One of my all time favorite lines:
“You know, you have the perfect face for radio!”
Somewhere along the way, I’m guessing we all have listened to or looked at someone on radio or television, and said, “Hey! I could do that!”
Considering the number of people who try and make a living by being a part of the Fourth estate, you would probably be right in thinking that too many of us try to bring such a dream to life. Let’s face it. For everyone who thinks they should be knocking ’em dead in a major market such as LA or NYC, more folks are just getting by in places like Peoria or Stockton. More demos have probably ended up in landfills, thanks to heartless programming directors, than have ever provided employment for their benefactors. But, that’s the breaks, right?
Turn back the clock to the Bicentennial summer. June of 1976 to be precise. My junior year in high school is coming to a close and I’m looking for something to keep me busy for the months before the senior year starts. A guidance counselor suggests an occupational intern program. I don’t recall seeing a railroad listed among the various choices, but there was a summer intern program at a radio station in San Francisco.
So what made it interesting enough to choose something in San Francisco rather than something local? Well, I had a passing interest in radio at the time. I had helped out with our high school version of radio, the morning announcements during that last year. And it didn’t hurt that this particular station was one I actually listened to from time to time. And it had a history, too. Back in the 30’s and 40’s, it had been one of the local stations that offered live broadcasts of all kinds of music and other programs for it’s listeners. Here’s a link to those days.
Back then I was somewhat stunted in my musical choices. I had only discovered the Beatles and the Beach Boys, and occasionally listened to Top 40 on another San Francisco AM station. FM was largely unexplored territory, but that would change. While I had my driver’s license, the Ford station wagon I was driving had only an AM radio. Good for news, sports, top 40 and easy listening. Country was out there, but small. Jazz and big band were something of interest to me, and this particular station used to play songs from those from time to time. So, why not?
I was off to meet with the folks at the station to see what it was all about. The commute from Walnut Creek to San Francisco was no big deal, as I had been riding the train off and on since it opened a year or so earlier. The City represented more of a pleasure than a challenge. I wish I had taken more advantage of it than I did.
The radio station was KSFO, 560 on the AM dial. It had a long history in the City and was once the top station in this market. That summer it was still popular, but it’s decline and fall was inevitable.
The station was located in the basement (well, close enough, if not actually) of the Fairmont Hotel, at the corner of California and Powell, where the cable car lines crossed, on Nob Hill. So after a train ride from the East Bay, it was a quick ride (at all of nine miles per hour) up California Street on a cable car from outside the Hyatt Regency (Ever seen Mel Brooks “High Anxiety”? That’s the Hyatt.) to the Fairmont. A short walk and I introduced myself to the receptionist who called Bruce Hunter, (the head engineer for the station) who would be my mentor during those months.
We met and he showed me around the station and explained the various departments to me. A nicer bunch of folks you could not find, and I would get to know many of them during those next three months.
The on-air personalities of that time were:
Jim Lange of “Dating Game” fame (working the morning drive-time)
Gene Nelson (from nine to noon)
Buddy Hatton (from noon to three)
Rick Cimino (doing the evening drive until seven)
John Gilliland (doing old-time radio until midnight)
Russ “The Moose” Syracuse also known as the Prince of Darkness (he worked the graveyard shift)
The station also had a great news staff, and was the flagship of the Giants radio network. Back then, KSFO was part of Golden West Broadcasting, and was owned by former singing cowboy legend, Gene Autry. Gene also owned the Anaheim Angels baseball team as well. In Los Angeles, the sister station to KSFO was KMPC and it’s own legend in Gary Owens.
My time at the station was Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 p.m. so I got a chance to work with most of the staff on and off the air. Among the engineering crew were some other talented folks, who had worked in other areas of the country before coming to KSFO. Gary Mora had come from South Lake Tahoe where he had gotten noticed by doing interviews with the talent who came to work the South Shore casinos.
This was pretty typical at that time. San Francisco was and is a major market for the media. To get a job at a radio station there meant that you had been popular somewhere else and shown a programming director that you had what it took and would be right for that station in this market. While the crew on then was fairly well established they all had come up through the ranks across the country to get where they were.
While I had a good time learning how a radio station worked, and what jobs did what, it was pretty obvious to me that these folks were not going to open the door for me there. Nothing wrong with that. They had all done what had to be done to get where they were, and they were good at it. (A few years later, I heard from a group of television folks the same thing in a more direct way. As they put it, while they were glad we had the interest in television, they were not going to step aside to give us a chance. It’s nothing personal, but they would protect what they had. You would too if you were in their positions.)
