City Inside/Out producer Susan Han helps film an episode of the public affairs show from the Seattle Channel studio control room. At left are Vincent Pierce and Tatyana Kurepina-Monzón. Photo: Tyler Sipe Born in London, raised in Singapore, and rooted professionally in Seattle for nearly four decades, Susan Han has long viewed herself as “a citizen of the world.”
That global perspective shaped not only how Han sees journalism, but how she understands people, power, the role of public conversation in a democracy, and the city she ultimately chose to call home.
“A reporter from The Straits Times in Singapore encouraged me to consider journalism and to go overseas,” said Han. “I’m naturally a curious person, so I thought it would be fun to get paid to ask questions.”
That curiosity became the foundation of Han’s career.
On Wednesday, she signed off for the final time after producing her last episode of City Inside/Out, the public affairs show she helped shape through more than 520 episodes since joining Seattle Channel in 2007. Known for asking tough but fair questions, Han helped guide conversations on some of Seattle’s most divisive and consequential issues.
Her retirement closes a career spanning nearly 40 years, including almost two decades at Seattle Channel, 15 years as a senior producer at KCTS 9, and one of her earliest television jobs as a researcher at KING-TV’s Evening Magazine.
Han moved to the United States in 1987 to attend the University of Washington, where she earned a communications degree in 1990. During her time there, she worked on the campus television program Studio K News and met videographer Randy Eng.
“We’ve been through a lot together, and I believe she’s been in my life for a reason,” said Eng, who credits Han with helping open doors for him at both KING-TV and Seattle Channel. “She has always been the trailblazer. I’ve simply followed in her footsteps.”
Those footsteps extended far beyond television. Han became deeply involved with the Asian American Journalists Association, where she has been active since 1991, serving as co-president and advocating for more Asian American journalists and journalists of color in newsrooms.
Through AAJA, Han also found some of her closest friends: a group of pioneering Asian American women journalists who affectionately call themselves the “Yayas,” inspired by the book and film The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
One of those friends, retired KING-TV anchor Lori Matsukawa, has known Han for nearly four decades and still marvels at her producer instincts and relentless work ethic.
“As long as I’ve known Susan, she has always met her deadlines,” Matsukawa said. “I remember telling her, ‘You have to make your slot (deadline).’ So I wasn’t surprised when she’d be setting up interviews and lining up guests in the car while I was driving her to an event.”
Han’s journalism philosophy was shaped in part by growing up in Singapore, where media operated in a far more government-controlled environment than in the United States. After decades living and working in Seattle, she became a U.S. citizen in 2019.
“Here, politicians are obliged to answer to the people,” Han said. “It’s completely reasonable to ask politicians really tough questions.”
That belief in accountability and fairness became central to her work in public affairs television.
Before arriving at Seattle Channel, Han spent 15 years at public television station KCTS, where she earned 22 regional Emmy nominations without a win.
“I was the Susan Lucci of broadcast TV producers,” Han joked.
That changed after she joined Seattle Channel, where she won eight Emmy Awards, including several alongside former City Inside/Out host C.R. Douglas.
“I can’t imagine someone who has been more responsible for educating our community over the last several decades about the important issues of the day than Susan, especially issues related to voting,” Douglas said.
During her time at the station, Han also helped produce coverage of the Pike Place Market centennial and programs including Art Zone, CityStream, Community Stories, and Seattle Speaks. Fluent in four languages and conversational in others, she also used her French-language skills and international perspective to help lead production on a program about Seattle’s sister city, Nantes.
“Susan’s breadth and depth of work are enhanced by her laser sharp focus, ability to consider every angle, and fully engaging with the people in front and behind the camera,” says Seattle Channel general manager Shannon Gee. “Her contributions are unmatched, her career inspiring. Susan helped shape Seattle Channel into what it is today.”
Still, Han is perhaps best known for her work behind the scenes on City Inside/Out alongside longtime host Brian Callanan. As producer, she researched topics, shaped scripts, booked guests, and became known for persuading people with opposing viewpoints to sit down together for civil conversations about Seattle’s biggest challenges, from gun control to homelessness to high-profile political debates.
“(Susan) has always been really fair to us,” said Dave Workman, a former National Rifle Association board member, Gun Week editor, and Second Amendment advocate. “She’s explored interesting topics over the years.”
Han said guests often agreed to participate because of the show’s reputation for fairness.
“Because they know we are going to treat the subject matter and treat them fairly, people still agree to come on,” she said.
“Susan Han is quite simply the best person I’ve ever worked with over my 30-plus year career in broadcast journalism, and a dear friend,” said Callanan. “She’s also the kindest, most hardworking human being I’ve ever met, and her presence at Seattle Channel will be greatly missed.”
Now entering retirement, Han plans to reconnect with the international outlook that has defined much of her life — traveling, practicing languages, cooking global cuisine, and spending more time with her parents, husband Gorman, children Alexa and Matthew, and friends around the world.
For someone who has spent a lifetime asking questions across cultures, communities, and political divides, retirement is less a final sign-off than the start of another journey — beginning with a return to Singapore and a family stop in Japan for a woman who has always seen the world as both her newsroom and her home.
