The News Vault from KCBS Radio

KCBS Radio coverage of the January 21, 1985 San Francisco parade for the 49ers after their 38-16 victory over Miami in Super Bowl XIX the day before. The game was played at Stanford Stadium. Coverage is anchored by Charlie Seraphin and Valerie Coleman.

KCBS Radio news aircheck. Approximately 30 minutes as David Fowler anchors after 11 pm on October 10, 1974. Fowler was a KCBS reporter and San Jose bureau chief in the 1970's before moving to television reporting and anchoring in 1975 (KPIX and later KRON). This segment includes a report by Bob Safford and a sports report by longtime KCBS Radio Sports Director Don Klein. Our thanks to the California Historical Radio Society/ Bay Area Radio Museum for preserving this segment in digital form from the original reel-to-reel recording.

Broadcast on December 8, 1960. The KCBS Radio documentary "Expedition: B-24" told the story of the 1943 crash of a B-24 bomber into an unnamed High Sierra lake and the 17-year effort by the father of the co-pilot to find the wreckage. The program was written by Fred Goerner and anchored by Dave McElhatton and won a 1961 Sigma Delta Chi journalism award. Audio preserved by the California Historical Radio Society's Bay Area Radio Museum.

1983 "demo reel" of KCBS Radio coverage of various stories. Numerous segments include: Coalinga earthquake, grounding of USS Enterprise, Fleet Week live coverage, example of 8:06 AM "Beat Check". Anchors include Mike Pulsipher, Stan Bunger, Al Hart and Don Mozley.

Early 1960's station presentation reel for advertisers, hosted by Dave McElhatton. It includes samples of a number of programming elements woven together by morning host McElhatton in his folksy style.

1962 KCBS documentary "The Silent Thunder" looks back on the Pacific Theater during World War 2. Reporter Fred Goerner interviews a number of people, including Pacific Fleet Commander in Chief Admiral Chester Nimitz. He also visits Tinian Island, the launching point for the atomic bomb attacks on Japan.

Droughts are a fact of life in California. The one that lasted between 1986 and 1992 was a bad one. In 1991 alone, state officials would estimate the drought cost the state $1 billion in agriculture losses, increases in energy costs and damage to the environment—that’s close to 2 billion in today’s dollars. In the winter of 1991, KCBS Radio ran a series of reports entitled “Drought Watch”, looking at what had already happened—and what may lie ahead. You’ll hear discussion of things like drip irrigation, advanced weather forecasting, new approaches to water storage, challenges to agriculture, urban water rationing, Reporters are Mike Sugerman, Jim Taylor, Barbara Taylor, Dave Padilla, Jerry Wilcox, Mike Colgan, Chris Cutter and Paula Drake.

On March 20 2003, protests broke out around the world, including in the Bay Area, after the start of the US/British ground invasion of Southern Iraq. KCBS Radio coverage was anchored by Patti Reising with field reports delivered by Margie Shafer in San Francisco and Doug Sovern in Berkeley. Ron Cervi delivered airborne reports.

A KCBS Radio "In Depth" special report broadcast on April 12, 1993. Reporter Rebecca Corral examined concerns about increasing acts of violence perpetrated by teenagers.

On March 14, 1993 KCBS Radio broadcast a special report on a story that had gripped Bay Area sports fans for months: the sale of the San Francisco Giants. Just before a deal to sell the team to buyers in St. Petersburg, Florida was to be concluded, a group of local investors led by Safeway Stores CEO Peter Magowan came forward. KCBS Radio sports anchor Steve Bitker produced this special report with assistance from Ron Lyons.

The January 17, 1993 edition of the KCBS Radio weekly program "In Depth" featured an interview with Peter Magowan, the Safeway Stores CEO who five days earlier had, along with a group of investors purchased the San Francisco Giants baseball team. The previous owner, Bob Lurie, had planned to sell the team to a group from St. Petersburg, Florida before the Magowan group came forward. The interview was conducted by Steve Bitker and Ed Cavagnaro.

On March 23, 1969 KCBS Radio broadcast an episode of its weekly “In Depth” interview program, featuring controversial interm San Francisco State College President S. I. Hayakawa as the guest. Interviewers were KCBS Radio anchor Fred Wilcox, reporter Al Helmso, and legendary Time-Life journalist Jesse Birnbaum, then serving as chief of Time-Life’s San Francisco bureau.

