Los Angeles-born Bill Shaw grew up in Pasadena and graduated from UCLA.
He joined CBS as a trainee just before World War 2, then spent four years as an Army pilot before returning to work for CBS in Los Angeles. He served as station manager at KNX and then moved to New York as sales manager of the CBS Radio Network.
When Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters purchased KSFO in 1956, Shaw was offered the job of general manager.
Over the next twenty years, Shaw would preside over the building of the legendary KSFO, which billed itself as “The World’s Greatest Radio Station”. That included the hiring of on-air talent like Don Sherwood, Jim Lange, Carter B. Smith, Dan Sorkin, and Al “Jazzbeau” Collins, the acquisition of broadcast rights for both the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers, and the development of a respected news department.
Shaw became president of all of Golden West’s stations, holding that title until his 1977 retirement. Shaw helped found and served as the first president of the San Francisco Radio Broadcasters Association and served on the boards of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau.
Bill Shaw died in 2008 at age 93.