Ex-San Diegan Rockets to Top in TV News : Journalism: Bill Ritter, with five years of television experience, to inaugurate Sunday edition of ‘Good Morning, America.’

Even in the Oz-like realm of television news, where people often go from unknown to star to has-been in a 10-month period, Bill Ritter’s rise up the television news ladder can only be described as meteoric.

Five years after leaving his position as business editor for the San Diego County Edition of The Times to take a job as a reporter with KNSD-TV (Channel 39), Ritter has landed one of the top television jobs in the country.

Starting Jan. 3, Ritter will be co-host of the new Sunday edition of “Good Morning, America.” The program, which will air at 8 a.m., represents a major step for ABC. On the weekday program, Ritter will substitute for Charles Gibson and Joan Lunden and serve as a reporter.

Not bad for an ex-print geek.

“I’ll have the best of both worlds,” Ritter said. “I’ll be able to do investigative work and host a show.”

Ritter left Channel 39 two years ago to work for KTTV in Los Angeles--a big jump in itself, considering his limited television background. He bounced around at the Fox affiliate, anchoring and reporting, before moving to Fox News, which eventually opted not to renew his contract when they decided not to produce a pilot for a news magazine show he was helping develop.

After a few months of unemployment, he has been working for the last three months for KCAL-TV (Channel 9), the L.A. independent, usually leading the weeknight 9 p.m. newscasts with his “Upfront With Bill Ritter” features. Most television journalists would kill for such a high-visibility segment in Los Angeles.

Ritter, 42, clearly has been on the television news fast track.

He reportedly had an offer to be a network correspondent before taking the “Good Morning, America” job, which industry sources say will probably pay him in the $200,000-a-year range.

“The key for Bill is he’s a good reporter,” said Channel 39 news director Irv Kass.

What may surprise people is Ritter’s ascendancy in the role of genial host. He has had only a few months of experience as an anchor. He has never attended one of the “anchor schools” run by consultants, designed to turn reporters into the generic, puppet news readers that dominate most broadcasts.

His rawness has obviously worked to his advantage. So many anchors and reporters are fake and coached that anyone who can come across as real and sincere stands out.

“He comes across as credible because he is credible,” said Kass, a close friend of Ritter’s.

While many who saw his early work on Channel 39 may be surprised that Ritter has gone so far so fast, those who knew him in the late ‘60s will be shocked. Back then, he worked on San Diego’s token radical publication, the San Diego Door. Pictures of Ritter, circa 1968, in his hippie togs and Afro-style hairdo will be selling big these days. (The list of Door alumni includes screenwriter Cameron Crowe and political hired gun Larry Remer.)

Known in journalistic circles for his intensity and his willingness to share his opinions about high journalistic standards, some thought Ritter wouldn’t last long in the plastic world of television news. But he says he enjoys the challenges. It’s a kick being on camera, he admits.

“I didn’t want to be one of these super-ambitious television reporters, but I also didn’t want to become one these complacent TV journalists,” Ritter said. “There are so many of them, they just litter the airwaves. I vowed that, if I couldn’t keep moving up, I wanted to get out.”

In a sense, the new “Good Morning, America” show is a no-lose situation for Ritter. It’s not as if he is going into an established entity that he could potentially ruin. If the show bombs, there will be plenty of blame to go around.

On the other hand, if it succeeds, Ritter will be able to pick his next step.

Yet, he expresses no naivete about the downside of playing the network game.

“Do the words Deborah Norville mean anything to you?” Ritter said. “In this business, you can also have a meteoric descent.

“I’m not naive enough to think that I can’t get chewed up. I’m not in Kansas anymore.”

The tragic tale of Johnaton George’s escape from a sheriff’s van last Monday night was a dramatic news story, the type of incident that gets the adrenaline pounding in daily reporters.

As usual, television and radio had the gift of immediacy, taking San Diegans to the scene. As the story continued, all managed to flesh out the tale, coming up with moving interviews with relatives and acquaintances of both the deceased and the fugitive.

