Paul Magers
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Paul Magers (born May 15, 1954) is a television news anchor who works for the CBS owned and operated television station KCBS in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Santa Maria, California, but grew up in Ellensburg, Washington. Magers worked for the Twin Cities television station KARE, an NBC affiliate, for 20 years.
Magers originally planned to pursue a legal career and he earned a degree at Hamline University School of Law. But later he became interested in television because of his brother Ron Magers, who worked in the TV industry. Paul's first television job was at KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minnesota where he worked as a technician, dispatcher, and producer. He moved on to be a reporter at KATU in Portland, Oregon in 1979 where he covered the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. In 1981, he moved to San Diego, California to work as a reporter and anchor at KGTV.
Paul arrived at KARE (then WTCN) in September 1983, along with co-anchor Diana Pierce. They remained a team until September 2003. Paul and Diana's 20 years anchoring the 10:00 p.m. newscasts on Channel 11 is a record in the Twin Cities. Together, they led the station's news operation from a distant third (behind long-time arch rivals KSTP-TV and WCCO-TV, to the leading news and information station in Minneapolis-St. Paul. During this time, Magers also developed popular on-air chemistry with meteorologist Paul Douglas, as well as Sports Director Randy Shaver.
In 1986, Magers anchored live coverage of a tornado being photographed by a KARE helicopter. With Gary Eichten of Minnesota Public Radio, Paul co-moderated a memorable debate between United States Senate candidates Walter Mondale and Norm Coleman.
Paul's last on-air appearance at KARE was December 12, 2003. He received bittersweet good-byes from his co-workers, as well as viewers. Upon leaving KARE, he said the story that affected him most while in Minnesota was the abduction of Jacob Wetterling in 1989.
Magers appeared as himself in the 1998 movie A Simple Plan, and has held the national anchordesk with guest positions on NBC Nightly News and The Today Show.
Magers began working at KCBS television on January 5, 2004, for a reported $2.5 million.
