the worlds greatest radio station - and then some

[DavidKaye]

I believe "The World's Greatest Radio Station" was their slogan for awhile - perhaps meant somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Those of Us Who Know know that KSFO was the World's Greatest Radio Station. In fact, Gene Nelson who worked as the morning guy across the street at popular rocker, KYA, would walk over to KSFO on his breaks and dream of the day he would work at a "real" radio station, that being KSFO. Eventually he did. In those days KSFO had an incredible reputation as The Place To Be.

In the same way that today people quote Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert at school or at work around the water cooler, people in those days quoted Don Sherwood, KSFO's morning guy. In fact, when Don Sherwood decided to leave radio, KSFO paid him $10,000 a year (big money in those days) to not work for a competitor.

But other DJs were as quirky and in demand as Sherwood. Al Jazzbeau Collins was a one of a kind hipster in the beatnik style. KSFO was personality radio at its finest.

In those days the DJs chose their own songs, a practice long abandoned by the other stations. KSFO was full-service radio with twice hourly newscasts and Giants and 49ers games (Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges announcing both). In those days you could get everything you wanted (but rock music) listening to KSFO.

 

[michael hagerty]

The great thing about KSFO was that while it benefitted from the same full service at whatever it costs philosophy that KMPC did, there was no "Xerox mentality". KSFO and KMPC may have both been personality MOR stations with big news, sports and traffic commitments, but they really didn't sound much alike.

KSFO's music was much more eclectic than KMPC's. The KSFO personalities tended to be hipper...and younger. And I think the only time they shared a jingle package was "The Sound of the City/Southland".

All of which may be why, unlike KHJ/KFRC, there wasn't much cross-pollination of the airstaff...I think Jim Lange and Kathy Gori are the only KSFO personalities who went to KMPC...and neither of them stayed long...Lange returned to KSFO.

 

[tripton99]

KSFO was the reason I got into the biz. I was fortunate to intern there in '66 and programmed against them, with some success in the '70s.

There is nothing close to that KSFO anywhere in America and there will never be again.

 

[radioguy39nj]

During its glory years, was KSFO 5kW day/1 kW night? I think they're now 5 kW day and night. They probably would've done even better back in the day with their current signal.

 

[JEREMIAH]

Yeah..when I went to KSFO in '78 the power was 5 KW days 1 KW nights, non directional.

While I was there between '78 and '84(when the cowboy sold the station) the power was upped to 5 at nite
and a second tower was added for nite time directional.
I don't recall exactly what year. But even with only 1 KW at nite I used to get a lot of calls from Sacramento. At 560 you get out better than a station with the same power but is at a higher frequency.
An engineer can explain why.

Jerry Gordon KNUU Las Vegas

 

[DavidKaye]

KSFO's music was much more eclectic than KMPC's. The KSFO personalities tended to be hipper...and younger. And I think the only time they shared a jingle package was "The Sound of the City/Southland".

The news sounder fanfare was the same on KSFO, KMPC, KVI, and KEX. Other than that I don't remember any other similarities among the stations except for them all being full service personality-oriented and carrying sports.

 

[LKellerIII]

The great thing about KSFO was that while it benefitted from the same full service at whatever it costs philosophy that KMPC did, there was no "Xerox mentality". KSFO and KMPC may have both been personality MOR stations with big news, sports and traffic commitments, but they really didn't sound much alike.

KSFO's music was much more eclectic than KMPC's. The KSFO personalities tended to be hipper...and younger. And I think the only time they shared a jingle package was "The Sound of the City/Southland".

Hold on there, Hagerty. Nobody was hipper than Gary Owens (KMPC afternoons) - at least not in my world. And let's not forget he was the Laugh-In announcer and Roger Ramjet. In the mid-late 1960s he was in his mid 30s. Geoff Edwards was young in those days, too - though I guess you couldn't call him 'hip,' more of a game-show host in the waiting.

But Owens was (is!) drop dead funny, and was probably the only MOR jock that could tear me away from KHJ and KRLA.

 

[krth101]

great recollections about this wonderful radio station. was listening to a tape of gene nelsons final week back in may of 1982. does anyone have some insight as to why gene left KSFO to return to KYA? I thought it had something to do with their decision to tweak the format from mor to big band/ nostalgia. when gene first came to KSFO in 1968 does anyone recall who he replaced on the all night show? Didnt sherwood leave for the first time shortly after gene came aboard, but the morning slot went to terry mcgovern or jim lange rather than gene?

 

[michael hagerty]

KSFO's music was much more eclectic than KMPC's. The KSFO personalities tended to be hipper...and younger. And I think the only time they shared a jingle package was "The Sound of the City/Southland".

The news sounder fanfare was the same on KSFO, KMPC, KVI, and KEX. Other than that I don't remember any other similarities among the stations except for them all being full service personality-oriented and carrying sports.

David...I remember KSFO using a big-band version of the old standard "What's New" leading into a morse-code-ish trail out for their news open...I never heard them using what KMPC used (the 1965 and later versions of which included the instrumental KMPC logo).

