Barry Shane on the KSTN BOSS 30

Barry Shane says the fan in the foreground was the only "air conditioning" at KSTN, or maybe his show was just too hot for Stockton?

And here is Barry Salberg, 2004.

Barry Salberg grew up in Portland, Oregon and the San Francisco Bay Area.

"I caught the top-40 era first-hand, from its beginnings in the '50's, through the glory years. My first radio heroes were Dick Novak on KPOJ, and Tiger Tom Murphy on KISN. I was perhaps uniquely privileged to have heard The Real Don Steele on a daily basis on both KISN (Portland) and KEWB (Oakland) when I was in high school, and then on KHJ when I was in college at UCLA.

I'm fortunate to have experienced so many of the greats in their prime, at so many of the legendary stations of the era. At UCLA, I shared the mic (on the student station) with classmates Billy Pearl, Steve Smokin' Weed, Ken Levine, etc.

Jerry Clifton hired me for my first job out of college at KDES in Palm Springs. I left for grad school that fall, but within a few months, was back in the biz, at KSTN in Stockton - ninety+ degrees in the summer, and no AC in the control room. Then onto KROY in Sacramento, where I split time simultaneously doing afternoons at KSTN (as Barry Shane) and weekends/fill at KROY (as Shane).

I left the full-time slot at KSTN, opting for part-time at KROY. Several months later, Gary Stevens (not that many years removed from WMCA) plucked my tape from a batch of hundreds, and hired me for 7-mid at KRIZ in Phoenix. It was a short-lived stint, I was a teen jock, and they went "heavy" soon after I got there.

I used the air-name of Barry Cannon in Phoenix, and kept it when I went back to KROY later a few months later. Just a few years after that, living in Portland and working (not in radio), I talked my way into 7-mid at KISN, some ten years after the Real Don Steele occupied that very same seat.

I've been back here in the Bay Area (for the most part) ever since. Got my MBA from the Univ. of Southern California, as a mid-career effort. I am now free-lance writing — magazine features,etc. and have byline credits in virtually all of the major golf publications (GOLF, Golf Digest, etc. - even had one in Sports Illustrated.) I'm one of the contributing writers on the EA Sports 2004 Tiger Woods video game, and also do lots of other writing and various Marketing Communications and PR work."

Bill Drake, KSTN Stockton Calfornia Jock IDs (01:08)

. . . from the more music station, KSTN, Stockton! . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

Upon leaving KYA in 1962, Bill Drake was hired to split time as program director of both KYNO in Fresno, and KSTN in Stockton, California.

KSTN owner Knox LaRue (Dec. 18, 1922 - Dec. 22, 2004) was a business partner with Gene Chenault (KYNO) in various ventures. They co-hired Drake upon the recommendation of Jane Swain, LaRue's GM at KSTN, who had worked with Drake in Atlanta. While the classic KMAK-KYNO battle of Fresno has been well documented, KSTN and LaRue are certainly owed their debt as well.

A pioneer of the top-40 genre, LaRue built KSTN in 1949, and began playing the popular music of the day. As the rock era began, KSTN just stayed with it, providing a training ground for numerous talents. These rare artifacts from Drake's Stockton days are clearly precursors to the Johnny Mann acapellas and Bill Drake-voiced jock intro's and station ID's of the RKO boss era. There's little question that other elements of the Drake format were also initiated and honed during his stint at KSTN in the early '60's.

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Dave Diamond, KBTR Denver, November 1965 (16:34)

SCOPED

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

This rare aircheck features Dave Diamond in early evening, just a few months after his early evening gig at KHJ. Dave is about to get a giant billboard of himself in Denver, and he sounds happy about it.

There were lots of PAMS jingles on KBTR, and an infrequent time-tone. KBTR was tight, but what Dave was doing here was not "Boss" radio.

This recording had many technical problems, not the least of which was extreme hiss. It may be difficult to understand at first, but intelligibility improves within the first couple of minutes.

Tom Maule, KGB San Diego, 1966 (RESTORED) (57:31)

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (11:00)

UNSCOPED

'SCOPED

. . . I'm teaching my dog to speak here in the studio, come on boy, speak boy . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

Originally published by REELRADIO on January 17, 2010, the music in this rare recording contributed by Barry Salberg was restored by Rob Frankel in 2015. Now you can enjoy this youthful off-the-wall Drake DJ, who passed away in 1993, and the music he played.

I think this aircheck might appeal to the thousands of old radio guys who claim that the Drake Format didn't allow "personality". Tom Maule went on to KHJ, so apparently, no offense was taken, and all of this was apparently "Boss" (granted, at KGB, at the time.) He just did it with acapellas and without reverb.

Tom Maule probably could have easily found work on "Swinging Radio England" and many east-coast PAMS-jingled and reverbed Top 40 stations. But, that's not the way it happened.

West Coast Boss Composite, Drake-Era 60s (17:28)

. . . Drink! . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

You can really discern the difference between a Steve Jay at KGB and his work as Jay Stevens at KFRC. Great to see the similar evolution of Bobby Ocean at KGB, Harry Scarborough at K/MEN, and Pete McNeil at KYNO.

Some of the sets here have been heard on other REELRADIO exhibits, but what a wonderful mix and blend of some truly rare stuff, capped off by Humble Harv at KHJ.

