Los Angeles’ First Asian-American Newscaster Dies

By Kevin Eck 

Mario Machado, longtime anchor and reporter in the Los Angeles market has died.

Machado joined KHJ (now KCAL) in 1967 and moved to KNXT (now KCBS) in 1969. According to CBS owned stations KCBS and KCAL, Machado was the first prominent Chinese-American newscaster in the US and the first in the LA Market.

After leaving work as a broadcaster, Machado played a newsman in films such as “Oh, God!” “Rocky III,” “Airport ’79,” “Scarface,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” and “Brian’s Song,” as well as working in three of the “RoboCop” films. He played himself in “Blue Thunder” and “Without Warning.”

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Machado, was born in Shanghai, China to a Portuguese father and a Chinese-Portuguese mother. He played soccer in college and helped found the AYSO soccer league. He was 78.

KCAL reported the story and posted the news to the website shared by KCAL and KCBS.  Here’s the report,

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