Coordinates

28°36′36″N77°13′48″N

{{infobox broadcast | call letters

KPIX-TV| city | station_slogan ''Stay Connected''| station_branding CBS 5 Bay Area (general)CBS 5 Eyewitness News (newscasts)| station_logo 200px| analog | digital 29 (UHF)Virtual: 5 (PSIP)| subchannels 5.1 HD| other_chs | affiliations CBS| network | founded | airdate December 22, 1948| location San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California| callsign_meaning PIX is a shorthand term for "pictures"| former_callsigns | former_channel_numbers Analog:5 (VHF, 1948-2009)| owner CBS Corporation| licensee CBS Broadcasting, Inc.| sister_stations KBCW (TV)| former_affiliations All secondary:NBC (1948-1949)DuMont (1949-1953)Paramount (1953)| effective_radiated_power 1000 kW | HAAT 401 m | class | facility_id 25452| coordinates | homepage www.cbssf.com|}}

KPIX-TV (Channel 5) is the CBS owned and operated television station in San Francisco, California. Through its parent company CBS Corporation, KPIX is co-owned with The CW affiliate KBCW-TV (Channel 44).

The station transmits from the Sutro Tower and its signal covers the San Francisco Bay Area. Known on the air as ''CBS 5 Bay Area,'' KPIX is home to one of the higher rated newscasts among CBS-owned stations. On January 28, 2008, KPIX started to broadcast local news in HD, becoming the third station in the Bay area to do so, after KGO-TV and KTVU. KPIX was also one of two Group W stations that became a CBS O&O;, but had already been affiliated with CBS, the other being KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.

In the few areas of the western United States where viewers cannot receive CBS programs over-the-air, KPIX is available to Dish Network customers as part of All American Direct's distant network package.

History

KPIX signed on December 22, 1948. It was the nation's 49th television station, as well as the first in northern California. It was owned by the Associated Broadcasters, owners of KSFO AM 560. Initially, KPIX transmitted from a tower on top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill. It later moved to a shared transmitter tower with KGO-TV on Mount Sutro and then to the Sutro Tower in 1973. KPIX's first studio was in the attic of the Mark Hopkins (just above the "Top of the Mark.")

KPIX immediately joined CBS due to a deal KSFO's owners had worked out with CBS a year earlier. KSFO was CBS radio's Bay Area affiliate from 1937 to 1941, when Associated Broadcasters backed out of a deal for CBS to buy the station. When KSFO was still affiliated with CBS, it was originally slated to move to 740 AM, the dial spot of KQW in San Jose. That frequency was the last 50,000-watt frequency available in the Bay Area, and KSFO was to raise its power to 50,000 watts after moving to 740. However, after KSFO parted ways with CBS, CBS moved its Bay Area affiliation to KQW and wasn't about to give up the obvious advantage of owning the last available 50,000-watt station in the Bay Area. After lengthy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearings, KSFO won the 740 frequency, but later decided to stay at 560 and concentrate its efforts on building a television station. It traded the 740 frequency to CBS in return for getting the CBS television affiliation for the Bay Area. KQW remained at 740 and CBS changed its call sign to KCBS.

The station also carried programming from the now-defunct DuMont Television Network until that network folded in 1956. It even carried a few NBC programs until KRON-TV signed on in 1949, and programs from the short-lived Paramount Television Network, among them ''Frosty Frolics'', ''Time For Beany'', ''Cowboy G-Men'', and ''Bandstand Revue''.

When KPIX's first competitor, KGO-TV, signed on in May 1949, KPIX produced programs to welcome it to the Bay Area. KPIX cameras were used on the first episode of the CBS News program ''See It Now'' on November 18, 1951, which opened with the first live simultaneous coast-to-coast TV transmission from both the East Coast (the Brooklyn Bridge and New York Harbor) and the West Coast (KPIX-produced images of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay), under the narration of Edward R. Murrow. Under its first general manager, Phil Lasky, KPIX gained an early reputation for news coverage, being noted for originating national CBS coverage of the Japanese Peace Conference of 1951 (the event which "officially" brought an end to World War II, similar to the function that the Treaty of Versailles served for World War I), held in San Francisco (for which Lasky was commended by then-CBS News president Sig Mickelson), as well as local news coverage of the 1953 crash of an Australian airliner while on approach to San Francisco International Airport, and a powder explosion a few weeks afterward at an explosives plant in suburban Hercules. In sports programming, KPIX originated the annual college football East-West Shrine Game for DuMont, and was the flagship station of the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League until 1954.

