Steve Sando, a Seattle native who grew up and considered Minnesota to be his home became a giant in the behind the scenes world of technical operations of television news, died in his sleep at home in St. Paul on December 23. at the age of 48. After graduating from NDSU in Fargo, ND he started his television career at KXJB TV in Fargo. In 1985 Steve moved back to the Twin Cities to join Hubbard Broadcasting's Conus Communications, where he became the lead field producer for Conus News and Special Projects, where he was responsible for providing live shots for TV stations from events like The Super Bowl, the World Series, Final Four, and breaking news events. This was the very beginning of satellite news operations for TV stations that is so common place today.
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In 1988, at the age 28, Steve moved to NY and became the head of News Operations at WCBS. In 1990 CBS News came calling and he became the Director of Operations, Special Events. During this time Steve had overall technical responsibility for CBS News remote broadcasts worldwide, including the first Gulf War. In 1993 he became the Director of Operations, Europe and London for CBS, which gave him overall responsibility for CBS News technical operations and personnel in Europe, Africa and the Middle East; coordination, scope and staffing of remote broadcasts; annual capital and operating budgets of London Bureau and all the United Kingdom facilities, plus technical operations of CBS bureaus in Moscow and Tel Aviv. During this time he oversaw the refurbishment of the London Bureau facility and technical offices and the total refurbishment and expansion of the Moscow and Tel Aviv Bureaus. Steve was always right in the middle of all the hotspots in the world. “I worked quite a few remotes with Steve, but my favorite has to be Somalia. Hot, dirty, dangerous it may have been, but Steve made it fun. CBS had the best spot at the vital airport live position, and no one but no one dared to mess with us. Even the Marines thought we owned the place.” said Allen Pizzey, CBS News Correspondent.
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In 1996 Steve was given the overall technical responsibility for CBS News 1996 Election coverage, coordination and scope of the remote broadcasts of the Primaries, National Conventions, Election Night and the Inaugural Address. In 2000 Steve left CBS to form SandoMedia, a broadcast operations consulting company. Some of his clients included Gartner Inc; Media Most; WorldWide Pants; Shop at Home Network; Chelsea Market/ATC Mgt; Turner Broadcasting; Turner South; Scripps Networks; Rainbow Media, The Republican National Convention and MSG television. In the spring of 2008 Steve moved back to the Twin Cities as the Broadcast Technical Manager for the 2008 Republican National Convention. He also started working with Arctek HD, a Minneapolis based satellite transmission company. Sando was preceded in death by his father Gerald “Jerry” in 2005 and is survived by his mother Dianne Prindible Sando of Olympia, WA, and sister Elizabeth “Libby” and her husband Steve Jensen of Olympia, WA, and brother Mike and his wife Erin and their two children Katie and Keegan Sando of Enumclaw, WA, and more friends than he will ever know. Private services will be held.