KFRC was a radio station in San Francisco, California in the United States, which made its first broadcast on Wednesday, September 24, 1924, from studios in the Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street. KFRC originally broadcast with 50 watts on the 270 meter wavelength (equal to about 1110 kHz.), then moved to 660 kHz. in April 1927. As part of nationwide frequency reallocations on November 11, 1928, KFRC was moved to 610 kHz., until 2005.
TOP: Survey No.1 c.1966. BOTTOM: "Big 610 Men", Class of 1966. From left: Royce Johnson, Mike Phillips, Bobby Dale, Steve O'Shea, Howard Clark, Ed Mitchell, Glenn Adams.At times KFRC called itself "Frisco Radio". 1950s KFRC competitors with similar formats included KSFO, KNBC (formerly KPO, later KNBR), KGO and KROW (later KABL). Entering the 1960s, with Top 40 rock and roll radio growing in strength, MOR stations had declining shares of listeners and revenue. Not all of them could survive as MOR.
In February 1966, KFRC flipped to a Top 40 rock and roll music format, and quickly became the dominant station in the region with that format through the 1970s, featuring the tight, carefully programmed sound developed by RKO General's national program director, Bill Drake, formerly of cross-town rival KYA, and program directors Tom Rounds and, later, Les Turpin.
During the Drake era, KFRC was responsible for two memorable concerts. The station presented several prominent acts at the “The Beach Boys Summer Spectacular” at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in June 1966. On June 10 and 11, 1967, KFRC organized and hosted the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival at the summit of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California. Occurring one week before the Monterey Pop Festival, the event is regarded as the first rock festival in history.
Dave DiamondDecember 21, 1970
KFRC in the Winter of 1967, including Howard Clark, Les Turpin, Mike Phillips, Jay Stevens and Dale Dorman, plus news with Ron Robertson, Bob Safford, Mel Knox and Art Laskey. Courtesy of Barry Salberg. [ LISTEN ] (37:33)
Dave Diamond with another segment of the Diamond Mine on June 20, 1968. [ LISTEN ] (31:02)
Dave opens up with Neil Diamond, a classic American Dream Coke commercial, Smokey Robinson, Doublemint Gum commercial (taste so good and lasts so long!), Ray Charles sings "Eleanor Rigby", Olympia Beer, and "2001: A Space Odessey" is playing at the Golden Gate Theater, The Beach Boys are thinking of Good Vibrations, and much more.
For several years, KFRC had extended local newscasts on its AM station, under the leadership of news director Bob Safford; however, management decided to curtail news coverage, so Safford and other news staff moved to other news broadcast departments in San Francisco, including KCBS Radio and KGO-TV.
Program One (c.1967) [ LISTEN ]
In the late 1960s, KFRC-FM utilized one of the first computer-operated automation systems in the country. On New Year's Eve and Day KFRC would count down their top 100 songs of the past year.
The centerpieces of this edition are Phil Ochs' epic "Crucifixion," from his "Pleasures Of The Harbor" LP, released on October 31, 1967, and The Rolling Stones' "We Love You," released in the United States in September 1967.
Program Two (c.1967) [ LISTEN ]Featuring "I'll Be Your Mirror" by The Velvet Underground & Nico (July 1966); "People Are Strange" by The Doors (September 1967); "Child Of Clay" by Jimmie Rodgers (September 1967); and "It's the Little Things" by Sonny & Cher (August 1967), as well as a reprise of "We Love You" by the Stones.
Program Three [ LISTEN ] and the last chapter Program Four [ LISTEN ]
Doctor DonDr. Don Rose August 9, 1974 [ LISTEN ] (57:20), in April 1976 [ LISTEN ] (1:29:40) and again some time in March of 1978. [ LISTEN ] (22:07)
From 1973 until 1986, Dr. Don Rose was KFRC's morning air radio personality. With earlier experience at WQXI (AM) in Atlanta, Georgia, and WFIL in Philadelphia, he was known for his one-liners and sound effects. One of Rose's characteristic "sound bites" 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 1980s TV interview that he earned in excess of $300K a year! 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.
The station began broadcasting in AM stereo in the early 1980s. Among the disc jockeys at KFRC during the 1980s were, in addition to Ocean and Rose, 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.
Sainte-JohnnWith 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 2005, the owners, Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio), announced the sale of the AM station, which was anticipated to receive new call letters. The sale price was reported to be $35 million. The oldies format of KFRC AM and FM was scheduled to continue on the FM frequency.
On September 5, 2005, KFRC-FM, the only oldies outlet in San Francisco moved their format ahead ten years switching to a '70s & '80s music format. The station billed itself as "the Bay Area's Classic Hits". However, more Oldies from the 1960s had been added in months around this time.
The legendary KFRC call letters left the AM band on October 17, 2005, when the KEAR call letters were transferred from 106.9 FM to 610 AM. Meanwhile, 106.9 FM had become KIFR, an outlet for CBS Radio's new Free FM talk format.
It was announced on December 22, 2008 that starting on New Year's Day 2009, KYCY 1550 AM would switch to an oldies music format courtesy of Scott Shannon's "The True Oldies Channel" (programmed by ABC Radio), using the KFRC callsign. (In another twist, AM 1550 was KOBY in the late 1950s, playing then-new Top 40 songs that 50 years later KFRC played as oldies.) This incarnation of KFRC ended on September 1, 2011, when it became Indian-targeted KZDG.
WHO WORKED FOR KFRC? Here is the list: Big Bob Anthony, Jack Armstrong, Ted Atkins, K.O. Bayley, B.R. Bradbury, Chuck Browning, Gary Bryan, Chuck Buell, Scott Burton, Bill Calder, Tom Cale, Myles Cameron, 'Citizen' Bill Carpenter, Jim Carson, Ron Casteel, John Catchings, Candi Chamberlain, Eric Chase, Howard Clark, Al 'Jazzbeaux' Collins, Chris Collins, Dave Diamond, Paul Drew, J. Paul Emerson, John Evans, John Mack Flanagan, Bob Foster, Beverly Fox, Jack Friday, Erin Garrett, Dean Goss, Phil Hall, Bob Hamilton, Khan Hamon, William R. Hatch, Jack Hines, Howard Hoffman, Bob Kanner, Shotgun Tom Kelly, JoJo Kincaid, Jim Lange, Bill Lee, Brian Lee, Phil Lerza, Chuck Martin, Tom Maule, Kevin McCarthy, Marvelous Mark McKay, Kevin Metheny, Bobby Mitchell, Harry Nelson, Pat Norman, Big Ed O'Brien, Bobby Ocean, Ron Parker, Mike Phillips, Mike Reily, Tom Richard, Mike Rivers, Duke Roberts, Dr. Don Rose, Tom Rounds, Dick Saint, Don Sainte-Johnn, Bob Schuman, Shana, Shannon, Chris Sharp, Rick Shaw, Don Sherwood, Dave 'The Duke' Sholin, Michael Spears, Jay Stevens, Sebastian Stone, Ray Sweeney, Russ 'The Moose' Syracuse, Frank Terry, Les Turpin, Charlie Van Dyke, Beau Weaver, and Brian White.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Bay Area Radio, Airchexx, BCX News, KFRC The Big 610.
