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Bill Balleza Biography
Bill Balleza is an American Emmy award-winning reporter and anchor. He serves as a senior news anchor for NBC-affiliated television station, KPRC-TV, located in Houston, Texas. Bill has been signed with the station until 2021 that will make veteran in television as a journalist since 1971. Bill began his career at KSAT 12 and KSAT.com in 1970. He left the job after a year and immediately started at KRON 4 News in 1971. After working for KRON 4, he headed to join KHOU 11 News in 1973.
Bill Balleza Age | KPRC Bill Balleza Age
Bill was born on September 6, 1948, he is 71 years old as of 2019.
Bill Balleza Height
Bill’s height is not yet known.
Bill Balleza Family | Bill Balleza Houston
Bill was born in San Antonio. He has never revealed any information regarding his parents and siblings. He attended Fox Technical High School. He then graduated from San Antonio College in 1973.
Bill has lived in Houston since 1973. Bill is an avid woodworker, he as designed and built rooms full of furniture, including a coffee table for a family that he and his colleagues at KPRC 2 sponsored for a Houston Habitat for Humanity build. Bill’s wife once told him to stop making large pieces as there was no more room. Since then, Bill has created hundreds of cigar and keepsake boxes
Bill Balleza College
Bill is a graduate of San Antonio College and a Vietnam veteran who served as a Marine Scout Sniper during the Tet Offensive of 1968.
Bill Balleza Wife | Is Bill Balleza Married | Bill Balleza Daughter
Bill is a happily married man. He has been married to his gorgeous wife Melissa Loh since June 27 1992 when the two exchanged their wedding vows. The reporter even posted a throwback picture of his wedding with his wife on their 26th anniversary.
The couple has three children, two daughters, Heidi and Kate, and a son named Travis. Bill is a proud father. He never misses the chance post his children on his social media sites. From wishing his daughter, Kate on her birthday to showing off his son making it to the Dean’s list, Bill has everything covered.
Bill Balleza KPRC | Bill Balleza Channel 2
A native of San Antonio, Emmy award-winning reporter and anchor, Bill joined KPRC 2 News in August of 1980. Bill started his career as a television reporter at KRON-TV in San Francisco in July of 1971.
In a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Bill has covered thousands of stories including the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Truman. He also covered the death of Pope John Paul II from the Vatican in 2005, and the election of Pope Francis in 2013. His reporting on the deadly fertilizer company explosion in West, Texas earned him an Emmy.
He also covered the shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, the Murrah Federal Building explosion in Oklahoma City, and the crash of American Flight 587 in New York, one month after the 9-11 attacks. Bill thrives on covering breaking news and is frequently called upon to lead KPRC 2’s news coverage as field anchor on the scene.
Bill Balleza Salary | KPRC Bill Balleza Salary | Bill Balleza Net Worth
From his job at KPRC, Bill earns an average salary ranging from $92,743 to $95,189. So it is clear to us that he carries a net worth of millions. He has not yet disclosed his estimated net worth.
Bill Balleza Retiring From KPRC
KPRC 2 News anchor Bill has announced that he will retire from the station in January 2020 following an esteemed 49-year career. The announcement was made to the KPRC 2 News team during a meeting on October 16 2019.
“It’s never easy saying goodbye to a family member, and even more difficult losing an icon,” said KPRC 2 Vice President/General Manager Jerry Martin. “For over 35 years on the anchor desk Bill capitalized the “J” in journalism for our newsroom. It is only fitting that he is retiring at the top of his game with both our 6pm and 10pm newscasts leading the market since 2017.”
After 39 years of anchoring KPRC (Channel 2)’s evening news, Bill is ready to do absolutely nothing when he retires in January 2019.
Bill a native of San Antonio joined KPRC 2 News in August of 1980 as a reporter and anchor, and became main anchor in 1990, following Ron Stone. During his tenure at KPRC 2 he has shared the anchor desk with respected newscasters Paula Zahn, Jan Carson, Linda Lorelle and his current co-anchor Dominique Sachse since 2001.
