R.I.P.: Longtime WJR Radio Detroit Newsman Rod Hansen

Rod Hansen

Rod Hansen, a Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame inductee and longtime WJR 760 AM radio journalist, died Monday of cancer at his Canton home.

He was 75-years-of-age, according to The Detroit Free-Press.

Hansen, who delivered his reports in a deep, gravelly voice, earned dozens of awards over a 38-year career at the radio station, including two Peabody Awards, the most prestigious national broadcast-journalism award; two medallions from Investigative Reporters and Editors, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

A suburban Cleveland native, Mr. Hansen earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Bowling Green State University in 1963. He then served as a radio news anchor in Akron, Ohio, before getting a job as an evening news anchor at WJR in 1967. Later that year, he became a reporter, covering the Detroit riot.

In 1975, Mr. Hansen broke the story of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance, according to former Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter.

"Rod was a great human being and really an outstanding journalist. I’d argue he was the best journalist in Detroit," Ashenfelter said. "He was only interested in the facts, where they led and how he could represent them."

Most recently, Mr. Hansen was media liaison at U.S. District Court in Detroit for several years, a fitting job given that he spent part of his reporting career hanging out in the courthouse lobby, drinking coffee at a kiosk while chatting up prosecutors and defense attorneys for leads.