The Mary Hanson Show
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Biography
Mary was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota and graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Magna cum laude grad majored in English, sociology and education. She had a full scholarship to graduate school and obtained her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Minnesota.
She worked for a two years as a social worker at Children’s Home Society in St.Paul, Minnesota, and then began her work as a consultant in social services. Hanson has worked in radio and television since 1978 when she began producing and hosting a radio show she created after hearing “an excellent speaker who deserved a larger audience.” This program, on KCHK AM, evolved into The Mary Hanson Show. She has continued doing consulting and has led workshops, taught seminars and does some counseling as a licensed independent social worker (LISW).
The Mary Hanson Show is the longest running cable program in the United States, having been on the air regularly since 1980. The weekly show has also been on public television’s KTCI for the past thirteen years for a season each year. The show focuses on health and social issues and has provided a forum for area and national experts and leaders. Host and producer Mary Hanson views her role as a conduit between guest and viewer, and the result is in-depth discussions of contemporary issues.
Mary's past television work includes hosting a weekly live hour-long children’s TV show, The Wishing Well, done for thirteen years in conjunction with Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Minneapolis Children’s Health Center. She was also the co-producer and co-host of The Screening Room, a movie preview show which was on cable television from 1983 to 1990; the co-producer and host of Fox Broadcasting’s public affairs show, Talk About With Mary Hanson, from 1990 to 1992; and the co-producer and host of Portrait, an in-depth personality profile cable program. This project led to her current annual public television series, "Minnesota Leaders."
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