It’s Official: Sara Sidner Out at KTVU-Channel 2
By Susan Young
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 5:31 pm in General, KTVU-Channel 2.
While we tipped you off last week about Sara Sidner, KTVU issued a press release late today confirming that the anchor will be leaving the station for a position with CNN International as a Correspondent.
Sidner’s last day with KTVU Channel 2 News will be December 31st.
Sara Sidner
“A station is made up of people, and at KTVU I respect and love the people,” Sidner says in the press release. “That is what makes this decision so difficult. It’s like leaving a family but sometimes you need to jump at opportunities. That still doesn’t make it easy.”
Sidner joined KTVU in January 2004 and has reported on a number of important Bay Area and International stories. In 2005, she was the first reporter on the scene and to break the news that four lost Bay Area hikers had been rescued in the Sierra.
In 2006, she covered a story about a girl whose body was dumped in Castro Valley and was only known as Jane Doe. She was in Mexico when investigators finally learned the girl’s true identity and was the first to break the news. Sidner also reported from Sri Lanka in 2004 about the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia.
While working for KTVU Channel 2 News, Sidner has also received a number of awards that include, Peninsula Press Club first place award for Reporting, Northern California Radio and Television News Directors award for Reporting and 4 National Academy of Arts & Sciences (Northern California Chapter) Emmy nominations.
Sidner has also been very active in the Bay Area community; she has volunteered at Saint Vincent’s Day Home in Oakland, hosted the MDA Telethon, is a member of the Junior League of San Francisco and is a board member of Friends of Faith which benefits underserved Bay Area breast cancer patients.
“We are very sad to see Sara leave and will miss her upbeat personality and dedication to our news product and the community,” said KTVU Vice President and General Manager Tim McVay in the press release. “Sara is a real pro and we are very proud and happy for her and this opportunity with CNN International. Sara will always be a welcome member of the KTVU family.”
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November 26th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Congratulations to Sara Sidner, I liked watching her and John Sasaki together.
Best of Luck
November 27th, 2007 at 10:56 am
good luck Sara…what really happened to Leslie Griffith
November 29th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
i WILL REALLY MISS YOU BUT HAPPY TO SEE YOU WILL BE ON cnn. hOPE i CAN CATCH YOU THERE. i WILL NOW GO TO CHANNELL 3 AT 6:00PM.
dOROTHY
December 12th, 2007 at 11:34 am
SHE IS SO SEXY WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO GO. ITS NOT OFTEN THAT YOU FIND A BEAUTIFU WOMAN SMART, SEXY AND ARTICULATE I HOPE SHE CHANGES HER MIND BUT IF NOT WELL WISHES
December 28th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Congratulations Sara! April and I are so proud of you, we knew you would go far. We love you!
December 28th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Sara you are the best. Professional, pretty and very well spoken. We will miss you. Good luck.
December 31st, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Bring back Leslie Griffith!!!!
January 1st, 2008 at 11:49 am
Congradulations Sara. I hate to you go, but I wish you all the best of luck at CNN. To a beautiful, charismatic and articulate woman. Good luck, you will be missed. Thank you for bringing new life to news with your upbeat personality. Thank you, Sara.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Sara,
We’ve enjoyed your reporting. Things had been so “if-fy” at KTVU for a while, and we were so happy to have you to bring back a sense of stability. Thank you.
While we will feel your loss, we wish you all the best and will look for you on CNN
January 8th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
SARA, SARA, SARA, I really don’t understand why you had to leave me but if it was a good opportunity for you then it’s O.K. with me. The news will never be the same on KTVU 2. The good thing about this situation is your on a larger scene. I can’t be so proud of you. It’s funny sometime, some of my female friends got so jealous when you were on giving my daily news and they would snap at me saying your not watching the news were watching her and you know something they were right. Sara you are very smart, articulate, professional, calm, and so damn beautiful. I wanted to make you my future wife, oh I noticed no ring on your finger but I would’ve changed all that. I will be watching CNN looking for you. You will never be out of my news. LOVE YOU ALWAYS & MISS YOU SO MUCH.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Sara, Congratulations to you!!!! While I not only enjoyed watching you and your warm friendly smile I also enjoyed having you as my neighbor and fellow tennant in our building in Oakland. I will miss seeing you around, not only on TV, but jogging the lake and bumping into you while doing your coverage. Best of luck to you.
