I was born in 1956 and grew up in Burbank, California making me 9 years old when "93 KHJ Boss Radio" hit the airwaves! I was hooked from the start and knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.

My brother and I spent our youth listening to the radio and trying to win all of the contests on the radio while living that So-Cal lifestyle!

In the fall of 1974 I started my freshman year at Pepperdine University in Malibu and helped to put the campus radio station KMBU-FM on the air. After 4 years, with a B.A. in communications I started my professional radio journey at KWTC Barstow, California.

I climbed the radio ladder at KTIX Pendleton, Oregon; KUHL Santa Maria, California; KACY Oxnard, California and part time at KMGG Los Angeles before landing my first fulltime major market shift at KNBQ Tacoma/Seattle.

While in Seattle I also worked at KBSG, KRPM, KMPS and KKBY before transitioning out of radio after 25 years on the air into fundraising event management.

For the past 16 years I have worked as a fulltime fundraising auctioneer with Stokes Auction Group. I travel around the country conducting auctions for various groups such as JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), March of Dimes, American Heart Association and many others big and small.

To date I have done auctions in 35 states. In 2015 I did 64 auctions and helped those organizations raise more than 15 million dollars!

KNBQ Tacoma/Seattle Washington Composite 1983 (06:07)

. . . Stand by for an audio profile of the Pacific Northwest's favorite contemporary hit radio station . . .

KNBQ was licensed to Tacoma, about 30 miles south of Seattle but was giving KUBE a run with a high energy top 40 format. As I recall, this was a time of transition for KNBQ (I arrived in March of 1984), Gary Bryan (now at K-Earth) had gone to KISW and Sean Lynch was the PD/Midday Jock. John Murphy & newsman Mark Pierce were holding down mornings. Beau Roberts was doing PM Drive, in 2015 he was the imaging voice of KZOK. Ron Harris was doing nights and was moved to weekends/fill-in in the spring of 1984. Jennifer Michaels handled overnights.

By the fall of 1984 Morning man John Murphy would leave for Z100 in Portland, Oregon and most of the rest of the staff had turned over before that in the spring of 1984. The narrator was production director R.P. McMurphy, who would end up in the AM Drive slot with newsman Mark Pierce in the spring of 1984.

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KNBQ Tacoma/Seattle Washington Composite 1984 (11:11)

. . . I believe in equal sexes, open your own damn door . . .

In the spring of 1984, KNBQ turned over almost its entire on air staff. The lone holdovers were the AM Drive team of John Murphy & Newsman Mark Pierce under PD Sean Lynch. By the fall of 1984 Murphy was gone to Z100 in Portland, Lynch was out and R.P. McMurphy slid into the morning spot with new PD Ric Hansen handling the early midday shift. This was a high energy top 40 station playing the hits, with an uptempo jingle package and/or talk between every song. There were lots of promotions and giveaways going on ALL the time!

AM Drive - RP McMurphy & Mark Pierce

Early Midday - Ric Hansen (formerly with KJR)

Late Midday - Tim Edwards

PM Drive - Jeff Randall

Nights - Jay Philpott

Overnights - Sandy Louie (formerly with KFRC)

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Slim, KNBQ Tacoma/Seattle Washington Composite 1987 (12:43)

. . . These are the Men Without Pants . . .

The Slim One rolled into the Northwest for reasons unknown to me, but we were glad she found us at KNBQ. We all knew her reputation from her past work at some legendary stations and I couldn't believe I got to work with someone like Slim - she did weekends and I did afternoon drive!

1987 was about the time that Viacom acquired the station from local owner the Tacoma News Tribune and from the time they took over there was a plan — but Slim managed to make any shift at any station her own!

Around 1988 Viacom changed the calls/format to KBSG/Oldies thinking that we were the third top 40 in the market. Shortly after the switch the "research" showed that KNBQ would have been #2, beating KPLZ just behind longtime market leader KUBE. After a long run with the oldies format the frequency is now KIRO-FM news/talk.

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