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Aldo H. Constant

Aldo H. (Al) Constant, one of San Francisco's first television personalities and executives, died on June 12, 1996, at his home on Camano Island, in Washington state. He resided there for the past several years. He was 84 years old. Al retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chronicle Broadcasting Company in 1977. Chronicle Broadcasting Company were owners of KRON-TV San Francisco and television stations in Omaha, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas.

Al Constant served as production manager, program manager, station manger, and vice president and general manager of KRON TV before becoming president and later chairman and CEO of Chronicle Broadcasting Company.

He started his broadcast career in Omaha Nebraska at KOWH radio. He later became chief announcer and production manager at WNAX radio in Yankton, South Dakota. In 1947 he and his family moved to California where he joined the Chronicle Publishing Company establishing KRON FM on the air as one of the first FM stations to broadcast in San Francisco. In 1948 he began to prepare for the advent of KRON TV by attending a special television school conducted by NBC in New York City. When KRON TV went on the air in November 1949, he was its first on-air personality and first news anchor.

In addition to managerial duties at KRON, for many years Al Constant continued to deliver a daily newscast and cover major events for the NBC television network. He conducted the first telethon on San Francisco television for the March of Dimes.

In 1952 he left KRON TV to join Denver TV Company as vice president and general manager where he was placed in charge of their application for a TV station in Denver, Colorado. He also served as a consultant for Portland TV, Inc. and KCRA TV in Sacramento. In 1953 he joined the Honolulu Advertiser Newspaper as vice president and general manager of KONA TV in Honolulu, Hawaii. Chronicle Broadcasting Company purchased KBAK TV and KBAK radio in Bakersfield, California in 1954 and invited Al to be vice president and general manager of those two stations.

In 1959 he returned to KRON TV as station manager where he continued until his retirement in 1977. While president of Chronicle Broadcasting Company, he acquired WOWT television in Omaha, Nebraska.

Al served on the Board of Directors of Downtown Association of San Francisco, the San Francisco Kiwanis Club, the San Francisco Advertising Club, and the San Francisco Better Business Bureau. He was president of the Bakersfield Advertising Club and the Bakersfield Better Business Bureau; and he served as a Director of the Bakersfield Rotary Club. He was a member of Broadcast Legends and the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. After his retirement, he served on the Board of Directors of KQED-TV.


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