The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame
Class of 2015
Dusty Street, Mike Colgan, Lissa Kreisler, Harvey Stone, Gil Haar, Bill Ruck for Ken Nielsen and Zia Schwartz for Peter Scott
The 2015 Radio Hall Of Fame Induction luncheon held at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco was quite successful. Over 120 were in attendance, enjoyed good food, good friends and a great induction celebration. Host Terry McGovern kept the crowd entertained and kept the event moving along.
But now…
WATCH THE BARHOF INDUCTION CEREMONY ON YOUTUBE
Thanks to CHRS Chairman Mike Adams for shooting and posting the video.
Congratulations to all of our 2015 members of the Bay Area Radio Hall Of Fame!
Program Host – DUSTY STREET
Dusty Street got her start in Bay Area radio as one of the fabled “chick engineers” at KMPX in 1967. She became a DJ when she moved over to KSAN after the KMPX strike. She spent a few years at KTIM before moving to the LA market from 1979 to 1995. Dusty has spent the last 10 years with SiriusXM as a radio host on Classic Vinyl.
Program Host – LISSA KREISLER
South Bay native Lissa Kreisler started her career at KLOK in the news department after graduating from San Jose State. When the station switched formats, she jumped over to KBAY doing news before become co-host of the morning show with fellow BARHOF member Sam Van Zandt. The Lissa-Sam show has put KBAY on the top of the San Jose ratings.
News – MIKE COLGAN
Mike Colgan has been part of the Bay Area radio scene for the past 40 years. He has covered most of the top news stories in the Bay Area during this period. He began his career at KFRC, the Big 610, as part of the great 20/20 news team. He then did some DJ work at KPEN in Los Altos before joining KCBS in 1988. Mike currently works out of the Silicon Valley Bureau.
Sports – JOHN MADDEN
Coach John Madden is our inductee in the sports category. John started on KSFO with legendary Gene Nelson. Then John switched to KNBR when Gene retired, moved to KCBS when Frank Dill called it a day and since 1988, Coach Madden has worked with Al Hart and then Stan Bunger on the KCBS morning program. John’s insight into the world of sports (oh yah Football too) has made his show a must for radio sports listeners over the past 27 yrs.
Pioneer – GIL HAAR
First of two pioneer inductees is Gil Haar. Gil was brought in from Denver to work at KOBY as a DJ in 1958. When the station fell to the KYA and KEWB promotional onslaught, he moved to Fresno’s KMJ for 5 yrs. When Gil came back to the Bay Area in 1966 he spent the next 22 year as a news director at KNEW, KNAI (news and information), a reporter at KCBS and finally News Director of Magic 61 before retiring in 2001.
Pioneer – ELMA GREER*
Our second legendary pioneer is KSFO music director Elma Greer. Elma started her 28-year tenure with KSFO in 1960. During this period, besides serving as music director, she was also assistant program director. She was named music director of the year three times by the Gavin Report as well as receiving several gold records. One of Elma’s favorite duties was to help SF State students pull records for their DJ debut on “Records at Random”, Sunday nights on the ‘World’s Greatest Radio Station.’
Executive / Manager – HARVEY STONE
Harvey Stone served 33 years as General Manager/President of KBLX; from the purchase of KRE by Inner Cities broadcasters until the sale to Entercom in 2012. He guided the “Quiet Storm” against the giant corporate stations to be rated in the top 3 on a consistent basis through the 1990s. He also is the godfather of CHRS for providing the historic KRE building in Berkeley as our first home.
Engineer / Educator – KEN NIELSEN*
Ken Nielsen is a true radio and TV pioneer. Ken came to the Bay Area from Denver in 1941 and convinced the San Francisco Unified School District to apply for an FM license and purchase the RCA demonstration FM transmitter used at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. The end result was KALW, the first FM station on the West coast. Later Ken convinced the school district to purchase TV cameras and related equipment for classes. The equipment was used after school hours to help start KQED-TV.
Ken Nielsen, the educator, set up and developed both programming and engineer classes at the school district. He conducted classes and managed KALW until his retirement in 1975.
