It was a struggle at first. Critics weren’t kind and there were “retoolings and refinements.” But Mornings on 2 persevered, achieving a top spot in the ratings and persisting for 30 years and counting. Kevin Wing, there at the beginning, recalls how the show survived, then thrived and how much it meant to him.

By KEVIN WING | Archive & Museum Committee

On this day 30 years ago at 7 a.m. on KTVU Channel 2, a proud and ambitious bunch of twentysomethings (myself among them) and thirtysomethings premiered the very first “Mornings On 2″ broadcast. It was the very first two-hour morning newscast of its kind west of the Mississippi to go head-to-head and toe-to-toe with the likes of ABC’s “Good Morning America”, NBC’s “Today” and CBS’ “This Morning”, and it was a local morning newscast that was unlike any other seen in the Bay Area up to that time.

How can I remember Jan. 2, 1991, and the very first “Mornings On 2” so well? I’d already been associated with KTVU since my internship there in the summer of 1987, and besides being recruited as one of the morning show’s original staffers by our legendary news director, Fred Zehnder, this special program changed my career forever. And so did the station. After all, there wasn’t a better place than Channel 2 — the station I grew up watching — to make such an indelible impression upon me. I was only five years into my TV career at the time and I was still relatively inexperienced, so it was the shot in the arm I needed. To be on the ground floor of a new show like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was very lucky to be a part of it all. I was still relatively new to the TV biz back then. But I would earn my stripes on this show, making me into the journalist I continue to be today. Day after day, we always set our standards high, beginning with that first broadcast three decades ago this morning.

The major Bay Area newspapers panned us after our first show. They were even critical of us before our debut. But, we had the last laugh. The station gave us three years to make it work. We went a step better. There were retoolings and refinements in those early days. Finally, after two years, and up against ABC, CBS and NBC, we became No. 1, appealing to our Bay Area and Northern California viewers. We became the Bay Area’s favorite morning show. Our hard work paid off.

“Mornings On 2” was, for its first 10 years on the air, a big part of my life. For me, some 3,500 broadcasts. If you knew me during that time, you know that I lived and breathed this show. It’s been many years since, but I’ll always remain thankful and grateful for this wonderful experience, one of the biggest highlights of my career and of my life. It’s a time of my life I’ll always cherish, and fondly.

Happy 30th Anniversary, “Mornings On 2”! And congratulations as well to KTVU Channel 2, my old stomping grounds. I feel blessed to have been a small part of your wonderful legacy.

Kevin Wing is a member of the Media Museum of Northern California and is the former longtime editor-in-chief of “Off Camera,” a monthly publication of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The two-time Emmy Award recipient is also Chapter vice president representing the San Francisco Bay Area television market. Kevin was an assignment editor and reporter at KTVU Channel 2 from 1987 to 2000.