R.I.P.: Legendary Talker Gene Burns Has Passed

Gene Burns

Veteran talk radio personality Gene Burns died Saturday after a series of illnesses, including a stroke which left him with aphasia, a side-effect from a stroke.  Aphasia is a disability  where one has difficulty remembering words to losing the ability to speak, read, or write.

Burns was 72.

He most recently hosted Dining Around with Gene Burns, a food and wine program, which aired Saturdays on NewsTalk KKSF 910 AM in San Francisco.

In his early 20s, Burns was hired as news director for radio station WWHG in his hometown of Hornell, New York before moving on to WSBA in York, PA He began his career as talk radio host at WCBM in Baltimore in the mid-1960s. While at WCBM, Burns did two major international assignments, going to Vietnam in 1968 and the Middle East in 1969.

Following a brief stint with WEEI in Boston, Burns served as a talk show host as well as program director at WKIS-AM in Orlando, Florida, beginning in 1971. He would remain there until 1981, when he departed for WCAU in Philadelphia in 1981. He then returned to Orlando and WKIS in the early 1980s and was named the station's operations manager in 1984.

In 1985, Burns returned to Boston, hosting a talk show on WRKO.  In 1993, Burns moved to New York City and began hosting a nationally syndicated talk program from the studios of WOR.

In 1995, he began broadcasting for KGO 810 AM in San Francisco. He hosted a talk show of political and social commentary called The Gene Burns Program on weeknights, as well as a program that focused on wine and fine dining in the San Francisco Bay Area called Dining Around with Gene Burns which was broadcast weekly on Saturdays.

KGO's Ronn Owens reflected on the relationship he and Burns had.

Listen to KGO 810 on Sunday, May 25 at 10pm for a special honoring the life and work of Gene Burns, hosted by David Weintraub.

To share your thoughts of Gene, please go to the KGO Newstalk AM Facebook page

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Talkers magazine ranked Burns #24 on its list of The 25 Greatest Radio and Television Talk Show Hosts of All Time, in 2002.

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