The Art Finley Show
KGO Newstalk 81
Tuesday, May 9, 1978
Listen in on a contentious hour of discussion between rock impresario Bill Graham and author Steve Chapple (“Rock’n’Roll Is Here To Pay”) as they debate the “hip capitalism” of rock concert promotion, moderated by Art Finley.
Art Finley (neé Arthur Finger) was born in West Virginia, and began his radio career at KXYZ/Houston, Texas, in 1944. Many Bay Area residents would get their first look at Art Finley in his guise as “Mayor Art,” a popular children’s program on KRON-TV (Channel 4) that first went on the air in 1958.
He also worked at KSFO/560 and had two separate stints at KGO/81 — sandwiched around moves to Vancouver, B.C., where he hosted shows on CHQM and CKNW, as well as a stretch south of the border at Gordon McLendon’s XETRA (“Extra News”), based in Los Angeles.
Mr. Finley later worked at KCBS Newsradio 74, hosting the “Nightbeat” call-in programming from 1990-1991. After his retirement from broadcasting in 1994, he took up residence near Vancouver.
His “Art’s Gallery,” which combined a classic woodcut image with a clever caption written by Mr. Finley, was a popular weekly feature in the San Francisco Chronicle and other newspapers across the country for many years.
The Art Finley Show on KGO Radio
Audio recording courtesy of the University of British Columbia archives.
Related Exhibits
* – Included in The KSFO Golden West Collection.