Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Two ABC/KGO-TV Giants in TV Promo 30 Years Ago Thursday; Peter Jennings and Van Amburg

 Peter Jennings and Van Amburg. About as big as you can get.


Jennings passed away much too soon from throat cancer a few years ago. Amburg is alive and kicking in El Cerrito --retired and resolute to privacy and comfort.


The above promo debuted in February, 1984. Seems like yesterday.


To this day, Amburg was the highest-paid anchor in San Francisco TV broadcasting history at a salary of just over a million dollars. He also had considerable clout inside the KGO-TV newsroom and he flexed it--until the end. The king of "NewsScene" off his throne.


He left KGO--some said he was essentially shown the door, only a few years later. There's a lot of speculation as to who and what were the cause of his professional demise but I know it wasn't a happy ending.


*Follow me on Twitter



8 comments:

  1. Pretty funny, but once upon a time, "happy talk" news was scorned by many. Leading the way with this kind of news was Van Amburg and Channel 7. Compared to the crap that's on TV these days, I'll gladly take what they did right now. At least they looked for stories and didn't sound like walking/talking shrills for PR people. The news had a mind of its own.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy talk was crap. It was no better than the crap that's on now.

      Delete
  2. As big as you can get, and as good as it gets.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Van Amberg...a true pro. They don't make broadcasters like this guy anymore. And do you know he was Bill King's sidekick in the booth on the Oakland Raiders radio broadcasts from 1966-68?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those were the days! Of course great reporters like Van Amburg wouldn't survive in the PC world we live in today. Remember when being a REAL MAN wasn't a crime?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The PC remark reminds me of Wayne Walker, who IMO was a great sports reporter and 49ers color commentator.

      I heard a Bay Area media personality, who is still around and well known, comment (in a radio interview) on his early career days at PIX during the Walker era. He inferred that Walker, a former longtime star NFL linebacker, could be very imposing. In other words, he took no shit and had a formidable presence to back up that posture! That trait was in contrast to Walker's genial on-air persona.

      Delete
    2. That's my point exactly and it extends past TV personalities. There was a time when you spoke softly and stood your ground. You didn't need to get bent out of shape each time a person pissed you off and you felt "disrespected". You were the bigger man and chose your battles. It took one, maybe two, interactions to set the tone and then your presence was enough to get everyone to fall in line. You were a gentleman to women and kids and a tough SOB if anybody challenged your well earned authority. Now every sniveling, talentless whiner is considered a professional and a peer and if you put them in their place you have a long afternoon ahead of you with one of the broads from HR (and it's never the good looking one).

      Delete
  5. Fred Van Amberg was also Bill King's radio sidekick as a color announcer on the Oakland Raiders' radio broadcasts from 1966-68. And he did talk shows on KNEW radio as well during that time.

    ReplyDelete