The Old KNBR played music, right?

[HCochet]

When I moved to the bay area in 1975, I think I heard KNBR a few times (maybe on the junior high school bus), but it was music then if I remember right.

Didn't they have a song that went something like
"you are the reason we do what we do, we do it for you on KNBR sixty eight................................. KNBR 68 plays the music you love" ?

 

[CarterB]

I dont remember that jingle, and I was with KNBR in those days, but then again I was drinking in 1975

 

[LKellerIII]

"When I moved to the bay area in 1975, I think I heard KNBR a few times (maybe on the junior high school bus), but it was music then if I remember right.Didn't they have a song that went something like
"you are the reason we do what we do, we do it for you on KNBR sixty eight................................. KNBR 68 plays the music you love" ?

Right, wrong, and maybe.

KNBR was a music station, with an MOR format and "personality" DJs like Carter B. Smith.

Those long "We do it for you" jingles were a bit farther down the AM dial at 610/KFRC, which of course - was Top 40. If Michael Hagerty catches this thread, he can give you the low-down on the "You" series which ran on KFRC and LA sister station KHJ.

KNBR might have had a slogan along the lines of "The music you love"...I don't remember. That's probably a question for Boss Radio DJ.

 

[tripton99]

You just missed my term as PD at KNBR. I was there from '71-early '75. We would have been considered the first Adult Contemporary music station with LaVerne Drake as the Music Director.
If you are referring to station jingles, we used a custom written package well into '75 that I worked on with Bill Meeks in Dallas. One of the lyrical themes was "For the Good Times," which was loosely associated with a Ray Price song of the same name, but the melody was meant to mimic "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
I am pretty sure they ditched the jingle package by the end of '75, so you may be referring to something Alan Hotlen came up with since he succeeded me as PD.
In answer to the question in your headline "The old KNBR played music, right?". Yes. it was adult contemporary with almost 50% new music per hour. It was tuff getting music in with as many as 15 minutes worth of spots per hour and mandatory five minutes of NBC radio newscasts and two minutes of local KNBR-based news and corporate mandated three minute network features on the half hour from the dreadful list of talent like Dr. Joyce Brothers and a lot of NBC news icons.
KNBR didn't become a sports station (other than Oakland Raiders radio) until they got the rights to the Giants later in the decade (I'm sure DJ will give us the actual date.). Funny that the only reason the Giants left KSFO was a dispute new Giants owners had with Gene Autry, whose Golden West Broadcasting owned KSFO and the Anaheim Angels at the time. Seems Autry voted against Giants management in some big attempt to move the Giants elsewhere in the country. In spite, Giants owners move the team from KSFO to KNBR.

 

[BnRinBayArea]

I enjoyed your insight, Tripton!

Who were some of the music-era jocks? I recall CJ Bronson middays, but I was MUCH more of a KFRC listener (as I was a kid) and 'cuz I was in the South Bay, I also listened to KLOK

 

[tripton99]

Frank Dill, Mike Cleary, Carter B. Smith, Jack Hayes, Dave Niles, Les Williams, Dale Kemery, Curtis Kim were among the jocks with the first six the core.

Keep in mind, this was 35 or more years ago. But those are my recollections.

News Department included Jim Jones. Bod Lazich, Gene DeCarlo, Jim Titus, Ed Brady, Joe Gillespie. Richard Sher was our News Director.

My assistant was Rosie Lee Allen and our News assistant was Cheryl Jennings. Neither Rosie or Cheryl were on the air during those years. They were to blossom at KSFX and KIOI not long after I left in the Spring of '75.

Heber Smith was the GM who hired and fired me. The Sales manager was Bill Dwyer.

 

[jimnmidtn]

I was actually able to pick up KNBR in the middle of the night in Kansas. I remember hearing them play "Jesse James" by Cher very early one morning in 1989. That was actually about a month or 2 before they dropped the music and went to what they called in the trades a "light" talk format.

 

[MarkAndrews]

Ahh, KNBR 68...for the good times!

