Deidre Withers?

[michael hagerty]

SF folk---an air check of KCBS-FM San Francisco (in their post "97K" days) has been posted to Mixcloud. It's from Christmas Day, 1979, and it's an hour of a female jock who identifies herself as Deidre Withers, followed by about an hour and 20 minutes of voice-tracked John Mack Flanagan.

I don't remember Deidre Withers and a search of all the usual suspects (trade magazines, Bay Area papers of the time, etc) turns up nothing. Does anyone remember her, how long she was at CBS-FM, whether she worked elsewhere in SF radio?

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

440: Satisfaction - Radio People, Radio History, Radio Stations

Is this an on air name but the real name is something else and are different names in other places. I looked at 440 int and withers is not listed as a last name there. Or is this a stage name CBS Radio used and the same person does VO work for other CBS radio stations like KNX-FM, WCBS-FM that type of situation. Or is this like Total Traffic situation where Joe McConnell is required to use different names when he appears in places Total Traffic wants him to be like Joe Vincent KGO, Joe Mcconnel KQED-FM and so on.

Here is an example from 440 int Rick Scarry DJ.

WDLR [Delaware OH] 1963

KGY [Olympia WA] 1964 - Rick Schaeffer

WWGO [Erie PA] 1967 - Lou Burdick

KEZY [Los Angeles CA] 1968

KKUA [Honolulu HI] 1968 - Sebastion Tripp

 

[Weiserguy]

SF folk---an air check of KCBS-FM San Francisco (in their post "97K" days) has been posted to Mixcloud. It's from Christmas Day, 1979, and it's an hour of a female jock who identifies herself as Deidre Withers, followed by about an hour and 20 minutes of voice-tracked John Mack Flanagan.

I don't remember Deidre Withers and a search of all the usual suspects (trade magazines, Bay Area papers of the time, etc) turns up nothing. Does anyone remember her, how long she was at CBS-FM, whether she worked elsewhere in SF radio?

Just guessing here. Perhaps she worked at Newsradio KCBS back then in another capacity, and volunteered to do a Christmas relief shift, but under another name so as not to confuse listeners? Or perhaps she worked fulltime at another local (i.e. suburban) station but did the occasional on-call fill-in at KCBS-FM under another name for the extra income and to get her foot in the door? Or a third possibility: she could have been a friend of the PD, working in another market and visiting for the holiday, and he hired her do a holiday shift as a courtesy, or a tryout.

 

[michael hagerty]

440: Satisfaction - Radio People, Radio History, Radio Stations

Is this an on air name but the real name is something else and are different names in other places. I looked at 440 int and withers is not listed as a last name there. Or is this a stage name CBS Radio used and the same person does VO work for other CBS radio stations like KNX-FM, WCBS-FM that type of situation. Or is this like Total Traffic situation where Joe McConnell is required to use different names when he appears in places Total Traffic wants him to be like Joe Vincent KGO, Joe Mcconnel KQED-FM and so on.

Here is an example from 440 int Rick Scarry DJ.

Thanks for checking.

VO work for other markets wouldn’t have been a thing in 1979. 440int cross-references the names (I use it as a resource a lot and have for 20 years), so it would show up.

It’s just rare that someone can get on the air in SF and not leave a trace in R&R, Billboard or any of the other trades or local papers. But all the CBS-FM press focused on John Mack Flanagan, who had left KFRC six months before.

 

[michael hagerty]

Just guessing here. Perhaps she worked at Newsradio KCBS back then in another capacity, and volunteered to do a Christmas relief shift, but under another name so as not to confuse listeners? Or perhaps she worked fulltime at another local (i.e. suburban) station but did the occasional on-call fill-in at KCBS-FM under another name for the extra income and to get her foot in the door? Or a third possibility: she could have been a friend of the PD, working in another market and visiting for the holiday, and he hired her do a holiday shift as a courtesy, or a tryout.

Listening to it, she sounds very much like a jock who’s done Top 40 or album rock at some point.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Stranger5782/kcbs-FM-san-francisco-dierdre-wither-25-december-1979/

And even if she was from another station, no trace in the trades for the entire decades of the 70s and 80s is unusual. Hell, I’m even in the trades and local papers in the 70s.

 

[Weiserguy]

Listening to it, she sounds very much like a jock who’s done Top 40 or album rock at some point.

Mixcloud

And even if she was from another station, no trace in the trades for the entire decades of the 70s and 80s is unusual. Hell, I’m even in the trades and local papers in the 70s.

In any of my three hypotheticals, she could have been working under a made-up name for the specific situation. Especially in my scenarios 1 or 3, it might have turned out to be a one-and-done, and no trade ever noticed it, especially being a Christmas relief shift, and the name never got used again.

There's a fellow who participates regularly on that other board, and he spent a decade doing weekends and relief at Lite in NY under a radio name, but also did this same kind of per diem holiday fill-in at the other CBS-FM under a third name. He has written of leaving an overnight shift at CBS and being on the air for his Lite shift shortly thereafter. Can't imagine such a practice didn't also exist out here.

 

[michael hagerty]

In any of my three hypotheticals, she could have been working under a made-up name for the specific situation. Especially in my scenarios 1 or 3, it might have turned out to be a one-and-done, and no trade ever noticed it, especially being a Christmas relief shift, and the name never got used again.

