August 8 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 her hometown of 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, PA, 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 wanted 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 singer Rosemary Clooney's latest hit 'Botch-A-Me.




➦In 1963..."Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen was released and some radio stations thought it contained obscene lyrics.

➦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 aired their last shows on KFRC 610 AM, San Francisco.

From 1973 until 1986, Dr. Don Rose (Born Donald Rosenberg July 5, 1934–March 30, 2005) 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 was "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. 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. Today, 610 AM is home to KEAR, a non-commercial traditional Christian radio station. KEAR is the flagship station of Family Radio,








➦In 2002...New York's WNNY 1380 AM changes call letters to WLXE. Today 1380 AM is home to WKDM,  an ethnic brokered radio station owned by Multicultural Broadcasting and airs programming in Mandarin Chinese,

➦In 2017...singer/songwriter/guitarist/actor Glen Campbell died at age 81, three years after moving into an Alzheimer’s long-term 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.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

Lindsay Sloane is 43

• Actor Nita Talbot is 90. 
• Actor Dustin Hoffman is 83. 
• Actor Connie Stevens is 82. 
• Country singer Phil Balsley of The Statler Brothers is 81. 
• Actor Larry Wilcox (“CHiPS”) is 73. 
• Actor Keith Carradine (“Madam Secretary”) is 71. 
• Drummer Anton Fig (“Late Show With David Letterman”) is 67. 
• Actor Donny Most (“Happy Days”) is 67. 
• Keyboardist Dennis Drew of 10,000 Maniacs is 63. 
• Actor-turned-investment banker Harry Crosby (“Friday the 13th”) is 62. 
• News anchor Deborah Norville is 62. 
• Guitarist The Edge of U2 is 59. 
• Drummer Rikki Rockett of Poison is 59. 
• Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 58. 
• Singer Scott Stapp of Creed is 47. 
• Country singer Mark Wills is 47. 
• Guitarist Tom Linton of Jimmy Eat World is 45. 
• Singer J.C. Chasez of ’N Sync is 44. 
• Singer Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees is 44. 
• Actor Tawny Cypress (“Heroes”) is 44. 
• Singer Marsha Ambrosius (Floetry) is 43. 
• Actor Lindsay Sloane (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”) is 43. 
• Actor Countess Vaughn (“The Parkers,” ″Moesha”) is 42. 
• Actor Michael Urie (“Ugly Betty”) is 40. 
• Actor Meagan Good (“Think Like a Man”) is 39. 
• Guitarist Eric Howk of Portugal. The Man is 39. 
• Actor Jackie Cruz (“Orange Is the New Black”) is 36. 
• Singer Shawn Mendes is 22. 
• Actor Bebe Wood (“The Real O’Neals”) is 19.