Lost Stations Of The Bay Area: KSFR
DavidFJackson
which was the forerunner of KSAN ("The Jive 95"). I've put together a
short article about the station's history, along with the audio clip,
at:
http://www.bayarearadio.org/audio/ksfr
The audio -- featuring the start of a KSFR broadcast day -- was
provided by Paul Ogden, who also provided an interesting "Excursions In
Sound" broadcast from KPEN, featuring an unwell James Gabbert on the
day after Thanksgiving 1960. I'll have it online in a few days.
I'm also working on a presentation featuring video of "The Great Race"
between KSFO's Don Sherwood and Jim Lange from 1962, narrated by Aaron
Edwards and produced by the one and only Norm Howard. It should also be
online by the weekend.
There are also tribute pages to Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins (in the works at
www.ThePurpleGrotto.com) and KOME (not online yet) that are in the
works.
D.J.
John Higdon
"DavidFJackson" <djac...@bayarearadio.org> wrote:
> The audio -- featuring the start of a KSFR broadcast day -- was
> provided by Paul Ogden, who also provided an interesting "Excursions In
> Sound" broadcast from KPEN, featuring an unwell James Gabbert on the
> day after Thanksgiving 1960. I'll have it online in a few days.
You mean there were other people who that some of that stuff was worth
recording? :-)
--
John Higdon
+1 408 266 4400
Tree
Someone put me up to applying there just to have the experience. He
knew I'd worked for a competitor so he opened with, "I suppose you've
heard some things about me?" "Yes" "Well, they're not true." I saw him
work his pacing strip back and forth. It was well worn. I later worked
with an exceptional announcer who'd quit and had to get a court order
to keep Levite from calling him at all hours. He eventually sold to
Metromedia and had a five year contract to continue as manager. After
less than 6 months they bought him out. He had an elegant place on
Russian Hill with a kitchen to die for. There was a studio upstairs and
he was getting KJAZ into his Neuman microphones. That was why I was
there.
John Higdon
"Tree" <roy...@msn.com> wrote:
> KSFR was the lair of the wolfgangers. Al Levite was a piece of work.
> Someone put me up to applying there just to have the experience. He
> knew I'd worked for a competitor so he opened with, "I suppose you've
> heard some things about me?" "Yes" "Well, they're not true." I saw him
> work his pacing strip back and forth. It was well worn. I later worked
> with an exceptional announcer who'd quit and had to get a court order
> to keep Levite from calling him at all hours. He eventually sold to
> Metromedia and had a five year contract to continue as manager. After
> less than 6 months they bought him out. He had an elegant place on
> Russian Hill with a kitchen to die for. There was a studio upstairs and
> he was getting KJAZ into his Neuman microphones. That was why I was
> there.
Back in the sixties when I worked for KRPM (classical in San Jose), the
PD told the story of working for Al at KSFR. One of the highlights was
finding Robin King in the studio. The narrator of the story related how
when he introduced himself to King, the reply was (in basso profundo
tones that could only have come from the center of the earth and that
only Robin King could deliver), "Are YOU one of Al's BOYS?"
The stories WERE rampant. Nevertheless, there has never been a station
like KSFR.
Where is the Wolf Gang when we need it?
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
Tree wrote:
> KSFR was the lair of the wolfgangers. Al Levite was a piece of work.
> Someone put me up to applying there just to have the experience. He
> knew I'd worked for a competitor so he opened with, "I suppose you've
> heard some things about me?" "Yes" "Well, they're not true." I saw him
> work his pacing strip back and forth. It was well worn. I later worked
> with an exceptional announcer who'd quit and had to get a court order
> to keep Levite from calling him at all hours. He eventually sold to
> Metromedia and had a five year contract to continue as manager. After
> less than 6 months they bought him out. He had an elegant place on
> Russian Hill with a kitchen to die for. There was a studio upstairs and
> he was getting KJAZ into his Neuman microphones. That was why I was
> there.
Wait un segundo...they are Neumanns. Isn't jazz Supposed to get in them?
DavidFJackson
> Where is the Wolf Gang when we need it?
Mr. Trumbull wrote:
> KSFR was the lair of the wolfgangers.
...Could either of you shed some light on the "Wolf Gang"/"Wolfgangers"
references? According to KSFR program schedules over the years, the
morning show was always listed as "The Wolfgang - Baroque,
Renaissance and Classical Sounds."
I had assumed it was simply an oblique reference to Mozart. Was there a
more formal "Wolf Gang" listeners guild type of thing?