For many years, KCBS Radio overnight news anchor Frank Knight produced a weekly compilation of the top stories that aired on the station during a given week. "The Week That Was" became a weekend feature. This example is from the last week of November 1984, broken out by days of the workweek. Audio preservation expert Andrew Wellburn digitized this from the original 7" reel of audio tape and noted, "many splices in this tape, catches as it goes through, bad tape used". We thank the California Historical Radio Society/Bay Area Radio Museum for their efforts in preserving this example.

In 1978, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley signed a landmark rent control law. KCBS Radio reporter George McManus used the event as a "news peg" to focus on what was a major Bay Area issue at the time: skyrocketing rents. "The Rent Squeeze" featured interviews with a number of Bay Area political leaders.

This edition of the KCBS Radio features "The Al Douglas Show" from July 1964 and focuses on San Jose's Frontier Village amusement park. Frontier Village was only around for about 20 years but remains a fond memory for a generation of Santa Clara Valley residents. This segment is in the collection of the San Jose Public Library California Room.

On July 2 1960, KCBS Radio broadcast a special report on the mysterious disappearance of pioneering aviatrix Amelia Earhart. She and navigator Fred Noonan had disappeared over the South Pacific in July 1937 in one of the 20th Century's enduring mysteries. This special report, sponsored by Shell Oil, was introduced by KCBS Radio news director Don Mozley and featured the work of reporter Fred Goerner. Goerner was convinced Earhart and Noonan had survived the crash of their plane but then died in Japanese custody. On that day in 1960, he showed off some airplane parts he'd brought up from the harbor on Saipan. A year later, he made another trip and brought back human remains he believed might have been those of Earhart and Noonan (later analysis by a University of California anthropologist dashed cold water on that belief). Goerner made a third trip to Saipan on his own time and money, published a lengthy account in Argosy magazine in 1964, and then a best-selling book in 1966 (The Search for Amelia Earhart). The photo accompanying this episode was taken the day before this broadcast, on July 1 1960, in KCBS Radio's Studio B at the Palace Hotel. Goerner (R) sat next to Don Mozley and told San Francisco reporters who'd been called to the studio of his findings.

In this undated audio clip (clearly recorded prior to the May 1968 transition to the all-news format), KCBS Radio sales executive Seymour "Sy" Whitelaw introduces an aircheck featuring Dave McElhatton and comedian Bill Dana. Dana was a regular guest on the "McElhatton In The Morning " 6-10 AM program, often in the guise of his alter ego, Jose Jimenez. Whitelaw originally joined KCBS in the early 1950s, and worked in New York 1953-1954 before returning to his beloved San Francisco. According to his 2008 obituary, "He loved his years in early broadcasting. He continued in radio until the late 1960's when he obtained his stockbroker's license. He began a new life, which included an eight year avocation as food reviewer for the 'Pink Section' in the SF Chronicle."

In this undated segment from the KCBS Radio "Magazine" series from the mid-1970's, reporter Mike Beeson visits the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland and meets spiritual leader Swami Muktananda. The ashram had been established in the rundown Stanford Hotel as Muktananda's first permanent center outside India.

On August 25, 1981, a construction crew punctured a 16-inch natural gas gas pipeline within a block of KCBS Radio's Embarcadero Center studios in San Francisco. The leak went on for hours, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people--including everyone from the KCBS Radio newsroom and studios. The next morning, the station had returned to its facilities. Al Hart is the station's lead anchor, joined by Ken Ackerman. This episode ends with the regulat 8:06 AM feature "Beatcheck". This audio is from a collection of radio airchecks assembled by the late Bay Area radio engineer Mike Schweizer.

On August 25, 1981, a construction crew punctured a 16-inch natural gas gas pipeline within a block of KCBS Radio's Embarcadero Center studios in San Francisco. The leak went on for hours, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people--including everyone from the KCBS Radio newsroom and studios. The next morning, the station had returned to its facilities but abandoned the normal format for extended coverage of the story. Al Hart anchors this first hour of that coverage.This audio is from a collection of radio airchecks assembled by the late Bay Area radio engineer Mike Schweizer.

On August 25, 1981, a construction crew punctured a 16-inch natural gas gas pipeline within a block of KCBS Radio's Embarcadero Center studios in San Francisco. The leak went on for hours, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people--including everyone from the KCBS Radio newsroom and studios. The next morning, the station had returned to its facilities. Al Hart is the station's lead anchor, joined by Ken Ackerman. Chris Brecher is the traffic anchor. Reporters include Jerry Wilcox, Wilson van Alst, and Charlie SeraphinThis audio is from a collection of radio airchecks assembled by the late Bay Area radio engineer Mike Schweizer.

