Ed Cavagnaro is a San Francisco native who spent 37 years at KCBS, beginning as an intern in the promotions department and ending with 27 years as the all-news station’s Director of News and Programming.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Berkeley, Cavagnaro received his master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and then worked for the Medill News Service in Washington as a capital correspondent for radio stations in Omaha, Salt Lake City and Springfield, MO.
Returning to the Bay Area, he worked briefly at San Francisco City Hall, then joined KCBS in 1977. He soon found himself working in the newsroom as an editor, and worked as assistant managing editor, managing editor and assistant director of news and programming before being named KCBS director of news and programming in 1988.
During his tenure, KCBS dropped several interview and talk programs to become a true all-news station. KCBS ended KGO’s long period of ratings dominance under Cavagnaro’s management.
Known as a hands-on news manager, Cavagnaro also co-hosted the long running In Depth newsmaker interview program for many years.
Ed Cavagnaro retired in 2015.