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, Â 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.