On August 25, 1981, a construction crew punctured a 16-inch natural gas gas pipeline within a block of KCBS Radio's Embarcadero Center studios in San Francisco. The leak went on for hours, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people--including everyone from the KCBS Radio newsroom and studios. This edited version of live coverage reveals the challenges facing the broadcast team.

An edition of the KCBS Radio newsmagazine program "Jan Black's Journal" broadcast from San Jose's Fairmont Hotel on April 27, 1988. The guest host Jan Hutchins, himself the host of a regular evening interview program on KCBS Radio, discussed San Jose's history and role in the Bay Area with two guests: longtime San Jose Mercury reporter and political writer Harry Farrell and Bob Haulman, a longtime Bay Area broadcast journalist then serving as KCBS Radio morning traffic and weather anchor. Our thanks to the San Jose Historical Museum Association for preserving this audio file. Jan Black, by the way, was away from her show because she was on maternity leave.

On August 27, 1987, KCBS Radio broadcast an hour-long special report, "The Feinstein Years". Produced and reported by longtime KCBS Radio San Francisco City Hall reporter Barbara Taylor, the piece examined the legacy of a political figure who had served at San Francisco City Hall for more than 17 years (sworn in as a city Supervisor in 1970) and was a few months away from the end of her mayoral term. Feinstein would run for Governor of California in 1990, and after that failed campaign, would be elected to the United States Senate in 1992.​

On December 23 1993, KCBS Radio broadcast a special report entitled “Gourmet Garbage”. Reporter Mike Sugerman looked into the amount of food wasted by the food service business, at a time when public attention was focused on the growing problems of hunger and homelessness. As part of his research, Sugerman spent time peering into trash cans behind stores, hotels, and restaurants. The anchor lead-in read: “A lot of Bay Area food is getting trashed these days—literally. Every day, tons of good food is being dumped by commercial kitchens in restaurants, hotels, catering services, and other places that feed a lot of people. And every day, thousands of other people in the Bay Area are going hungry, more now than at any time in the recent past. Critics say if chefs would only save the food they are now wasting, there would be little hunger in the Bay Area. KCBS Reporter Mike Sugerman spent some time investigating the tasty trash problem and has put together this in depth special report: ‘Gourmet Garbage’.”

This May 31, 1961 KCBS Radio broadcast featured host Scott Beach interviewing UC Berkeley Professor Jack London, an expert in the area of Adult Education. The "News Conference" format allowed listeners to submit questions while the studio host conducted the live interview.

On November 10 1945, KQW (the predecessor call letters to KCBS Radio) aired a live production celebrating "25 Years of Broadcasting" as the radio industry marked a quarter-century since the first government-licensed broadcasts on KDKA/Pittsburgh and WWJ/Detroit. Of course, KQW/KCBS roots ran deeper, traced to the 1909 broadcasts by Dr. Charles Herrold in San Jose. This audio file, courtesy of the California Historical Radio Society, includes that 1945 broadcast as well as an introduction delivered in 1975 by Paul Cortland Smith, who was the engineer for that 25th Anniversary production.

This is a “telescoped” reel of audio from the period between 5pm and 6pm on October 17, 1989 as KCBS Radio swings into gear after the Loma Prieta Earthquake—the first hour of coverage following the 5:03 pm quake. Jan Black is the studio anchor. Stan Bunger and Mike Woodley are at Candlestick Park.Of note: a pre-recorded safety announcement, which urged listeners to consult the front of their phone books for detailed information. The first reports of the destruction of the elevated Cypress Freeway came 32 minutes after the quake struck. The first magnitude readings were broadcast nearly 40 minutes after the quake hit (originally referred to as 6.9 in Hollister area). The first reports of the failure of a portion of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge came more than 45 minutes after the quake.

This is an example of the journalistic tradition known as the “yearender”. Aired on December 29, 1957 and January 1, 1958, it is a KCBS Radio broadcast anchored by Don Mozley. He sums up the year’s developments in California politics—including the announcement by state Attorney General Pat Brown that he would seek the governor’s office in the 1958 election. When he won that race, Brown launched the dynasty that saw he or his son Jerry hold the governor’s office for 24 of the next 60 years. The 1958 campaign season was notable because an announced challenge to incumbent Republican Governor Goodwin Knight by Senator William Knowland resulted in Knight declining to seek re-election. Instead, he ran for Knowland’s Senate seat, and both lost.

