Walt Gray, who has reported and anchored news and sports coverage at Sacramento television station Channel 3 (KCRA) for nearly a quarter century, will leave next month to take a job with Sacramento radio station 96.9 FM (KSEG) - otherwise known as The Eagle, "Sacramento's classic rock" station.

Gray said today that his last day with Channel 3 will be Oct. 19. On Oct. 22, he will begin his new duties, hosting a new morning program at KSEG.

Curtiss Johnson, KSEG station manager and program director, said the new show will be called "The Walt Gray Show," with Kat Maudru, who has been a morning show host at KSEG for some time and has been with The Eagle since it launched in 1990.

The new show will air weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Lori Waldon, KCRA news director, broke the news to the Channel 3 staff this afternoon, saying "Walt has been a tremendous asset to KCRA 3. Now, Walt is taking on a new and exciting challenge in his career. Walt has accepted a new position at Entercom Radio, "The Eagle" 96.9. The station is creating a morning team and they tapped Walt to do it - knowing he'd be the perfect fit."

Johnson called Gray "a smart guy with an opinion and a quick sense of humor."

He said the show is designed "to get our mornings off to a fun start, to keep you up to date on what's going on in Northern California and the rest of the world, in an entertaining way, and play the classic rock for which The Eagle is known."

Gray has previously worked with KSEG. He was part of The Eagle morning radio team from 1991-96 as a host of the "Morning Sports Page."

That show was replaced in 1996 by the "Mark & Brian Show," a talk format hosted by Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps. The syndicated program aired weekday mornings from KLOS-FM in Los Angeles.

In June, Thompson announced that he was retiring and moving to Charlotte, N.C. On Aug. 17, during Thompson's farewell show, Phelps announced that he was moving on to other opportunities.

That opened the door for development of a local radio show involving Gray. Gray said today that he was "very happy and looking forward" to working again in radio.

Fresh out of the University of Rhode Island with a journalism degree, Gray's first broadcasting job was in radio at WERI-AM/FM in Westerly, R.I. The next 32 years were in television, with stops in Georgia and Florida.

Gray came to Sacramento in 1988, when KCRA appointed him sports director, replacing Bob Hogue. He moved to Sacramento from WCIX, Channel 6, an independent station in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale market in Florida.

At KCRA, Gray moved to the news side in 1993, starting a nearly 20-year run where he was equally comfortable behind the anchor desk or doing live, on-the-street reporting.

He currently anchors KCRA's noon newscast and is part of the "breaking news crew" for the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

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