"Radio Day By The Bay" Set For July 5

The California Historical Radio Society (CHRS) will open the doors to its museum on Saturday, July 5, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. for its annual "Live! At KRE" celebration.

The event will take place at the historic KRE radio building in Berkeley, under the giant radio tower on Ashby Avenue near Highway 80.

CHRS has been refurbishing the KRE building into a world-class broadcasting museum, filled with classic radios and equipment, working studios and an authentic ham radio "shack," as well as the home of the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

The July 5 celebration is the perfect event for families seeking a day of entertainment close to home. "Live! At KRE" will feature a variety of entertainment -- including music and an old-time radio performance by the Broadcast Legends -- and a flea market and auction of great old radios, ham radio equipment, phonographs and test equipment.

Carter B. Smith, a member of the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame (Class of 2007), will serve as master of ceremonies for the event. Carter worked at KRE early in his radio career, before moving on to great success at KSFO, KNBR, Magic 61 and KABL.

Another special guest will be popular Oldies disc jockey Herbie Hancock (http://qmproductions.com), one of the most renowned Wolfman Jack impersonators in the industry. Herbie will spin 45s in the KRE studio -- the same studio used in the radio station scenes featuring Wolfman Jack in "American Graffiti."

Admission to the event is $5 for adults. Children are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.

For more information, please visit www.BayRadioDay.com.

Citadel Cuts Catch KSFO's Melanie Morgan

The addition by subtraction mandated by Farid Suleman at Citadel Broadcasting ("How can we afford to pay me $17-million a year? Fire the talent!") has netted a major casualty at 560/KSFO.

Melanie Morgan, conservative firebrand and a genius at pushing all the right buttons, will not have her contract renewed and made her final KSFO broadcast on Monday morning.

Morgan had been the high-profile co-host to Lee Rodgers on the station's morning show, having worked her way up from sidekick/underling to being the co-star of the program. In many ways, she actually upstaged Rodgers, who performs his part of the show via remote hookup. (A television set in the KSFO studio helped keep Morgan and Officer Vic "face-to-face" with Rodgers.)

Morgan published the following press release on her personal website on Monday:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 3, 2008
Conservative Melanie Morgan Cut from KSFO Radio
* Vows to Continue Her Role as Conservative Activist *

(SAN FRANCISCO) – Renowned radio personality and national conservative leader, Melanie Morgan, delivered her final broadcast on talk radio powerhouse KSFO 560 AM today – Monday, March 3, 2008.

The owner of KSFO radio, Citadel Broadcasting, decided not to renew Morgan’s contract as part of the company’s announced across-the-board financial cost cutting.
Melanie Morgan has been a fixture on KSFO for the past 14 years, enjoying a run from 1994-2008 that far exceeded industry standards for longevity. During that time, Morgan emerged as one of the nation’s most dynamic conservative activists, using the radio airwaves to motivate listeners who shared her passion to take action and fight for causes important to them.

Morgan’s on-air activism included an effort that removed the carcinogen MTBE from gasoline in California, launching of the historic Recall Gray Davis campaign that led to the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California, and co-founding the nation’s largest pro-troop organization, Move America Forward.

“It has truly been an honor for me to work at KSFO for the past 14 years. What I loved most about my time at KSFO was that it allowed me to connect with listeners and take action to make real changes in the world,” said Melanie Morgan.

“We never had a one-way dialogue with our listeners, and we never believed that we had to resolve ourselves to accept the status quo. We got out of our chairs, left our homes and offices, and circulated petitions, rallied for our troops and met with government leaders. “We did all this to make sure that we left an even better world for our children than the one we had inherited from generations before us,” Morgan said.

As part of her ongoing conservative activism, Morgan has traveled to the Middle East twice to interview U.S. Troops stationed in Iraq and Kuwait. Her broadcast efforts from Iraq resulted in her winning the Associated Press’s Mark Twain Journalism Award, and The Peninsula Press Club’s award for Best Interview or Talk Show.

“Meeting our troops who are on the frontlines of the war against terrorism stands as the most powerful experience in my broadcast career,” said Morgan.

Morgan’s career with ABC began in 1981 when she was a television reporter for KGO TV. In 1984, she became an on-air personality for KGO radio where she worked for six years before switching over to ABC-San Francisco sister-station, KSFO 560 AM, co-hosting the Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan show.

In 2006, Citadel Broadcasting acquired the ABC Radio group. She has reported on the scene from the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon; the Mexico City earthquake; and the Tiananmen Square massacre in China.

Melanie Morgan says her focus in the days ahead remains unchanged: She will remain a conservative activist leader. “My commitment and dedication to serve as a leader in the movement to support our military men and women continues to grow, and I am very proud to serve as Chairman of the pro-troop non-profit group, Move America Forward,” Morgan said. Melanie Morgan is not compensated for her work with Move America Forward, a fact since the group was first launched in 2004.

