Born Ronald Tomberlin in Asheville, NC, Ron Lyons broke into radio while still in high school.
He wound up in California in 1960, working for a time at Sacramento’s KRAK before becoming a top-40 DJ at “Color Radio Channel 91” KEWB in Oakland.
There would be a return to Sacramento to work on-air and as program director at KROY, followed by tours at KNBR and KNEW through the late 60’s and early 70’s.
From 1974 to 1978, Lyons was back in Sacramento, hosting mornings on McClatchy’s KFBK.
Lyons had been doing fill-in work at KNBR in 1979 when the station paired Frank Dill and Mike Cleary on the morning show. Program director Ron Reynolds handed the 12 PM to 3 PM shift to Lyons.
Lyons’ final Bay Area employment was at KCBS. The all-news station hired Lyons for a hybrid job: production and morning traffic anchor. Lyons’ offbeat sense of humor and corny lines (“101 through Hospital Curve is slower than your first marriage” was typical) made him a listener favorite until his 2004 retirement.
After moving to Gold Beach, OR, Lyons spent a final few years in radio on local station KGRB.
Ron Lyons died in 2007 at age 69.