Is he still living in Hawaii? I guess he may still be with us I'm not sure. Anyone know? Are any of his royal commandos still out there?
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Emperor Gene Nelson 1260 KSFO/KYA
- Thread starter K108 Sacramento
- Start date
The last I heard he and his wife had moved back to the San Francisco area. I heard this about 10 years ago.
One of my favs on KYA "The Boss of the Bay".
Last report (three years ago) had him in Napa. He’d be 88. Returned to SF from Hawaii 14 years ago.
I'm surprised 910 threw a decent signal to Sacramento.
Way back in the day (60s) I had friends and relatives in the Palo Alto/Mt View area that told me KEWB was barely receivable but KYA came in great! They listened to KYA, KLIV and later KFRC. I realise KEWB was only 5 kW back then.
Yeah, but lower on the dial. KFRC was only 5kw.
Part of what worked for KYA on the peninsula was that the tower's on top of Candlestick Hill, with no obstructions. KEWB's stick is in Richmond, which is almost 20 miles north and another 10 miles east.
I used to live up in Ukiah and was always amazed at how strong KFRC was. (it seemed nearly as strong as KNBR, all the kids listened to it). But just down the dial from 610 was KSFO 560 whose signal was weak. It seemed then as now tower location/ground conductivity is everything. The Giants games at the time were carried by Ukiah's KUKI because the Giants flag ship back then would have been unsatisfactory.
Oh, wow. I lived and worked in Ukiah (programmed KUKI in 1976 and '77) and married a Ukiah girl.
You're right---610 came in like a local.
The biggest difference in the KSFO and KFRC signals (besides RKO's obsession with technical excellence) was that the 610 stick is on very damp ground next to the Berkeley Marina while KSFO's is at Islais Creek, south of Pier 80.
Did you know Jerry Sussoff? He was with KLIL (94.5) and then went to KUKI?
No. What years would that be?
1974-75. BTW I was trying to think of a famous female from Ukiah... did you know Holly Near?
Jerry must have left KUKI before I got there. I arrived in March of '76, left in November of '77.
I never met Holly Near, but certainly know who she is. When I got there, KUKI's FM was still KKTU, playing live freeform. They played a lot of Holly's music.
We lived just east of Sacto (in the foothills) in the late 80's and could not receive KYA at all. Even in Marin County in the 60's KYA was not a great signal after dark. Came in great during daytime. KEWB came in strong in Marin 24X7 but they changed formats summer of '66 so no more RnR on 910.
Indeed, Ukiah was more like Berkeley North, quite different than the "stereotypical" American small town!
A stick six miles across water in Richmond will do that.
We had a bomb threat when it was announced that KKTU was going away and that it was going Country. I'd only been there a couple of weeks. I went to the General Manager and told him. He said "Mike, don't worry---they're too stoned to actually follow through. In fact, they've probably already forgotten that they made the call."
Because I married a Ukiah girl, I get back there every few months (when there's not a pandemic on)---it's changed a lot. Meth affects people differently than pot.
Remember the "People's Church"?
Oh, absolutely. What was going on in Redwood Valley was all the buzz. Jonestown happened after I'd left. I can only imagine what the reaction in Ukiah was like then.
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