Pete Combs, a beloved WSB radio reporter, has passed (1959-2019)

He was a respected journalist well liked by competitors as well as colleagues. WSB's Veronica Waters recently distributed bracelets with the words "For Pete's Sake: No One Fights Alone" and journalists and publicists all over town posted supportive photos of themselves on social media wearing them.

"He was really dedicated to getting out there and getting the stories covered," said Richard Sangster, a former WSB radio reporter who retired in 2017. "He was constantly on the go. We had a lot of respect for each other."

Combs worked for nine years with WSB from 2006 to 2015, then had a gig in Seattle for two years before returning to WSB last year, working both for the radio station and ABC News.

Prior to WSB, he worked at WGST-AM in Atlanta as well as stations in Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Dallas and Charlotte over his 40-year career.

At WSB, Combs covered many big storms, the BP oil spill and the Haiti earthquake, to name a few. His last travel assignment for ABC and WSB was tracking Hurricane Dorian as it approached the Carolina coast in early September.

"He was in intense pain in his lower back while covering that hurricane," said Pete Spriggs, WSB program director. "Like a true reporter, he worked through the pain."

Sadly, Spriggs said, Combs went to a doctor after he got back home and received his grim diagnosis.

From a professional standpoint, Spriggs said he marveled how Combs could enhance his storytelling on the air with the inflection and personal emotion he placed in his voice.

“He had a lot of empathy,” Spriggs said. “He covered a lot of tragedies. He would reflect to me how badly he felt for some of the people he interviewed. He felt the sadness and conveyed it on the air.”

To other journalists, Combs was an amiable, caring guy who loved what he did.

Jon Shirek, a reporter at 11Alive, said Combs would always greet him "like a best friend. He was just one of the warmest, friendliest most engaging people I knew, in and out of the news business. We'd be under crushing deadlines and he'd want to pause and talk, he'd ask how my life and work were going and he'd really want to know. And he'd always tell me what a lucky guy he was, in a happy marriage with the love of his life and having the time of his life being a news guy."

Mitch Leff, a local publicist who did a feature on Combs earlier this year, said he and Combs became good friends soon after Combs joined WSB. "Pete helped me train my clients in the importance of responding quickly to media requests," he said. "Often he'd call looking for a source and it was invariably needed in the next 10 minutes!"

Andrew Nelson, now a wedding DJ, said Combs inspired him to get into radio news: "He started at WSB when I was public affairs director for 97.1/The River. That was 2008. I was so impressed with his distinctive delivery that I sat down next to him and asked him to teach me." Nelson said Combs' advice helped him land a job at what was then All News 106.7 as a reporter and anchor in 2012.

Kristi Swartz, a former AJC reporter, on her Facebook page, posted a photo of herself on I-85 with Combs from 2010, two fellow journalists and close friends working on the same story about a plane landing on the highway.

"Pete, we miss you very much. Cancer sucks. My heart breaks for Karen [Pete's wife]. The broadcast airwaves are a little more quiet now," she wrote.

Funeral services will be private. Donations can be made in Combs' name to Lung Cancer Research Foundation at www.lungcancerresearchfoundation.org/

Rob Finfrock, a freelance aviation writer, said Combs was a mentor and close friend who helped guide his career the past decade. Finfrock recently worked on a podcast project with Combs related to aviation.

He said he compiled a Combs photo gallery on YouTube as a way to honor a man he deeply admired:

Pete is survived by his loving wife Karen Combs of Marietta; sons, Daniel Combs of Seattle and Blake Floyd of McDonough and daughter Morgan Roberson(Jerry) of Peachtree City.