a former ch. 8 co-worker who told me, hopefully in error.
DeleteChristine if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.
DeleteRich needs a George Watson update thread in the future. I always liked George myself. wish him well.
DeleteAlways enjoyed watching Watson and Leslie Griffith on KTVU. I, too, hope that George is still with us and doing well these days.
DeleteGeorge Watson is not dead.
DeleteGeorge Watson attended USF with my brother in the mid- 60's. They were
Deletegood friends and George came to my brother's funeral 2 years ago. He looks great and is enjoying life! "Rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated."
From the early days of KNTV, standout anchor Jess Marlow, who left the then Prune Capital for the big time (I think he retired out of LA). He and Roger Grimsby set the bar pretty high.
ReplyDeleteI lived in LA in the '60s, and for most of the '70s. Marlow was a great!
DeleteRemember when KNBC had Tom Snyder anchoring, and Bryant Gumbel doing sports?
Valerie Coleman
ReplyDeleteI would add Tom Sinkovitz and John Kessler to this list.
ReplyDeleteHere's my Hall Of Fame, in no particular order:
ReplyDeleteJohn Weston
Wanda Ramey
Roger Grimsby
Van Amburg
Pete Wilson
Belva Davis
Jerry Jensen
Terilyn Joe
Suzanne Saunders Shaw
Kate Kelley
Anna Chavez
Katherine Heenan
Tom Sinkowicz
Yeah, I know it's more than ten - so sue me.
Watching John Weston and Wanda Ramey on KPIX when I was a kid - they set the bar for me. They may have since been
- Greg from SF
Paymar.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, the consummate professional, #1, KPIX's reporter/anchor - Bill HIllman
ReplyDeleteJohn Kessler and Sydney Kohara. Those two were the BEST. Loved their chemistry at the anchor desk. KPIX in the morning hasn't been the same since they left.
ReplyDeleteI vote for Christina Loren, she's got half the male population rubbing one out before 7:00AM
ReplyDeleteno way would Christina be anywhere near the top 100 of this list.
DeleteDoes anyone know (or care) that Van Amberg used to not only be a talk show host on KNEW back in the mid and late 1960s, but he was also Bill King's color announcer on the Oakland Raiders broadcasts from 1966-68. How about that?
ReplyDeleteGreat piece of trivia!
DeleteI'm an ex-KPIX'er...and just wanted to chime in with just how nice a man Dave McElhatton was. Every now and then he'd stay in the newsroom for dinner--and when he did, would wander back over to the Edit booths to say hi to any editors that were around (like myself, who used to bring my dinner). He'd sit there and shoot the breeze with us--talking about food, flying in the Bay Area (he was a pilot), his days working with film--ANYTHING! Theee were some old-timers (editors & photogs) present--and Mac would tell stories of editing/shooting fiascos from the film days...cuing up wrong film clips...hairstyles, clothing styles.
ReplyDeleteHe was such a NICE man.
My favorites are:
ReplyDeleteSydnie Kohara
Gasia Mikaelian
Terilyn Joe
Marty Gonazlez
Dan Ashley
Dan Noyes
Carolyn Tyler
Ama Daetz
Anna Chavez
Cheryl Jennings
Frances Dinglasan
Kira Klapper
I like Rich's list, and most of the "blasts from the past" listed in this thread. In a top 10 list of the current anchors, I would pick Ken Bastida and Ann Notarangelo.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved the late Doug Murphy, he was the weekend anchor on KPIX Ch. 5, he seemed like such a nice individual. I also liked, & miss the retired Barbara Rodgers from KPIX.
ReplyDeleteBob Jimenez. High ratings,then he left. Last I saw of him he had packed on a few pounds..
ReplyDeleteSylvia Chase who for some reason is constantly put down by her former sports anchor as being uppity. When I think of her,I think of those early 90's woman's hair. With that poof thing. They all had it. That was replaced by the Rachel in 95 or so...then they all had that. Oh yeah, anchor people style..that's a fun topic. Judd had BIG ties I remember- lol.
Its not enough to be an anchor- you have to look anchor.
Susan Blake on the morning shift at KRON in the 1980's to about 1998.
ReplyDeleteReplaced by look-alike Beth Ruyak for one month before Ruyak gave up and was replaced by Darya Folsom.
Cheryl Jennings and Terry Lowery -- the height of class and professionalism -- and
ReplyDeleteboth are from the City. I believe Cheryl attended George Washington and Terry went
to Abraham Lincoln. When I was coaching youth sports in SF in the 80's I asked both
to come and speak to our female athletes. They were outstanding -- very motivational and great role models.
So what is the update on Evan White? How is he doing?
ReplyDeleteSaw Emerald Yeh on a flight to NY a few years ago and she looked the same as she did the day she started.
Watching a story on KTVU a couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see Bob Jimenez - not as a journalist, but as a PR rep for the CA State Board of Equalization. That's probably the first time I saw him since he moved to L.A. in the '80s.
ReplyDelete1. Dave McElhatton
ReplyDelete2. Ben Williams
3. Mark Curtis
4. Pam Cook
5. Leslie Griffith
6. Kate Kelly
7. Jerry Jenson
8. Andy Park
One of the most professional weather editors in the biz was at KPIX for a few years. Her first name was Rhonda. And her wardrobe was impeccable.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 5:48....weather editor? Do you
ReplyDeleteMean Rhonda Bentley? She was a weather person for KTVU for a few years in the late 90's
agree with the majority of what has been previously mentioned, and maybe add Jan Carson's.to the list
ReplyDeleteDon't remember Judd but do KRON's John Hambrick. He made the rounds to all of NBC's O&O stations. Solid newscaster.
ReplyDelete