In 1952 KPIX and KSFO moved into a new building at 2655 Van Ness Avenue, with KPIX staying there until about 1979, when it relocated to a 1920's era warehouse building on the corner of Battery and Broadway streets (refurbished by the architecture firm Gensler), where KPIX remains to this day. (KSFO moved to studios in the Fairmont Hotel, across the hall from the Tonga Room, later in the 1950s.) The building on Van Ness Avenue was the first building in San Francisco specifically built for television (it was demolished in 2006 to make way for a condominium complex). Westinghouse Electric Corporation bought KPIX in 1954 and ran it as part of Group W, its broadcasting unit. During Westinghouse's ownership, KPIX was their only television station on the West Coast. In early 1996, Westinghouse merged with CBS, making KPIX a CBS O&O; station and bringing it into common ownership with KCBS radio. Until this happened, KPIX had been CBS's longest-tenured affiliate; the distinction now goes to WUSA in Washington, DC.

In May 2006 KPIX moved its San Jose news bureau to the Fairmont Tower at 50 W. San Fernando Street. This was the original site of Charles Herrold's experimental broadcasts which were the precursor of KCBS. Although CBS was not aware of the significance of the San Fernando St. address when the move was planned, it quickly recognized and embraced its significance when informed, giving long-overdue credit to one of the inventors of radio broadcasting during the bureau's opening celebration.

Eyewitness Blues

Some personalities from KPIX, as well as KCBS radio, consists of mainly reporters and anchors from the two stations that would comprise the band named ''Eyewitness Blues''. The band consists of Greg Brady (guitar), Keith Moon (Drums), Chris Detrick (Guitar), and Doug Sovern (bass). The band debuted in 2006.

Digital television

KPIX-TV shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009 as part of the DTV transition, it remained on channel 29 PSIP is used to display KPIX-TV's virtual channel as 5 on digital television receivers.

Programming

Entertainment

KPIX was the station that came up with the concept for a local entertainment and lifestyles program, ''Evening Magazine''. Evening Magazine began on KPIX-TV in August 1976, and within a year, the concept expanded to the other Group W stations. By Fall 1978, the ''Evening Magazine'' format was syndicated to non-Group W markets across the country as ''PM Magazine''. The entire ''Evening''/''PM Magazine'' format was cancelled by the late 1980s. KPIX resurrected ''Evening Magazine'' in 1998. In 2005, ''Evening Magazine'' was retitled ''Eye On The Bay'', to focus further on the San Francisco Bay Area. KBCW also aired ''Evening Magazine'' and ''Eye on the Bay'' in the early 2000s as reruns of the previous night's episode.

For most of the time before Westinghouse bought CBS, KPIX was CBS' largest affiliate. Despite this, until at least 1994 it was standard KPIX practice to pre-empt ''The Price Is Right'', as well as other CBS morning daytime programs (for example, the first season of ''Tattletales'' was pre-empted for reruns of ''Perry Mason''). Despite the pre-emptions, CBS was mostly satisfied with KPIX as it was among its highest rated affiliates in the country. In 1995, when CBS signed a long term deal with every Westinghouse station (just before the two companies merged), KPIX began broadcasting the entire CBS schedule in pattern with no preemptions, as per the affiliation agreement between Westinghouse and CBS.

For a time from 1992 to 1998, KPIX ran CBS primetime programming an hour earlier than typical for the Pacific Time Zone (i.e. from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), a practice which KOVR, its sister station in Sacramento, continues to this day.

Talk shows

KPIX was also known for the locally produced morning talk show, ''People are Talking'', which began in 1978 with Ann Fraser and Ross MacGowan, and ran until 1991 (the other Group W stations also used the ''People are Talking'' format during these years). On KPIX, this show pre-empted ''The Price Is Right'' for a few years, and CBS had to schedule the popular game show on other Bay Area independent stations such as KOFY. At one point, a more celebrity-driven "People Are Talking in the Afternoon" aired with a small house band. Prior to the "People are Talking" franchise, Ann Fraser hosted "The Morning Show," essentially a 30 minute version of "People Are Talking." "The Morning Show" replaced "The Kathryn Crosby Show," hosted by Bing Crosby's wife, Kathryn. This was also a 30 minute show.

Sports

During the 1980s, KPIX was the flagship station for the Oakland A's baseball team (at times pre-empting or delaying CBS network shows for the live broadcasts) before the A's broadcasts moved in the early 1990s to then-NBC affiliate KRON. KPIX was also the television home of the Golden State Warriors basketball team during the 1990s. KPIX-TV was also the exclusive home of the Bay to Breakers before it moved to KRON.

Captain Fortune

During the 1950s, KPIX produced a local children's program, ''Captain Fortune'', on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. In addition to a number of live segments with an in-studio children's audience, the program featured the pioneering animated television episodes of ''Crusader Rabbit''. The "captain" sometimes drew pictures to illustrate his stories. He was actually a talented artist named Peter Abenheim. Abenheim authored a book, published in 1959 by Nourse Publishing of San Carlos, California, ''Captain Impossible at Sea''. Abenheim wrote the screenplay for a 1962 science fiction film, ''This Is Not a Test'' (also released as ''Atomic War Bride''). He was born in England on January 26, 1912. He came to San Francisco in 1932 and attended the California School of Fine Arts. He worked as an educational filmmaker. He died in San Francisco on May 2, 1988.

