Longtime Las Vegas television producer Harker dies at 59

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

If you needed a sharp executive to produce your television show in Las Vegas during the past three decades, John Harker was the go-to guy.

"My husband inspired the young and hungry cameramen, producers and others in the business so he could make the local industry the most professional," said Francine Harker, a videotape editor who worked with her husband.

"When the major networks came to town, they called on John to help them with production and post-production. He brought Los Angeles to Las Vegas by bringing the cutting edge of technology to the local market."

John Michael Harker, an award-winning TV executive who produced hundreds of local commercials and several network shows and helped lay the groundwork for the Weather Channel, died Thursday at his Las Vegas home. He was 59.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 32 years were scheduled for 2 p.m. today at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel at 2075 E. Tropicana Ave. Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home handled the arrangements.

Harker was operations manager at KLVX Channel 10 from 1969 to 1975, KLAS Channel 8, 1980-88, and KVVU Channel 5, 1988-92. He ran his own production company, Post 2810, during the 1990s.

At Post 2810 -- named after his business's street address on Maryland Parkway -- Harker produced the half-hour ESPN shows "Inside Sports" and "World Photo Safari" and the Nashville Network's "North American Sportsman."

"I figured if we could turn out some quality work, it would be economical for ... companies shooting in Las Vegas to have the post-production work done here." Harker told the Sun for a Jan. 27, 1993, story.

Harker long produced commercials for, among others, Walker Furniture, Lewis Homes, Station Casinos and Fletcher Jones automotive dealers. He also did production work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Children's Miracle Network telethons.

Harker was honored with an Addy Award for outstanding leadership in furthering the quality of production in the Las Vegas market.

"He was very professional and dependable -- always on time," said longtime local entertainment columnist Sig Sakowicz, whose "Sig's Superstar Show" was produced by Harker in the 1970s and '80s. "Las Vegas has lost a man who had a tremendous commitment to local television."

Born Sept. 11, 1942, in Magrath, Alberta, Harker was the third of six children and only son of Earl Blaine Harker and the former Jehzell Merkley. He earned a bachelor's of fine arts at Brigham Young University in 1965.

Harker came to Las Vegas in 1969 and, at KLVX, won a national award for his series of 13 half-hour shows on black history. At KLAS, Harker set up the first dedicated microwave service out of Las Vegas and supervised the national hub for CBS news coverage of the deadly MGM fire in November 1980.

Harker also worked for Showtime, HBO, MTV, NBC and CBS Sports and in the 1980s coordinated production aspects to launch the Weather Channel.

In addition to his wife, Harker is survived by two sons, Scott Adams of Mesa, Ariz., and Sonny Harker of Las Vegas; two daughters, Shauna Tucker of Mesa and Joanie Shumway of Bullhead City, Ariz.; his father, Earl Harker of Magrath; five sisters, Barbara Davies of Welling, Alberta, Lorna Harker, Jill Wakefield and Patricia Dudley, all of Magrath, and Christine Roper of Cuba City, Wis.; and 14 grandchildren.