Aug8 Radio History

➦In 1933...singer Joe Tex was born Joseph Arrington, Jr. in Baytown Texas. This soul and Disco singer-songwriter was most popular during the 1960s and 1970s leading the Joe Tex Band. His style of speaking over music, which he called “rap”, made him a predecessor of the modern style of music. His hits include I Gotcha, Hold What You’ve Got, Skinny Legs and All, and Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman. He died following a heart attack Aug 13, 1982 just days after his 49th birthday.

➦In 1952...Robin Quivers, famous sidekick to Howard Stern, was born.

Robin Quivers

In 1979 after military service, Quivers returned to Baltimore where she studied at the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland and worked in a hospital.  She landed her first job in the radio industry with a newscasting position at WIOO 1000 AM in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, followed by WCMB 1460 AM in nearby Harrisburg. She then moved back to Baltimore for a consumer reporter role at WFBR, where she also read newscasts with morning disc jockey Johnny Walker.

In March 1981, radio personality Howard Stern started his new morning program at WWDC in Washington, D.C.. He wished for an on-air newscaster to riff with him in the studio on the news and current affairs.   That was when station program director Denise Oliver played Quivers a tape of Stern interviewing a prostitute on the air.  She "had never heard anything like it...I just said, 'where do I sign? I’ll do anything just to meet this guy!'"

➦In 1952..WMCA 570 AM NYC banned Rosemary Clooney's latest hit 'Botch-A-Me. As noted in Billboard.




➦In 1963..."Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen was released and Radio stations quickly labeled it obscene.

➦In 1966...WABC moved to 1330 Avenue of the Americas

➦In 1982...WNBC-AM, New York City began broadcasting in AM Stereo.


➦In 1986...legendary DJs, Bobby Ocean and Dr. Don Rose did their last shows on KFRC, San Francisco, California.

From 1973 until 1986, Dr. Don Rose (July 5, 1934–March 30, 2005, born Donald D. Rosenberg) was KFRC's morning air radio personality. With earlier experience at WQXI  790 AM in Atlanta and WFIL 560 AM in Philadelphia, he was known for his one-liners and sound effects. One of Rose's characteristic "sound bite" mannerisms around this time period 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. Rose revealed in a Risky Business 1980s television interview that he earned in excess of $300K a year, still incredible compensation by today's radio personality standards.

With Dr. Don as anchor, and a supporting cast that included Bobby Ocean, Rick Shaw, Dave Sholin, Harry Nelson, Bay Area Hall of Fame inductee Don Sainte-Johnn, "Marvelous" Mark McKay and John Mack Flanagan, KFRC would be voted "Station of the Year" four times by Billboard Magazine. Rose was considered by many to be the king of radio in the Bay Area during the last decade of AM's musical dominance. KFRC program directors during this period included Michael Spears, Les Garland, Gerry Cagle and Mike Phillips.

KFRC was known for its award-winning news department. It covered Bay Area news stories with tight writing, use of natural sound, short sound bites, live reports. It was "news you can dance to." Some of the best news anchors and reporters worked at KFRC in the '70s and '80s including Jo Interrante, Dave Cooke, Paul Fredricks, John Winters, Vikki Liviakis, Robert McCormick, Dave MacQueen, Stephen Capen, Mike Sugerman, Ken Bastida, John Evans, Joanne Greene, Jane Dornacker, and reporter, anchor and later News Director William Abbott. Known for his unique, confident style, would end each report with the station's signature, "This is William Abbott, KFRC 20/20 News".

Among the disc jockeys at KFRC during the 1980s were, in addition to Ocean and Rose, Chuck Geiger, future AT&T Park public-address announcer Renel Brooks-Moon and future Los Angeles radio programmer Jack Silver, who would be the last voice heard when KFRC ended its Top 40 era. Technically, Don Sainte-Johnn was the last Air Personality on KFRC (with all respect to Programmer Jack Silver, who was a manager, not considered Air Talent for KFRC). Sainte-Johnn had been specifically hired for KFRC as an Air Personality.

With the decline of the Top 40 format by mid-decade, KFRC's programming was flipped at 6 AM on August 11, 1986, to an adult standards format, and was known as "Magic 61", while still broadcasting in stereo. The last song to be played before the change was "Lights" by Journey, which had also been used in KFRC's TV advertising.








➦In 2002...New York's WNNY 1380 AM changes call letters to WLXE

➦In 2017...singer/songwriter/guitarist/actor Glen Campbell died at age 81, three years after moving into an Alzheimer’s longterm care home. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting his own music and comedy variety show on CBS television, from January 1969 through June 1972.


He released more than 70 albums in a career that spanned five decades, accumulating over 45 million record sales worldwide.