Brian Hackney

Brian Hackney is a meteorologist for CBS 5 Eyewitness News, primarily Weekend Early Edition, and occasional reporter for CBS 5 Eyewitness News as well as occasional correspondent for CBS 5′s “Eye On The Bay.”

Brian is a Bay Area native, if you stretch the definition of Bay Area to include the crown-in-the-jewel of San Benito County, Hollister. He was born and raised there, attending Sacred Heart school and San Benito High School. While there, he wrote a weekly column for the Gilroy Dispatch.

He attended Cal Poly, earning a bachelors degree in Physics and a bachelors degree in Electronic Engineering in 1986, and pursued graduate work at the University of California. While at Cal Poly, he worked with Weird Al at KCPR, the campus radio station, and was hired to be the booth announcer at KSBY, the local NBC affiliate, while a sophomore in college. He also worked as an assistant in the promotion department.

After working at Raytheon as an Associate Design Engineer in the Electromagnetic Systems Division, Hackney became the chief meteorologist back at KSBY in San Luis Obispo, then went on to KCST (now KNSD) in San Diego, an NBC O&O. There, he was the weeknight meteorologist earning two Emmy awards and two Golden Mike awards for science and environmental reporting.

In 1990, Hackney moved back home to the Bay Area, signing up with KGO in the capacity of weekend meteorologist and weekday science & tech reporter. He was the weeknight 11pm meteorologist in 1992. His reporting on science, technology, and the environment, earned five more Emmy awards during his tenure.

In 1995 he moved to KRON, then an NBC affiliate, both as meteorologist and, by 2001, a news anchor. In 2005, his work earned seven Emmy nominations. He won four, for news anchoring, weather anchoring, news reporting, and for best documentary, which was recognized by NATAS as “an unprecedented show of versatility.” It was also the most Emmys for a single individual in 2005 and represented half the entire station total at KRON.

Hackney was also co-host of the National Emmy award-winning “Newton’s Apple”, PBS’s longest-running family science program. In the course of the show, his reports were featured from Switzerland to England–even from New Orleans.

Hackney is the second most senior broadcast meteorologist in the Bay Area (Joel Bartlett, a CBS 5 alum, is frequently reminded that Hackney watched him as a small child in Hollister), and lives comfortably with an aging Siamese cat in Marin. His greatest accomplishment was featuring his grandmother in his earthquake documentary and she, at age 98, still reminds him to fold his hands when seated at the anchor desk.

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