Morgan will also continue her weekly column for the news website WorldNetDaily.com and will continue to serve as a television analyst on news programs on cable and broadcast television stations and networks. “My passion and commitment to the troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world are foremost in my heart.

"While I will miss my good friends Lee Rodgers and Officer Vic, and our great producer Sheri Yee, I am excited to stay close to the conservative grassroots. And I'll always lead with my chin out," Morgan concluded.

KSFO Sends 4th Of July Greetings...

Members of the KSFO Listeners Club received personal greetings from Melanie Morgan via email this morning, excerpted here:

Dear {FIRST NAME}

There's nothing I love better than the Fourth of July - the fireworks, the backyard barbecues, the time I spend with my liberal, dysfunctional family members and of course, Marin County's parade, where I get to heckle Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey for her anti-war, anti-troop positions in the swampland that passes for our nation's capitol.

I'm also very enamored of catcalls, hoots of derision and other un-becoming behavior in which I engage towards to the International A.N.S.W.E.R. and Code Pink crowd who show up to try and wreck our patriotic parade with our excited Little Leaguers and their fabulous floats every year.

My husband and son - not so much.

But seriously, I really do get pumped up when I see the American flags flying in the most unlikely of places, Marin County. It reminds me that despite the many differences I have with my neighbors over politics, at least once a year, the Grand Old Flag comes out and we can celebrate together what makes this nation great. ...

I am also thankful that KSFO Radio gives me the opportunity to exercise my Constitutional right of free speech that our forefathers brilliantly included in their efforts to make us a land of opportunity and inclusion.

Don't forget to fly your flag. And take a moment between the festivities, parades, and family re-unions to remember that we are 'One nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'

Melanie Morgan

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Sholin's KFRC Debut Moved Back

Contrary to previous reports, the debut date for Dave Sholin and the rest of the new KFRC-FM (106.9) air team has been moved to Monday, July 9.

The original press release from KFRC, excerpted elsewhere here in ye Digest, announced the start date for Sholin as this coming Monday, July 2.

The new midday personality at KFRC will be scintillating Celeste Perry (ex-KSFO/KYA, KYCY), who won't join in the fun until later in the week of July 9; she's reportedly vacationing in Hawaii.

No confirmation from KFRC World Headquarters, but I'm supposing that having the Fourth of July holiday falling in the middle of Sholin's original debut week made moving the start date back a smart move.

RIP: Hap Harper

Carter B. Smith emailed over last night that Hap Harper passed away this past Wednesday (October 4).

Hap, who parlayed being Don Sherwood's neighbor into a paying gig as the world's first airborne traffic reporter on the World's Greatest Radio Station, was 81. He retired from radio in 1991 after 34 years on the air in the air, during which time he estimated that he had "logged over two million miles over the Bay Area and never been out of sight of the San Carlos Airport."

Born Howard Harper in New Orleans, he grew up in Flint, Mich., obtaining his pilot's license while still a teenager, and attended Oberlin College in Ohio, earning tuition money by giving flying lessons. He was a Marine Corps lieutenant and pilot during World War II, then settled in the Bay Area after leaving the service. As a friend and neighbor of Sherwood, he'd fly the KSFO disc jockey to various weekend getaways, and eventually was persuaded to go on the air with weather reports from on high.

One day in 1957 while giving his weather observations, he spotted a traffic accident down below and mentioned it on the air, thus launching a new phase in his flying career as well as creating an entire cottage industry.

In addition to being one of Sherwood's longstanding comrades-in-arms, Hap also sold real estate in the Sierra foothills for four decades, ferrying prospective clients in his private plane. During his radio career, he also worked with Van Amburg at KFRC, Gene Nelson at KSFO/KYA-FM and Frank Dill and Mike Cleary at KNBR, in addition to occasionally filling in at KSFO in the studio during Sherwood's frequent absences.

He retired from broadcasting in 1991, moving fulltime to Amador County to operate his HH Realty enterprise.

"He was a remarkably cheerful, outgoing and positive man, an excellent flier and fun to work with," Carter B. told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Hap is survived by his wife, Jan, his daughter, Kellie, and his son, Jeffrey. No funeral service will be held in accordance with Hap's wishes, but I'd bet there'll be a memorial gathering for his friends at some point in the near future.

More Hap:

Sherwood and Harper's "Raid On Stockton" from Laurie Harper's "Don Sherwood: The Life and Times of the World's Greatest Disc Jockey."

You may leave a remembrance or condolence message for Hap Harper by clicking here.

(Photo: Hap Harper and Don Sherwood aboard Hap's plane, 1958.)