KCBS anchor Stan Bunger announces retirement
Departure follows other high-profile people at station
KCBS morning news anchor Stan Bunger, whose familiar and reassuring voice has informed Northern California radio listeners for more than 40 years, announced on Tuesday that he is retiring.
Bunger’s final day on the air will be June 11.
“It is just time,” Bunger told the KCBS audience. “It is time to let the listeners know … there will be someone else in this chair and it will go on. People will adjust.”
Bunger also took to Twitter to let his followers in on the news. “Rumors are true,” he wrote. “I have an expiration date. … It’s been a spectacular honor and privilege but I’m ready for what’s next in life. Including sleeping in!”
On Facebook, he went into further de- tail, saying, among other things, that it was “a decision many years in the making.
“Next week, I’ll celebrate one of those milestone birthdays (the one that qualifies you for Medicare, (if you must know)). … It’s time to open the next chapter of life. So many new places to go and favorite ones to revisit. So many old relationships to rekindle and new ones to form. I can’t wait.”
Bunger’s retirement continues a stream of high profile departures from KCBS. Longtime sports anchor Steve Bitker retired last month after 30 years on the job, and morning news anchor Susan Leigh Taylor retired last year.
A native of San Francisco, Bunger was raised in San Jose, where he graduated from Leigh High School, before attending West Valley College in Saratoga. He went on to San Francisco State University and graduated with a degree in Radio and Television.
Bunger’s radio career, which began in 1977, included stops in King City, Sonora, South Lake Tahoe, San Jose, Sacramento and San Francisco. He joined KCBS in 1982.
Bunger briefly left KCBS Radio for KRLD Radio in Dallas in 1992 but returned to the chair he now occupies in 2000, joining Taylor for the morning drive broadcasts.