[BC] Local Celebrities

[Steve]

Tom:

I take it the job offer was in engineering? I'm 25% tech but lean more towards programming. My interests are in audio tech.

Yes...KOBY became KQBY for a while. They had an easy listening/MOR format. In, I believe 1966 or 1968 Buckley Broadcasting bought the station and it became KKHI (the High spot on your dial)..that was the gimmick. Now it gets a bit foggy here but suffice it to say the majority of the time they were KKHI they were Classical. They eventually got an FM. (the transmitter was on Mt. Beacon where KDFC is located to this day. I worked for KDFC twice. First while in college in 1966 then as P.D. in 1980. The late Ed Davis owned KDFC and didn't like even renting space for the KKHI-FM transmitter being his station was their direct competitor. They eventually moved to San Bruno Mountain. 

Now about the mikes. When I was hanging around KOBY in 1958 they used the RCA 77's and they would shove them way off in the corner and you know what? They sounded great. The booths were built just right. You didn't have any bounce. It was amazing to me. But what does a 13 year old know, eh? Fred Krock was an engineer for KOBY and followed them over to the St. Francis and got behind the mike and did afternoon drive. He called the show "Eine Kleine Commute Muzik". Corny. What's interesting is Fred doesn't like to talk about the KOBY days for some reason. I think it's because of all the IBEW union crap that went on over the years and followed them to the St. Francis. In fact, I believe when KOBY finally got beat by KYA and KEWB they went dark then went back on the air as KQBY. KQBY didn't last long and it became KKHI. So that's the long and short of it. 

I'll add this from your other post:
As for the 3 tower array. It was designed and installed by Al Towne. (I could be wrong on the spelling) and he's no longer with us so I can't ask him. As far as keeping the pattern in I can't speak to that but I would imagine it had something to do with that South tower. It was hardly fed...as I said, almost parasitic in nature. They had a 10Kw RCA rig down there in Belmont. That I remember. Never did go to the transmitter building but I do know they did have an RCA. (at least I think they did) Could be wrong on that.

One final thing (well at least for this email) When I was P.D. at KDFC we beat KKHI for the first time in the ratings. Well, Ed Davis broke out the Champagne....literally in the afternoon and we partied. He was a strange bird but I learned a lot from him. Others on this list probably think I'm crazy. He was a good businessman. Owned a good part of Sausalito. His wife, Helen, sold the station to Brown Broadcasting then they, in turn, sold it to Bonneville for a pretty penny. They're like 5th in the market. But, then again, getting good numbers in Classical radio in San Francisco is like shooting fish in a barrel. They basically have the combined share since KKHI left town. The City always had about a 4.5 to 5.0 share available for the Classical music listener.

See, you shouldn't ask me about radio in my home town. I'll stay up until 4am typing. :) Hope I didn't bore you with all the details. I have more war stories where these came from.

Have a nice weekend!

Steve
Steve Walker Productions


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ACN 
  To: Broadcasters' Mailing List 
  Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2006 1:16 AM
  Subject: Re: [BC] Local Celebrities


  Steve, wasn't the 1550 a classical station with studios in the St Francis 
  Hotel?

  They offered me a job and I was impressed that they were using RCA 44BX 
  microphones.   In fact, they had an extra one and I purchased it from them.

  Wasn't it KKHI.

  Seems to me they had a lot of trouble getting the directional to work for 
  some reason.

  Does any of this ring a bell?

  Tom
  ACN