Over the next few months, I got to help select songs for airplay by going through the record library on occasion. I spent my fair share of hours rewriting news wire stories to see if I could make them sound more interesting. One or two may even have made it on the air, if my memory serves correctly. I even helped produce the news by recording stories from field reporters on tape carts and then playing them back on the air.
There were four events that summer of particular note. The first was perhaps the most exciting. Seems that the station was doing a remote broadcast on a coming weekend, and they needed to rent some equipment from a supplier in the area south of Market Street. Back then, it was an industrial area, not the trendy office lofts it is today.
So over the lunch hour, they needed someone to go down and get this load of equipment. They asked me if I could drive, and indeed I could. However, driving in the City can be intimidating if you’ve never done it before. Not for me that day! I just drove like everyone else, and was back in less than an hour with the goods. Boy, did I feel good that afternoon! Talk about meeting the challenge!
The second event came over the Fourth of July holiday. One of the news reporters had flown out to board an aircraft carrier as it came through the Golden Gate and docked along the San Francisco waterfront. I was asked to meet him dockside and then take him back to the Alameda Naval Air Station where his car was. Again the station was pretty bold trusting a teenager to drive one of their cars (you can bet that wouldn’t happen today!) through the City and over the Bay Bridge. A highlight of that was to catch the San Francisco Belt Railway moving railway equipment for a display along the waterfront for the weekend. One of the state’s oldest steam locomotives was being moved by barge from Richmond and then towed by the State Belt for display. It was quite a surprise to find it travelling the rails under the Embarcadero freeway that afternoon.
The third event was a Police Athletic League softball fundraising game between a team from KSFO and a local restaurant. Both sides had their own favorites, sports stars, and politicians. My participation was to wear a large pink elephant costume and to try to shake up the players both on and off the field. (Yes, another fursuit experience!) I wasn’t alone as the son of one of the station’s on-air talents was doing his part in another costume. We did our job admirably, if not humorously, as the game was played in the auditorium at the Cow Palace (home of the Grand National Rodeos). My fondest memory is looking for something cold to drink after almost an hour in that costume, only to find nothing but cold beer. Only one, but boy did it go down good!
The last event was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a San Francisco Giants game from the broadcast booth at Candlestick Park. I’d been a Giants fan years before, but had switched allegiances to the Oakland A’s now that I lived on the other side of the Bay. Still, that would not detract from the fine time. It was a real treat, again driving a station car down from the Sutter Stockton Garage to the game complete with special Press parking pass. That afternoon, I enjoyed the play-by-play of Lon Simmons (a true gentleman in the world of sports announcing!) and Al Michaels (who left the station after that season to go onto a great career with ABC sports (including calling the memorable US and Russia hockey upset at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics). Rich Smalley was their engineer. Another man whose name escapes me was the color announcer for the game. I can’t recall the score or who won, but it was memorable none the less.
That summer came to an end, and I went back to school. The station gave me more than enough records that they had no interest in using. I shared them that fall with others as giveaways for the morning announcements.
While I enjoyed my internship, I guess I had my eyes opened when it came to radio. We never really talked what kind of money folks in the different roles were making. But it had become obvious that I wouldn’t be starting a career there soon.
I kept in touch with the folks at the station off and on for a year or two. Eventually, KSFO was sold to another company, and the format changed to oldies from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Today, it’s owned by Capital Cities and is an all talk radio station (a bit too far to the left for me) — part of the Disney media empire.
Here’s another link back to more of the history of KSFO as I knew and loved it.
Roger actually did give further thought to a career in broadcasting during the junior college years with a bunch of classes in the communications arena. Later on, he managed to do some community access video productions, do some magazine items (photo’s and an op ed piece), before settling here with these weekly pages. Truth be told, “WKRP” is a lot closer to reality than anyone in radio wanted to admit — then or now!
Coming along this summer: More on Nevada off the beaten path, just who is “Rat Fink” and why you should be interested in him, a surprisingly affordable one-day private car trip, tales from the convention world, and what ever else he can dredge up to amuse you.
But, it would be darn nice of you, if you could show your support and click on the link for his Amazon Honor System Paybox and throw a few million Turkish lira (1 dollar equals 1,595,100 lira) his way to keep him plugging along at the keyboard. To quote Homer Simpson, “Oooooh, how convenient.”