KDIA Boss Soul Radio, Oakland
Lucky 13 Survey
Week Ending November 18, 1966
Jackie Wilson jumps up two places with “Whispers” to take over the top spot on the KDIA Lucky 13 music survey for November 18, 1966. Bumped out of the #1 position is Eddie Floyd’s “Knock On Wood,” while James Brown (“Don’t Drop Out”), Wilson Pickett (“Mustang Sally”), Aaron Neville (“Tell It Like It Is”) and Stevie Wonder (“A Place In The Sun”) have hits that are happening on “Boss Soul Radio.”
On the air at KDIA during the final months of 1966 were Mike Shepherd (6-10 a.m.), John Hardy (10 a.m.-2 p.m.), Bob White (2-7 p.m.), Chuck Scruggs (7 p.m.-1 a.m.) andWally Ray (1-5 a.m.); the station aired religious programming during the one-hour period between the end of Ray’s overnight shift and the start of Shepherd’s sunrise show.
Over the Summer, KDIA had moved the legendary George Oxford — “G.O.” or just plain “Jumpin′” to his listeners — from his long-held slot as the station’s morning voice into a part-time weekend position. Jumpin′ had worked at the station back in the early 1950s when it was known as KWBR before moving to KSAN (which later became KSOL), then back to KDIA.
Replacing Jumpin’ in the morning shift was Detroit-born Mike Shepherd (air name of Michael C. Gwynne, occasionally credited as “Mike Sheppard”), who had worked his way from San Francisco — he was briefly employed by KPFA as an announcer while living in The City in the early 1960s — to stops across the radio landscape in Mobile, Fresno, Honolulu and Monterey; while toiling in Monterey, he was contacted by KDIA’s manager, Bill Doubleday, about coming to work at the Oakland station. It was Doubleday, in fact, who turned Gwynne into a Shepherd, basing his new moniker on the pioneering astronaut, Alan Shepard.
After subsequent stops at KGFJ/Los Angeles, WWRL/New York and CHUM/Toronto, and a return to the name he was born with, Gwynne embarked on a very successful acting career, appearing in numerous television shows (including “Simon & Simon,” “Knight Rider,” “MacGyver,” “Falcon Crest,” “Baretta” and “Hill Street Blues”) and movies (including playing “The Duke Of Rock” in Howard Stern’s “Private Parts”).
ORIGINAL SIZE: 6.5×4.25 inches (flat).
SOURCE: Bay Area Radio Museum Collection.
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