Pioneering Bay Area journalist Belva Davis has died. She was 92 years old. Davis would become the first Black woman to become a television reporter on the West Coast, after first distinguishing herself on Bay Area radio.
The 2007 Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame inductee was a native of Monroe, LA but moved with her family to West Oakland at the age of eight.
Davis would graduate from Berkeley High School, the first in her family to receive a high school diploma. Unable to afford college, she took a job as a typist at the Oakland Naval Supply Depot.
She began a journalism career that would eventually span more than fifty years by writing freelance pieces for Jet magazine. In 1961, she became the first Black woman to work at KSAN-AM, where she conducted interviews and delivered newscasts.
Davis worked as a disc jockey at KDIA and was hired by KNEW in 1964 to host a weekend radio show called The Belva Davis Show.
In 1966, Davis left radio to join KPIX television. At the San Francisco station, Davis was instrumental in creating and hosting All Together Now, one of the first prime-time public affairs programs in the country to focus on ethnic communities.
Beyond her trailblazing work as a journalist, Davis is remembered for her graciousness and kindness.
Davis is survived by her husband, Bill Moore; two children, Darolyn and Steven; and her granddaughters, Dava and Sterling.