Houston Anchor Ron Stone Dead at 72
by John Little on 13/05/2008Ron Stone was the last local anchor that I watched on a regular basis. He retired in 1992 shortly before local television news ceased being relevant or even watchable:
He may be best remembered by longtime listeners for his familiar signoff: “That’s our news. Good night, neighbor.”
“He was of a period that, I think, was probably the golden age of local news,” said Ann Hodges, the Chronicle’s longtime television critic. “He was a perfect choice for Houston with his personality and his delivery and his professionalism.”
His contemporaries included news anchors Steve Smith, now retired from Channel 11, and Dave Ward, the veteran anchor at KTRK (Channel 13), weathercaster Doug Johnson and sports anchors Bill Worrell and Ron Franklin.
“He (Stone) set the standard,” Ward said. “He would say `Good night, neighbor,’ and people felt as if he was their neighbor. There was nothing pretentious about him.”
Ward said Stone realized that his longtime tenure in Houston was a unique gift in the changing world of local television news.
“We were talking a few years ago about how many years we had been here, and Ron turned to me and said, `You know, Dave, we’re dinosaurs. This is not going to happen again. The industry has changed so much that the fresh new faces come in, but they don’t stay. They move on. You and I are just dinosaurs.’ And he may have been right.”
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