I LOVED that station. So much so that I talked the radio station I worked at in Bend, Oregon to get part of the "KNBR" custom jingle package from TM in Dallas.

Since my station was a daytimer, I'd listen to KNBR at night...and did so for over FIVE YEARS, even after moving back to Portland. They were THAT good! The personalities I remember included Christine Wray (Raye?), C.J. Bronson, Les Williams "friend of those who want no friends" (He sounded SO cool...), and that was just at night. (I'm leaving a couple of other guys out...gonna have to dig out some lost aircheck cassettes.) Winter time, when the signal was heard longer up north, gave me the chance to taste the styles of Frank Dill in early mornings and Carter B. Smith in the late afternoons. Also enjoyed the Golden State Warriors broadcasts with Bill King. Mike Cleary did middays then, but I only heard him on a very occasional recorded ad or promo.

It was a great station, full-service radio with on-target music for adults and heavy on personality. I just wish I could hear a station like it again...

 

[SCV_Ears]

Yep, KNBR didn't get rights to the Giants until the 1979 season. I've always thought of that as sort of the beginning of the end of KSFO as a personality station under Autry's ownership, losing the Giants and then the Niners a couple of years later to KCBS (and just in time for the first Super Bowl title). Remember the controversey when KNBR didn't pick Lon Simmons to do the games and went with Lindsey Nelson and Hank Greenwald? Sure worked out for Lon, though ... Hank too, come to think of it. KNBR was also an occasional parking place for the A's and Warriors as well. Wasn't there one year that Charlie Finley signed a broadcast deal so late (as usual) all games were carried at 8 p.m., no matter if the team was at home or on the road because of previous commitment to the Golden Gaters of World Team Tennis?

The "Gene DeCarlo" mentioned is Gene D'Accardo, who did morning drive news. He had one of the greatest radio voices I've ever heard. Got let go when they went all-sports and was working on KTRB in the 90s ... still had it. A good lineup of jocks too ... Frank Dill, Mike Cleary (eventually joining forces as "Frank and Mike in the morning"), CJ Bronson middays, then Carter B. afternoons (my high school class even sent him a t-shirt). Christine Ray did evening shift, if I recall. Also someone named Tom Brown, who later teamed up with the late Ron Lyons for some wacky trivia show during noontime.

 

[tripton99]

Looks like I make a mistake an hour on this board.
Apologies to everyone for getting Gene's last name wrong. Maybe I'm getting Old-timer's disease. I'm also 7,000 miles away from the market these days in Sydney.
Glad to hear some of you like what we did back in the good old days. Also good to know that Carter B. still keeps us honest here on the board.

 

[DavidKaye]

When I moved to the bay area in 1975, I think I heard KNBR a few times (maybe on the junior high school bus), but it was music then if I remember right.

Such notables as Carter B Smith, Ron Lyons, Jim Jones, and Leo Laporte were DJs there. KNBR had an MOR music format and was among the last of the "full service" (news, sports, and music) stations in town.

Didn't they have a song that went something like
"you are the reason we do what we do, we do it for you on KNBR sixty eight................................. KNBR 68 plays the music you love" ?

That's the "You" series done for KFRC, KHJ and maybe a couple other RKO stations. KNBR did have a bunch of jingles cut by PAMS, some custom ones, in fact. Look at this page and listen to the KFRC "You" and the KNBR jingles.
http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/jingles.shtml

 

[BossRadioDJ]

Hoo-boy, I'd better hustle and get that KNBR page together...

I'm just wrapping up the digitization of a bushel basket full of amazing tapes that Carter B. loaned me a few weeks ago, and Gene D'Accardo's daughter provided us with some interesting KNBR news audio. Add to that a gem I discovered in one of those "needle in a haystack" moments -- a recording of young Mike Cleary's KNBR debut, subbing for Ed Brady on the "Brady's Bandstand" show in 1970, found in a collection of about 500 reel-to-reel tapes that were donated to the museum.