Bill Balleza Interview Houston’s new longest-running television newsman.
When Steve Smith (former anchor at Channel 11 KHOU-TV) and Bill co-anchored in the 1970s, Bill asked him what he thought about his chances of one day becoming a main anchor. He wasn’t optimistic. Dave Ward told him, without him asking him, that it would never happen.
“Ron Stone (former Channel 2 anchor) knew that Bill wanted his job, so he didn’t dare ask him. But when Stone retired, he became the main anchor at Channel 2. Now that Ward has retired, I feel like the star of ‘Survivor.’ ”
Question: What is it about Houston that makes TV anchors stick around so long?
Bill :”You have to wonder why Houston has had only a handful of main anchors over the past 50 years. Both Stone and Smith left for eastern markets but only briefly. Both returned within two years. Stone used to joke that in Houston, he had reached the peak of a mediocre career. As a group we all clawed our way to the middle and decided this was far enough.”
Question: Did you ever want to leave Houston and move on up like the Jeffersons to New York, Los Angeles or Chicago?
Bill : “I actually did have a few offers to leave. Paula Zahn tried to get me to join her in Los Angeles, but when I went to interview for the job, the news director told me he drank four Wink sodas in less than an hour. When I told him I decided to stay in Houston, he said, ‘OK, see you on another planet someday.’
“I also had a job offer from CNN in 1981, but I was actually making more money at Channel 2 than they were willing to pay.”
Question: Were you, Ron Stone, Dave Ward and Steve Smith buddies or dreaded enemies with old-fashioned show-business feuds?
Bill :”We always got along pretty well, but we were all very competitive. Keep in mind I actually co-anchored with both Stone and Ward for a time, but we didn’t hang out. It wasn’t like the movies. It was like television, if you know what I mean.”
Question: Do you owe it to young reporters to be a teacher and role model?
Bill :”I don’t think I’ve ever had, nor been, a role model in this business. But I have mentored quite a few students who wanted to become reporters. It’s been rewarding to see those who stuck with it and actually launched careers, which is one of the toughest things in the world to do.”
Question: You will hit 50 years in TV news at the end of your current contract. Do you stick around after that and pass Dave Ward for longevity?
Bill :”I will not be able to surpass Dave Ward’s longevity in one regard. He spent 50 years at one station. I will have worked at Channel 2 only 41 years when I retire in 2021. But I will have 50 years in the business, and I am the longest-running anchor at Channel 2.”
Question: If you didn’t get into TV news, what do you think you would have done with your life, except for the obvious – rodeo clown?
Bill : “Had I not gotten into television news, I don’t know what I would have become since I have no marketable skills other than reading out loud. I thought about staying in the Marines, but the first Mrs. Balleza wasn’t having it. So I got out and went to college. I majored in broadcasting because there was no math requirement.”
Question: How long have you and Dominique Sachse been anchoring together? Have you ever slipped up and called your wife “Dominique?”
Bill : “Dominque and I have been working together longer (23 years) than any anchor team in Houston television history. Right now I hold the record as her longest male relationship, too. We do hang out, but Frank (weatherman Frank Billingsley) is usually right there in the middle.”
Question: Do you talk in your anchorman’s voice in real life?
Bill : “I don’t have your traditional anchorman voice and could never compete with the pipes of Stone, Ward and Smith. Still, people usually say they recognize my voice before they recognize my face. The only difference between my voice on air and my voice in person is that I’m much more dynamic and energetic on air. After all, authenticity is 90 percent of this business, and once you can fake that …”
Question: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve done or said on the air – that made you want to duck down behind the desk and never come up?
Bill :”I killed Lady Bird Johnson on air. Reporting on the death of Ann Richards in 2006, I said the former governor’s death had come as Texans were still mourning the recent passing of Lady Bird Johnson. I had meant to say Nellie Connally, the former first lady of Texas, who had passed away seven days earlier. Several people immediately let me know I should apologize to Lady Bird, which I did.”