R.I.P.: Longtime KCBS S-F Radio Anchor Al Hart

Al Hart 2007

Longtime KCBS Radio anchor Al Hart, a legendary voice in Bay Area broadcasting, died Thursday morning at the age of 88.

At KTBS Shrevport, LA - 1950

According to his family, Hart died following a long-term illness.

Hart joined KCBS in 1966, two years before the all-news format arrived.

During his 34 year career at KCBS, Hart delivered the news of the day, including major Bay Area stories such as the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and the 1991 Oakland Hills fire.  He retired in 2000.

“Al found joy in everything he did and shared it with everyone he met.  He inspired all of us at KCBS to achieve our best and to care deeply about our community” said Doug Harvill, Senior Vice President and Market Manager for CBS RADIO San Francisco.

“Al was the broadcaster I wanted to grow up to be.  His positive energy and his passion for serving the audience were an inspiration every day.  I’m very, very lucky to have had him as a mentor and friend” added Stan Bunger, KCBS morning anchor.

According to The Berkshire Eagle, Hart, of Walnut Creek, was suffering from a rare, progressive, neurological disease known as Corticobasal degeneration, which started slowly but eventually robbed him of his mobility and "the golden voice that graced the airwaves of KCBS radio in San Francisco for decades," Melkonian wrote.

Melkonian called it a voice "so distinctive it would cause cab drivers, store clerks, fellow BART passengers or someone next to him in a restaurant to turn around and say, 'hey, that's Al Hart!'"

At KCBS 2000

A Minneapolis, Minn. native, Hart began his broadcast career in 1948 as a $1-an-hour disc jockey, weather reporter and newsman at WOBT in Rhinelander, Wis.

A year later the Minneapolis native enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism and worked at the campus radio station.

Hart landed a job in Shreveport, La., and spent 10 years doing radio and television work there.

He arrived in the the Bay Area in 1960 to become program director of KABL. He then left for KNBR in 1965 and jumped to KCBS a year later, serving as producer and sidekick for Dave McElhatton, another Bay Area news legend.

Two years later, Hart became a news anchor. He became lead anchor in 1976.