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The early days of SF Top 40 hit radio

Well this thread certainly brings back memories. I moved from Tucson, AZ (where KTKT "Radio Free Tucson" was the Top-40 power) to San Rafael, CA in 1960. KEWB was the biggie with most of the old KTKT jocks having moved along with me, it seemed. Chris Borden was one of the most popular. We could get KYA during the day but at night it was real scratchy. Other stations playing T-40 included KLOK (somewhere on the Penninsula...San Jose maybe?) and KFRC (Sacto?).

When I returned from Vietnam in '66 KEWB was in the process of abandoning music and going to talk (if memory serves). Morning guy Buck Herring was playing on KYA and there was a new FM station, KGO, playing great stereo rock.

Moved away in '68 and only visited since. Bay Area radio seems to have gone downhill since.
 
"KFRC (Sacto?)... When I returned from Vietnam in '66 KEWB was in the process of abandoning music and going to talk (if memory serves). Morning guy Buck Herring was playing on KYA and there was a new FM station, KGO, playing great stereo rock. Moved away in '68 and only visited since. Bay Area radio seems to have gone downhill since."

Landtuna: KFRC is in San Francisco. The call letters have belonged to an Oldies/Classic Hits FM station for a long time now. But starting in 1966, it was the Bay Area's #1 top 40 station with the Bill Drake format. It was on top of the ratings for well over a decade and didn't go into serious decline until FM radio became dominant.

If you ask most people who contribute to this board, FM in the Bay Area has definitely gone downhill, but only since the 80s, or since mid 90s de-regulation by the FCC, depending on who you ask.
 
landtuna said:
Well this thread certainly brings back memories. ...Other stations playing T-40 included KLOK (somewhere on the Penninsula...San Jose maybe?) and KFRC (Sacto?).

...Morning guy Buck Herring was playing on KYA and there was a new FM station, KGO, playing great stereo rock.

Moved away in '68 and only visited since. Bay Area radio seems to have gone downhill since.
Click to expand...

Your memories are just a wee bit shaky. KLOK was and is in San Jose. KFRC was never in Sacramento (how could you miss that one?) and Buck Herring was at KEWB, not KYA.

DJ
 
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