Paul Magers (born May 15, 1954) is a television news anchor who works for the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
owned and operated television station
KCBSKCBS-TV is the West Coast flagship station of the CBS Television Network located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount...
in
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. He was born in
Santa Maria, CaliforniaSanta Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. Santa Maria's estimated population in November 2008 was 91,972 and has surpassed that of Santa Barbara, making it the largest city in the county. The estimated population of the area is about 161,227, which includes...
, but grew up in
EllensburgEllensburg is a city in, and the county seat of, Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 15,414 at the 2000 census. This number includes the college student population, which accounts for roughly 9,000. Ellensburg is located just east of the Cascade Range on I-90...
,
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
. Magers worked for the
Twin CitiesU.S. Census Bureau Areas|-! colspan="2" | |-! colspan="2" style="background:#d8d8e8;color:#000;" | Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud CSA, MN-WI
|-| Population || 3,502,891...
television station
KAREKARE, Digital Channel 11, is an NBC - affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis - St. Paul area of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates KARE WX NOW, formerly known as NBC Plus on its second digital subchannel...
, an
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
affiliate, for 20 years.
Magers originally planned to pursue a legal career and he earned a degree at
Hamline University School of LawHamline University School of Law is a private law school affiliated with Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The School of Law was founded in 1972 as the Midwestern School of Law by a group of legal professionals. In 1976, it was absorbed by Hamline University as its own School of Law,...
. But later he became interested in television because of his brother
Ron MagersRon Magers is one of the weeknight anchors on WLS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Chicago. He currently co-anchors the station's 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. broadcasts. He is the brother of Paul Magers, a television anchor for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles....
, who worked in the TV industry.
Paul Magers (born May 15, 1954) is a television news anchor who works for the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
owned and operated television station
KCBSKCBS-TV is the West Coast flagship station of the CBS Television Network located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount...
in
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. He was born in
Santa Maria, CaliforniaSanta Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. Santa Maria's estimated population in November 2008 was 91,972 and has surpassed that of Santa Barbara, making it the largest city in the county. The estimated population of the area is about 161,227, which includes...
, but grew up in
EllensburgEllensburg is a city in, and the county seat of, Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 15,414 at the 2000 census. This number includes the college student population, which accounts for roughly 9,000. Ellensburg is located just east of the Cascade Range on I-90...
,
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
. Magers worked for the
Twin CitiesU.S. Census Bureau Areas|-! colspan="2" | |-! colspan="2" style="background:#d8d8e8;color:#000;" | Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud CSA, MN-WI
|-| Population || 3,502,891...
television station
KAREKARE, Digital Channel 11, is an NBC - affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis - St. Paul area of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates KARE WX NOW, formerly known as NBC Plus on its second digital subchannel...
, an
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
affiliate, for 20 years.
Magers originally planned to pursue a legal career and he earned a degree at
Hamline University School of LawHamline University School of Law is a private law school affiliated with Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The School of Law was founded in 1972 as the Midwestern School of Law by a group of legal professionals. In 1976, it was absorbed by Hamline University as its own School of Law,...
. But later he became interested in television because of his brother
Ron MagersRon Magers is one of the weeknight anchors on WLS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Chicago. He currently co-anchors the station's 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. broadcasts. He is the brother of Paul Magers, a television anchor for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles....
, who worked in the TV industry. Paul's first television job was at
KSTP-TVKSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation, which also owns several other TV stations across the United States and some other properties.KSTP is licensed in St...
in St. Paul, Minnesota where he worked as a technician, dispatcher, and producer. He moved on to be a
reporterA reporter is a type of journalist who researches and presents information in certain types of mass media.Reporters gather their information in a variety of ways, including tips, press releases, sources and witnessing events. They perform research through interviews, public records, and other...
at
KATUKATU is a television station broadcasting on digital channel 43 in Portland, Oregon, USA. It has been owned by Fisher Communications of Seattle, Washington, owner of the Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, since its inception and is currently affiliated with the ABC Television Network...
in
PortlandPortland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
,
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
in 1979 where he covered the 1980 eruption of
Mount St. HelensMount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is south of Seattle and northeast of Portland, Oregon. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of...
. In 1981, he moved to
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
to work as a reporter and anchor at
KGTVKGTV is the ABC television affiliate in San Diego, California. It broadcasts as a digital only station on VHF channel 10 also using VHF channel 10 as its virtual channel through the use of PSIP . The station can be seen on Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T U-verse on cable channel 10...
.
Paul arrived at KARE (then WTCN) in September 1983, along with co-anchor Diana Pierce. They remained a team until September 2003. Paul and Diana's 20 years anchoring the 10:00 p.m. newscasts on Channel 11 is a record in the Twin Cities. Together, they led the station's news operation from a distant third (behind long-time arch rivals
KSTP-TVKSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation, which also owns several other TV stations across the United States and some other properties.KSTP is licensed in St...
and
WCCO-TVWCCO-TV, is the CBS owned and operated television station that serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. It broadcasts a digital television signal on channel 32 . It also operates two full-powered semi-satellites--KCCO-TV in Alexandria and KCCW in Walker . KCCO-TV simulcasts WCCO-TV, but...
, to the leading news and information station in
Minneapolis-St. PaulU.S. Census Bureau Areas|-! colspan="2" | |-! colspan="2" style="background:#d8d8e8;color:#000;" | Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud CSA, MN-WI
|-| Population || 3,502,891...
. During this time, Magers also developed popular on-air chemistry with meteorologist
Paul DouglasPaul Douglas is a meteorologist, author, entrepreneur, and software expert in Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota. He worked at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota from December 1997 until being laid off in April 2008 as part of nationwide cutbacks by CBS...
, as well as Sports Director Randy Shaver.
In 1986, Magers anchored live coverage of a
tornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud...
being photographed by a KARE helicopter. With Gary Eichten of
Minnesota Public RadioMinnesota Public Radio , a 501 non-profit organization, is one of the premier public radio stations producing programming for radio, Internet and face-to-face audiences in the United States...
, Paul co-moderated a memorable debate between
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
candidates
Walter MondaleWalter Frederick Mondale is an American politician and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He was the 42nd Vice President of the United States under President Jimmy Carter, a two-term United States Senator from Minnesota, and the Democratic Party nominee for president in 1984...
and
Norm ColemanNorman Bertram "Norm" Coleman, Jr. , is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994...
.
Paul's last on-air appearance at KARE was December 12, 2003. He received bittersweet good-byes from his co-workers, as well as viewers. Upon leaving KARE, he said the story that affected him most while in Minnesota was the abduction of
Jacob WetterlingJacob Erwin Wetterling was a boy from St. Joseph, Minnesota who was kidnapped from his hometown at the age of 11 on October 22, 1989...
in 1989.
Magers appeared as himself in the 1998 movie
A Simple PlanA Simple Plan is a 1998 drama film directed by Sam Raimi, based on the novel of the same name by Scott Smith, who also wrote the screenplay of the movie....
, and has held the national anchordesk with guest positions on
NBC Nightly NewsNBC Nightly News is the daily evening news program for NBC News and broadcasts from the GE Building, Rockefeller Center in New York City. It has been known by this name since August 3, 1970. Currently, weekday broadcasts are anchored by Brian Williams, and weekend editions of the show are anchored...
and
The Today Show.
Magers began working at KCBS television on January 5, 2004, for a reported $2.5 million.
External links