Jack Hanson, who was a colorful mainstay of San Francisco-area TV for six decades died Sunday morning, according to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Bay Area chapter. He was 91.
Hanson worked on a wide swath of area outlets including KRON, KPIX, KTVU, KGO-TV and the Cable Health Network. He also hosted Comcast Newsmakers, a news interview show on CNN Headline News.
Hanson got his start in the mailroom at KPIX in the 1950s. He soon became a stage manager and moved to KRON-TV, working on live shows such as NBC’s Wide, Wide World.
In the 1960s, Hanson hosted his own show, Jack’s Place, back at KPIX. On it, he interviewed celebrities and would also draw cartoons. The latter became his trademark. Later, as a weatherman on KGO-TV, Hanson would create cartoons on the weather map to bring each segment to life.
Also on KGO-TV, he co-hosted a morning show, AM San Francisco, from 1977 to 1982. Periodically, he would fill in on KABC-TV’s AM Los Angeles and Mid-Morning Los Angeles.
The San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences inducted him in 2000.