Longtime KCBS Radio news anchor Ron Reynolds has died. He was 81 years old.
Reynolds died on Friday morning after receiving hospice care over the previous 10 days. He was survived by his wife, sons Robert and Rick, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Reynolds' career spanned five decades, and he served as KCBS Radio's evening anchor and production voice before his retirement from the station in 2004. Seven years later, Reynolds and his wife, Denise, moved to Sedona, Arizona, and the couple co-authored three books and created a spiritual foundation.
"He was a gentle man who led with his heart," Rick Reynolds said of his father to KCBS Radio on Friday. "He taught me how to bring heart into everything I do."
Ron Reynolds was born on Jan. 21, 1941. His father was a farmer, and his mother worked for the City of Lodi. Reynolds was confined to his bed for an extended period of time during his childhood, taking solace in the comfort and entertainment the radio provided.
That experienced was the "defining" moment in his childhood, Reynolds' son said, and the catalyst for his father's radio career.
Reynolds worked in a variety of roles, which included stops in Stockton (KJOY), Sacramento (KOVR) and Seattle (KOLO) before the Reynoldses returned to Northern California in 1964. That year, Reynolds joined KEWB, an Oakland-based rock 'n' roll station. In 1965, Reynolds even introduced the Beatles at the Cow Palace.
Reynolds stayed at the station when it flipped formats once, interviewing politicians and celebrities as a talk-show host when it became KNEW, and again when KNEW played adult contemporary and oldies in the early 1970s. Rick Reynolds recalled his father lasting "probably two weeks" in June 1974, before Ron, Denise, Rick and Robert "toured the country" in a motorhome for about six months.
Ron Reynolds then moved to KNBR, serving as a DJ, field reporter, music director and program director, earning a reputation as an impressive voiceover talent. When Rick had parent-teacher nights, classmates' parents recognized his dad's pipes.
"(People) would always remark, 'I know that voice!' " Rick recalled on Friday.
Reynolds joined KCBS Radio in the 1980s, and he was first hired as an announcer. He voiced promotions for the station and would do production work, hosting some call-in shows as well.
When KCBS Radio transitioned to an all-news format in 1991, former News Director Ed Cavagnaro said Reynolds made the transition to a news anchor "really well."
"He did it not only as a news reader, but he was a very good news interviewer," Cavagnaro recalled in an interview with KCBS Radio's Jeff Bell and Patti Reising on Friday. "I'd put him on in any breaking news situation, and without a script, he'd do as well as any other news anchor that we had."
Cavagnaro said Reynolds had "a great influence on everyone that he worked with" at KCBS Radio, earning a reputation as a mentor to countless colleagues in the newsroom.
Reynolds retired from KCBS Radio in 2004, later embarking on something of a second career with his wife. Denise, a longtime marriage and family therapist, started providing spiritual guidance and perspective to couples. He celebrated his "second retirement" last year, according to Rick Reynolds.
Ron and "Denny" Reynolds, as he affectionately called her, were married for nearly 62 years after meeting on the University of the Pacific speech team.
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