By Kevin Wing
Chair, Archive & Museum Committee

Ann Fraser, a popular, longtime presence on Bay Area television from the 1970s to the early ’90s when she co-hosted “People Are Talking” on KPIX, has died. Fraser was 83 when she died peacefully in late December in Milwaukie, Oregon. Her family did not announce her passing until now.

Fraser was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1939. She attended Northwestern University and traveled to Korea with the USO to entertain American troops. In 1977, she was hired by KPIX with the launch of the station’s “The Morning Show”. The following year, in 1978, Ross McGowan joined Fraser as co-host and the late-morning talk show, with a live studio audience, was renamed “People Are Talking”. The show became so popular that an afternoon companion show, “People Are Talking in the Afternoon”, was launched. Fraser and McGowan entertained Bay Area viewers for 14 years until 1991, when the shows ended their long run.

Fraser is survived by her daughter, Jennifer, and her two nieces.