Stan Atkinson Death: Sacramento News Legend Dies at 92
Stan Atkinson, the legendary Sacramento news anchor, has died at 92, leaving behind a legacy of nearly four decades delivering the news to local viewers. A fixture on KCRA and KOVR, Atkinson became a trusted face, shaping how Sacramento residents received their details. His impact extended beyond his reporting; he played a crucial role in fundraising for the California Vietnam veterans Memorial.For breaking news and in-depth coverage of this and other stories, News Directory 3 offers extensive insights. Discover what’s next for a community mourning a true broadcasting icon.
Sacramento Newsman Stan Atkinson Dies at 92
Updated May 28, 2025
Stan Atkinson, a veteran Sacramento news anchor and reporter, died Sunday at the age of 92. For nearly 40 years,Atkinson was a familiar face on KCRA and KOVR,retiring from local news in 1999.
atkinson’s impact on the city was so profound that The Sacramento Bee once dubbed him “the man who owns Sacramento.” Beyond his news career, Atkinson played a key role in fundraising for the $2.2 million California Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the State Capitol grounds, according to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
At the age of 25, Atkinson embarked on a career in Sacramento at a station that had just gotten off the ground. It was 1957, and in walked a fresh-faced, youthful man with a tight crew cut. He’d been recruited from a small television station and the owner of KCRA at the time, Gene Kelly, had no idea he’d been hired. Kelly turned on his TV one night and saw the 11 o’clock newscast only to show up in the morning editorial meeting the next day asking “who in the hell ever hired that damn kid?!”
Instead of firing him, Kelly kept Atkinson, beginning a decades-long relationship between KCRA and Stan Atkinson. Thay had a newscast in the beginning…it was 10 minutes long. Five of it was sports.
Television news was different in the 1950s. For one, it was sponsored and those sponsors’ products showed up on set. The entertainment had a fried pie company. The network’s “Huntley/Brinkley news hour” had Camel cigarettes. And Stan Atkinson had Hostess.
“The floor man would roll in a table that was decorated with open or still packaged Hostess Cinnamon Dainties,” Atkinson described in a 2015 interview. “And,it was up to me to open a package,pull one out,hold it up,take a bite,and say,hostess Cinnamon Dainties. I’d say. Got it. Hostess Cinnamon Dainties. I’d take another bite. Get them.”
what’s next
A memorial service is pending. Details will be released by his family.