Ken Matz dead at 64

[ElliotJones 52]

via the Inky.

 

Ken Matz, 64, former Channel 10 news anchor

 

By John Sullivan

Inquirer Staff Writer

 

Ken Matz, 64, a Philadelphia-born broadcaster who presided over Channel 10's evening newscasts for more than five years in the 1990s, died of cancer Saturday in Harrisburg. He had lived in Sarasota, Fla., since 1998.

 

During his early years in the broadcast booth, listeners tuned in to Mr. Matz's calling the news on radio stations from Reading to Harrisburg to Philadelphia. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1969 and started his Philadelphia career at top-40 radio station WIBG-AM.

 

Mr. Matz left WIBG in 1976 to join KYW NewsRadio. He stayed a year before leaving Philadelphia to parlay his good looks and easy charm into a spot in front of the camera in 1977.

 

Over the next 20 years, Mr. Matz would work in television in major markets including Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Baltimore.

 

Shortly after returning to Philadelphia in 1993 to work at Channel 10, Mr. Matz covered a March blizzard that some called the storm of the century.

 

During the winter storm coverage, his calm tone and even delivery prompted Channel 10 news director Drew Berry to tell The Inquirer: "He puts people at ease. If the world was coming to an end, I would want Ken Matz to tell me."

 

Mr. Matz lived in Wynnewood during his stint at Channel 10.

 

During a major snowstorm in '96, Mr. Matz's mother died of a heart attack minutes before he was to go on the air. Mr. Matz wanted to stay, but his bosses ordered him home, according to a news report.

 

Mr. Matz anchored the news with Jane Robelot until 1998 before taking over as sole anchor. Later that year, he retired to Sarasota.

 

Even as a youth in Shillington, Pa., Mr. Matz loved broadcasting, his former wife Jennifer Walton Matz said.

 

"He would practice while making announcements in a supermarket he worked in," she said. "He was a great man who loved what he did. He was a real person in an industry where a lot of people aren't."

 

Mr. Matz is survived by his wife, Deborah; a son, Justin; a grandson; and his former wives, Jennifer Walton Matz and Nona Safra McGaa, who is Justin's mother.

 

Funeral arrangements were not complete last night.

 

[NewsJunkie247 1]

I have heard of him before from seeing him in a few YouTube clips and he seemed like a class act journalist. It's a shame he died young. May he rest in peace.

[NewsMan 0]

Sad to see such a pro gone. Ken will be missed.