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Big Tom Parker - KGO Good Morning Bay Area ?
- Thread starter HLeae
- Start date
KGO-TV made AM San Francisco along with other ABC Owned stations.
Which years are we supposed to look at for Tom Parker.
I have some of the Tom Parker Airchecks at KFRC. He had a second stint at KFRC in 1985.
I think around May of 1979 he joined KYUU. He was there until 1982 as I recall doing mornings. I remember driving around on a Sunday and happened onto him on KYUU. Likely he was an early dry run in prep for the morning show with the studio engineer, I guess. Funny, I don't recall who did mornings before him on KYUU. I always liked his "The Song That Might Get Me Fired" segment and clever jokes. Seemed like a warm nice guy and a true air personality.
Okay....I dove into the archives of both the SF Chronicle and the Examiner and here's the deal:
In January of 1985, KGO-TV started airing a Saturday night half-hour at 7:00 pm called "Prime Time People". It was an interview/profile show about famous people with Bay Area roots. It was hosted by Tom Parker and Beverly Johnson, who did weather at KGO. Johnson died in a car crash on the Golden Gate Bridge on August 10 of that year.
Less than three weeks later, KGO announced "Prime Time People" would end, along with the 7:30 show "Close Up", on the third Saturday in September, to be replaced by a harder-news investigative hour called "900 Front St" (KGO's address).
BUT---in neither paper was it ever said that the TV Tom Parker was the same guy as the radio Tom Parker. The Chronicle didn't write much about radio in those days, but the Examiner did---and published several personality pieces on Big Tom Parker. So it would be very odd for it to be the same Tom Parker and not have it noted in the stories about the TV show (they'd been writing about Big Tom on the radio since 1979).
It's also really hard to see, given that some of these profile pieces involved travel, how radio Tom would have time to do this show and hold down 3-7 pm at KFRC.
There are no pictures of TV Tom Parker in any of the few references to "Prime Time People", which was only on for eight months and was cancelled as much for low ratings as anything else (the cancellation almost had to be in the works before Beverly's death).
I'll keep digging, but local TV coverage was pretty spotty in the mid-80s, and tape of a show this brief would be pretty rare---but my guess based on what we know is that the KGO "Tom Parker" and the KFRC/K-101/KYUU "Tom Parker" were two different guys.
In January of 1985, KGO-TV started airing a Saturday night half-hour at 7:00 pm called "Prime Time People". It was an interview/profile show about famous people with Bay Area roots. It was hosted by Tom Parker and Beverly Johnson, who did weather at KGO. Johnson died in a car crash on the Golden Gate Bridge on August 10 of that year.
Less than three weeks later, KGO announced "Prime Time People" would end, along with the 7:30 show "Close Up", on the third Saturday in September, to be replaced by a harder-news investigative hour called "900 Front St" (KGO's address).
BUT---in neither paper was it ever said that the TV Tom Parker was the same guy as the radio Tom Parker. The Chronicle didn't write much about radio in those days, but the Examiner did---and published several personality pieces on Big Tom Parker. So it would be very odd for it to be the same Tom Parker and not have it noted in the stories about the TV show (they'd been writing about Big Tom on the radio since 1979).
It's also really hard to see, given that some of these profile pieces involved travel, how radio Tom would have time to do this show and hold down 3-7 pm at KFRC.
There are no pictures of TV Tom Parker in any of the few references to "Prime Time People", which was only on for eight months and was cancelled as much for low ratings as anything else (the cancellation almost had to be in the works before Beverly's death).
I'll keep digging, but local TV coverage was pretty spotty in the mid-80s, and tape of a show this brief would be pretty rare---but my guess based on what we know is that the KGO "Tom Parker" and the KFRC/K-101/KYUU "Tom Parker" were two different guys.
KGO (ABC) is/was an AFTRA shop, KYUU (NBC) was an AFTRA shop, and I think KFRC (still RKO back then) was too. (Don't know about K101 but would presume it also was AFTRA back then.) AFTRA has a long-standing "name-exclusivity" rule, you can't use a name in a particular market that some other talent is already using, even if it's your own legal name. So I seriously doubt they'd allow two different people to both use "Tom Parker" professionally in the SFBA market.
I wonder if "Big" was enough of a differentiator. In Los Angeles, there was Robert W. Morgan and Bob Morgan. Both did mornings.
R.I.P.: Radio Personality Big Tom Parker
Tom Parker Veteran radio personality "Big Tom" Parked passed away Saturday evening. He was 64-years-of-age. Parker, whose real name ...
mediaconfidential.blogspot.com
Well there was a Tom Parker that worked in Portland and San Francisco radio outlets before he died in 2015 to Kidney complications. From the Obit. Note the article indicated that he left San Francisco in 1986 for Portland and he was on KOIN-TV Portland, and was the operations manager for various Portland area stations.
Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts
All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...
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The other factor is that some of these interviews were pretty heavy---William Randolph Hearst III is one of the people mentioned in the Examiner. Tom had no prior TV experience, and no journalism experience. It'd be a pretty major stretch, plus there's the available time element.
And then, there's stuff like this---the Examiner mentions that the guest on the next "Prime Time People" is Ronn Owens from KGO radio, but doesn't mention any radio connection for Tom Parker? Add that to no mention of the radio/TV thing in ANY of the ink for "Prime Time People" and I'm doubtful.
PS---that's the Examiner's typo---"Prime Time People" was on Channel 7, not Channel 5.
And then, there's stuff like this---the Examiner mentions that the guest on the next "Prime Time People" is Ronn Owens from KGO radio, but doesn't mention any radio connection for Tom Parker? Add that to no mention of the radio/TV thing in ANY of the ink for "Prime Time People" and I'm doubtful.
PS---that's the Examiner's typo---"Prime Time People" was on Channel 7, not Channel 5.
We know, Y2K. What we're trying to sort out is if that Tom Parker was also the Tom Parker that was on KGO-TV for a few months in 1985.R.I.P.: Radio Personality Big Tom Parker
Tom Parker Veteran radio personality "Big Tom" Parked passed away Saturday evening. He was 64-years-of-age. Parker, whose real name ...
Well there was a Tom Parker that worked in Portland and San Francisco radio outlets before he died in 2015 to Kidney complications.
Radio Industry News, New Music, Music Promotion, Radio Station Song Charts
All Access offers the latest radio industry news and music news, music promotions for record companies new music, radio station song charts, and much more. AllAccess.com has been serving the radio and music industry since 1995, always bringing you the highest quality content with...www.allaccess.com
......aaaaaand, I'm likely wrong.
I just checked with someone who was at KGO at the time and his recollection is that it was the same Tom Parker. He's going to check with a couple of other people this coming week just to be sure---after all, it has been 38 years.
I've also asked him for any information his former co-workers might have as to how Tom managed to juggle the two gigs. It occurs to me that if other journalists did the profiles and he and Beverly just did intros and outros as hosts, it might be pretty manageable.
It would also put him in a position to sub on AM Bay Area, so HLeae and farmhack's family member are very likely remembering correctly.
Apologies for the wild goose chase. I'll tap back when I hear more from my source.
I had been friends with Don K. Reed (of WCBS-FM's DooWop Shop fame) for over three decades. On one visit to the station to hang with him one evening, I noticed that he was signing the program log "Don Kaye Reed", which I knew wasn't his correct middle name. He explained that there was another Don Reed in NYC, and AFTRA was concerned that he might drop the middle initial and there could be professional confusion between the two personalities. He couldn't convince them that it was his intention to keep using the initial, hence he turned "K" into "Kaye". (I had to convince him that he still couldn't sign the log that way, since his sig was legally attesting to its accuracy, but that's another tangent.) So if he had this kind of problem, it's reasonable to assume that "Big" Tom Parker couldn't get away with that if another Tom Parker already existed in the SFBA market, possibly anywhere within the California AFTRA territory, including L.A. And conversely, no other "Tom Parker" could use that name if BTP already had dibs on it.
Is there a flaw in my reasoning?
None. It makes sense.
Purely as an aside, in this case, Big Tom Parker would have the prior claim, having been in San Francisco (starting with KFRC) since 1976. IF there had been a journalist that KGO hired whose name was Tom Parker, hired in the mid-80s to host "Prime Time People", that person would have either had to change their name or AFTRA would have had to decide that the "Big" was enough.
But again, it appears it's all the same guy. It's beyond strange the Examiner, which went as far as a feature on Tom's married life, didn't find it worth remarking on that he was going to do both radio and TV---and that no mention of it was made in the radio trades---but weird stuff happens all the time.
I'm surprised that KFRC DJs were doing combo, especially given that in a later aircheck of Beau Weaver he was not. I didn't know that KFRC ever did combo; thought it was a union jurisdiction thing. Answers anyone?
KFRC went combo in 1976, KHJ in 1977. I guess RKO was able to renegotiate the union contract.
A lot of that going around in those days. Even KFI wound up going combo.
I think the later aircheck of Beau you're thinking of was during the 20th anniversary weekend in 1986. The jocks who were working elsewhere but just in for the reunion (Beau included) were put in Dr. Don's studio and given an engineer.
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