Gene Nelson's Last Day Friday

[David A. Kaye]

The Bay Area has lost KKHI, KJAZ, and KGEI, and now it loses a giant.

This Friday, 8/26/94 will be Emperor Gene Nelson's last day on the
radio. According to Herb Caen's column in the SF Chronicle, he will
retire to a home in Hawaii and point to his picture on the wall of a bar
and say, "I used to be somebody."

Gene Nelson came to the Bay Area from Syracuse, New York during the heyday
of KYA, a rocker, then the "boss of the Bay" in 1962. A nice likeable
mild-mannered guy, with the voice and looks that screamed "Surfer!" he
spent the years playing rock, MOR, and oldies at KSFO and KYA with stints
doing a talk show on KGO and emceeing events. His footnote in history
might be that he was the host of the Beatles' last live concert
(Candlestick Park, 1966). Gene Nelson also taught announcing at College
of San Mateo (where I was one of his students in the early 1970s).

All told, he spent 37 years in radio. He said, "The best part was that I
spent the last 32 of them in San Francisco."

--
d...@crl.com Put the coffee on, Bubbles. I'm coming home...
San Francisco ...for the last time.