Owen Spann was born and raised in Allegheny, PA and graduated with a degree in journalism from Penn State University. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, launching his radio carer in North Carolina after his military service.
He is best-known as a pioneering talk show host, helping shape the format during his years at KGO. Spann was an inquisitive interviewer who approached his subjects and audience with respect and gentility.
Spann spent several years as the morning host at KCBS in the 1950s and early ’60s, switching to KNBR in 1963 before landing at KGO a year later.
Spann spent the next twenty years at KGO, helping build the station’s “Newstalk” juggernaut. He left KGO in 1984.
Owen Spann died in 2002 at the age of 76.