Wally King was well-known to KSFO listeners from the 1940s through the 1960s. While he had many roles at the station, he may be best remembered as the host of the long-running Saturday morning program Wally King’s Old 78s, on which he would display his knowledge of and love for old phonograph records.
Born Ralph Waldo King in San Jose, he graduated from San Francisco’s Lowell High School. His attendance at San Francisco State College was interrupted by the Great Depression, and King found work as a hotel manager and traveling salesman.
He joined the staff of KSFO in 1944. By 1946, KSFO would mention King in a glossy publication heralding the station’s new broadcast facilities. At the time, King was building a reputation with his The Man on the Street interview feature. King’s interviewing skills and ability to perform in front of a live audience would later be on display in a Sunday morning broadcast originating from the Sequoia Room at San Francisco’s Cliff House.
During the 1950s, King spent time delivering newscasts during Don Sherwood’s morning show on KSFO.
Wally King died in 1970 at the age of 58.