Dick Stewart

From 1956 to 1959, Davenport, Iowa native Dick Stewart (born 1927) hosted a weekday variety program at KPIX. Due to the popularity of the film ''Gidget'' in 1959, the station decided to run a ''"Miss Gidget"'' contest on Dick Stewart's television program. The contest was won by Barbara Bouchet, who would become one of the "Regulars" on the ''Dance Party''. She would later go on to be a famous star in her own right.

From 1959 to 1963, KPIX presented ''Dance Party'', hosted by Stewart. The program invited local teenagers to come and dance to recorded music in the KPIX studios. Besides playing current recordings, Stewart sometimes welcomed popular recording stars to the program. Following the custom of ''American Bandstand'', the singers would lip-synch to their recordings.

Stewart also hosted a number of "High School Salute" programs on Saturdays that spotlighted area high schools with interviews with students and faculty, as well as filmed segments from each school.

Daytime Dramas

From its early days, KPIX carried the CBS soap operas, including The ''Guiding Light'' (1952–2009), ''As The World Turns'' (1956–2010), ''The Young and The Restless'' (1973–present), The ''Bold And The Beautiful'' (1987–present).

Other soaps shown on KPIX throughout the years include ''Search For Tomorrow'' (1951–82, when it moved to NBC), ''Love Of Life'' (1951–80), ''The Secret Storm'' (1954–74, though KPIX dropped it in September 1973), ''The Brighter Day'' (1954–62), The ''Edge of Night'' (1956–75, when it jumped to ABC), ''Love Is A Many Splendored Thing'' (1967–73), ''Where The Heart Is'' (1969–73), and ''Capitol'' (1982–87).

Court Dramas

In 1987-1988, KPIX ran a 90-minute block of court dramas from 4:30 to 6 p.m.: ''Superior Court'', ''People's Court'' and ''The Judge''. KPIX print ads stated, "It's a crime not to watch!" Late in the 2000s decade, KPIX ran ''Judge Judy'' at 7:30 p.m.

Newscasts

KPIX uses the Eyewitness News format adopted by sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia. KGO-TV also uses a similar type format, but KPIX had the Eyewitness News name first; KGO adopted its version from WABC-TV in New York City. For most of the last 30 years, KPIX has been runner-up to KGO.

As mentioned above, KPIX was a pioneer in local television news coverage in the Bay Area. Like most television stations, it presented a 15-minute evening news program until 1963, when the networks began expanding their evening newscasts to 30 minutes. One of KPIX's innovating program directors, Ray Hubbard, created "The Noon News." The anchors were John Weston, "Channel 5's Guy on the Go," and Wanda Ramey, "Channel 5's Gal on the Go." Ramey was one of the first women news anchors in the country. In 1966, KPIX hired the first African-American TV news reporters in the San Francisco market: Ben Williams, who had been the first Black reporter for the ''San Francisco Examiner'' a few years earlier, and Belva Davis, the first female African-American reporter on the West Coast.

The station also launched a 10:00 p.m. hour-long newscast in the 1990s when they experimented with moving the prime time programming block back one hour. Then-NBC affiliate KRON also experimented with a 7:00-10:00 prime-time block and news at 10:00P, but their newscast was only 30 minutes and they quickly reverted back to the standard 8:00-11:00 primetime block after only a year. KPIX did not revert to 8:00-11:00 prime time programming until 1998 after making no dent in KTVU's 10:00 pm news ratings, which has dominated the time slot for years in the Bay Area.

KPIX was also home to ''30 Minutes Bay Area'', a 30 minute news magazine created by 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt after he retired from the national show. The "30 Minutes" concept was originally planned to air on many CBS O&O; stations, but KPIX was the only station to implement the concept. ''30 Minutes Bay Area'' was discontinued in early 2007, however, it continues to air as a special as of 2010.

KPIX also was one of the first local TV stations in the United States to provide full time environment reporting in its newscasts. CBS5's "The Greenbeat" (2007–2010), featuring reporter Jeffrey Schaub, offered viewers reports on sustainability, green technology and earth awareness issues.

Wendy Tokuda, who co-anchored "Eyewitness News" with Dave McElhatton from 1978 to 1992, recently returned to KPIX; as of 2007, Wendy anchors CBS 5 Eyewitness News at 5 with Allen Martin. In 1992, Wendy left KPIX to anchor evening newscasts on KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. In 1997, she returned to the Bay Area, and for the past decade, Wendy appeared on KRON 4 as evening anchor and reporter for her "Students Rising Above" student scholarship program that she founded in 1998. Wendy continues to work on her "Students Rising Above" program and airs her stories on KPIX newscasts.

In 2007 KPIX began broadcasting "Eye on the Bay" in High Definition. On January 28, 2008, KPIX began broadcasting its newscasts in 1080i high definition (behind KTVU and KGO), becoming the third station in the Bay Area to broadcast news and weather in HD, but most of the field cameras were still in 4:3 aspect ratio at that time of the switch. In mid-September 2010, KPIX started using HD cameras for its field reports, however, not all video footage(s) are shot in HD. KPIX utilizes a "Hi-Def Doppler" radar system during weather segments, which is positioned on Mount Vaca.