Chris Terrones
January 16th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Guess i wont be watching the news anymore
January 25th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
i am so saddenes that sara is gone ididn(t have time to good wishes her Best of luck to you dina
February 9th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
For Sara: Just saw you on the tube doing a CNN piece. Congratulations! Best wishes for continued success!
For KTVU: What the h%^! is going on with the news anchors? You seem to be losing them for one reason or the other. I like seeing a familiar face tell me about the news, and I’m afraid my friends and I will NOT be watching KTVU very much longer if this continues.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Now that Dennis has announced his retirement, KTVU should get Sara back to replace him. Perhaps more boring than Delhi, but good job security. She could shine in the Bay Area for as long as she wants.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I LOVE YOU SARA.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Sara was the sweetest, funniest, easiest on-air talent I have ever worked with. Her departure broke my heart. When I say she was sweet and easy to work with, I cannot emphasise it enough. We lost a treasure when we lost her, I’m sort of disappointed that management didn’t do more to keep Sara. But we have a great station here, good anchors, good people. Leslie is a different story - maybe one day we’ll be able to explain. For now, I’m not saying jack.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
To respond to Larry’s talent departure complaint, Dennis has been here 40 years, he’s getting over cancer, can’t the man have a life without you being selfish? Again, Sara was a great loss, but Gasia M. is great, Julie Haener is great, Frank Somerville is great - what do you want? We haven’t lost THAT many people. Some people, like Sara, do get better opportunities and move on. It happens in all businesses. TV isn’t any different. Sara labored over her decision to leave, she had to grab that brass ring while it was there. Can you blame her for that? I don’t see how you can. (Did you ever stop to think, Larry, that maybe one anchor that you love so much, that is still here, may have something to do with another person’s departure? Do you think Leslie G wanted to leave? Think again. Besides, can’t people decide to do other things with their lives)? Dennis was supposed to retire three years ago, this is no surprise, he had already been given his going away party 3 years ago when management at the time (different now) talked him into staying. But it’s time for Dennis to enjoy the fruits of his labor, be with his wife, he deserves to retire! Your watching should have nothing to do with Dennis being here or not, it’s still the same hard working folks behind the scenes giving you the same high quality shows. Do you really have to hear Dennis read it to be happy? He’s been off the air a lot over the past 2 months or so and our ratings are still really high. REALLY HIGH!! So it’s not JUST Dennis folks watch for (although I admit he’s a big draw, people really like him and I see why). What other station in the Bay Area does local news better than KTVU? NO ONE!!! We don’t even get to rest on the laurels of a major network’s news reputation and we still smoke the other stations like nobody’s business in this market. Face it, we rock, and you’ll keep watching after you see how sub-par the other stations are compared to us (not that they are bad, I didn’t say that - I just mean we are much better by comparison!!) So good luck finding a better newscast, Larry, we will miss you.
March 8th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Sara, we will miss you. My friends and I were trying to figure out what was going on when we started seeing less and less of you. We couldn’t bring ourselves to accept the inevitable, that you were leaving, though we knew that was the only possible explanation. The best of everything to you. Please come back to the Bay area if and when the opportunity affords you.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Sarah! Goodluck down the long road of a great career.You have so much talent at what you do. Your hair always looks great. And the entire nation should see some of our “Bay Area” beauty. I can see you going down like Barbara Walters except with a “Victoria Secret” modeling contract under your belt. You are so “beautiful”. Well KTVU what can I say “you let a FOX go”.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
She has to drop her prejudice against other race to be a real reporter!
May 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Sara,
I called my Aunt Pansy to wish her a happy 80th birthday and realized that you are my cousin, your dad is my first cousin. I will be moving to Houston Tx, it will be a pleasure to meet you for the first time.
Good Luck to you Cuz
Barry Shaw