KTVU Channel 2 anchor Frank Somerville at his home in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday June 16, 2009. (Ray Chavez/Employees)
Frank Somerville’s 31-year profession at KTVU, the place his nightly anchoring duties made him one of many Bay Space’s most beloved TV information personalities, formally got here to an finish Friday, as his contract expired and the station opted to not convey him again.
“They’re not re-signing me. So I'm carried out at Channel 2,” Somerville mentioned in a quick cellphone interview this week with the Bay Space Information Group. “I’ve given my coronary heart and soul to Channel 2. I'd give something to work there. For no matter cause, they determined to not re-sign me.”
Somerville doesn't consider that his Dec. 30 arrest in Oakland on suspicion of driving underneath the affect was an element within the station’s choice. Somerville’s arrest got here after he crashed his Porsche into one other automotive in a downtown intersection in an accident caught on video.
The crash “had nothing to do with it,” Somerville mentioned, saying managers had determined to chop him unfastened months earlier. “They'd advised me lengthy earlier than that.”
In November, Somerville advised this information group that administration had not contacted him since September, when he was suspended from his anchoring duties for an off-air dispute about protection of the Gabby Petito case.
This was Somerville’s second suspension in a tumultuous 12 months. He was off air for a lot of the summer season, following his now-infamous Might 30 newscast, when he repeatedly slurred and stumbled over his phrases and appeared to have bother studying off the teleprompter.
In interviews this week, Somerville declined to say something extra about his departure from KTVU, his arrest or his plans.
Somerville was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin after his arrest, then launched with a quotation to look in court docket. He is because of seem Feb. 28. In the meantime, Oakland police are awaiting the outcomes of blood exams earlier than turning the case over to Alameda County prosecutors to resolve whether or not to file fees.
As of Thursday afternoon, officers at KTVU and at Fox had not responded to repeated emails asking about Somerville’s departure or about whether or not they had offically signed a substitute.
This previous week, “Mornings On 2” anchor Mike Mibach has been in Somerville’s chair, together with on Thursday evening’s newscasts at 5 and 6 p.m. when he merely launched himself: “I’m Mike Mibach.”
Somerville mentioned his well being was “nice,” a degree he additionally made in a photograph he shared on Instagram together with his 5,100 followers this week. The photograph exhibits him with a beard and the caption: “I feel I look fairly cool for 63 if I do say so myself” In response to a follower who mentioned Somerville didn’t look effectively, he mentioned, “I really feel nice. I work out day by day.”
Somerville’s Bay Space roots helped make him well-liked with viewers. The a number of Emmy winner lives in Oakland, grew up in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley Excessive and San Francisco State College. He turned co-anchor of the station’s extremely rated “Mornings on 2” in 1992. In 2008, he was elevated to one of many station’s marquee positions when he was anointed co-anchor of the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, changing 40-year veteran Dennis Richmond.
Somerville’s final newscast for KTVU was on Sept. 21. That evening he pushed so as to add a quick commentary on racial inequity to the tip of a information replace concerning the disappearance of Petito, a younger White girl and social media influencer whose case had attracted a firestorm of media protection.
Sources on the station mentioned information director Amber Eikel and editors didn’t assume Somerville’s proposed “tag,” a quick closing the story, was an acceptable approach to cowl the problem and would blur the strains between an anchor delivering a straight information story and providing editorial commentary.
Following Somerville’s suspension, two rallies have been held exterior the KTVU studios in Jack London Sq. in October, each sparked by his reported need to handle disparities in media protection of White crime victims like Petito versus ladies of shade. The Metropolis of San Leandro additionally issued an official proclamation honoring him “for talking out about lacking ladies of shade and setting an instance of power and fairness to our group and people worldwide.”
In November, Somerville insisted he was proper to push for the commentary, however he publicly apologized for all “the drama” due to the best way it affected individuals who work on the station.
“All this drama isn’t good,” Somerville mentioned. “I want I may apologize to all of them in particular person. They’re the spine of Channel 2. I admire and admire what they do day by day.”
On the time, Somerville mentioned he had not but lined up provides to work at different stations however wished to maintain working and was dissatisfied about how his time at KTVU had ended. “It’s actually, actually unhappy, as a result of I’ve given 31 years to the station,” he mentioned.
Employees author Harry Harris contributed to this report.