KPIX anchor is calling it quits
Veteran newscaster plans to step down at the end of the month
KPIX news anchor Ken Bastida, a Bay Area television fixture for 31 years, has announced his retirement.
Bastida informed viewers of his plans during Tuesday night’s 11 p.m. newscast. He will depart Channel 5 at the end of the month.
It will wrap up an extraordinary run in TV journalism, the landscape of which changed dramatically along the way.
“I started Aug. 1, 1990,” he said in a story posted to the KPIX website. “We didn’t even have computers in the newsroom yet — only typewriters. I remember it clearly. I had the good fortune of working and learning from some really talented people. Remember, I had come over from KCBS Radio and didn’t have a whole lot of experience in TV.”
A native of San Francisco and seven-time Emmy Award winner, Bastida, 64, covered some of the Bay Area’s biggest news stories during his tenure, including the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, the San Bruno gas explosion, the Oakland Ghost Ship fire and this year’s deadly VTA maintenance yard shooting in San Jose.
Bastida also gave Bay Area viewers an eyewitness look at the major stories from around the country and world. He reported live from the Pentagon in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and traveled to the Middle East twice to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As the Giants prepared this week for another postseason run, Bastida fondly recalled covering the team’s 2010, 2012 and 2014 championship seasons.
“The Giants winning the World Series in 2010, being in Texas when the final pitch was thrown, it was crazy,” he said. “And covering the victory parades live in 2010, 2012, 2014. So happy for the city and the Giants fans.”
Born in the Mission District, Bastida attended El Camino High School in South San Francisco, where he first was bitten by the broadcast bug while taking a telecommunications class. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in broadcast communications from San Francisco State; in 2007, he was inducted into the university’s Alumni Hall of Fame.
Before transitioning to TV, Bastida got his start in local radio as an intern at KFRC, where he worked his way up from the mailroom to the newsroom. His résumé includes stints at KGO, KMEL, K101 and KCBS. While at the latter station, he earned a George Foster Peabody award for his work during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Bastida also hosted four seasons of the home improvement series “Landscape Smart” on HGTV.