Essential Estrogen

He's been a staple on eastern Iowa television sets for nearly a quarter of a decade, but soon the Iowa Traveler will bid adieu to viewers.

A spokesman for KGAN has confirmed that this week Cary J. Hahn, known to most as the Iowa Traveler, will air his final segments at the network. No other details concerning the parting have been made available.

Hahn, a broadcaster for more than 40 years, started out in college radio. He has served more than 20 years at KGAN, an eastern Iowa CBS affiliate. In 2006, Hahn was awarded the Jack Shelley Award by the Iowa Broadcast News Association. The honor was the most recent of many Hahn had received from the Associated Press, United Press and other broadcast professional organizations. CBS photographer Ger Edwards, amateur videographer Al Coffin and Hahn earned the fourth annual Stanley Foundation Award in 2004 for outstanding broadcast coverage of Iowa's global connections. That same year, Hahn was one of three producers awarded the Iowa Motion Picture Association's Award of Excellence for television.

Hahn has been the Iowa Traveler since 1983, an assignment that has led him into a host of feature news stories over the years. Without his help, eastern Iowans might not have learned about the "Hog Calling Nun of Dubuque" or "Interstate Bowling." According to an earlier distributed biographical sketch, Hahn was said to have "ridden on the wing of biplane and his stories have taken him to New York, Los Angeles, and everywhere in between, including Canada."

Hahn, a past president of the Iowa Broadcast News Association, has served as a senior co-host at KGAN for the local segments of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. He has been quoted as saying his involvement has been "some of the most gratifying moments of his broadcast career."

KGAN has been owned by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group since 1999. In early February Sinclair also acquired KFXA, the Cedar Rapids area Fox network affiliate, in a $17.1 million cash deal. While Sinclair has purchased KFXA's non-licensed assets, the deal provides an option to buy the licensed assets for an additional $1.9 million, pending Federal Communications Commission approval. Baltimore-based Sinclair programs or provides sales services to 58 TV stations in 35 markets.