DJ
kimm...@gmail.com
late 70s and early 80s on KGO. I found a tape a few years ago of
recordings from the late 70s and had one of Al playing train whistles
and the soundbite from the Siera Madre movie, the Stinkin' Badges. He
would sometime refer KGO as the station with the 50,000 watt earlobes!
Just wish that site didn't have the annoying "Copyright protected"
thing as I like to open links in a new window.
K
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
I'll never hear ANY of it as long as Mr. Jackson sticks with this
communist fleabag Realaudio stuff, as I STILL haven't found an
alternative program to play it, and I have K-Lite codec pack 4.74 and
the media player.
Let the hapless Europeans listen. Real is Retard Chow. You can't copy,
you can't play, you can't care for anyone who uses it. You especially
can't make it work well and it needs more "love" than a nymphomaniac.
David, the CHRS website was down for a week and you couldn't get ahold
of the dude in charge on a cruise? Go run FEMA.
DavidFJackson
> David, the CHRS website was down for a week and you couldn't get ahold
> of the dude in charge on a cruise? Go run FEMA.
What? I'm not even a member of CHRS. I don't have anything to do with
their website. That's a snappy line about FEMA, though, considering
that you couldn't figure out which group I'm with.
Why don't you go bother somebody over at
http://www.californiahistoricalradio.com/contact.html
And if you can't lower your standards to use Real Player ... who cares?
DJ
DavidFJackson
DavidFJackson wrote:
> Some dumb-ass named "KimmiKat" wrote...
My very sincere apologies to "KimmiKat." The actual dumb-ass was some
coward who posts under a phoney name.
DJ
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
Pick on me, Kimmi didn't write it!
You may need help, you can't read anymore than I can hear you!
S. Damien Antichrist
Fuck your damn dog too.
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
Maybe I WOULD love to know about your radio history!
Right now I'm just chatting with a bunch of strange, semi-charming
people on a USENET portal.
Safety, copyrights, trying not to have an AIDS-infected served, I don't
care.
Real Media are AIDS to me, and how DARE you run a public-interest
website that demands a premium browser. I've installed until I'm sore
and I cannot open a RAM file without Real, therefore as an information
hungry radio fan, you are my enemy.
Save it? I can't VIEW it! What the fuck is the difference?
kimm...@gmail.com
each other dumb-asses! LoL
K
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
You retard. I am Steven, have been Steven and will continue to be
Steven until I die.
Maybe you should look at the email address. Same one.
You are dumb enough to use RAM files...I guess you are too dumb to
read.
As for a coward? It's my real address, tried it???????
Too dumb to live, on California life support.
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
Concrete Bob
David,
Your Bay Area Radio History website is outstanding. I have it "saved
as a favorite" on my PC, and check regularly for site updates. I
re-read my favorite sections on occasion. It's nice to know that
someone has the drive and passion to put what you have together. I
enjoy the audio downloads, exhibits and especially the station
histories.
I remember picking up many of AM and FM Bay area stations as a teen in
the 1970s from Sacramento. Around the same time, I used to go to the
library at Sac State and read all the old Billboard magazines on
microfilm, so I became well aware of KSFR and its May 1968 transition
to KSAN. It was sure interesting hearing KSFR for the first time
yesterday.
Keep up the great work, David. Now, if you know anything about "Mother
KOIT", or KSFX in it's 1971-1973 "San Francisco Experience" Progressive
Rock days, feel free to share !!
Thanks a lot, David. I'm more than impressed !!!!
markc...@sbcglobal.net
The various incarnations of 95.3 - KLGS, KTAO, KRVE - Any takers?
Howabout KPER 1290?
Or KREP 105.7?
Or KRPM 98.5?
Or KHYD 101.7 in Hayward?
Howabout the pre-Weaver KLOK 1170?
Or Joe Leavitt's KX-RX 1500?
Mark
John Higdon
markc...@sbcglobal.net wrote:
With the exception of Levitt's 1500, I've engineered each one at one
time or another.
95.3 KLGS, founded by Dick Ingraham...sold to Lorenzo Milam
(KTAO)...sold to a Portuguese group (KRVE)...sold to Gammon
(KRTY)...sold to Empire Broadcasting (Bob Kieve & associates). I do
their transmitter engineering.
KPER (and don't forget KPER-FM 94.3). 1290 became KAZA. Been Spanish
language for years. 94.3 was moved to 94.5, bumped from a Class A on Mt.
