Saturday Aircheck: Remembering Dr. Don Rose

With Dr. Don Rose as morning anchor, KFRC 610 AM San Francisco was voted "Station of the Year" four times by Billboard Magazine. He was considered by many to be the king of radio in the Bay Area during the final decade of AM's musical dominance.

He was named by Billboard Magazine as Disc Jockey of the Year on both the East Coast (while with WFIL Philadelphia) and on the West Coast (while with KFRC San Francisco).

One of Rose's characteristic "sound bite" mannerisms when he was at KFRC was to state the words "that's right" in a continuous fashion that was intended to sound "crazy" or funny, which also served to represent the overall morning zoo radio format, style and "feel" of his show.

"I'm married to radio," he told The Chronicle (San Francisco) in 1975, "and I'm thinking about suing it for nonsupport. I would describe my show as therapy, for myself."

During the 1980s, Jane Dornacker worked with him doing traffic. One of his running gags was feeding the dog Roscoe. This would involve Rose telling about what he and his wife Kae ate for dinner the night before, and then Roscoe would eat the "leftovers."

WFIL Philly 1971

Despite his cheerful persona, Rose suffered over three decades of debilitating pain from assorted medical problems. In 1972, he underwent a botched heart surgery, which caused chronic knee infections that required 11 more operations and led to his losing his kneecap. He broadcast his daily radio show flat on his back from his home hospital bed for months. In 1984, after a fall made the knee problems worse, one leg was amputated.

Rose died in his sleep on March 30, 2005, due to complications from pneumonia at the age of 70. He was married for 45 years to his wife Kae, with whom he had five children.

In 2006, Dr. Don Rose was elected to the Bay Area Radio Hallof Fame as a member of the first class to be inducted.