Eric Johnson is an American television weeknight news anchor for KOMO 4 in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
.
Early life
Eric was born to Jack and Rachell Johnson and raised in the Spokane Valley. Eric attended East Valley High School and majored in broadcasting in the
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe fo ...
School of Communications at
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...
. He also played baseball at WSU as a pitcher.
Broadcasting career
Johnson began his broadcasting career in 1984 at KTVB 7 in Boise, Idaho, serving as the station's weekend sports anchor. Two years later, he was promoted into the role of sports director at rival station KBCI-TV (now KBOI 2). From 1987 to 1989, he served in the same capacity at Spokane's KREM 2, then he moved to sister station KGW 8 in Portland, Oregon, where he remained until 1993.
in 1993, Johnson initially started out as the KOMO 4 station's weekend sports anchor, replacing longtime KOMO sportscaster Rick Meeder and fill-in sports anchor
Bob Rondeau
Bob Rondeau is a retired American sports announcer. He is known for a 37-year career associated with University of Washington athletics.
Early life
Rondeau grew up in Colorado. He majored in journalism at Colorado, graduating in 1972.
Career
R ...
. In 1994, Johnson created a popular segment titled "Eric's Little Heroes", which focuses on the athletic plight of Seattle-area children in
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationKOMO, Eric has been awarded more than 25 Regional Emmy Awards, and in 2007, he was given the highest prize in local television news, a National Edward R. Murrow Award for best feature story in the country. His career at KOMO has seen him cover nearly every major sports event in Seattle, and in some cases abroad. He produced an award-winning documentary about a group of American children who traveled to Cuba to play a series of baseball games against Cuban teams. And in 2005, he led coverage of the Seattle Seahawks trip to the Super Bowl. He can frequently be seen reporting live on location, whenever the Mariners, Sonics, or Seahawks are playing.
In the second half of 2006, Johnson began anchoring the news for the first time. He took over the reins of KOMO 4 News at 5 o'clock from longtime news anchor Dan Lewis, when KOMO underwent a broadcast schedule change involving their evening newscast lineup. Lewis anchored the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news with
Kathi Goertzen
Kathi Goertzen (April 30, 1958 – August 13, 2012) was a longtime co-news anchor of Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO-TV along with Dan Lewis (the 6PM edition) and also the 5PM edition with Eric Johnson. She joined KOMO in June 1980, after the erupti ...
(2007-2008), and with Mary Nam (2008-2014). Johnson anchored the 5 p.m. news with
Kathi Goertzen
Kathi Goertzen (April 30, 1958 – August 13, 2012) was a longtime co-news anchor of Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO-TV along with Dan Lewis (the 6PM edition) and also the 5PM edition with Eric Johnson. She joined KOMO in June 1980, after the erupti ...
(2007-2008), and Mary Nam or Dan Lewis (2008-2012). Johnson currently anchors the 5 p.m. newscast with Molly Shen, and the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts with Mary Nam after his colleague Dan Lewis stepped away from the anchor desk after 27 years in May 2014. His colleague Dan Lewis' son Tim (former weekend sports anchor for KOMO 4) formerly held the role as sports director at KREM 2 from January 2009-May 2012, the role Johnson held from 1987-1989.