Specialty – PETER SCOTT
Peter Scott (born Peter Schwartz) came to KSFO after several years at KSJO in San Jose. Peter worked his way up from production coordinator to production director to assistant program director under Al Newman and then Program Director in the middle to late 1970s. He kept the ‘World’s Greatest Radio Station’ on an even keel during the rise of underground and free-form competition. After his KSFO days, he owned his own recording studio in San Francisco and did voiceovers until his passing in April 2008.
THE BAY AREA RADIO HALL OF FAME SELECTS
KPEN 101.3 FM
AS LEGENDARY STATION FOR 2015
The Bay Area Radio Hall Of Fame (BARHOF) a program of the California Historical Radio Society, is pleased to announce the selection of KPEN 101.3 FM, Atherton / San Francisco, as BARHOF Legendary Station for 2015. This is a great story. It’s a story of entrepreneurship, innovation and a passion for radio. KPEN’s history is legendary. It was created by two Stanford students named James Gabbert and Gary Gielow, and started broadcasting in 1957 from a 120-year-old adobe hut.
KPEN was a station of innovations and firsts. It was the first station west of the Mississippi to broadcast in Multiplex Stereo, the first FM station in Northern California to broadcast 24 hours a day, the first to limit commercials to 6 per hour; KPEN produced the first Live Stereo remote broadcast. KPEN prided itself on airing fine quality programming with the highest quality FM, then FM Multiplex Stereo signal possible. The gear that generated that signal was constantly tweaked and improved, always making it state-of-the-art for the times.
The two kids from Stanford who said, “Let’s build our own radio station” succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and KPEN thrived and grew towards another first. In 1968 the FCC was petitioned to change KPEN’s call sign to KIOI, to be known as K101. Historic KPEN paved the way for the powerhouse K101 would become.
For more information and audio clips from KPEN please click here. Historic KPEN 101.3 FM proudly joins KSAN Jive 95, KCBS, KGO, KFRC, KNBR and KSFO as the newest BARHOF Legendary Station.
On Wednesday, June 17th, at 11:30 am, the Bay Area Broadcast Legends will feature the induction of KPEN into BARHOF as the Legendary Station for 2015. Come join the celebration as KPEN founders James Gabbert and Gary Gielow take the stage. Ben Fong-Torres will moderate a discussion about this historical station by the men who created it. The stories Gary and Jim have to tell will be fascinating. Join the Legends as they host the BARHOF Legendary Station induction as part of their Spring Luncheon at Spenger’s in Berkeley. Tickets are $47.25 for a great lunch and event. For tickets visit:http://www.broadcastlegends.com
Also, a new book, “The Story of KPEN,” has been donated to CHRS. “The Story of KPEN” is the definitive book about the history of this pioneering station. Proceeds from “The Story of KPEN” will go to the California Historical Radio Society and its Bay Area Radio Museum and Hall of Fame. To order, please visit: http://www.californiahistoricalradio.com/kpen-story-order/ (Sale price of $23.95 includes shipping.)
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the reunion. Would love to have been there. Even though my time at KSAN was brief, I will always be grateful to Tom Donohue, for taking me on doing weekends, vacations and fill-ins before moving me to LA as PD at KMET.
ME AND Bonnie worked together at KSJO, along with her former husband Bob.
It was great hearing Dusty relate her stories and I can still hear her on XM.
Ben, thanks for putting this together.
Fortunately, I’m still working in broadcasting in syndicated radio and still enjoy. It.
I don’t know the process for nominations, but, I think the late Laura Ellen Hopper (KFAT-Gilroy, KPIG-Freedom) is VERY deserving to be in the BARHOF. Not only was she instrumental in radio partnerships that spawned two great radio stations (folks still talk about KFAT-Gilroy), those stations are credited with inventing the “Americana” music non-format (it was a blend of different genre’s, not just banjo’s, fiddles, & yodelling). As not only a broadcaster but also a Bay Area native, I salute the BARHOF in it’s mission & efforts, and hope y’all understand the contribution that Laura Ellen Hopper made.
Long John,
You may enter your nomination at https://bayarearadio.org/hof/criteria
I would like to nominate Wes Nisker to the Hall of Fame. How do I do that?
Scoop Nisker was inducted into BARHOF as a member of the Class of 2016.