Harrison Holliway

HARRISON HOLLIWAY was born in San Francisco in 1900. Graduating from Lowell High, he studied law at Stanford. Meanwhile, however, he had become vitally interested in radio, first as an amateur operator when he established a long distance record for the Pacific Coast and later as commercial operator at sea. He assisted in the installation of the original 50-watt KFRC station of which he has been manager since 1924. In conjunction with his executive duties he acts as master of ceremonies on special programs.

— from Stars Of The Radio, 1932 Edition

Harrison Holliway’s life revolved around radio from the time he built his first radio receiver at age eleven. In 1922, he took a leave of absence from Stanford and, along with friend Harold Shaw, installed and operated KSL, the short-lived Emporium Department Store station.

He and two friends, Harold Peery and Alan Cormack, started KFRC in 1924 with two investors, Jim Threlkeld and Thomas Catton. The station changed hands in 1925 to the City of Paris Department Store, and again in 1926 to auto dealer Don Lee. It quickly became one of the best stations on the West Coast, and Holliway was its Manager and Announcer.

He rode the success of the station throughout the years of the Columbia-Don Lee Network, and then was named General Manager of KFI in Los Angeles in 1935. He passed away suddenly in 1942 at the age of 42.

Harrison Holliway was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the first class to be honored.