 

[michael hagerty]

The great thing about KSFO was that while it benefitted from the same full service at whatever it costs philosophy that KMPC did, there was no "Xerox mentality". KSFO and KMPC may have both been personality MOR stations with big news, sports and traffic commitments, but they really didn't sound much alike.

KSFO's music was much more eclectic than KMPC's. The KSFO personalities tended to be hipper...and younger. And I think the only time they shared a jingle package was "The Sound of the City/Southland".

Hold on there, Hagerty. Nobody was hipper than Gary Owens (KMPC afternoons) - at least not in my world. And let's not forget he was the Laugh-In announcer and Roger Ramjet. In the mid-late 1960s he was in his mid 30s. Geoff Edwards was young in those days, too - though I guess you couldn't call him 'hip,' more of a game-show host in the waiting.

But Owens was (is!) drop dead funny, and was probably the only MOR jock that could tear me away from KHJ and KRLA.

Llew...nobody loves Garish more than I do (and he was younger than you think...26 when he arrived at KMPC...he turned 30 in 1966)....but Gary's in a class of his own. As is Johnny Magnus.

I was thinking more of Whittinghill versus Sherwood...Ira Cook versus Dan Sorkin....and what were fairly brave moves for an MOR station at the time in bringing in Terry McGovern and Kathy Gori.

 

[radioguy39nj]

Sounds like KSFO and WNEW-AM were similar in many ways. If you were a baby boomer in the Bay Area during the 60s, your station was KYA or KFRC, mom and dad liked KSFO. In NY, the boomers listened to WMCA and WABC, their parents liked WNEW-AM.

 

[onairb]

great recollections about this wonderful radio station. was listening to a tape of gene nelsons final week back in may of 1982. does anyone have some insight as to why gene left KSFO to return to KYA? I thought it had something to do with their decision to tweak the format from mor to big band/ nostalgia. when gene first came to KSFO in 1968 does anyone recall who he replaced on the all night show? Didnt sherwood leave for the first time shortly after gene came aboard, but the morning slot went to terry mcgovern or jim lange rather than gene?

I'm a little young to remember KSFO's heyday, but I've read a lot of the historical info already mentioned at the Bay Area Radio Museum site, and Ben Fong-Torres' columns. None of this really addresses Nelson's status in 1982, but I can fill in some details on other DJs.

Sherwood had left KSFO brefly in the mid-60s(for a job in Chicago), perhaps while Nelson was still at KYA.
When Sherwood left KSFO 'for good' in 1969, Terry McGovern was hired away from Pittsburgh to do mornings. I don't know if Nelson was considered for the morning show at the time, but he eventually moved to middays, perhaps when Carter B. Smith departed for KNBR, around 1970.
That lasted until McGovern went to KSAN in the mid-70s. He was replaced at KSFO by...Sherwood, who was making a 'triumphant return' to radio. Sherwood was named the station's program director, and returned to the morning show after Jim Lange's departure.
Back then, Lange was still commuting between SF and L.A. for various TV commitments, and he had a clause in his contract that he couldn't do the 6-to-9 AM show. With McGovern's departure, Sherwood insisted that Lange take the morning slot. Not sure if Lange quit or was fired, but he went back to KMPC for a while(and would come and go from both stations over the next few years).
From what I've read, Sherwood was the one who first pushed KSFO away from the MOR music in '74, supposedly saying that 'any song with a guitar' would no longer be heard on the station. After about 6 months, Sherwood left KSFO for good. The station eventually restored at least a little bit of '70s hipness' to its playlist, but always had a predominantly big-band flavor. I vaguely remember KGO-TV doing a story on Nelson's last KSFO show in 1982, but I was only 8 at the time, and didn't listen to KSFO regularly til a few years later. I assume that it may have been a financial dispute. I think it was around this time that Lange returned to KSFO (again, after having left KMPC), in the 9 to noon slot. The morning slot was taken over by Joe Angel and Bonnie Chastain.

 

[JEREMIAH]

Radio guy:

Right on! Equating KSFO with WNEW.

In my early career there were two stations I always wanted to work at.
WNEW & KSFO. I finally made the latter.

A lot of Top 40 & Rock, plus News before that happened, also MOR & Jazz. WMEX in Boston was my first major market station, Rock and later Talk.

It's been interesting, it still is.

Jerry Gordon KNUU Las Vegas

 

[michael hagerty]

great recollections about this wonderful radio station. was listening to a tape of gene nelsons final week back in may of 1982. does anyone have some insight as to why gene left KSFO to return to KYA? I thought it had something to do with their decision to tweak the format from mor to big band/ nostalgia. when gene first came to KSFO in 1968 does anyone recall who he replaced on the all night show? Didnt sherwood leave for the first time shortly after gene came aboard, but the morning slot went to terry mcgovern or jim lange rather than gene?

I'm a little young to remember KSFO's heyday, but I've read a lot of the historical info already mentioned at the Bay Area Radio Museum site, and Ben Fong-Torres' columns. None of this really addresses Nelson's status in 1982, but I can fill in some details on other DJs.

