Look, we're not usually in the business of writing eulogies for TV news careers. But there's something worth noting about how Bay Area viewers responded to the news: less about the person leaving and more about the ghosts of local news past.
The comment sections lit up not with tributes to the departing anchor, but with waves of nostalgia for the old guard. "Where's my boy Dennis Richmond?" one Bay Area viewer wrote. "I stopped watching the news on TV when he retired — I ain't got time for new fucking posers." Another chimed in with a tribute to the late Leslie Griffith. The sentiment was clear: for a lot of people, local TV news peaked a while ago, and every departure just underscores the distance.
And honestly? They're not wrong to feel that way. Local news used to be an institution — a shared civic experience that connected people to their city. Now it's a shell of what it was, hollowed out by corporate consolidation, cost-cutting, and the slow migration of eyeballs to phones. KTVU itself has been through the corporate blender, and each anchor departure is another reminder that the product on screen isn't what it used to be.
This isn't really a story about one person leaving one station. It's about the slow erosion of local media at a time when San Francisco desperately needs more accountability journalism, not less. Every newsroom that shrinks, every veteran who walks away, is one fewer check on the bureaucrats and politicians spending your money.
We wish the departing anchor well. But the bigger loss is the one we've been absorbing for years — and barely noticing anymore.
