Jim Lange was born in St. Paul, MN and launched his radio career there after graduating from the University of Minnesota. Service in the U.S. Marine Corps interrupted his broadcasting work.
Returning to civilian life, Lange moved to the Bay Area, first hosting an evening show on KGO. It wasn’t long before Lange was doing a morning show on KGO and co-hosting Bright and Early on KGO-TV.
By 1960, Lange had jumped to KSFO, which was building itself into “The World’s Greatest Radio Station”. Lange was part of the all-star cast of personalities. Among the memorable station promotions was a 24-mile footrace between Lange and Don Sherwood in 1961. The ex-Marine was an easy winner in front of an estimated 100,000 spectators.
Lange stayed at KSFO until 1983, often handling the morning show during one of Sherwood’s periodic “retirements”.
In addition to his radio work, Lange built an impressive resume as a TV host. He hosted a locally-produced game show, Oh My Word, on KGO-TV starting in 1965. That same year, Hollywood producer Chuck Barris named Lange to host The Dating Game, which ran until 1973.
Before long, Lange was hosting four TV shows while continuing his daily work at KSFO. In all, Lange hosted 16 game shows during his TV career, including a syndicated version of The Dating Game, and the popular $100,000 Name That Tune.
Lange co-hosted KGO-TV’s A.M. San Francisco for a number of years.
After a brief tour of radio duty in Los Angeles, Lange returned to Bay Area radio in 1990 to work at the “Magic 61” KFRC, followed by a stop as a weekend host on San Jose’s KKSJ (the former KEEN, now branding itself as “Magic 1370”). Lange’s final act on Bay Area radio was at KABL, where he worked from 1997 to his retirement in 2005.
Jim Lange died in 2014 at age 81.