News Anchor Amanda Hanson Dead at 38 After Medical Emergency
News Anchor Amanda Hanson
A news anchor and journalist based in Memphis, Tenn., has died after experiencing complications following a medical emergency. She was 38.
Amanda Hanson was the leader of digital innovation at Action News 5 in Memphis. The local TV station announced the loss with “sadness and heavy hearts among the Action News 5 family” during a Thursday evening broadcast.
The station described Hanson, who grew up in nearby Bartlett, Tenn., as a “journalist, Memphian, beloved colleague and friend.” She was “the driving force” behind the station’s digital team and “worked tirelessly to build that coverage behind the scenes with her own bottomless well of energy and creativity.”
Hanson began her career in media at age 20 as a weekend DJ at the Memphis-based WHBQ-FM, according to her employee biography on the Action News 5 website. She launched her TV career at WREG-TV and later became a news anchor at KAIT, a station in Jonesboro, Ark.
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Hanson began working at Action News 5 in 2021, according to KAIT. In a video interview with the Memphis station, Hanson seemed excited to have returned to work near her hometown, which she identified as nearby Bartlett, and to guide the station’s digital breaking news coverage.
Outside of her work life, Hanson was recently married, enjoyed renovating her home and loved dancing, according to Action News 5. Her passion for dancing began at age 8 and followed her beyond college. If not for her career in news, Hanson told her co-workers during Action News 5’s video interview that she “would love to think that I would be dancing on Broadway.”
In its own announcement about Hanson’s death, KAIT shared that she died of complications following a medical emergency. KAIT shared fond memories of the “Dancin’ Hanson” nickname Hanson earned for her participation in the weekly dance parties that the station’s morning show had on Fridays.
The radio station at which Hanson launched her career also memorialized Hanson in a Friday morning post on X.
“We at Flinn Broadcasting are saddened by the passing of Amanda,” the tweet read. “Amanda was apart of our team for a period in the early 2000’s as a weekend DJ. Her energy and passion for life and her love for her family was one of kind. We are thinking and praying for her husband and family.”
Later on Friday, Action News 5 posted on X, showing how Hanson’s news family honored her. One photo that appears to have been taken inside the station at her desk shows its surface covered with flowers and photos.
“Amanda, you are so missed,” the station tweeted.
— Action News 5 (@WMCActionNews5) January 26, 2024
Another photo showed a table covered in white cloth with a photo of Hanson, flowers, candles and a place for her co-workers to write condolence messages for her family. “It’s hard to forget someone who gave us so much,” a message propped up on the table said.