Madonna to a Class B on Loma Prieta by Wheatstone Bridge Limited
Partnership (Lorenzo, Jeremy, me, and a bunch of others). Sold to Harvey
Levin...sold to Western Cities (KWSS)...sold to some Disney Family
member (KUFX)...sold to Bay Cities...sold to Jacor...spun to CBS when
Clear Channel bought Jacor (KBAY)...sold to NextMedia.
KREP (Robert E. Podesta)...sold to Empire Broadcasting (KARA)...sold to
Hispanic.
KRPM (classical format) first went on the air in 1959 from high atop the
Hotel St. Claire in San Jose. Went dark a short time later. Came back on
the air from its current transmitter site in 1967. Sold to Ron Cutler
and Mel Gollub in 1970 and went dark at the end of the year. Came back
on as KOME on Feb. 1, 1971. and sold three years later to Jerry Carrus
and Mike Weiner, becoming the flagship station for their company which
eventually became Infinity Broadcasting. Owned by Infinity until 1998,
bought by Jacor who made it KUFX.
KHYD, moved to Livermore by Jim Gabbert so he could move 101.3 to San
Bruno. Became KKIQ Livermore. Still there.
Weaver was at KLOK when I started working there in 1972. I didn't pay
much attention to it until Weaver made it into the biggest deal in town.
My only contact with KX-RX is the fact that I tend 1370, which is
diplexed on the 1500 array.
That's the thumbnail sketch.
g...@best.cut.here.com
>95.3 KLGS, founded by Dick Ingraham...sold to Lorenzo Milam
>(KTAO)...sold to a Portuguese group (KRVE)...sold to Gammon
>(KRTY)...sold to Empire Broadcasting (Bob Kieve & associates). I do
>their transmitter engineering.
Don't forget KATD (The Cat).
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
It's still useless to try and download for me. Go ahead and be obscure,
I'm not wasting my time on either Real or Quicktime unless something
will run it without Real or QT. I still have no alternative for Real. I
downloaded stuff, it still doesn't work. You snap about what a mofo I
must be, David, yet you haven't shown me how to find that. I can likely
watch porn in 18 formats now, but no radio content.
John Higdon
g...@best.cut.here.com wrote:
Yeah, I forgot. The Portuguese owners came up with that call when they
took it "English" and before they finally sold it. We used to call it
"catted".
J. Michael Scott
markc...@sbcglobal.net wrote:
> Or Joe Leavitt's KX-RX 1500?
Dunno Joe Leavitt, but my first paying job was at KXRX (1510, btw) as a
board op at the old Wooster site (where the 1510 TX still lives, behind
what used to the Eggo potato chip factory, right next to the train
crossing over US 101). When I was there, KXRX & sister station KSJO
were owned ny Sterling Recreation Organization out of Washington state.
George Grapman
--
To reply via e-mail please delete 1 c from paccbell
J. Michael Scott
John Higdon wrote:
> 95.3 KLGS, founded by Dick Ingraham...sold to Lorenzo Milam
> (KTAO)...sold to a Portuguese group (KRVE)...sold to Gammon
> (KRTY)...sold to Empire Broadcasting (Bob Kieve & associates). I do
> their transmitter engineering.
>
Steve Joaquin LIVES!! ;)
> KREP (Robert E. Podesta)...sold to Empire Broadcasting (KARA)...sold to
> Hispanic.
WOW! I remember K-REP...one of the first FM stations I listened to....
David Kaye
> Dunno Joe Leavitt, but my first paying job was at KXRX (1510, btw) as a
> board op at the old Wooster site (where the 1510 TX still lives,
Uh, when was KXRX on 1510? As far as I know, 1510 was always the San
Rafael station, known mostly as KTIM, now KPIG. I don't remember KXRX
being on anything but 1500.
> When I was there, KXRX & sister station KSJO
> were owned ny Sterling Recreation Organization out of Washington state.
Uh....<ahem> "Up, up with people! You meet people wherever you go!
Up, up with people! They're the best kind of folks we know[....]"
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
Better than 2 hours of s'mores and Kumbaya.
Tree
Bld to Twin Peaks of the wolfgangers. The ad man Howard Gossich (sp?)
created a number of promotions used on KSFR. Some related to products
and some just for fun. For some time Bill Agie (age-ee sp?) was on KSFR
and then he moved to KKHI when it went classical. Levitt was the
founder of San Francisco Records and their releases pushed the limits
of hi-fi (pre stereo). I have several of those records and they still
sparkle. He did several with the Albert White orchestra of music from
the "gay 90s" of which "Your Father's Moustache" was best known.
John Higdon
"Tree" <roy...@msn.com> wrote:
> The reference was to Mozart. Each year there was a hike from the Ferry
> Bld to Twin Peaks of the wolfgangers. The ad man Howard Gossich (sp?)
