For more than 30 years, Maggi Scura brought San Jose its news. She'll take us behind the scenes at KNTV Channel 11 during the years this valley remade itself — the teardown and rebuild of downtown, the arrival of the Sharks, explosive Silicon Valley growth, and local politics that rarely produced a slow news day. Expect the stories behind the stories, from an anchor and reporter whose very first solo assignment ended with her filming an attempted presidential assassination.
Maggi Scura is a Brooklyn native who began her broadcast career in radio on California's Central Coast, hosting music and interview programs and eventually serving as News and Public Service Director for two stations — one progressive rock, the other country-western. Drawn to telling stories through film and video, she moved to television news, joining KTXL-TV40 in Sacramento in 1975. Her first solo assignment was to shoot silent film of President Gerald Ford walking into the State Capitol; what she captured was an attempted assassination. Within weeks came a second attempt on the president's life and the apprehension of fugitive heiress Patty Hearst. Maggi reported and photographed those stories and the trials that followed, serving as State Capitol Correspondent, reporter, anchor, producer, photographer-editor, and assignment editor.
She came to San Jose and KNTV Channel 11 in late 1977 as a weekend anchor, reporter, and producer, then moved to weekdays anchoring the afternoon and evening newscasts alongside Don Hayward. After Hayward's retirement, she began an on-air partnership with Doug Moore that lasted 18 years — still the record for the longest-serving news anchor team in the San Francisco Bay Area. After stepping away from daily news in the early 2000s, Maggi hosted Comcast Newsmakers, the company's regional public service program. She remains active on behalf of local nonprofits throughout Santa Clara County.