Veteran TV Reporter Bob Banfield Retires At Age 79
After 43 years at KABC-TV, veteran Inland Empire reporter Bob Banfield is retiring at age 79.
The station paid tribute to Banfield Thursday with photos and clips from his many years on the air.
Banfield got his start in broadcasting at age 18 at a tiny radio station in his hometown of East Liverpool, Ohio.
He hosted a daily interview program and even a children’s show on WHIZ-TV before he moved west in 1967 and joined KABC, where he was paid $20 per report.
Banfield covered the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Manson murders. In the 70s, he hosted “A.M. Los Angeles” with Regis Philbin.
In 1980, he was assigned to cover Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where he reported on wildfires, blizzards and everyday life in the Inland Empire.
