Courtesy North County Times

(November 6, 2009) Jim Stone will sign off sometime around 11:30 p.m. Friday night, and with it will come an end of an era in San Diego TV.

After 20 years at KNSD Channel 7/39, San Diego's NBC affiliate, Stone has been laid off. He'll work the 6 and 11 p.m. news shows Friday, as well as Chargers games in New York on Sunday and at home next week, and he'll be done at the station.

Hopefully, he's not riding off into the sunset. For 20 years, Stone has been the most visible of San Diego's TVs sportscasters. No one in town gets to more things, has helped more causes or been more classy than Stone.

Not unlike news outlets across the country, KNSD has cut about one-third of its workforce over the last year. Popular on-air personalities like Pat Brown and Ken Kramer were let go. Stone's dismissal is a continuation of that.

"I'm stunned and obviously emotional about this," Stone said. "I've known it was coming for a while, and I've worked through it the last few months.

"I'll miss the people here, but I'll most miss being in the press box for games, being in the locker rooms after games, talking to people, players and coaches.

"In this business, working at one place for 20 years is a long time."

As well as being a strong on-air presence, calling San Diego State and USD basketball on radio, Stone has been a visible face in the community. He has raised more than $1 million for the South Bay Family YMCA and Children's Hospital. He has been an active member of the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk.

"I think those things are what I'm most proud of," Stone said.

A 1974 graduate of the University of Missouri, Stone worked in Reno, Nev., Springfield, Ill., and Harrisburg, Pa., before coming to San Diego.

Both of his children, Mindy and Zach, graduated from Rancho Bernardo High. Like her father, Mindy also graduated from Missouri. She's working as the lead reporter at KKTV in Colorado Springs. Zach, the public address voice of RB baseball for several years, is on track to graduate from San Francisco State.

"I'm a San Diegan now," Jim Stone said. "I came here on three one-month contracts and have been here 20 years. I'd love to find a job in TV or radio here, but I think I have a communications skill set to help a team or company."

With Stone gone, Jim Laslavic and Derek Torgerson make up the sports department at KNSD. Laslavic is a respected professional. Torgerson, who is a respected producer, is a disaster on the air. He tries way too hard to be funny, and his segments turn clownish.

"How do those old sayings go?" Stone asked. "All good things must come to an end. When one door closes, another one opens.

"I'm proud of what I've accomplished here in 20 years. But I'm beyond proud of my children and the fact my wife (Jill) and I will celebrate out 35th anniversary in December.

"I have a lot of great memories at KNSD. Working at this station has had a big impact on my life. In the end, though, family is the thing that really matters."

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