Kangas, former “Nightly Business Report” anchor, dies at 79

Paul Kangas, co-anchor of  the popular public television show “Nightly Business Report” from 1979 to 2009, died Tuesday at the age of 79.

He had recently been in a hospice.

Kangas, whose trademark phrase ending the show wished viewers the “best of good buys,” was honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the field of Business & Financial Reporting.

Kangas helped make NBR the most-watched daily business program on television, and publications such as TV Guide would praise Kangas for his “fine stock market coverage.”

“With his booming voice,  easy laughter and quick wit, Paul Kangas was a tremendous asset to ‘Nightly Business Report,’ right from its inception in 1979,” said Linda O’Bryon, who was a co-anchor with Kangas.  “He helped invent stock market reporting on television.  I enjoyed sitting beside Paul on the anchor desk for many years, and he always had a great story to tell or a clever insight on financial markets.”

A former stockbroker, Kangas joined “Nightly Business Report” when it began as a local program on Miami’s public television station, WPBT2, in 1979. He was first a stock commentator and became a co-anchor in 1990.

In addition to delivering the daily market summaries, Kangas conducted each Friday the “Market Monitor” interview with noted market observers. He was known for his fast-paced delivery, sharp wit and encyclopedic knowledge of the financial markets.

In 2003, Kangas’ signature segment, “Stocks in the News,” won a Financial Writers and Editors Award from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University as “best broadcast feature or series useful to investors.”

“Paul set the standard for stock market reporting on television,” said Tom Hudson, who replaced Kangas after he retired. “You can still see and hear echoes of his influence today on the air and online. He always kept his viewer in mind, and delivered his stock-in-trade market reports with clarity and a passion for the power of capitalism.

“He wasn’t one for Wall Street jargon or financial double-talk,” added Hudson. “He wanted just the facts and defined the medium of business news television for decades.”

The media praised Kangas for his expertise. The Detroit Free Press dubbed him “the Walter Cronkite of business broadcasting” and the Village Voice noted that Kangas was “not content to merely rattle off stocks and prices.”

Kangas was also named to an Esquire list of “Sixty-Six Guys to Emulate” because, according to the magazine, “He tells the truth about the market when we need it.”

In addition to “Nightly Business Report,” Kangas produced a segment for German cable television on the U.S. stock market and also wrote a syndicated column for Cox Newspapers.

“He was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the stock market,” said O’Bryon. “He also knew how to make business news accessible to millions of viewers who depended on his daily reports and commentary. Paul was a real professional and a friend.”