Bay Area TV news anchor dies of heart attack...

[trane_fanatic]

Story is a bit old, but he was a broadcasting legend here.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGPCR500G1.DTL

PETE WILSON: 1945-2007

TV news anchor was a straight shooter

C.W. Nevius

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Pete Wilson, the TV news anchor with the best exasperated sigh in the business, died unexpectedly Friday night, a day after having a heart attack during hip replacement surgery.

Wilson, 62, underwent the surgery at Stanford Hospital late Thursday and suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors battled to keep him alive until Friday night, when he was taken off life support. He succumbed at 9:20 p.m.

"He was just walking out the door a couple of days ago," said KGO-TV colleague Wayne Freedman. "Looking forward to getting this taken care of and getting back out on the golf course."

The hip replacement was Wilson's second. He had one about 12 years ago, according to family spokesman Chapin Day. Oddly enough, in 2005 another well-known Bay Area broadcaster, sports announcer Bill King, also died following surgery to repair his artificial hip.

Wilson was a Bay Area institution. He started out at KTXL-TV in Sacramento, came to ABC affiliate KGO-TV in 1983 and later went on to spend 12 years anchoring the KRON-TV evening news before returning to Channel 7 in January 2002. Although he won six local Emmys and two prestigious Peabody awards, TV viewers will probably remember him above all for his on-air demeanor.

Other news anchors read the news. Wilson instructed you. He gave you the impression he had some things to tell you, and you'd be wise to sit up, pipe down and pay attention. And, if it was one of those stories that piqued his ever-vigilant sense of outrage, there was likely to be eye-rolling, deep sighs, and even some head-shaking at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Pete somehow had the ability to convey that he had some questions about what he was about to tell you," said KGO-TV News Director Kevin Keeshan.

"What you saw is what you got with Pete," said longtime friend and colleague Vic Lee. "He was a very opinionated guy. Forget PC. He was a straight shooter."

Sometimes a little too straight. Wilson also hosted an afternoon talk radio show on KGO, and he got himself in hot water last year when he took off on San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is in a same-sex partnership, for having a baby with a friend, Rebecca Goldfader, who is a lesbian.

Wilson called the birth, "in my mind a travesty. Or a potential travesty."

The remarks caused an outcry in the Bay Area, with several members of the Board of Supervisors demanding that Wilson be fired. Wilson addressed the issue on his show, insisting that he supported both same-sex marriage and adoption for same-sex couples, but never apologized. He did, however, say his language was "inappropriate."

Although the controversy eventually died down, his objectivity was often the subject of discussion. Some wondered how Wilson could be an objective news anchor and an opinionated radio talk-show host at the same time.

The answer, say friends, was simple. He wasn't either one -- he was just Pete. At Channel 7, Wilson was famous for walking into the TV station after doing his radio show and still being so wound up about the topics that he would engage co-workers to continue the debate "whether they wanted to or not," as Keeshan puts it. They called them "Pete's rants."

And if you really wanted to see passion, you should have played golf with him.

"You could hear him coming two holes away," Freedman says. "He did his own play-by-play and color commentary."

What might not come through in those stories was the sense of affection with which they were told. It isn't easy to be both extremely opinionated and well-liked, but Wilson seemed to pull it off.

"He was unbelievably loyal," Freedman said. "I was always trying to get him to join my golf club. He was always talking about it, but I got the sense that he didn't want to leave his regular foursome."

There was also an unexpected side of Wilson that visitors to his office weren't likely to discover unless they happened to take a close look at the oil-painted landscapes on the wall.

"It wasn't until I looked at the name in the lower corner," Freedman recalled. "It said 'Pete Wilson.' He just hung them there and never said a word."

A passionate student of politics, Wilson probably would have gotten a huge kick out of a misunderstanding that arose from his death. A rumor spread that former California Gov. Pete Wilson had died. Sean Walsh, former press secretary to the former governor, was contacted by a San Diego newspaper and said he had "no idea" how the rumor started. That's because he wasn't in the Bay Area. When people around here heard that Pete Wilson died, their first thought wasn't that it was the politician. They thought, instead, that it was the local media institution.

"There's a seat over here in the newsroom where he sat," Freedman said. "And nobody is going to put their butt down there for a long time."

A Vietnam veteran and Mill Valley resident, Wilson was born in Wisconsin in April 1945 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in journalism and creative writing. He began his broadcasting career at a small country-western station in Milwaukee while going to graduate school.

Keeshan said Wilson was nervous about the surgery.

"He was a little apprehensive," Keeshan said. "He dedicated the last half hour of his radio show to it and basically had people call up and give their nightmare stories about hip replacement surgery. That was kind of Pete's way of dealing with it."

Even before the surgery, Wilson was already looking forward to getting back in the anchor chair, Keeshan said.

"One of the last conversations I had with him (Friday) was about cutting a hole in the floor under the anchor desk" so Wilson could keep his legs straight while recuperating from the surgery, Keeshan said. "We were going to cut a hole so his hip could heal properly while he was anchoring."

The KGO-TV Web site quoted a family spokesman saying Wilson had arterial blockages of 70 percent and 100 percent that were not detected in tests before the operation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who was visiting her city on Saturday, said of Wilson: "I was always impressed by his professionalism and his fairness as a reporter. Politicians and reporters don't always agree, and we have two different jobs to do."

In a statement, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said, "While I did not share his views on many issues, I speak for all San Franciscans when I say that our hearts go out to the Wilson family during this difficult time of loss."

Wilson is survived by his wife, Sandra, and son, Brendan. A public service is pending. Day, the family spokesman, asks that well-wishers forgo flowers and donate to a favorite charity in Wilson's name.

Edited July 23, 2007 by trane_fanatic

[Jim R]

RIP, Pete. You done good.

[Jazzmoose]

Yeah, we heard about this down here yesterday, and we were shocked.

[MoGrubb]

Sounds like a hellofa guy.

Rip Pete Wilson.

[alocispepraluger102]

just learning of this.

never saw him on tv, but he was a helluva afternoon talk show host on kgo.