On May 24, 1967, KCBS Radio host Harv Morgan devoted his nighttime “Contact” program to a discussion of the brewing crisis in the Middle East. The “Six Day War” would break out two weeks later. Morgan’s first guest is Christina Harris, a longtime Middle East expert at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. His second guest is UC Berkeley professor George Lenczowski, who the founder and first chair of what would become the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Cal.(Note that gaps exist where commercial breaks were apparently “telescoped” and recording ends suddenly).

This episode of the KCBS Radio weekly program “In Depth” aired the weekend of August 28th/29th, 1999. Governor Gray Davis was the guest. He was interviewed by Mike Pulsipher and Ed Cavagnaro. Davis had been elected Governor the previous November, defeating Dan Lungren. His election ended a 16 year period during which Republicans controlled the Governor’s office. Davis was re-elected Governor in 2002, and nearly immediately, was targeted in a recall election that led to his removal from office. That October 2003 recall election installed Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. Among the issues discussed: the Bay Bridge retrofit. Ten years after the Loma Prieta earthquake, decisions still hadn’t been made about how to proceed. Davis also decried the ability of wealthy candidates to sidestep campaign-finance laws and self-fund their campaigns.

In August, 1964, The Beatles launched their first American tour, and the first stop was San Francisco. In the midst of Beatlemania, an enterprising KCBS Radio journalist named Hilly Rose scored an exclusive: an interview with the Fab Four in their hotel room. This episode includes the actual interview, held in the collection of the Bay Area Radio Museum, as well as an interview with Rose conducted in 2014 in which he told the story of how he scored his scoop. The typed label on the reel-to-reel tape box was clearly added later as it places the year as "1965" rather than the correct "1964".

This is a complete KCBS Radio aircheck of the 4 PM to 5 PM hour on Sunday, October 22, 2000. Dave Padilla anchors. The major stories of the day relate to a windstorm that caused numerous power outages and helped drive a wildfire in the Oakland Hills, not far from where the October 1991 fire destroyed thousands of homes and killed 25 people.

KCBS Radio reporter Stan Bunger produced this special report, interviewing Nazi death camp survivor (and Bay Area resident) Eddy Wynschenk as well as the commander of the unit that liberated the Birkenau camp, Colonel Bob Clark of the 104th Infantry Division "Timberwolves". Original broadcast date: July 27, 1986.

Al Douglas was well-known to KCBS Radio evening listeners in the 1960’s. He hosted a call-in program called “Viewpoint” as well as an interview program called “The Al Douglas Show”. He was known for his wide-ranging interests, choosing interview subjects from across a wide spectrum. This example from the California Historical Society/Bay Area Radio Museum collection is an interview with legendary photographer Ansel Adams, aired in November 1963.

A power failure inside the Transbay Tube led to massive headaches for BART commuters in 1996. KCBS Radio reporters on both sides of the Bay swung into action to cover the story. The coverage led to numerous awards for the station.

In May 1989, KCBS Radio reporter Mike Sugerman looked into a controversy surrounding the California Victims Compensation Fund and whether it was properly paying out claims.

On September 22, 1975, President Gerald Ford was the target of an assassination attempt outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square. This audio file is a compendium of KCBS Radio coverage of the event.

In March of 1988, the legendary radio broadcast "The World News Roundup" turned 50. The weekly CBS Radio program "Newsmark" devoted an episode to honoring the WNR.

This program, hosted by Hilly Rose, examined the defeat of a bond measure that would have funded the reconstruction of the War Memorial Opera House. Rose’s guests were two legendary names: impresario Sol Hurok, who favored the bond measure, and Louis Lurie, real estate tycoon and theater investor. Lurie had opposed the bond measure. It was a spirited exchange, to say the least! At one point, the station breaks for a commercial while the two guests argue in the background. Upon return from the break, they’re still arguing. Note: there are a number of gaps on the original reel-to-reel recording; they remain in this digitized version. Host Hilly Rose explains he was responsible, having cut the microphones when he felt the conversation had gotten too heated!

This is a portion of KCBS Radio live coverage around 9am on March 5, 1983 as President and Mrs. Reagan accompanied Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip from San Francisco to end a whirlwind visit by both the First Couple and the Royal Couple. The royal yacht Britannia docked at San Francisco's Pier 50, and the Queen and Prince Philip used the ship to host a dinner in honor of the Reagans' 31st wedding anniversary. The KCBS Radio team includes field reporter Bob Melrose and studio anchors Stan Bunger and Jerry Wilcox.

