Belva Davis

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, 1996

Inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, 2007

Belva Davis joined KRON-TV (Channel 4) in March 1981 as an urban affairs specialist, covering topics ranging from political issues and fiscal concerns to city planning visions. She is currently a special projects reporter for KRON 4 News. She also contributes "Bay Area Close-Up" reports, in which she profiles local people, organizations and institutions making a positive impact on their communities.

Prior to KRON, Davis anchored the acclaimed nightly news on San Francisco's KQED-TV (Channel 9) from 1977 to 1981. She began her reporting career in 1966, when she became the first female African-American television reporter on the West Coast, working for KPIX-TV (Channel 5) in San Francisco.

She has six regional Emmy Awards, and was honored with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1996. That same year, she also received two honorary doctorate degrees.

Belva has covered many of the major stories of the past two decades, and has interviewed almost every major political figure in California. She has been recognized with several dozen awards and is a respected labor activist and community spokesperson.

Miss Davis began her broadcasting career in 1956 as the first black female hired by San Francisco's KSAN (1450 AM), where she read newspaper clips on the air before moving on to greater acclaim for her work as a program host, journalist and political/public affairs reporter at Oakland's KWBR and KDIA (1310 AM) in the 1960s. In recognition of her pioneering achievements, she was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2007.

Miss Davis graduated from Berkeley High School (Class of 1951) and was accepted into San Francisco State College. Unable to afford the tuition, she began working at the Naval Supply Center in Oakland, and got her first paid writing job as a freelance writer for Jet. She soon found work with several local black newspapers, including the Bay Area Independent and the San Francisco Sun-Reporter.

Belva Davis in "The History Makers"