Dave McElhatton for KPIX-TV Channel 5, the first television station in San Francisco starting in 1977 upon leaving KCBS radio. The hiring of McElhatton, a radio broadcaster, was noted by some to be a bold stroke. He remained as a news anchor with KPIX until his retirement in 2000. He was noted, along with that of CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, to be among two good reporters during a forum by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. At his peak, his salary as a newscaster was reportedly approximately $750,000 per year. For a decade from the late 1970s to late 1980s, his co-anchor was Wendy
Walter Cronkite "Dinosaur!" on A&E (not related to the documentary of the same title hosted by Christopher Reeve on CBS six years earlier), and a 1994 follow-up series, "Ape Man: The Story of Human Evolution". In 1995, he narrated the World Liberty Concert held in the Netherlands. Cronkite routinely hosted the Kennedy Center Honors from 1981 to 2002. Cronkite appeared briefly in the 2005 dramatic documentary "The American Ruling Class" written by Lewis Lapham; the 2000 film "Thirteen Days" reporting on the Cuban Missile Crisis; and provided the opening synopsis of the American Space Program leading to the events in Apollo 13