There's a fellow who participates regularly on that other board, and he spent a decade doing weekends and relief at Lite in NY under a radio name, but also did this same kind of per diem holiday fill-in at the other CBS-FM under a third name. He has written of leaving an overnight shift at CBS and being on the air for his Lite shift shortly thereafter. Can't imagine such a practice didn't also exist out here.

It's possible. She also signs off with "see you tomorrow night at six" or something similar, but maybe it was a few nights holiday week.

I thought of a guy who was there around that time and have reached out to see if he remembers anything.

 

[Weiserguy]

In any of my three hypotheticals, she could have been working under a made-up name for the specific situation. Especially in my scenarios 1 or 3, it might have turned out to be a one-and-done, and no trade ever noticed it, especially being a Christmas relief shift, and the name never got used again.

One other thought, Mike. From the promos, it sounds like KCBS-FM had recently launched that format, which somewhat resembles the faux-AOR format of WCBS-FM between 1969 and 1972, pre-"Golden 101". So they may all have been new at that point. She sounds like she's less than fully familiar with the studio setup, judging from the drop at :24 into the recording. Perhaps she just didn't have the experience they wanted and didn't last very long there.

I see this was one of Mike Schweitzer's recordings. I met Mike a couple of times, the last of which was at his father's funeral. Turns out his father and stepmother used to be part of a dinner group my wife and I also belonged to, and we'd break bread with them ever month or so. He himself died way too young. Small world.

Merry Christmas from your (one and only?) OTA listener on the peninsula. (KXJZ doesn't always come in up here, but when it does, I think your audio processing sounds better than Brand Q's.)

 

[michael hagerty]

One other thought, Mike. From the promos, it sounds like KCBS-FM had recently launched that format, which somewhat resembles the faux-AOR format of WCBS-FM between 1969 and 1972, pre-"Golden 101". So they may all have been new at that point. She sounds like she's less than fully familiar with the studio setup, judging from the drop at :24 into the recording. Perhaps she just didn't have the experience they wanted and didn't last very long there.

I see this was one of Mike Schweitzer's recordings. I met Mike a couple of times, the last of which was at his father's funeral. Turns out his father and stepmother used to be part of a dinner group my wife and I also belonged to, and we'd break bread with them ever month or so. He himself died way too young. Small world.

Merry Christmas from your (one and only?) OTA listener on the peninsula. (KXJZ doesn't always come in up here, but when it does, I think your audio processing sounds better than Brand Q's.)

Yep, this was the supposed CHR format that never really got off the ground. They'd just morphed out of disco as "97K" and Flanagan was supposed to be a big get.

I never met Mike, but he sure left us with a treasure trove of audio.

Merry Christmas and glad to have you listening! My wife and I love the Peninsula and spend as much time there as we can. We have friends in San Carlos. I'm always surprised when I get in the car and CapRadio just comes in like usual.

 

[Weiserguy]

My wife and I love the Peninsula and spend as much time there as we can. We have friends in San Carlos. I'm always surprised when I get in the car and CapRadio just comes in like usual.

Really depends on where you are. I can grab it on a Superradio in the kitchen, and on a tiny Walkman-style radio with DSP that I keep bedside. And from the cars in the garage. (But I'm at ~600 ft elevation, and once I start down the hill, 90.9 vaporizes into the bleed from 90.7 and 91.1 within a quarter mile.) I'll bet your friend's up on one of the San Carlos hills.

 

[michael hagerty]

Really depends on where you are. I can grab it on a Superradio in the kitchen, and on a tiny Walkman-style radio with DSP that I keep bedside. And from the cars in the garage. (But I'm at ~600 ft elevation, and once I start down the hill, 90.9 vaporizes into the bleed from 90.7 and 91.1 within a quarter mile.) I'll bet your friend's up on one of the San Carlos hills.

No, surprisingly. Just about five blocks southwest of El Camino Real. Must just be a lucky shot.

 

[michael hagerty]

Steve Garland to the rescue: Deidre said Withers but became better known as Deirdre Gentry, who did middays and was KCBS-FM’s music director.

Photo at bottom right.

https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...DX/IDX/80s/81/RR-1981-03-20-OCR-Page-0024.pdf

 

[michael hagerty]

Turns out Deirdre came over to KCBS-FM from KSFX, where she developed the crossover soul format in 1974. She stayed for the first two years of KRQR (which replaced KCBS-FM). She went on to be PD at KTYD in Santa Barbara, left in 1984 to start her own management and promotion firm, joined the Radio Advertising Bureau as VP of Marketing in 1990.

The sad news: Deirdre died of complications from a 1991 auto accident in April of 1992. She was 38.

 

[Weiserguy]

Turns out Deirdre came over to KCBS-FM from KSFX, where she developed the crossover soul format in 1974. She stayed for the first two years of KRQR (which replaced KCBS-FM). She went on to be PD at KTYD in Santa Barbara, left in 1984 to start her own management and promotion firm, joined the Radio Advertising Bureau as VP of Marketing in 1990.

The sad news: Deirdre died of complications from a 1991 auto accident in April of 1992. She was 38.

Have to agree. Such a sad ending for a talented woman navigating up the career ladder, in the early days of women being accepted into those roles. At least you were able to get your mystery solved, and picked up a factoid or two along the way. (And this discussion also distracted me for a few minutes from my annual effort to burn the house down with little wax sticks.)