> created a number of promotions used on KSFR. Some related to products
> and some just for fun. For some time Bill Agie (age-ee sp?) was on KSFR
> and then he moved to KKHI when it went classical. Levitt was the
> founder of San Francisco Records and their releases pushed the limits
> of hi-fi (pre stereo). I have several of those records and they still
> sparkle. He did several with the Albert White orchestra of music from
> the "gay 90s" of which "Your Father's Moustache" was best known.
Then, there was "Levitt's Basement", sort of a classical version of
Gabbert's "Excursion's in Sound". I'm told (in those days, I was just a
listener) that working as an engineer for Al was hell on wheels. He
redefined the term "perfectionist". When stereo became the mode of the
day, it got worse. I hear that Al was so sensitive to phase cancellation
that his Ampexes were sometimes aligned daily.
I found in my archives some examples of the intense rivalry between
Gabbert and Levitt, with each making oblique and sometimes not so
obscure references to each other on the air!
DavidFJackson
across this FM schedule from the San Mateo Times (Oct. 8, 1966):
http://www.bayarearadio.org/schedules/sm-times_fm-sched_oct-8-1966.pdf
Once it loads up, enlarge it to 150% to make it readable and have a
look around.
If I had the chance to travel back in time, I know I'd be tuning in on
Sunday at 6 p.m. to KBRG for "Under The Bridge."
Wonder whatever happened to the host of *that* show...
D.J.
David Kaye
> Uh....<ahem> "Up, up with people! You meet people wherever you go!
> Up, up with people! They're the best kind of folks we know[....]"
For anybody who might not get the reference, SRO used to own the "Up
With People" traveling show. They shut down some years ago, and
resurrected a few years ago. I think it's a non-profit now. Here's a
frightful thought: They're touring again.
g...@best.cut.here.com
KATD (990 AM) did, but this was sometime in the late 1990s. 95.3 did
not, as far as I can remember. The A's were on KSFO when KATD was on
95.3 back in the mid-to-late 1980s.
--gregbo
gds at best dot com
Dr. Steven Antichrist PHD
I would have rather gotten "spiritual" with a blonde from Enterprise
that night. Do you HEAR ME, Brother Swaggart?
Mike Russell
I take it that the name of the weekday show on KEAR at 6am is a typo..
-Mike
John Higdon
"Mike Russell" <squ...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> I take it that the name of the weekday show on KEAR at 6am is a typo..
No, I don't believe so. We're talking about a different era, and the
term was most likely a reference to a rooster.
Larry Vanerwegen
>> Or KHYD 101.7 in Hayward?
KHYD was 104.9 Fremont. Studios were at 555 Peralta Blvd.
Hayward 101.7 was KBBM studios (and transmitter) downdown Hayward over a
savings and loan.
John Higdon
"Larry Vanerwegen" <vaner...@deletesbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Hayward 101.7 was KBBM studios (and transmitter) downdown Hayward over a
> savings and loan.
Ironically, there is still an active 101.7 transmitter in Hayward
(KKIQ-1) with an ERP of approximately 600 watts, located atop Guy Warren
Hall.
David Kaye
> Hayward 101.7 was KBBM studios (and transmitter) downdown Hayward over a
> savings and loan.
Yup. Owned by Vern Hatfield, who later went on to own KNGT in Jackson.
The station was upstairs from the Founder's Savings office at 1036 A
Street.
Some years later I met Vern and he told me that James Gabbert actually
forced him to relocate to Livermore. Livermore had been the original
COL of 101.7, but Vern had managed to get it moved to Hayward, which
had a larger population center. When KPEN was on King's Mountain (I
think it was King's) there was no problem as KPEN was low enough in
power and the transmitter far enough away to not cause interference.
But by getting the FCC to allow him to move KPEN to Mt San Bruno, right
across the bay and in eyesight of downtown Hayward, this caused a big
problem for KBBM.
What I could never figure out is since 101.3 was the former KLX-FM and
was licensed to Oakland, why did Gabbert buy the thing and then move
its COL Atherton in the first place? Had he not done so, KBBM wouldn't
have been able to move to Hayward and Vern Hatfield wouldn't have lost
his money on 101.7.
(For clarity, I'm talking KPEN 101.3, not the station later known as
KPEN on 97.7.)
John T
As someone might say: "Oh my!"
Yeah, it's a typo. The program was The Morning Clock, featuring Omar
Andiel (Your Host While You Eat Your Toast!), who hosted until shortly
before his death in 1992.
JT
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