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

5 Bay Area cities, 2 counties get homeless removal funds

5 Bay Area cities, 2 counties get homeless removal funds

Gov. Gavin Newsom is awarding $131 million in grants to cities and counties that are seriously addressing homeless encampments. These grants come with stricter accountability measures than ever before. 

New jobs blow away experts' forecasts

New jobs blow away experts' forecasts

Though the vast majority of economists and analysts saw the U.S. gaining about 144,000 new jobs in September, the actual number blew those estimates away at 254,000. 

Oakland Coliseum: A new deal on the table?

Oakland Coliseum: A new deal on the table?

In selling the Oakland Coliseum site, the City of Oakland is trying to avoid major spending cuts that could deeply reduce police and fire services to a city in need.

Crypto scammer swindles more than $1 million from Bay Area woman

Crypto scammer swindles more than $1 million from Bay Area woman

Crypto-crime keeps exploding, often aimed at Americans by a worldwide network of heartless criminals who don’t care about whose lives they destroy. One victim, a professional woman, was willing to talk about the kind of financial devastation few of us can ever imagine.

California's water supply outlook for the next 12 months

California's water supply outlook for the next 12 months

The new water year begins on October 1st and it comes on the on the heels of one of the hottest and driest summers on record. So, the California Department of Water Resources just briefed the media on expectations and preparations for the next 12 months. In fact, the DWR is masterful at managing water and it's getting better at looking into Mother Nature's weather crystal ball.