On March 3, 2008, KPIX launched a nightly 10 p.m. newscast on KBCW. It is broadcast in high definition.

In mid-September 2010, KPIX introduced new graphics for its newscasts, which currently mirrors that of many of its sister-stations including WCBS and KCBS. KPIX currently uses "The Enforcer" music package, the basic theme of which has been used on many of CBS's O&O; stations since the mid-1970s, when it was introduced by WBBM-TV. The station previously used several variants of the "Battery" theme for its newscasts for over a decade before the current change. In addition, the KPIX and KCBS radio websites merged along with the new website entitled "CBS San Francisco," which is similar to the revamp of most CBS O&Os.; As of January 2011, KPIX airs a weekday morning newscast at 4:30 a.m.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

''The Noon News'' (1950s)

''Shell News'' (1950s)

''William Winter & The News'' (1950s)

''Channel 5 Eyewitness News'' (1965–1994, 1995-2003)

''KPIX 5 News'' (1994-1995)

''CBS 5 Eyewitness News'' (2003–present)

Station slogans

''We Light Up the Bay'' (1977–1982)

''The Best Place for News in The Best Place on Earth'' (1994–1998)

''Everywhere in the Best Place on Earth'' (1998–2001)

''Everywhere'' (2001–2005)

''Always Worth Your Time'' (2005–2009)

''Stay Connected'' (2009–present)

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

Ken Bastida - weeknights at 10 (on KBCW) and 11 p.m.; "Good Question" reporter and fill in anchor

Elizabeth Cook - weeknights at 5 pm; general assignment reporter and fill in anchor

Dana King - weeknights at 6, 10 (on KBCW) and 11 p.m.

Grace Lee - weekday mornings "CBS 5 Early Edition" and noon

Anne Makovec - weekend mornings - "CBS 5 Weekend Early Edition"; general assignment reporter and fill in anchor

Frank Mallicoat - weekday mornings "CBS 5 Early Edition" and noon

Allen Martin - weeknights at 5 and 6; "Closer Look" reporter

Phil Matier - political reporter; anchor, "CBS 5 Weekend Early Edition" on Sundays

Ann Notarangelo - weekends at 5:30, 6:30, 10 (on KBCW) and 11 p.m.; general assignment reporter

''CBS 5 Pinpoint Weather Team''

Roberta Gonzales - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, 10 (on KBCW) and 11 p.m.

Lawrence Karnow - meteorologist - weekday mornings "CBS 5 Early Edition" and noon

Jim Bernard - AMS (Seal of Approval) - weekend morning and evenings; weekday fill in

Sports team

Dennis O'Donnell - sports director; weeknights at 6, 10 (on KBCW) and 11; host of "Game Day!" and host 49ers games on CBS5

Kim Coyle - sports anchor and reporter; Fridays-Saturdays at 6, 10 (on KBCW) and 11, and Saturdays at 6:30 p.m.

Gary Gelfand - sports anchor; fill-in, also sports reporter

Reporters

Christin Ayers - general assignment reporter

Ken Bastida - "Good Question" reporter; anchor,weeknights at 10 (KBCW) and 11pm

Jason Brooks - KCBS Moneywatch reporter; business reporter weekday mornings "CBS 5 Early Edition"-appears around 6:45 and noon

Elizabeth Cook - weeknights at 5pm; fill in anchor and general assignment reporter

Sharon Chin - general assignment reporter and "Bay Area Jefferson Awards" reporter

Stephanie Chuang - general assignment reporter

Brian Cooley - CNet correspondent - appears weekday mornings, "CBS 5 Early Edition" occasionally

Kiet Do - general assignment reporter

Gianna Franco - fill-in traffic reporter and producer; traffic reporter for radio station KCBS weekends

Juliette Goodrich - general assignment reporter; fill in anchor

Anser Hassan - general assignment reporter

Kate Kelly - feature reporter and "Bay Area Jefferson Awards" host

Lisa Kim - general assignment reporter and fill in

Don Knapp - general assignment reporter

Robert Lyles - general assignment reporter and fill in anchor; fill in meteorologist

Anne Makovec - general assignment reporter; weekend morning anchor, "CBS 5 Weekend Early Edition"

Allen Martin - "Closer Look" reporter

Phil Matier - political commentator; anchor Sunday mornings, "CBS 5 Weekend Early Edition"

Liam Mayclem - "Eye on the Bay" Co host and producer; entertainment reporter-appears Thursday Mornings on "CBS 5 Early Edition"

Dr. Kim Mulvihill - medical reporter

Hank Plante - special contributor reporter

Len Ramirez - general assignment reporter

Mark Sayre - general assignment reporter

Kristy Siefkan - general assignment reporter and fill in meteorologist

Mike Sugerman - general assignment reporter

Wendy Tokuda - "Students Rising Above" reporter

Joe Tuman - CBS 5 Political Analyst

Joe Vazquez - general assignment reporter

Julie Watts - Consumer Watch reporter; fill in meteorologist and fill in anchor

Elizabeth Wenger - weekday morning traffic reporter; general assignment reporter; fill in anchor

Linda Yee - general assignment reporter

Local program hosts

Brian Hackney - ''Eye on the Bay'' Co-host and producer; also weather fill-in anchor

Liam Mayclem - ''Eye on the Bay'' Co-host and producer; also appears Thursday mornings on "CBS 5 Early Edition" with 'Liam's List" - a weekend guide to entertainment around the Bay Area.

