San Francisco-born Keith Naftaly describes himself as obsessed with radio as a child. A graduate of Lowell High School, he spent some time at student station KALX while attending the University of California, Berkeley. He broke into the radio business answering the phones for evening disc jockey and fellow 2026 BARHOF inductee Bill Lee at KFRC.
When KMEL became the Bay Area’s first Top 40 FM station in 1984, Naftaly joined as music coordinator. He was soon promoted to music director, winning The Gavin Report‘s “Music Director the Year” award in 1987, and then became the station’s program director at the age of 24. Naftaly is credited with helping KMEL deliver ratings dominance while becoming a blueprint for music stations nationwide, bridging cultural divides and amplifying urban music on a mainstream platform.
With Naftaly at the helm, KMEL moved from a standard Top 40 station to what was then considered “Rhythmic contemporary” music. In 1992, San Francisco Chronicle pop music critic Joel Selvin wrote, “Under the guidance of program director Keith Naftaly, KMEL has become a station known for playing records with a sound, rather than records with a well-known name on the label. One legendary story concerns Paul Abdul, whose career exploded after Naftaly picked a track off a record-label sampler, spotting the then-unknown Abdul as a future star.
The station’s community image was enhanced by the enormously-popular “Summer Jam” concert series produced by KMEL.
In 1993, Naftaly left KMEL to become program director of Los Angeles station KKBT, also owned by Evergreen Media.
Naftaly’s ear for hit songs led to his exit from the radio business in 1995 when he accepted the position of Vice President-A&R at Arista Records. He went on to hold executive positions with several major record labels.