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

California jobs defying economic gravity

The nation gained 199,000 jobs in October, well above the projections but lower than the monthly average for the year. California made up 40,000 of those jobs, 20 percent of new jobs nationally, well above its percentage of the national workforce.

California could see lowest gas prices since 2021 by Christmas

While it may remain a mystery as to why California's gasoline prices are so much higher than other states, for now, Californians are seeing substantial relief. If the downward trend continues, we could be seeing the lowest gas prices since 2021 by Christmas.