Thuy Vu - ''Eye on the Bay'' Co-host and producer.

Dave Stoelk - ''Eye on the Bay'' correspondent

Notable past on-air staff

Peter Abenheim - host of ''Captain Fortune'', 1950s; artist and educational filmmaker (1912–1988)

Jim Avila - weekend anchor/San Jose Bureau chief (1976–1980, now at ABC News)

Renel Brooks-Moon - entertainment reporter (2003–2006)

Christine Craft - anchor/reporter (1975–1977, now a radio host at KGO in San Francisco)

Dan Fouts - sports anchor (1994–1997, now at NFL Network)

Bambi Francisco - technology reporter (1999–2003)

Wayne Freedman - reporter (1989–1991, now at KGO-TV)

Cynthia Gouw - reporter

Emil Guillermo - reporter (1977–1980)

Harold Greene - Anchor (1977) moved to KABC then KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV Los Angeles, now retired.

Tracy Humphrey - morning and noon meteorologist (2007–2011)

Jonathan Karsh - ''Evening Magazine'' host/contributor (1998–2001, now a filmmaker )also on CBS's Kid Nation)

Ron Magers - anchor/reporter (1968–1974), now at WLS-TV Chicago.

Dave McElhatton - longtime anchor (1976–2000; deceased August 23, 2010)

Lee Mendelson - producer; better known for work on Peanuts TV specials

Simon Perez - reporter/fill-in anchor 2002-2011

Wanda Ramey - noon co-anchor/reporter; first female anchor in western U.S. (1957–1967; deceased, August 15, 2009 at age 85)

Trish Regan - reporter; fill-in "Early Edition" anchor (2002–2003); CBS News (2003-2007); CNBC/NBC News (2007-March 2011); ABC News (2011-Present)

Mike Rowe - ''Evening Magazine'' co-host (2001–2005; now host of Discovery Channel's ''Dirty Jobs' and announcer of ''ABC World News with Diane Sawyer'')

Nancy Snyderman - medical reporter (1988-2004, now at MSNBC)

Drew Soicher - sports anchor (1997-1999, now at KUSA-TV in Denver)

Brian Sussman - meteorologist (1989-2000)

Kaity Tong - reporter (1976-1979, now at WPIX-TV in New York)

Wayne Walker - sports anchor (1974-1994)

Ben Williams - anchor/reporter (1966-1991)

Colleen Williams - anchor/reporter (1981-1983, now at KNBC in Los Angeles)

Jan Yanehiro - ''Evening Magazine'' co-host (1976–1989)

KPIX branding

KPIX's distinctive "5" logo dates from the days as a Westinghouse station, when the "Group W font" was standard on KPIX and its sister stations after about 1965. When Westinghouse merged with CBS, most of the former Group W stations eventually retired the font.

KPIX and its sister station, Baltimore's WJZ-TV (an ABC affiliate during its pre-merger Group W history) would become the only two CBS-owned television stations to continue using this logo font. KPIX was the only CBS-owned station on the West Coast to not follow the CBS Mandate for years after the merger, referencing itself as ''KPIX-TV Channel 5.''

Finally in 2005, KPIX fell in line with the mandate and called itself ''CBS 5,'' later ''CBS 5 Bay Area'' (although some references to "CBS 5" were heard in commercials as early as 2003). But it was briefly branded simply as ''KPIX 5'' between 1993 and 1996, even dropping the Eyewitness News name and called itself ''KPIX 5 News'' at the same time before reverting.

References

KPIX History

External links

KPIX "CBS 5" Official Website at CBS San Francisco

Eye on the Bay

The KPIX Dance Party on the Dick Stewart Television Show

Legendary KPIX kids show host Marshal J Fan Page

Category:CBS network affiliates Category:CBS Corporation television stations Category:Channel 29 digital TV stations in the United States Category:Channel 5 virtual TV stations in the United States Category:Television channels and stations established in 1948 Category:Westinghouse Broadcasting Category:Television stations in California Category:Major League Baseball over-the-air television broadcasters

Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Name	George Lucas
Birth date	May 14, 1944
Birth place	Modesto, California, U.S.
Residence	Marin County, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Modesto Junior College
Alma mater	University of Southern California (B.A. and B.S.)
Occupation	Chairman & CEO of LucasfilmFilm director, film producer, screenwriter
Years active	1965–present
Influences	*Frank Herbert Joseph Campbell
Net worth	US$3.2 billion (2011)
Home town	Central Valley, California, U.S.
Spouse	Marcia Lucas (1969–1983)
Partner	Mellody Hobson (2007–present) }}

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise ''Star Wars'' and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion as of 2011.

