Rick Martel, former local news anchor, dies at 82

Rick Martel, longtime local news anchor and variety show host known for his silver mane and baritone voice, has died.

His family said he died Tuesday morning of a kidney infection. He was 82.

Martel worked as a news anchor at KSBY for 15 years before leaving in 1995. His departure stirred an outcry among devoted fans, who said Martel had been forced out.

He then moved to KCOY, where he was news anchor for 14 months. He was also known as the host of the Charter Cable show “Rick at Nite.”

Kathleen Choal, president and general manager of KSBY, said Martel was a fixture in the community and touched many lives, including his KSBY co-workers.

“During his tenure, Rick was part of the team, which positioned KSBY to be successful for decades to come,” she said. “As we mourn Rick’s passing, those who worked with him are sharing his passion, humor and dedication for local journalism and the Central Coast that will keep his rich legacy alive.”

Tony Cipolla, spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, worked with Martel at KSBY for six years. He called Martel a consummate professional and said he remembers him for three things: his hair, his voice and what a good friend he was.

“The Central Coast has lost a legend; he was just that big,” Cipolla said. “I always enjoyed having Rick in the newsroom. He made it fun.”

Cipolla said Martel worked at KOGO radio in San Diego before moving to San Luis Obispo.

David Cox, who was general manager at KSBY when Martel was hired in 1980, recalled Wednesday that Martel was vacationing on the Central Coast when by chance he caught the nightly news on KSBY — which was a distant third in television news ratings at the time, Cox said — and decided he could do better.

“He walked right in the front door without an appointment,” Cox said. “He said, ‘I want to be an anchorman.’ ”

Cox said that he immediately had his producer bring Martel into the studio to read a script. Martel read it cold without any warm-up takes.

“He read it like he had read it a hundred times,” Cox said. “Clearly, he was a professional broadcaster.”

Though Cox — who was about 20 years younger than Martel at the time — said he was at first skeptical of Martel’s ability to connect to viewers, the anchor scored highest in believability among viewers in a study by a television research firm that included all local newscasters.

Martel even scored higher than former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in that study, Cox said.

Within 18 months, KSBY ranked first in ratings.

“He was someone we could build the newscast around,” Cox said.

Lynn Diehl, executive director of the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau, worked with Martel both as a reporter and later as co-anchor of the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at KSBY.

“I think he really liked coming to work every day, and the viewing audience responded to that,” she said.

Diehl said she admired Martel’s relationship with his wife of 50 years, Stormi.

“As a younger person, I admired the life he built for himself,” Diehl said.

Mitch Massey worked with Martel at KSBY for 12 years, coming onboard as a sportscaster in 1982. He remembers Martel as a mentor to the young staff and a solid journalist that viewers believed in.

“Like Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America, he was the most trusted man on the Central Coast,” Massey said.

As a longtime radio news anchor in San Diego before coming to San Luis Obispo, Martel remained a diehard San Diego Chargers fan, Massey said.

“He and his wife, Stormi, lived for Sunday football. I remember going to his house on many Sundays to watch a game, and they’d have their whole house decorated with Chargers things,” he said.

Martel’s other passion was singing, and he made a name for himself as a Frank Sinatra-like nightclub crooner.

“He was just this great Las Vegas lounge act locally and had his own cult following,” Massey said. “He would find places up and down the coast to sing.”

According to a Tribune story in November 1995, Martel performed live shows as often as five nights a week, starting in the mid-1970s, without any formal training.

“I just kind of stuck my neck out and did it on my own,” he said at the time.

He performed in a variety of venues, including the San Luis Obispo County Symphony’s Pops by the Sea concert that year.

Several episodes of a later incarnation of his public access TV work in 2012 — called “The Rick Martel Show” — can be found on YouTube.

“As long as I am able, I’ll sing,” Martel told The Tribune in a 2000 interview.

In addition to his wife, Martel is survived by daughter Tawny Martel. A granddaughter, Ashley, died in 2013.

Services for Rick Martel will be held at a later date at St. Barnabas’ Episcopal Church in Arroyo Grande, according to KSBY.

This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Rick Martel, former local news anchor, dies at 82."