Al Sanders
Al Sanders (March 13, 1941 - May 5, 1995), was an American, award winning, television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He helped take a third place television newscast to first place, where it stayed throughout his career.
Background
In 1967 Sanders, as Al Gay, worked for radio station KXLW, in St. Louis, Missouri; in 1969 he changed stations and his name. His new station: KWK, St. Louis, his new name: Al Sanders.
Sanders joined WJZ-TV in 1972 and became a news anchor five years later. Prior to his arrival on Television Hill, WJZ's news was mired in third place in a town that had three major network newscasts: WBAL-TV was #1, WMAR-TV was #2. Three years later, WJZ with Jerry Turner, Sanders, Bob Turk (weather) and Nick Charles (sports) was a runaway #1, with more viewers than their competitors combined, and stayed there through the 70s and into the 80s. He continued alone after Jerry Turner died in 1987 and made Denise Koch a permanent partner a year later (Koch had been filling in for Turner during his illness with esophageal cancer). Sanders won Emmy Awards in 1993 and 1994 for his regularly featured specialty report, "Picture This." In March 1995, Sanders was diagnosed with lung cancer. Sanders died at the Johns Hopkins Hospital on May 5, 1995, and was replaced by Vic Carter, formerly of WSB-TV in Atlanta.