Early life and education

George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore (née Bomberger) and George Walton Lucas, Sr. (1913–1991), who owned a stationery store.

Lucas grew up in the Central Valley town of Modesto and his early passion for cars and motor racing would eventually serve as inspiration for his USC student film ''1:42.08'', as well as his Oscar-nominated low-budget phenomenon, ''American Graffiti''. Long before Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. However, a near-fatal accident in his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina on June 12, 1962, just days before his high school graduation, quickly changed his mind. Instead of racing, he attended Modesto Junior College and later got accepted into a junior college to study anthropology. While taking liberal arts courses, he developed a passion for cinematography and camera tricks. George Lucas graduated from USC in California.

As a child, Lucas never learned to swim, which became a source of embarrassment and frustration as he became older. Lucas has expressed in several interviews that his inability to swim was "the passion that drove me to succeed in filmmaking... [It] gave me the chip on my shoulder that I think was critical to my later success"

During this time, an experimental filmmaker named Bruce Baillie tacked up a bedsheet in his backyard in 1960 to screen the work of underground, avant-garde 16 mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage and Bruce Conner. For the next few years, Baillie's series, dubbed Canyon Cinema, toured local coffeehouses. These events became a magnet for the teenage Lucas and his boyhood friend John Plummer. The 19-year-olds began slipping away to San Francisco to hang out in jazz clubs and find news of Canyon Cinema screenings in flyers at the City Lights bookstore. Already a promising photographer, Lucas became infatuated with these abstract films.

"That's when he [George] really started exploring" Plummer recalled. "We went to a theater on Union Street that shows art films, we drove up to San Francisco State for a film festival, and there was an old beatnik coffeehouse in Cow Hollow with shorts that were really out there." It was a season of awakening for Lucas, who had been an uninterested slacker in high school. At an autocross track, Lucas met his first mentor in the film industry — famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler, a fellow aficionado of sleek racing machines. Wexler was impressed by the way the shy teenager handled a camera, cradling it low on his hips to get better angles. "George had a very good eye, and he thought visually," Wexler recalls.

Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, George Lucas shared a dorm room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood and John Milius, they became a clique of film students known as The Dirty Dozen. He also became very good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future ''Indiana Jones'' collaborator, Steven Spielberg. Lucas was deeply influenced by the Filmic Expression course taught at the school by filmmaker Lester Novros which concentrated on the non-narrative elements of Film Form like color, light, movement, space, and time. Another huge inspiration was the Serbian montagist (and dean of the USC Film Department) Slavko Vorkapich, a film theoretician comparable in historical importance to Sergei Eisenstein, who moved to Hollywood to make stunning montage sequences for studio features at MGM, RKO, and Paramount. Vorkapich taught the autonomous nature of the cinematic art form, emphasizing the unique dynamic quality of movement and kinetic energy inherent in motion pictures.

Lucas saw many inspiring films in class, particularly the visual films coming out of the National Film Board of Canada like Arthur Lipsett's 21-87, the French-Canadian cameraman Jean-Claude Labrecque's cinéma vérité ''60 Cycles'', the work of Norman McLaren, and the documentaries of Claude Jutra. Lucas fell madly in love with pure cinema and quickly became prolific at making 16 mm nonstory noncharacter visual tone poems and cinéma vérité with such titles as ''Look at Life'', ''Herbie'', ''1:42.08'', ''The Emperor'', ''Anyone Lived in a Pretty (how) Town'', ''Filmmaker'', and ''6-18-67''. He was passionate and interested in camerawork and editing, defining himself as a filmmaker as opposed to being a director, and he loved making abstract visual films that create emotions purely through cinema.

''Star Wars'' quickly became the highest-grossing film of all-time, displaced five years later by Spielberg’s ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. During the filming of ''Star Wars'', Lucas waived his up-front fee as director and negotiated to own the licensing rights (for novelizations, T-shirts, toys, etc.) —rights which the studio thought were nearly worthless . This decision earned him hundreds of millions of dollars , as he was able to directly profit from all the licensed games, toys, and collectibles created for the franchise. This accumulated capital enabled him to finance the sequel himself.