"That's feeding, not eating": one of the unrestrained comments from famed chef, broadcaster and writer Julia Child in this interview from the long-running KCBS Radio series "In Depth". The interviewer was KCBS Radio Food and Wine Editor Narsai David. This episode aired on May 14, 1995.

Jane Riley spent 30 years at KCBS Radio. She was hired in 1971 for a secretarial job and spent many years as the administrative assistant to the station’s vice president and general manager. For 25 years, Riley produced and hosted a program she created, “Bay Area Woman”. She figured she interviewed 2,000 women from all walks of life. She finally retired at age 79. Riley told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2011, “When I first started, women weren’t allowed to be on the air, and by the time I left the newsroom was practically filled with women,” Riley said. “I wasn’t afraid to push. I hope I helped a little bit” in breaking that glass ceiling. Jane Riley died in 2014 at age 89. In this episode, Jane interviews Janis Cooke Newman, author of "The Russian Word for Snow: A True Story of Adoption" (published in 2001)

This collection of pieces by KCBS Radio reporters came from the week of February 17-21, 1986, when historic rainfall inundated Northern California. Reporters include Barry Simmons, Mike Sugerman, Ken Bastida, Jerry Wilcox, Lynn Jimenez, and Wayne Jordan.

A special edition of the "KCBS NewsMagazine", hosted by Michael Dixon. This remote broadcast in the summer of 1983 originates from the Santa Clara County Fair in San Jose. Al Hart and Harvey Steiman, who host the "KCBS Kitchen", have joined Dixon for this broadcast. Segment includes local newsbreak anchored by Al Helmso and a portion of a CBS hourly newscast anchored by Douglas Edwards.

During his 1987 visit to the United States and Canada, Pope John Paul II spent two days in Northern California. KCBS Radio reporters stayed with the pontiff during those two days, covering a Papal Mass at Laguna Seca Raceway, visits to the Basilica of the Mission of San Carlos in Carmel and Mission Dolores in San Francisco, a event at Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, and his final stop, a Papal Mass at Candlestick Park. This recording is a "telescoped" set of highlights from the coverage.

A winter freeze in early 1991 severely damaged millions of dollars’ worth of California crops. But there was also a human toll. On May 29, 1991, KCBS Radio broadcast a special report, “Bleak Harvest”, examining the plight of farmworkers whose lives were made worse by the freeze. KCBS Radio’s Rebecca Corral reported from the Salinas-Watsonville agricultural area. The anchor lead-in read: “Mention last winter’s freeze to any Californians and the strongest memory you’re likely to trigger is a jump in the price of produce at the grocery store. But many of California’s farmworkers still live with the freeze every day. Acre after acre of destroyed crops have pushed the unemployment rate among field hands to a staggering 25 percent. That Depression-era unemployment rate is making life even more difficult for people who already struggle just to scratch out a living. KCBS Newsradio’s Rebecca Corral spent some time in one farmworker community, the Salinas Watsonville area…for this special report, ‘Bleak Harvest’.”

In 1968, attorney Roy Cohn sat down for an interview with KCBS Radio anchor Frank Knight. At that time, Cohn was less than twenty years removed from his roles in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case and the Army-McCarthy hearings, and his work with clients like Aristotle Onassis and Donald Trump was still in the future.

On July 26, 1993, a railroad car being unloaded at the General Chemical plant in Richmond began to leak. A massive toxic cloud of sulfuric acid soon spread for miles, sending thousands of people for medical treatment. Eventually, 60,000 people would file claims and lawsuits against General Chemical. KCBS Radio anchors Lois Melkonian, Al Hart and Bob Price are heard on this reel of excerpts from the station’s coverage. Reporters on the story included George Harris, Dave Padilla, Bob Melrose and Ron Lyons.

The legendary broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite was interviewed for the weekly KCBS Radio series "In Depth" by Rebecca Corral and Ed Cavagnaro in a segment that originally aired on February 16, 1997

After the jury verdict acquitting four Los Angeles Police officers of criminal charges in the Rodney King beating, rioting claimed more than 60 lives, did over a billion dollars in damage, and led to more than 12,000 arrests. On June 26, 1992, KCBS Radio broadcast a special report called "Beyond the Anger", looking at the issues of inner-city hopelessness and poverty, as well as signs of positive movement. Reporters Mike Sugerman, Jerry Wilcox and George Harris contributed.