Background
Hartman was born April 14, 1963 in Toledo, Ohio.
essayist General journalist reporter
Hartman was born April 14, 1963 in Toledo, Ohio.
Bowling Green State University.
Hartman earned a degree in broadcast journalism at Bowling Green State University, graduating in 1985. From 1984-1987, he served as an intern and general assignment reporter for WTOL in Toledo, Ohio. From 1987-1991, he was a feature reporter for KSTP in Minneapolis and held the same post at WABC-television in New York from 1991-1994.
From 1994-1998, he served as a feature reporter for KCBS-television in Los Angeles, and hosted a segment called "The Stevening News".
Hartman was also a correspondent for two Columbia Broadcasting System News magazines, Coast to Coast (1996-1997) and Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel (1997-1998). In 1998, Hartman became a full-time Columbia Broadcasting System News correspondent.
He served as 60 Minutes II essayist from 2002 until the show was canceled in September 2005. Everybody Has a Story
Hartman became well known for his award-winning feature series, Everybody Has a Story.
Hartman got the idea from newspaper reporter David Johnson of the Lewiston Morning Tribune, He first tried a few stories on Public Eye.
Hartman would toss a dart over his shoulder at a map of the United States, and then travel to wherever the dart landed. Upon arrival, Hartman would find a phonebook, and choosing a name at random, would try to find a person who would agree to be interviewed and tell their "story". Hartman traveled around the country, from Hawaii to Alaska, from Buckhannon, West Virginia to Miami, Florida.
From its inception in 1998, the series produced 123 stories.
In 2010, Hartman took the series worldwide, when with assistance of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, each "Everybody in the World Has a Story" segment featured an astronaut in the International Space Station spinning a globe and pointing to random locations for Hartman to travel and find a story. On the Road
Hartman"s "Assignment America" reports were part of the Columbia Broadcasting System Evening News With Katie Couric.
They were inspired by Charles Kuralt"s On the Road series, which originally aired on Columbia Broadcasting System from 1967 to 1980. In 2011, Columbia Broadcasting System revived On the Road, with Hartman providing the Friday evening end-pieces for the Columbia Broadcasting System Evening News with Scott Pelley.