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Dave Diamond, K.O. Bayley, KFRC San Francisco, 1968 (51:06)

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (15:41)

. . . I've done it again, pumped up those ratings - the question is now, can K.O. hold 'em . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

K.O. Bayley, KCBQ 1970
(Picture Courtesy Lee Simms)

It's a Friday night, and the most likely date is August 23, 1968. A couple of the Big 6-10 Goldens are rare and wonderful, for sure.

A cool surprise is the "fight bell" SFX mixed into the Bill Drake top-of-hour ID for Bayley.

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Chuck Browning, WMCA New York, January 3, 1969 (22:15)

. . . Ladies and Gentlemen, you're listening to Chuck Browning, on New York's Much More Music Station . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (8:54) If all you want is the jings and the jock and the news and the spots, this version's for you!

It's still more than worth it though, just to hear him say, "WMCA-love-the-Chucker-time," or to catch him riffing with the Temptations, and announcing, "our album will be out very soon."

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Chuck Browning, KFRC San Francisco, August 31, 1969 (01:02:06)

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (17:18)

. . . sitting here completely nude, folks, except for my jam-up Levis - I'm incredible! . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky for contributor Barry Salberg]

Chuck Browning

It's a Solid Gold Weekend and this studio recording sparkles with exceptional fidelity and Browning's sharp wit.

Chuck Browning died March 3, 1988 in San Francisco. He was survived by his wife and four children.

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1970 Los Angeles Composite, KGFJ, KRLA, KHJ (33:07)

. . . out there with our love pumps thumpin' . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky from notes by contributor Barry Salberg]

This excellent fast-moving composite includes some of the best popular music jocks on the air in L.A. in May of 1970. Originally recorded by Tom Greenleigh for contributor Barry Salberg, it includes segments from three legendary stations and seven outstanding personalities.

• (00:00 - 05:38) KGFJ: Don Tracy, Jim Wood
• (05:39 - 17:22) KRLA: Jay Stevens, Dick Sainte, Russ O'Hara
• (17:23 - 33:00) KHJ: Chuck Browning, The Real Don Steele

Just prior to this aircheck, Jay Stevens had been at KFRC. The KHJ segment includes Thom Beck with a fabulous Irwindale Raceway spot, and the Steele show wraps with a Fractious Friday signoff. The intro for KSTN's Barry Shane at the end of the exhibit was a gag for the contributor.

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Bobby Ocean KCBQ Promos, 1971 (03:06)

. . . KCBQ, with radio's greatest prize . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]
[LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED - MAY BE OFFENSIVE. SEE COMMENTS]

Always acclaimed for his vocal work, Bobby Ocean's production skills, and particularly his writing ability, have gotten comparatively short shrift in recent years. Here, in these 1971 KCBQ contest promos, he puts it all together — certainly among his finest work ever, and clearly some of the most artful station production of the top-40 era.

For those who appreciate superlative craftsmanship and creativity, these are a special treat, and a rare slice of some of the best of the short-lived Buzz Bennett reign at KCBQ.

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Ted Jordan, KYNO Fresno CA., 1971 (06:03)

. . . four o'clock in the mother city of the valley, babies . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

Those who really know their stuff won't fail to note the heavy Dick Sainte influence in Ted Jordan's delivery here. As the AA farm team in the Drake hierarchy, KYNO was a radio anomaly. It had the finest equipment (the classic Collins board), and a wonderful control room — facilities well beyond the norm for a mid-market station.

It was a palace compared to the rustic surroundings of KSTN in Stockton, where Ted Kraft (Jordan) toiled before being hired by then KYNO PD, Harry Miller (Eric Chase). Jordan is a fun specimen, highly stylized, not the usual straight Drake pipe-and-hype. Though a little rough around the "impressionistic" edges, this is a bittersweet sample from the minor leagues of the Drake glory years.

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John Harding, KRIZ Phoenix AZ, January 6, 1972 (04:46)

. . . as we kick out the jams . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

The first time I heard the unusual voice of John Harding, I was driving into Phoenix, having just been hired to do 7-midnight at KRIZ. I thought to myself, the guy sounded like an eighty-year-old version of the Wolfman's father, while my own pipes were more akin to that of an adolescent. I was astonished when we met, and discovered we were both the same age, in our early '20s. Gary Stevens, just a few years removed from his own jock days at WMCA, was the station GM. No doubt, the faint echo that surrounds John's vocal work here was Gary's east coast hand.

John was a nice guy, clearly had his personal demons, and aspired so much to work at one of the major Chicago stations. As noted elsewhere on the site, he went on from KRIZ to WCAO in Baltimore, and then to WIBG in Philadelphia. John took his own life just prior to assuming his first shift as summer relief at WCFL.

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TM Productions Pacific and Southern Jingle Demo, 1972 (12:02)

. . . George Burns, the programming genius who beat Bill Drake in Cincinnati . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

Everyone's entitled to make a buck, and the TM spin-meisters were blowing hard even back then. All this pomposity and verbiage about simply yet another jingle package.

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Chuck Cannon, WSGA Savannah GA. 1976 (08:04)

. . . Love will sleep us together . . .

[Description by Barry Salberg]

It's a shame Chuck Cannon never became a star at one of the major stations - clearly, an under-appreciated and un-sung master of the craft. His brilliant interaction with vocals and various musical elements was/is as good as any in the business. His diction is impeccable - you can actually understand every word. And what a devilish charm in his vocal notes - you can almost "hear" the wink in his eye as pulls off set after set. Chuck's now back working on the S.E. Coast again, and sounding every bit as good as he did on this tape. Are you listening KRTH, WCBS-FM, KFRC?