Sherwood had left KSFO brefly in the mid-60s(for a job in Chicago), perhaps while Nelson was still at KYA.
When Sherwood left KSFO 'for good' in 1969, Terry McGovern was hired away from Pittsburgh to do mornings. I don't know if Nelson was considered for the morning show at the time, but he eventually moved to middays, perhaps when Carter B. Smith departed for KNBR, around 1970.
That lasted until McGovern went to KSAN in the mid-70s. He was replaced at KSFO by...Sherwood, who was making a 'triumphant return' to radio. Sherwood was named the station's program director, and returned to the morning show after Jim Lange's departure.
Back then, Lange was still commuting between SF and L.A. for various TV commitments, and he had a clause in his contract that he couldn't do the 6-to-9 AM show. With McGovern's departure, Sherwood insisted that Lange take the morning slot. Not sure if Lange quit or was fired, but he went back to KMPC for a while(and would come and go from both stations over the next few years).
From what I've read, Sherwood was the one who first pushed KSFO away from the MOR music in '74, supposedly saying that 'any song with a guitar' would no longer be heard on the station. After about 6 months, Sherwood left KSFO for good. The station eventually restored at least a little bit of '70s hipness' to its playlist, but always had a predominantly big-band flavor. I vaguely remember KGO-TV doing a story on Nelson's last KSFO show in 1982, but I was only 8 at the time, and didn't listen to KSFO regularly til a few years later. I assume that it may have been a financial dispute. I think it was around this time that Lange returned to KSFO (again, after having left KMPC), in the 9 to noon slot. The morning slot was taken over by Joe Angel and Bonnie Chastain.

Lange was on KMPC from 1969 to 1971. He didn't go back until the early 80s, replacing Robert W. Morgan in morning drive when RWM went to Magic 106. Jim moved to afternoon drive when KMPC re-hired Morgan in '86...I know Lange was there as late as spring 1989...but I don't think he stayed much beyond that.

 

[JEREMIAH]

Jim Lange was last heard on KABL AM in the 90's along with Carter B.Smith it was a big band-standards format. it didn't last long. I don't know where Jim went after that.

Many happy memories of him. He was doing mornings at KSFO when I arrived in '78 and doing the Dating game on TV. He is a sweetheart of a guy. No big ego, unlike another guy at KSFO, who'll remain nameless.
Jim would never dream of stabbing anyone in the back to further his career.

We took a week's vacation to LA at one point, at Universal Studios we were given tickets to the Dating Game and said "Lets go and surprise Jim"
We did! he spotted me in the audience and introduced me.
It was a kick.

I ran into him, often, over the years.

He was with me at KSFO when Autry sold the station in late '83.
I was out of work for a few months and he went to KMPC.
We went out with a bang. Lots of TV coverage and some great parties.
Love you Jim!

Jerry Gordon KNUU Las Vegas

 

[SFStatic]

Hey, Jerry.

KABL actually lasted 8 years playing standards from the late 90's to 2006. Jim did the mornings, Mike Cleary did middays for a while, and Carter handled afternoons.

 

[LKellerIII]

Jim Lange was last heard on KABL AM in the 90's along with Carter B.Smith it was a big band-standards format. it didn't last long. I don't know where Jim went after that.

Actually, Jerry - according to Wikepedia, the Standards format at KABL lasted from 1997 to 2004, which squares with my memory. That's not a bad run, and was probably longer than any other standards format lasted in the Bay Area - with the possible exception of Magic 61. The last couple of years, Clear Channel tweaked it pretty hard - adding more modern pop and eliminating most of the Big Band music.

 

[LKellerIII]

Didn't mean to step on SFStatic's toes - we were posting at the same time.

 

[JEREMIAH]

Guy's I stand corrected.

I left SF in '95, on subsequent visits I heard KABL with Lange et al.

I don't know why I thought the format was short lived.

That's what I love about this site....when you're wrong...someone will let you know.

Jerry Gordon KNUU Las Vegas

 

[onairb]

Guy's I stand corrected.

I left SF in '95, on subsequent visits I heard KABL with Lange et al.

I don't know why I thought the format was short lived.

That's what I love about this site....when you're wrong...someone will let you know.

Jerry Gordon KNUU Las Vegas

There was a short-lived format on KABL in the mid-90s, after its 'Beautiful Music' days, and its KOIT-like AC format.
Before the station 'went local' in '95,KABL had carried the 'Music of Your Life' satellite feed, with 'canned' DJs, starting in September of '93(just after KFRC dropped the 'Magic 61' format, and fired Jim Lange, etc., very unceremoniously). Remember reading that while KABL was doing the 'canned' format, they used Carter B. and Jim to make personal appearences on behalf of the station(if someone asked them about the whereabouts of one of the 'Music of Your Life' guys, they'd just say 'Well, he couldn't make it, so we're here, instead.'
Around this time, 1370 in San Jose adopted the calls KKSJ, and a Standards format, and Jim did some fill-in work for them, just before moving to KABL...which soon buried KKSJ.