In 1926, less than a year after it went on the air, Radio Station KTAB
was leased by its owner, the Tenth Avenue Baptist Church of Oakland, to
a group of church members that had organized as The Associated
Broadcasters. The group oversaw the operation of the station under a
twenty-year lease, including a call letter change to KSFO in the Summer
of 1935.
In the mid-1940s, with the hope of regaining an affiliation with the CBS
radio network that the station had enjoyed from 1937 to 1941, KSFO's
owners commissioned engineering studies that would have resulted in a
power boost to 50,000 watts, along with trading dial spots from 560
kilocycles to 740 kilocycles — which happened to be the frequency
occupied by San Jose's KQW, the station that CBS had moved its network
programming to beginning in 1942.
The FCC approved the plan, but it
stalled for several years until, finally, a deal was struck: KSFO's
owners gave up their bid, CBS acquired KQW (making it KCBS) and obtained
the permit to increase its power to 50,000 watts on 740 kc. In exchange,
CBS made KPIX-TV (Channel 5) — also owned by The Associated Broadcasters
and KSFO — their affiliate in the Bay Area.
KSFO's home from 1955 until 1983 was at
950 California Street, in the landmark
Fairmont Hotel and Tower
[Click
here to enlarge]
KSFO, meanwhile, remained an independent station until the Summer of
1956, when it was sold for $951,333 to legendary singing cowboy Gene
Autry and his business partner, Robert O. Reynolds, who also owned KMPC
in Los Angeles.
Under Autry's ownership
and the deft guidance of general managers Bill Shaw, Bert West and Jack Bankson, KSFO became the station that virtually everyone in the
Bay Area tuned to, whether it was for the personalities — Don
Sherwood, Jim Lange, Jack Carney, Del Courtney, Al Collins, Dan Sorkin,
Terry McGovern, Gene Nelson and Carter B. Smith were just a few of the
Hall of Fame-caliber voices heard at KSFO — or the first-rate news
team, or its professional sound and presentation, or its sports
coverage, with the Giants, 49ers and Stanford in its stable.
Autry, who also owned the California Angels baseball
club as well as Golden West radio stations KMPC/Los Angeles and
KMJ/Fresno, decided to sell KSFO in 1983 after more than twenty-five
years of ownership. On October 19, 1983, the FCC approved a $6-million
deal that transferred ownership of KSFO from Golden West to King Radio
Broadcasting Co. of Seattle, which had been the owner of KYA (1260 AM
and 93.3 FM) in San Francisco. KSFO was subsequently moved to new
quarters at 300 Broadway. King sold KYA-AM to Bonneville
International, at which time it became KOIT, the simulcast partner of
the company's light rock FM station.
A 25-minute segment of KSFO's evening
broadcast for the last day of 1969, presided over by Jack
Carney, and featuring a complete Lon Simmons 5:45
p.m. "Sports Roundup" looking back on the previous year's
sports highlights (with the voices of Russ Hodges, Bill
Thompson and Don Klein also included), plus a newscast
anchored by Herb Kennedy. This excerpt was salvaged
from a full-length reel-to-reel tape of the evening's
festivities; unfortunately, the tape had been damaged by
motor oil that had seeped into the storage carton, mostly
destroying the recording.
Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons and Bill Thompson
bring all the play-by-play action as the Giants take on the
Cubs at Wrigley on KSFO and the Golden West Radio Network.
The KSFO news department presents a special
series on the effects that a major earthquake would have on
the Bay Area, including a dramatic live report on the
"aftermath" featuring Jeff Skov, Aaron Edwards,
Dave
Henderson, Bill Heyward, Chet Casselman and
Warren Boggess.
If you tuned in this morning to have Jim
Lange wake you up, you'll find KSFO afternoon star Terry
McGovern sitting in, with Chet Casselman delivering
the news.
Bill Dodd presents a historical (and
hysterical) revue of KSFO flubs, goofs and blunders from
over the years, with appearances by such notables as Don
Sherwood, Jack Carney, Aaron Edwards,
Scott Beach, Terry McGovern, Russ Hodges
and Lon Simmons, among others.
Larry's final show on Golden West's KSFO,
including farewells from "singing newscaster" Aaron Edwards
and staff engineer Rich Smalley, and plenty of sentimental
tunes, with a heavy emphasis on Sinatra.
Jerry Gordon hosts the final "KSFO Comedy
Hour," with Mal Sharpe and a very convincing Gene Autry
impersonation by "Fiddle Ray" Landsberg, as a bevy of local television news crews crowd
into the Fairmont Hotel studios to record the station's
waning moments as the property of Golden West Broadcasting.
In the final half-hour, Don Sherwood (via
the magic of audio tape) reads from "Winnie The Pooh,"
before Jerry Gordon signs off "The World's Greatest Radio
Station" for the last time with the legendary "Sound Of
The City" KSFO theme song.
...Then, at midnight (about 45 minutes into
the recording), as Golden West turns
KSFO over to King Broadcasting, the station begins its next
era with comments by general manager Fred Schumacher and
program director Ken Dennis before Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins
makes his return to Bay Area airwaves from WNEW/New York. In
addition, KSFO's new midday personality, Russ "The Moose"
Syracuse, and PM driver Carter B. Smith make surprise appearances by phone.
— Exhibit includes text and
audio.
— Exhibit includes audio.
— Fair-to-poor audio quality.
— Edited (scoped) aircheck.
* — Included in The Don
Sherwood Collection.
AK
— Courtesy of Alan Kline.
BFT
— Courtesy of Ben Fong-Torres.
JS
— Courtesy of John Schneider.
MS — Courtesy of Mike
Schweizer.
NH — Courtesy of Norm Howard.
RT — Courtesy of Ron Tamm.
VI — Courtesy of Victor Ives.
Real Player (free
download) is required to play these exhibits.
THE BAY AREA RADIO MUSEUM IS A
CALIFORNIA NON-PROFIT CORPORATION
DEDICATED TO PRESERVING AND HONORING THE HISTORY OF
RADIO BROADCASTING IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
— Exhibit includes text and
audio.
RT
— Edited (scoped) aircheck.
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