KCBS San Francisco All News morning sports anchor Steve Bitker will be retiring at the end of this week. To commemorate his final day KCBS will air a tribute for Steve and feature live interviews with many sports figures who’ve crossed Steve’s path over the years. Audacy corporate shared the note Director of News and Programming Jennifer Klurfeld Seelig sent to her team
News Team:
I received a call from Steve Bitker late last week – it was the type of call every programmer dreads. Steve has decided to retire.
Without a doubt, Steve delights in his job. He is an exemplary broadcaster, a fastidious journalist and a revered Bay Area sports historian. But he is also a husband, father, doting grandfather and world traveler. Steve has a substantial bucket list, and he’s decided it’s time to tackle it – without the intrusion of an alarm clock and twice-per-hour deadlines. Steve’s final broadcast will be May 14.
Steve’s wheelhouse is stats and scores – but, in announcing his retirement, we’ll focus on HIS career highlights: Steve has been the KCBS Morning Drive Sports Anchor since April 1991. He began his career as a sportswriter with the Redwood City Tribune during his last two years of high school. After graduating from Cal, he spent two years at KSFO as a news writer, then moved to Tokyo – where he worked for three years as a news/sports anchor for JCTV (Japanese Cable Television), Japan’s sole English TV station. Upon returning to the United States, he was a news anchor/reporter for KNBR for five years, and the morning sports anchor there for two, before coming to KCBS.
Steve was also the home radio play-by-play announcer for the minor league Sonoma County Crushers for seven seasons, and the backup radio play-by-play man for the Oakland Athletics for eleven years. He is the author of the 1998 book “The Original San Francisco Giants.” And, perhaps most importantly, he is a cherished colleague at KCBS.
Steve’s contributions to KCBS came in many forms – of course, there were the live and recorded reports – and, the breaking sports news coverage. But Steve was truly a part of the fabric of this station throughout the morning: Madden chats, phoners with notable sports figures, thoughtful conversations in the Newsroom – and, he was always happy to offer a neighborhood restaurant recommendation. Steve was (and is) deeply committed to ensuring that KCBS maintains its longstanding reputation as a world class news station – proper grammar, attention to detail and comprehensive coverage matter to Steve very much.
Please join me in thanking Steve for all that he’s done for KCBS – and, of course, congratulations are in order as well. (Stay tuned for details about his celebratory sendoff).
Best,
Jennifer Klurfeld Seelig
Director of News and Programming
KCBS All News Radio
106.9FM and 740AM
Steve Bitker is NOT associated with “KCBS (TV or FM) in Los Angeles”. He has spent three decades at the top rated KCBS (740 kHz AM; now simulcast over co-owned KFRC-FM 106.9) in SAN FRANCISCO. That’s the *other* large city in California, about 375 miles north of Los Angeles. So, just so you know, arguably very few people in Los Angeles know the name Steve Bitker, due to his longtime association with the most-excellent KCBS-AM 740 all-news operation, to be found in San Francisco–the “city by the bay”, the one with great restaurants and the Golden Gate Bridge. As opposed to KCBS-FM (“Jack-FM” 93.1) or KCBS-TV ( the digital, Viacom/CBS owned & operated network outlet) in Los Angeles, where one also finds Hollywood, the Dodgers, and a fair number of Kardashians. Are we now straight on this?