Over the two decades after the first ''Star Wars'' film, Lucas worked extensively as a writer and/or producer, including the many Star Wars spinoffs made for film, TV, and other media. He acted as executive producer for the next two ''Star Wars'' films, assigning the direction of ''The Empire Strikes Back'' to Irvin Kershner and ''Return of the Jedi'' to Richard Marquand, while receiving a story credit on the former and sharing a screenwriting credit with Lawrence Kasdan on the latter. Lucas also acted as executive producer and story writer on all four of the ''Indiana Jones'' films, which he convinced his colleague and good friend, Steven Spielberg, to direct. Other notable projects as a producer or executive producer in this period include Kurosawa's ''Kagemusha'' (1980), Lawrence Kasdan's ''Body Heat'' (1981), Jim Henson's ''Labyrinth'' (1986), Godfrey Reggio's ''Powaqqatsi'' (1986) and the animated film ''The Land Before Time'' (1988). There were also some less successful projects, however, including ''More American Graffiti'' (1979), the ill-fated ''Howard the Duck'' (1986), which was arguably the biggest flop of his career; ''Willow'' (1988, which Lucas also wrote); and Coppola's ''Tucker: The Man and His Dream'' (1988). Between 1992 and 1996, Lucas served as executive producer for the television spinoff ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''. In 1997, for the 20th anniversary of ''Star Wars,'' Lucas went back to his trilogy to enhance and add certain scenes using newly available digital technology. These new versions were released in theaters as the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition. For DVD releases in 2004, this series has received further revisions to make them congruent with the prequel trilogy. Besides the additions to the Star Wars franchise, Lucas released Special Edition director's cuts of THX 1138 and American Graffiti containing a number of CGI revisions.

The animation studio Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group , one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. Pixar's early computer graphics research resulted in groundbreaking effects in films such as ''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' and ''Young Sherlock Holmes'', and the group was purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple after a power struggle at Apple Computer. Jobs paid U.S. $5 million to Lucas and put U.S. $5 million as capital into the company. The sale reflected Lucas' desire to stop the cash flow losses from his 7-year research projects associated with new entertainment technology tools, as well as his company's new focus on creating entertainment products rather than tools. A contributing factor was cash-flow difficulties following Lucas' 1983 divorce concurrent with the sudden dropoff in revenues from ''Star Wars'' licenses following the release of ''Return of the Jedi''.

The sound-equipped system, THX Ltd, was founded by Lucas and Tomlinson Holman . The company was formerly owned by Lucasfilm, and contains equipment for stereo, digital, and theatrical sound for films, and music. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic, the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become among the most respected firms in their fields . Lucasfilm Games, later renamed LucasArts, is well respected in the gaming industry .

In 1994, Lucas began work on the screenplay for the prequel ''The Phantom Menace'', which would be the first film he had directed in over two decades. ''The Phantom Menace'' was released in 1999, beginning a new trilogy of Star Wars films. Lucas also directed ''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones'' and ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'' which were released in 2002 and 2005, respectively. Numerous critics considered these films inferior to the previously released ''Star Wars'', ''The Empire Strikes Back'', and ''Return of the Jedi''.

In 2008, he reteamed with Spielberg for ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''.

Lucas currently serves as executive producer for ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', an animated television series on Cartoon Network, which was preceded by a feature film of the same name. He is also working on a so-far untitled Star Wars live-action series.

For the film ''Red Tails'' (2010), Lucas serves as story-writer and executive producer. He also took over direction of reshoots while director Anthony Hemingway worked on other projects. Lucas is working on his first musical, an untitled CGI project being produced at Skywalker Ranch. Kevin Munroe is directing and David Berenbaum wrote the screenplay.

Awards

In 1991, The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded as a nonprofit operating foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. The Foundation's content is available under the brand Edutopia, in an award-winning web site and via documentary films. Lucas, through his foundation, was one of the leading proponents of the E-rate program in the universal service fund, which was enacted as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. On June 24, 2008, Lucas testified before the United States House of Representatives subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet as the head of his Foundation to advocate for a free wireless broadband educational network.

The American Film Institute awarded Lucas its Life Achievement Award on June 9, 2005. This was shortly after the release of ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'', about which he joked stating that, since he views the entire ''Star Wars'' series as one film, he could actually receive the award now that he had finally "gone back and finished the movie."

On June 5, 2005, Lucas was named among the 100 "Greatest Americans" by the Discovery Channel.

Lucas was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Directing and Writing for ''American Graffiti'', and Best Directing and Writing for ''Star Wars''. He received the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1991. He appeared at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in 2007 with Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola to present the Best Director award to their friend Martin Scorsese. During the speech, Spielberg and Coppola talked about the joy of winning an Oscar, making fun of Lucas, who has not won a competitive Oscar.

In 2005, Lucas gave US$1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. On September 19, 2006, USC announced that George Lucas had donated $175–180 million to his alma mater to expand the film school. It is the largest single donation to USC and the largest gift to a film school anywhere. Previous donations led to the already existing George Lucas Instructional Building and Marcia Lucas Post-Production building.

On January 1, 2007 George Lucas served as the Grand Marshal for the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, and made the coin toss at the 2007 Rose Bowl.

On August 25, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Lucas would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.

On September 6, 2009, Lucas was in Venice to present to the Pixar team the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the 2009 Biennale Venice Film Festival.

