Art Finley (born Arthur Finger) was a popular TV and radio personality, spending most of his career in San Francisco.
He began his broadcasting career at KXYZ in Houston in 1943. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and served in the Korean War, during which he helped establish radio stations in Newfoundland and Greenland for the Strategic Air Command. He moved to Stockton in the mid-1950s, where he hosted a children’s program, “Toonytown”, before moving to San Francisco in the late 1950’s.
He is widely remembered as “Mayor Art,” the host of a live children’s show that aired weekday afternoons on KRON-TV beginning in 1959 and running through 1966. “Mayor Art’s Almanac” was the first TV newscast for children in the U.S., and he was awarded two gold medals by the State of California for the feature. Art Finley’s San Francisco tenure includes 10 years at KGO as well as several years at KCBS.
Art served as Master of Ceremonies for San Francisco’s official celebration of Independence Day between 1960 and 1979. From 1962 to 1981, the San Francisco Chronicle published his syndicated daily panel “Art’s Gallery”, consisting of 19th Century woodcuts, for which Finley had written humorous modern-day captions. All of the original panels are in the archives of San Francisco State University. Art retired in 1995 and passed away in 2015.
Further reading and listening: Art Finley interviews legendary San Francisco rock promoter Bill Graham
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