"Van Amburg is the finest. I mean the finest broadcast journalist I have ever had the pleasure to work with." High praise indeed, when you consider these words are coming from Van's former boss, Pat Pollilo, former KGO-TV News Director. It is praise well earned. The diversity of Van's background speaks for itself; having included everything from field reporting to sports play-by-play to documentaries to the anchor position on more than one Bay Area news team.

Van is a long-time resident of the Bay Area and came to KGO-TV in 1969. He began his career as the right-hand man for H.B. Kaltenborn doing radio broadcasts and shortly thereafter, the play-by-play commentary for the Oakland Raiders. He has twice been honored with Peabody Awards, once for his commentary with the Raiders and once for a local television documentary.