Saunders came to WMAQ from WBBM where he was Director of Community Affairs, host of Common Ground, and a children's show known to many kids as The Good Gang Express.
He portrayed a news anchorman in the second season of the drama series ER, the show also being set in Chicago and airing on NBC.
Saunders was a former public school teacher, youth worker and Boys Club Executive Director.
A documentary for Chicago's WBBM-TV, The End of the Line, spurred investigations of local gangs.
On the evening of October 9, 2018, Saunders collapsed in Chicago and was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in Lincoln Park, where he was pronounced dead at age 83.