Although he is a veteran anchorman at age 42, Bob Evans seems to have found the fountain of youth. All his life he has looked younger than he is, and now it's finally paying dividends.
Born and raised in Tacoma, Wash., Evans was fascinated by television from early childhood, often visiting Tacoma's KTNT/Ch. 11, and dreaming about the future.Evans grew up playing the violin and enrolled at Brigham Young University on a music scholarship, but he often found himself being diverted from the practice rooms in the Harris Fine Arts Center to the KBYU studios down the hall.
He interrupted his education to serve an LDS mission to Japan, and when he returned, he switched his major to broadcast journalism. Soon after, he auditioned and quickly became the morning drive-time anchor on the school's radio station, KBYU-FM. During his last semester, he switched to television.
Evans met his wife, Diane Chambers, at BYU's broadcast studios. At the time, she was hosting a KBYU program called "Weeknight," and Evans was her floor director.
"When I asked her out the first time, she was anchoring the news with a guy she had a crush on. I walked in during a commercial break and asked her what she was doing on Friday night."
Not exactly swept off her feet, she asked if she could bring a girlfriend. Even with a threesome, they hit it off, although Evans claims she led him to believe her father was the governor of Montana.
"That was not true," says Evans. "He was the manager of a J.C. Penney store in Hood River, Oregon."
Today, they have been married 19 years and have nine children, ranging in age from 2 1/2 to 18. "We could always tell when it was time to have another baby," chuckles Evans.
"We would sit at the dining room table and count the kids and wonder who was missing. We would look at each other, and she would get this grin on her face."
The youngest, ages 2 and 4, invariably end up sleeping between Mom and Dad in their bed. "When we tell friends about that, they lecture us about putting them in their own rooms. Well, they're young, and that'll happen soon enough, and when it does, it'll be kind of sad."
After graduating with a broadcast journalism major, Evans was hired as a TV reporter in Boise and then at stations in Spokane and Kansas City.
When Randall Carlisle, KUTV/Ch. 2's anchor, left for a new job in Minneapolis, the 31-year-old Evans returned to Utah and replaced him.
He enjoyed his experience at Ch. 2, where he acted as anchor until internal problems led to upheaval at the station. "At the end of five years," says Evans, "they gave me an offer I COULD refuse, and did."
Bob and Diane wanted very much to stay in Utah; Evans' goal has never been network fame and fortune. "Those guys are on the road 260 days a year. It would be fun to sit next to Peter Jennings and learn from the master, but I was not willing to have my family pay the price."
So Bob and Diane experimented with their own little mortgage company in their home, until rising interest rates got in the way.
Three years ago, KSTU/Fox 13 started a noon news show and Evans applied. But the station manager, Steve Carlston, said, "Why don't you try for the MAIN job?" Recently, Evans signed a new contract that will keep him at Ch. 13 for well into the next century.
Evans understands more than most how insecure the life of a TV anchor can be. "I'm sure there'll come a day when there are too many miles on this face."
Unlike the other Salt Lake stations, Ch. 13's late newscast is at 9 p.m. instead of 10. Evans is happy to be doing an earlier program and says Ch. 13 "is the most delightful place" he's ever worked.
He enjoys a relaxed relationship with Hope Woodside, his co-anchor, who "has enough chemistry for both of us. She is just delightful -- a wonderful person to be around."
Outside interests are mainly his large family, which is heading to a ranch in Montana where they will become cowboys for a week.
In addition, Evans and his 9th ninth-grade daughter recently started sight-reading music together.
He also teaches a weekly broadcasting class at BYU. And he serves on an LDS stake high council.
Evans continues to love his work and is even inclined to compare Ch. 13 to "an orchestra, full of people -- and everyone has to do the right job at the right time to make it come together."
It's a good thing he kept that music minor.