Ray Wilson; San Diego News Anchor, Director
- Share via
Ray Wilson, 77, a fixture on San Diego station KFMB-TV for 35 years. Wilson, who served as news anchor and later news director, joined the station in 1952, three years after it went on the air. He left the anchor chair in 1973 and retired in 1987. During his last few years at the station, he was on the air as Larry Himmel’s comic sidekick on “San Diego at Large.” Wilson appeared on screen as a cowboy, an Arab sheik, a punk rocker and a wino--all in a day’s work, he claimed, because “everybody in the news business has to have a little bit of show business in his blood.” Nicknamed “Chief,” Wilson was known for his combed-back black hair, chipmunk cheeks and darting gray eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses. He began his career in radio, working in Berkeley, Denver, Salinas and San Diego. He served in the Army during World War II. On July 15 in San Diego of complications of cancer and heart disease.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
John Orr was a renowned fire investigator who was also a prolific arsonist, and whose thinly veiled novel helped to convict him. In this episode we hear from the fire captain who first suspected him—and from Orr himself.
Madison McGhee is joined by legendary Dateline host Josh Mankiewicz and esteemed L.A. Times Reporter Richard Winton as the three of them dive into all-things Menendez Brothers, the good, the bad, and the still unknown.
NPR climate editor Sadie Babits talks about why the media has long overlooked the climate crisis, and how that’s starting to change.