We've got a nice Frank Dill KNBR morning show from 1975 on the museum website right now. On the same page are links to a Carter B. program, and one from Mike Cleary:

http://www.sfradiomuseum.com/audio/knbr/knbr_frank-dill_apr-22-1975.shtml
or http://tinyurl.com/5p9zbc

(If the links don't work for the audio, please wait a few minutes ... I'm moving things around today.)

An aside about sports on KNBR: the station was the original flagship station for the Raiders when the team debuted in 1960, back when KNBR was still KNBC/68. In 1968, KNBR was the first flagship station for the Oakland A's upon the club's arrival from Kansas City. I don't think anybody complained about the signal back then...

 

[HCochet]

Wasn't there one year that Charlie Finley signed a broadcast deal so late (as usual) all games were carried at 8 p.m., no matter if the team was at home or on the road because of previous commitment to the Golden Gaters of World Team Tennis?

I sure hope that's true. Please let us know. I'm a tennis fan and I've seen so many matches on TV that were cut short because of college basketball, or more recently because of a RERUN on a Sharks game.
Tennis on the radio? I'd listen for sure. I know England has it during Wimbledon.

 

[HCochet]

DavidKaye wrote:
That's the "You" series done for KFRC, KHJ and maybe a couple other RKO stations. KNBR did have a bunch of jingles cut by PAMS, some custom ones, in fact. Look at this page and listen to the KFRC "You" and the KNBR jingles.

HCochet (Larry) responds:
Back then I did listen to KFRC a lot more. So you're right, I'm sure. I thought I remembered a jingle that KNBR had that was close to the "you" thing.
Around 78 or 79, I found out about KGO and since then, it's been my main station. I hope to see some more KGO jingles someday at the site you provided. Not necessarily the "jingle", but that song they play at the end of the news just before the host comes on. They change it every 5 or so years. I'd love to hear the old ones again.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

Around 78 or 79, I found out about KGO and since then, it's been my main station. I hope to see some more KGO jingles someday at the site you provided. Not necessarily the "jingle", but that song they play at the end of the news just before the host comes on. They change it every 5 or so years. I'd love to hear the old ones again.

Go to the museum website and check out the KGO Collection, which has a handful of recordings:

http://www.sfradiomuseum.com/audio/kgo

DJ

 

[michael hagerty]

I loved KNBR! Took some getting used to, having moved to Ukiah shortly after a brief stay in San Diego, where I'd been addicted to the faster, tighter, more irreverent KFMB-AM...but eventually, Frank and Mike and Carter B. beceame favorites.

A great moment...a phone call I heard while listening one day. A woman who called the station and was put on the air. She was trying to teach her four year old the alphabet...but the kid did it like this:

"A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-N-B-R"

---Michael Hagerty

 

[rickradio]

Also someone named Tom Brown

Ah, yes, the "Thomas Brown Affair." Thanks for the memory jog, SCV.

 

[Newname]

Funny that the only reason the Giants left KSFO was a dispute new Giants owners had with Gene Autry, whose Golden West Broadcasting owned KSFO and the Anaheim Angels at the time. Seems Autry voted against Giants management in some big attempt to move the Giants elsewhere in the country. In spite, Giants owners move the team from KSFO to KNBR.

The Giants were all set to move to Toronto just before Opening Day in 1976, but a proposed sale to Labatts Brewery fell through. I didn't know the particulars about the voting by the other team owners.
I guess that when Bob Lurie put the Giants' broadcast rights up for bid after the '78 season, it was in response to Autry's vote?

 

[JEREMIAH]

I WAS AT GENE AUTRY'S KSFO WHEN WE LOST THE GIANTS.

AFTER THE '78 SEASON KNBR OUT BID US. KSFO OFFERED 700K PER SEASON...KNBR OFFERED A MILLION TWO.

WE EVENTUALLY GOT THE A'S.

AUTRY'S VOTE LOST US THE NINERS, NOT THE GIANTS..HE PISSED OFF THE NINERS OWNER.

JERRY GORDON KNUU LAS VEGAS

[email protected]

 

[BossRadioDJ]

Also someone named Tom Brown, who later teamed up with the late Ron Lyons for some wacky trivia show during noontime.

The aptly-named "Ron & Tom Foolery."