KTVU anchor Frank Somerville believes his days at the Oakland Fox-owned station are over.
Somerville told the Bay Area News Group he thinks he may have anchored his last newscast at the station.
“All indications are that I’m never going to anchor at Channel 2 again,” said Somerville.
The anchor was suspended from KTVU after criticizing media coverage of the Gabby Petito murder case. Sources told the Mercury News that Somerville, who has a Black daughter, wanted to talk about the disparity between how the media covers tragedies involving young white women as opposed to women of color. He has since said he wanted to apologize to KTVU staff.
“All this drama isn’t good,” said Somerville. “I wish I could apologize to all of them in person. They’re the backbone of Channel 2. I appreciate and admire what they do every day.”
The longtime anchor said he hasn’t spoken to anyone from either Fox or the station since he was suspended, and that he figures “that means they’re not going to re-sign me.” His contract is up in January.
“It makes me really sad, because I’ve given 31 years to the station,” Somerville said. “I helped make ‘Mornings on 2’ the No. 1 newscast in the market. I also helped make the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts No. 1.”
Somerville said he wants to stay in news.
“I would love to work at one of the other stations in the market,” he said. “If not, I’ll go to other stations outside of the market.”