Russ Coughlan; Bay Area Radio, TV Figure

Russ Coughlan, a 40-year San Francisco Bay Area broadcaster and one of the founders of Armed Forces Radio. Coughlan, who kept his age a mystery, spent over 30 years with ABC television and served as anchor of Channel 7’s 6:30 a.m. news program before being named special assignment reporter in 1989. Coughlan began his broadcasting career in 1940 in Watsonville, Calif. During World War II, he served in the Pacific and helped found Armed Forces Radio. After the war, he joined San Francisco radio station KROW as an on-air personality. When television made it to the city a few years later, Coughlan switched over. Coughlan moved to KGO-TV as sales manager and later hosted a talk show at the ABC affiliate. During the 1970s, he worked as general manager of the station. On Saturday of a heart attack at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae after collapsing at his home.