From the Marin I-J: William D. "Bill" Shaw Bill Shaw who, in the sixties, developed KSFO into "The World's Greatest Radio Station, particularly in San Francisco," died June 14th, 2008 at the age of 93. Bill assembled an unusually talented stable of broadcast personalities, including Don Sherwood, Jim Lange, Carter B. Smith, Dan Sorkin, and the late Al "Jazzbeau" Collins. He then acquired the radio broadcast rights for the 49ers and Giants when they came to San Francisco in 1957, along with the play-by-play talents of Lon Simmons for both teams. Bill was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Pasadena. After graduating from UCLA, he began his lifelong broadcasting career by joining CBS as a trainee. Just prior to World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. After four years as an Army pilot, he rejoined CBS. While with CBS, Bill managed KNX Radio in Los Angeles and then moved to New York as sales manager of CBS's Radio Network. Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters purchased KSFO in San Francisco in 1956 and Bill gratefully accepted their invitation to come back to California to manage the station. He eventually became president of Golden West's Broadcast Division and remained in that position until he retired in 1977. Bill helped found and served as the first president of the San Francisco Radio Broadcasters Association and served on the boards of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau. He was a member of the San Francisco Golf Club, Meadow Club, and the Pacific Union Club. Bill leaves his wife, Jacqueline Parkinson of Sacramento, whom he married in 1943, two sons, Wm. D. Jr. (Skip) and John, and seven grandchildren. At Bill's request, no services will be held. Donations in his memory may be made to his favorite charity, the San Francisco Chronicle's Season of Sharing.
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KSFO's Bill Shaw Dies
- Thread starter landtuna
- Start date
Bill Shaw managed to combine a gentle nature with a rigid business sense in a way I have never seen in another broadcaster. While he kept a close touch with the product at KSFO, he had the PD Allan Newman do the heavy lifting with the talent. In 50 years in radio, I never had a general manager that could compare to him. Carter B.
A true gentleman. A class act. Perhaps the best ever. It was a sad day for KSFO when he finaly retired in 1977. I was only a pup when I worked for him, but one day when we were talking about the station he told
me that somewhere in his files he had an outline of how they put KSFO together, I guess you would call it the
"Whitepaper" for the Worlds Greatest Radio Station, I told him I would love to see that sometime. A few days latter his assistant Thelma Karp walked up to me and said "Mr. Shaw wanted you to have a copy of this". It was that outline. Mr Shaw, it was an honor to have worked for you.
I was lucky enough to have met Autry, and worked with Sherwood and Shaw when I was 22 years old. now that's a real broadcast education .
me that somewhere in his files he had an outline of how they put KSFO together, I guess you would call it the
"Whitepaper" for the Worlds Greatest Radio Station, I told him I would love to see that sometime. A few days latter his assistant Thelma Karp walked up to me and said "Mr. Shaw wanted you to have a copy of this". It was that outline. Mr Shaw, it was an honor to have worked for you.
I was lucky enough to have met Autry, and worked with Sherwood and Shaw when I was 22 years old. now that's a real broadcast education .
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