Personal life

In 1969, Lucas married film editor Marcia Lou Griffin, who went on to win an Academy Award for her editing work on the original ''Star Wars'' film. George and Marcia adopted a daughter, Amanda, in 1981, and divorced in 1983. Lucas has since adopted two more children: Katie, born in 1988, and Jett, born in 1993. All three of his children have appeared in the three ''Star Wars'' prequels, as has Lucas himself. Lucas had been in a long relationship with and engaged to singer Linda Ronstadt. He has been dating Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments, since 2006 and she has accompanied him to several events including the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in February 2007, an American Film Institute event in October 2007, the 2008 Cannes Film Festival held in May, and the 2010 Golden Globes.

Lucas was born and raised in a strong Methodist family. The religious and mythical themes in ''Star Wars'' were inspired by Lucas' interest in the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell, and he would eventually come to identify strongly with the Eastern religious philosophies he studied and incorporated into his films, which were a major inspiration for "the Force." Lucas eventually came to state that his religion was "Buddhist Methodist". Lucas resides in Marin County.

Lucas has said that he is a fan of Seth MacFarlane's hit TV show ''Family Guy''. MacFarlane has said that Lucasfilm was extremely helpful when the ''Family Guy'' crew wanted to parody their works.

Lucas has pledged to give half of his fortune to charity as part of an effort called The Giving Pledge led by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to persuade America's richest individuals to donate their financial wealth to charities.

Filmography

References

Sources

Rinzler, J.W. "The Making of Star Wars, The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film", Ebury Press, 2007.

Silberman, Steve "Life After Darth" Wired, November, 2005

"George Lucas: Interviews" University Press of Mississippi (February 16, 2007)

The Cinema of George Lucas (Hardcover) by Marcus Hearn, Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (March 1, 2005)

Michael Rubin, "Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution" (2005) [ISBN 0937404675]

External links

George Lucas biography at Lucasfilm.com

George Lucas biography at World Business Forum where Lucas is a featured speaker for the 2009 event

Category:1944 births Category:American billionaires Category:American Buddhists Category:American chief executives Category:American Cinema Editors Category:American cinematographers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film editors Category:American film producers Category:American science fiction writers Category:American screenwriters Category:American Methodists Category:American voice actors Category:Businesspeople from California Category:Film directors from California Category:Film producers from California Category:Film theorists Category:Disney people * Category:Indiana Jones Category:Living people Category:Mythopoeic writers Category:People from Marin County, California Category:People from Modesto, California Category:Science fiction fans Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees Category:Special effects people Category:Star Wars Category:University of Southern California alumni

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Drew Soicher (), the evening sports reporter for KUSA-TV, joined KUSA in January 2000. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has a bobblehead doll museum in his basement. In fact, he owns more than 500 of the spring-loaded figures. He also coaches ''The Mighty Bobbleheads'' Little League baseball team. Before working at KUSA, he worked at KPIX-TV in San Francisco. Before that, he worked at Tampa's WFTS-TV from 1994 to 1998. His brother is Marc Soicher, who worked at KWGN-TV until June, 2008.

References

Biography page from KUSA-TV

Category:Living people Category:Denver, Colorado television anchors Category:San Francisco, California television anchors Category:Tampa, Florida television anchors

Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
name	Melissa McConnell
title	Miss Louisiana USA 2004
nationalcompetition	Miss USA 2004
birth place	Ruston, Louisiana, U.S.
birth name	Melissa Marie McConnell
birth date	March 18, 1977
height
eye color	Green
hair color	Brown
ethnicity	White/Caucasian }}

Melissa Marie McConnell is a beauty queen who has held the title Miss Louisiana USA and has competed at Miss USA.

McConnell, who hails from Ruston, Louisiana, is an experienced pageant contestant. She had placed in the semi-finals in the 2001 pageant, increased her position to third runner-up in the 2002 pageant and came close to winning the title in 2003 when she placed first runner up to Brittney Rogers of Shreveport. Rogers would later go on to compete in ''The Amazing Race 9''.

The 2004 pageant, held at Lafayette's Heymann Performing Arts Theater in October 2003, was McConnell's last possible attempt because of the age restriction imposed by the Miss Universe Organization. On her fourth attempt, she finally won the Miss Louisiana USA title.

McConnell represented Louisiana in the nationally televised Miss USA 2004 pageant broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California on 12 April 2004, but failed to place. The pageant was won by Shandi Finnessey of Missouri.

McConnell graduated from Ruston High School in 1995 and went on to complete a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas A&M; University in 1999. She then returned to Louisiana, where she attended Louisiana State University and completed her Juris Doctor and Civil Law degree, passing her bar exam on her first attempt. She is currently working as an attorney. In 1994 McConnell established the ''Hope Empowers and Renews Others'' award to recognize and encourage ordinary people who reach out in love and service in an extraordinary manner. During her reign as Miss Louisiana USA, she awarded this honor to one special Louisianan every month.

References

Interview on the Miss USA website

External links

Official Miss Louisiana USA website

Turn for the Judges Profile

Category:Living people Category:1978 births Category:Miss USA 2004 delegates Category:Louisiana State University alumni