Tom Vacar

Tom Vacar

Reporter

After two years of freelancing while working full time in L.A., Tom became a full-time staff member of KTVU as Consumer Editor, in 1991. 

Tom has covered every major disaster including earthquakes, wildfires, floods, levee breaks and droughts and has had a big hand in covering business, economics, consumer affairs, aerospace, space, the military, high technology, ports, logistics, airlines and general news.

 Tom worked at KGO TV and KGO Radio from 1979-1985. He moved to KCBS-TV and KNX News Radio in 1985 before moving to KTTV in 1988. 

Tom is originally from Salem, Ohio (a small industrial town of 11,000 people between Cleveland and Pittsburgh). He got his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Government at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio in 1972 as a designated Undergraduate Scholar. Tom got his Law Degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1978.

In his 31 years at KTVU, he calculates that he has covered 8,000 stories. For 18 years, KTVU was home to Tom’s syndicated Great American Toy Test (nominated for a national Emmy). He has covered many major disasters including the Caldor Fire in Lake Tahoe, the L.A. quake in 1994, the Napa Quake, the Great Recession, the Pandemic and the long drought.

Tom loves the diversity of the region’s people, cultures and ethnicities.  That, he says, is what truly makes the Bay Area’s natural beauty even more beautiful. 

Tom shoots still pictures, mostly of wildlife while traveling with his wife Sharon, a former SF Opera soprano who also worked as a producer for 17 years. He has also traveled to England, Italy, Japan, Honduras, Bahrain, British Virgin Islands, The Grenadines, St. Martin. Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Society Islands, Panama, etc.

The latest from Tom Vacar

Guerneville house could collapse onto the road and other homes

Guerneville house could collapse onto the road and other homes

This single, unoccupied home hangs precariously to a steep hillside, which it has done since Monday morning. There was a retaining wall and a parking spot construction going on at the time just below the home, as well as some tree removals.

Is the State of the Union the best economy ever?

Is the State of the Union the best economy ever?

With the President about to speak tomorrow night, very unhappy stock markets, critical to tens of millions of retirement plans, will be listening closely. So, why are those markets so worried?

Stock Market: Is an A.I. crash possible?

Stock Market: Is an A.I. crash possible?

Economic jitters hit the stock market on Thursday, with the Dow, NASDAQ, and the S&P losing digits. This renewed concerns over artificial intelligence (A.I.) prompting a tech sell-off. 

License plate-reading cameras getting safeguards in Mill Valley

License plate-reading cameras getting safeguards in Mill Valley

The city of Mill Valley became the last town along the North Bay's Highway 101 to adopt license plate reader technology. But with stories of the technology being used by the federal government as part of its immigration crackdown, the technology is under scrutiny.