Michael Tuck made a name for himself as a television news anchor in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and especially San Diego. An illustrious career that included Oakland’s KTVU in the early- to mid-1970s, Tuck died in San Diego Aug. 17 at the age of 76.

in San Diego, during his high-profile decades on the KFMB-TV, KGTV and KUSI TV news desks, Tuck was the ultimate anchorman. He had the commanding on-air presence, the ability to pivot gracefully from breaking-news bulletins to heartwarming human-interest stories, and the confidence to share his opinions on polarizing topics, regardless of the fallout.

And Tuck had a voice. A resonate, self-assured, built-for-broadcasting baritone that made everything he said sound worthy of everyone’s attention. That voice and the journalistic chops behind it helped Tuck win multiple awards, including 15 regional Emmys, four Golden Mike Awards and the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award.

But one of his favorite awards from the recognition-rich 1980s came as a part of Disabled Awareness Week, when he was voted the most easily lip-read newscaster in town. For Tuck, who died on Wednesday at the age of 76 after a long battle with post-stroke complications, it wasn’t the voice that mattered.

It was the story.

“He loved that award because he loved to communicate,” Tuck’s wife, Jill, said. “He always felt like he was sharing a story. It meant a lot to him.

His father, Irvin, changed jobs frequently, working at a dairy and in an oil field, but also as a teacher. Tuck described his father as a brilliant man and a socialist, and when Tuck began loosening his anchorman tie and speaking his mind about local politicians and hot-button issues during his sometimes-controversial “Perspectives” commentaries on KGTV, you could hear Irvin’s social conscience coming through.

“He wanted to be more than the local news guy doing the live shot at the fire. He wanted to do something special. He wanted to do what the big boys did, and it worked out very well.”

Tuck’s fascination with broadcast news started with his older brothers, Cecil and Gene. Both men started off in radio broadcasting. Gene went on to become a news anchor. Cecil, who died in 2021, was head writer of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” In a 2000 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Tuck remembered wanting to follow in his brothers’ fascinating footsteps.

With Tuck, awe translated into ambition. He studied journalism at Trinity University in San Antonio, and by the time he graduated in 1970, he had already put in three years at KENS-TV in San Antonio.

Less than a year after Leitner was hired by KFMB, an anchor position opened up there. Leitner recommended Tuck, and news director Jim Holtzman hired him.

Tuck started at KFMB in 1978, launching an award-winning, ratings-generating career in local broadcasting that made him one of the most high-profile people in San Diego media — and made his voice one of the most recognizable sounds in town.

“He was more than good. He was great,” said longtime reporter and anchor Hal Clement, who worked with Tuck from 1979 until Tuck left for KGTV in 1984. “He had everything you would want in an anchor. He had talent and presence and command. And he had that voice that commanded attention. It had a timbre that cut through everything.”

Unhappy with station’s high management turnover and what he saw as an obsession with celebrities and sensationalism, Tuck left KCBS and returned to KFMB-TV in 2000. In 2005, he moved to KUSI, where he stayed until 2007.

Tuck’s survivors include his wife, Jill; his sons Collin and Jackson and his daughter, Tyler; his brother Gene, and his sister, Elizabeth Olivia.