End Of An Era: Bitker, Lee Retiring
• After a successful 30 year-run with Audacy’s KCBS-AM (All News 106.9/740AM)/San Francisco, morning sports anchor Steve Bitker announced his retirement at the end of this week. To commemorate Bitker’s final broadcast on Friday, May 14, KCBS All News will air a tribute for Steve and feature live interviews with several key figures in the sports world who have crossed his path over the many years, including members of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s as well as fellow sports journalists and broadcasters.
Bitker began his career as a sportswriter with the Redwood City Tribune during his last two years of high school. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he spent two years at KSFO/San Francisco as a news writer, then moved to Tokyo for three years as a news/sports anchor for JCTV, Japan’s only English-language TV station. Upon returning to the U.S., Bitker worked at KNBR/San Francisco for seven years before joining KCBS in April 1991. Over the course of his career Bitker has won numerous sports broadcasting awards, from the AP, the Northern California Radio-Television News Director’s Association and the Peninsula Press Club.
A staff memo from Jennifer Klurfeld Seelig, Director of News and Programming announcing Bitker’s impending retirement reads, in part, “Steve was truly a part of the fabric of this station throughout the morning: Madden chats, phoners with notable sports figures, thoughtful conversations in the Newsroom — and, he was always happy to offer a neighborhood restaurant recommendation. Steve was (and is) deeply committed to ensuring that KCBS maintains its longstanding reputation as a world-class news station — proper grammar, attention to detail and comprehensive coverage matter to Steve very much. Please join me in thanking Steve for all that he’s done for KCBS — and, of course, congratulations are in order as well.”
• And, in Cedar Rapids, IA, it was announced that Randy Lee, longtime PD and on-air personality at iHeartMedia News-Talk WMT-AM 600 will be retiring at the end of this month, capping off a remarkable 46-year broadcasting career — all of it spent in the Cedar Rapids market, and the past 32 years as PD of WMT.
Lee (pictured here in 2014) got his radio start at KCOE, the student-run radio station of Coe College. He went on to work at KCRG, KXIC and KLWW before joining WMT.
A retirement celebration for Lee will be hosted by Camp Courageous on June 12. “If it wasn’t for WMT, there wouldn’t be a Camp Courageous,” said Charlie Becker, Executive Director of Camp Courageous, a year-round respite care and recreational facility for individuals of all ages with disabilities. He added, “I could never thank Randy enough for his incredible support and friendship over all his years at WMT.”
