San Francisco —April 4, 2024— The San Francisco Press Club today announced that Don Sharp has joined its board of directors by unanimous vote. For more than 50 years, Don Sharp has been a highly regarded innovator and respected newsroom leader, having held key news management roles at two television stations in San Francisco.
“You can’t call Don Sharp a legend because the word ‘legend’ is insufficient to encompass all that Don represents,” said Curtis Sparrer, the president of the SF Press Club and principal of Bospar PR. “Don’s broadcast career began in San Diego in 1967, where he was one the first African Americans employed by KOGO-TV. Before he retired, Don won six Emmy Awards, was honored with the NATAS Governors Citation in 2004, and the APTRA Broadcast Hall of Fame Award in 2009. Don is a beloved newsroom leader who represents the best of television news.”
In 1969, San Francisco’s KRON-TV recruited Don for the newly created position of News Film Supervisor. Don went on to spend 36 years at KRON, rising to top positions as News Operations Manager and Associate News Director.
A remarkable string of accomplishments distinguished his career at KRON:
- Don engineered the first international live shoot from Egypt to San Francisco;
- Designed and installed the first bridge traffic cameras on the Golden Gate, Bay and San Mateo bridges
- Led KRON’s transition from 16mm film to digital editing
- Launched the first live helicopter in San Francisco;
- Initiated the first prime live newscast from Detroit during Superbowl Week before satellite trucks;
- First used cell phones for IFB;
- Engineered the first live shot from atop the SF-Oakland Bay and Golden Gate bridges in celebration of their 50-year anniversaries;
- Configured Sling boxes for live shots with reporters in moving vehicles.
In 1985 Don co-authored the book “Microwaves Made Simple,” a teaching textbook at Stanford University.
In 2005, Don was lured away by CBS-owned KPIX where he became a central newsroom leader responsible for technical operations. He helped produce exceptional live television at KPIX, including coverage of the Bay Bridge’s new eastern span, extraordinary live work around Super Bowl 50 and unprecedented widespread use of drone video in news. Before his 51-year career ended with retirement in 2018, Don had also designed and engineered the first traffic cameras on two of San Francisco’s tallest buildings, the Transamerica Pyramid and the Salesforce Tower.
ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO PRESS CLUB
The San Francisco Press Club is a nonprofit organization with 501(c)3 status. It was founded in 1963 to provide a forum for the interchange of ideas and opinions between professionals in the various news and public relations media, providing an organization in which to share fellowship, promote professional competence and knowledge, encourage students entering journalism by offering scholarships, and increase public knowledge of the media through workshops and other exchanges of information.
Contact
Curtis Sparrer, curtis@bospar.com