KGO Horse Race

[weav]

Dunno about 1968, but in around '72 there was someone named Jim Moore doing graves after Ira Blue (yeah, he was 10-1, it's coming back). By '76 I had lost interest in KGO overnight so can't speak to that era either.

 

[DavidKaye]

BEFORE I GOT THERE THEY HAD THE RADIO STUDIO IN A WINDOW ON GG AVE. THAT LASTED UNTIL SOMEONE SHOT A GUN THRU THE GLASS....IT HIT AND KILLED AN AE. THEY VERY QUICKLY BRICKED UP THE WINDOW AFTER THAT.

The assailant was a man who lived in the halfway house for folks with mental problems across the street in the old YMCA building (which has reverted back to a Y). He claimed that KGO was in his head and he had shot the gun to try to stop it. He fired the gun at Jim Dunbar who was on the air at the time (he was then on the 1-4pm shift). The glass was bulletproof and nobody was harmed. The gunman then went in the front door of the building (next door to the radio studio) and shot and killed a salesman for KGO-TV who happened to be coming out the door at the time.

THERE WERE AT LEAST FIVE STUDIOS...THERE WERE TWO BIG ONES FOR THE TALK SHOWS....A GREAT SET UP. THAT WAS BEFORE KSFO MOVED IN. I DON'T IMAGINE THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF SPACE EVEN WITH KSFO THERE.

Still looks spacious to me. In fact, it's a bit of a hike to walk across the building.

RUSS COUGLAN (ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST PEOPLE) ARRANGED FOR THE MOVE TO 900 FRONT (HE HAD LOT OF POWER AT ABC) ABOUT A YEAR LATER ABC SOLD OUT TO CAP CITIES (WHO LATER SOLD TO DISNEY.)

Russ was offered major jobs at ABC corporate but turned them down because he wanted to stay in SF. He was so powerful and well-liked he could likely have ended up as president of the company.

 

[LKellerIII]

"Russ was offered major jobs at ABC corporate but turned them down because he wanted to stay in SF. He was so powerful and well-liked he could likely have ended up as president of the company."

Unless my memory is totally off, Coughlan went from doing commentaries to actually anchoring for Channel 7 "NewsScene" for a year or two (or maybe they had dropped the "...Scene" by then). He was very good on air, I thought - crusty, yes - but a very intelligent presence. It was before local TV news decided that older anchor men were a good thing - so a guy in his 60s being an anchor was a bit unusual.

Surprising trivia - he was the voice of the villainous Dudley Nightshade on the Crusader Rabbit cartoons.

http://www.emmysf.tv/coughlan/coughlan.html

 

[JEREMIAH]

RUSS WAS AN ICON IN THE MARKET...THEY HAD NO PROBLEM MAKING HIM AN ANCHOR....I WAS THERE AT THE TIME.

RUSS ACTUALLY DID A STINT AS AN EXEC AT ABC NY...BUT TOLD LEONARD GOLDENSON HE HATED IT AND WANTED TO GO BACK TO SF.
LEONARD WAS A MENSCH, HE SAID OK. HE LIKED RUSS A GREAT DEAL. SO DID I. WE OFTEN USED TO TALK ABOUT HIS DAYS IN NY.

MY WIFE'S FOND MEMORY OF RUSS WAS BEING IN A HOT TUB WITH
RUSS ON A CH. 7 SKI TRIP AT LAKE TAHOE. I WAS ON THE SLOPES LEARNING THAT SKIING WASN'T MY THING.

IT'S IRONIC BUT WHEN RUSS RETURNED TO SF AFTER HIS EXEC STINT IN NY HE DID A TALK SHOW ON KGO RADIO. I WAS AT THE OLD KSFO AT THE TIME BUT USED TO LISTEN TO RUSS....BUT I DISLIKED HIM BECAUSE OF HIS VIEWS AT THE TIME.
HE LATER BECAME ONE OF MY VERY FAVORITE PEOPLE. YES,I TOLD HIM WHAT I USED TO THINK OF HIM. HE LAUGHED.

DAVID KAYE: THANKS FOR GIVING ME ALL THE DETAILS OF THE KGO SHOOTING. AS I SAID IT HAPPENED BEFORE I GOT THERE. BUT THEY DID BRICK UP THE WINDOW, BULLET PROOF IT MAY HAVE BEEN BUT
THEY WERE PLAYING IT SAFE.

RE: "THE DUMP" ON GOLDEN GATE AVE...IT WAS ONCE AN ELKS CLUB.

FIVE STORIES...TV NEWSROOM IN THE BASEMENT. TV NEWS STUDIO UPSTAIRS. A TV AUDIENCE STUDIO FOR AM SAN FRANCISCO ON THE FIRST FLOOR. EVEN A GREEN ROOM. IT'S AMAZING HOW MUCH WAS PACKED INTO THAT BUILDING. RADIO HAD THE LEAST SPACE. WE ALSO HAD OFFICES ELSE WHERE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. SETS FOR SHOWS WERE STORED ACROSS THE ALLEY IN A FORMER GARAGE. THE NETWORK NEWS BUREAU WAS DOWN THE BLOCK.
ABC STARTED OUT WITH HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, EVEN IN NY WHERE THE NETWORK WAS HOUSED IN A FORMER RIDING STABLE...ACROSS FROM CENTRAL PARK WHICH HAD BRIDAL PATHS.

ENOUGH ALREADY


JERRY GORDON KNUU LAS VEGAS

jerry,[email protected]

 

[JEREMIAH]

I LIED WHEN I SAID "ENOUGH ALREADY"..BUT DAVID KAYE REMARKING HOW HUGE KGO IS REMINDED ME OF HOW "VAST" IT IS WHEN I WOULD HAVE TO GO POTTY DOING OVERNIGHTS. IN THOSE DAYS WE HAD NO LOCAL NEWSPERSON AFTER 1AM,WHICH MEANT I HAD A TOTAL OF FIVE MINUTES TO DO MY DUTY. THE H0URLY ABC NEWS WAS ALL THE TIME I HAD.
WELLL THE ABC BROADCAST CENTER AT 900 FRONT ST. TAKES UP A WHOLE SQUARE BLOCK. MY TALK STUDIO WAS AT ONE END OF THE THIRD FLOOR AND THE MENS ROOM WAS AT THE OTHER END.....A CITY BLOCK AWAY. CAN YOU SAY HURRY!

I HOPE BY NOW THEY HAVE A MEN'S ROOM CLOSER TO THE STUDIOS.


MAN, YOU GUYS BRING BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES.


JERRY GORDON KNUU LAS VEGAS

 

[Board Editor]

MOVED: TIO: KGO Horse Race

Some posts in this topic have been moved to Take It Outside.

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