Yet there were other moments. . . .

* At the scene Monday night, with the body of slain motorist Michael Champion lying just a few feet away, Channel 10’s Kent Ninomiya asked Sheriff Jim Roache, “Is (the escapee) dangerous now?”

* Relentlessly looking to fit incidents into trends, editors and reporters were quick to emphasize the “carjacking” angle, as if this was just another case of someone stealing a car. George will be referred to as an alleged murderer, a fugitive, not a carjacker.

* The next day, with the stolen car still missing, Channel 39’s Paul Bloom told viewers “sometime tonight, if you can, take a walk around the block” to look for the car. Perhaps realizing that it may not be advisable to send citizens out to the streets looking for a car driven by an armed and dangerous killer, he did have the sense to add a warning to anyone who might find the car: “Don’t touch it,” and call police.

The Arbitron ratings released last week for the summer quarter--always a fickle period because of the sudden changes in people’s listening habits because of vacations and increased outdoor activities--contained few surprises.

However, it did bring good news for oldies station KBZS-FM (K-BEEST), which is in direct competition with KCBQ-FM (105.3). K-BEST moved up to a 3.2 rating among listeners 12 and over, while KCBQ didn’t register in the top 20 San Diego stations, falling to a 1.5.

The country tunes of KSON again dominated the ratings, posting an 8.7 12-plus rating, with KGB-FM (101.5) in second place with a 5.8.

In the separate North County Arbitron book, KIOZ-FM, (Rock 102), which puffed out its chest after posting a 10.2 in the spring plummeted to a 5.7, which speaks volumes about the consistency and accuracy of the Arbitron ratings. (Ironically, Rock 102’s rating in San Diego, where more people are polled, stayed about the same, at 4.2). KFMB-FM (B100) won the North County book with a 7.0.

The new AccuRatings service, which many local stations hope will supplant Arbitron, also has KSON in first, but the more youth-oriented XHTZ-FM (Z90), XTRA-FM (91X) and KKLQ (Q106) all posted stronger numbers than in the Arbitron ratings, placing second, third and fourth, respectively. Some industry experts believe AccuRatings, which uses phone calls to poll a larger sample than Arbitron, may eventually produce more accurate and consistent numbers.

Television news executives swear they try to avoid those cheesy, uninformative prime-time “updates” designed to titillate viewers into watching the late news, but they still do them. This informative “update” from Channel 8’s Mitch Duncan last week: “Guess what happened to Norman Schwarzkopf?” Whipped into a frenzy by that teaser, Channel 8 viewers were expected to wait until the 11 p.m. news to find out that someone had splashed blood on the retired general at a book signing. . . .

Station co-owner John Willkie says low-power Channel 63 will likely go on the air at 9 p.m. Friday. He’s not yet sure what the initial programming will be. . . .

Local fans of the classic music offered by KUSC-FM (91.5) will be pleased to learn that the Los Angeles-based station has received permission from the FCC to relocate its transmitter, which should eliminate most of the interference problems tha made the station almost impossible to pick up in San Diego County. . . .

The BRAVO cable network will air “Sunshine Maker,” the short film by San Diego State grad Karen Weggenmann, as part of its “Community Cinema” program, at 5 p.m. today.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

PROPOSITIONS DEBATED

There is a certain energy created by throwing 200 people into a room and televising the event, regardless of the topic. This month’s edition of “Third Thursday,” KNSD-TV’s (Channel 39) town hall-style program, will focus on Proposition 161, the so-called “Death With Dignity” measure, and Proposition 167, which would change elements of the state tax structure.

On the face of it, the two topics aren’t the typical fodder of lively television. But the concept of bringing representatives of opposing points of view, placing them in front of a live audience and letting them go out at it for 90 minutes always produces some entertaining moments. Marty Levin as genial ringmaster always manages to keep things in control, if not slightly on edge.

This month’s edition airs at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.