Beloved California News Anchor Dick Cable Dies at 89

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Beloved California news anchor Dick Cable passed away on Wednesday at the age of 89 after a long illness. Cable was a fixture on Sacramento television for 30 years as the anchor of KXTV. He met his wife Berta while she was interning at the station in 1973, and they were married for 48 years. Cable's career had some ups and downs, including being taken off the air briefly in the late 1970s, but he was known for his warm, no-nonsense personality that appealed to viewers.

Why it matters

Dick Cable was a beloved figure in the Sacramento community, having anchored the news in the city for three decades. His passing marks the end of an era for local television news in the region, as Cable was part of a generation of anchors who helped define the medium in an earlier time.

The details

Born in New York in 1936, Cable followed in his father's footsteps, who worked for the military news outlet Stars and Stripes. Cable was hired by the CBS affiliate KXTV (then known as News10) in Sacramento in 1969 and went on to anchor the news there for 30 years. He met his wife Berta when she interned at the station in 1973, and they were married for 48 years. Cable's career had some challenges, including being taken off the air briefly in the late 1970s in pursuit of a 'youth movement,' but he returned to the anchor desk in 1981, telling the Sacramento Bee at the time: 'I'm not a wilting flower. I have a healthy ego — sometimes maybe an unhealthy one, I don't know, but the one thing the station has to know is that I toil here.'

• Dick Cable was born on June 23, 1936 in New York.
• Cable was hired by KXTV (then News10) in Sacramento in January 1969.
• Cable met his wife Berta when she interned at KXTV in 1973.
• Cable and Berta were married in 1977.
• Cable passed away on Wednesday, February 26, 2026.