San Francisco native Stan Burford graduated from Washington High School, City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University and spent a half-century as a broadcaster in his home town.
Burford is best known for his many years covering traffic news from a helicopter for KGO and KGO-TV. Burford literally wrote the book on avoiding traffic, entitled Rush Hour Relief, which revealed his favorite routes to beat the backups.
Early in his career, Burford worked as a traffic reporter at KSFO, losing the job when a joke failed to impress morning show total Don Sherwood.
Burford returned to school, picking up a masters degree from SF State, before departing for a job in American Samoa, where he managed a busy multi-channel television operation.
Upon returning to the Bay Area in 1976, Burford became executive producer of programming at KGO-TV, overseeing a department that would win numerous Emmy Awards.
In 1980, Burford took to the skies as KGO’s airborne traffic reporter, logging more than 26,000 flying hours over the next 31 years.