“The Road Not Taken”
James Gabbert was on the phone, asking me if I wanted to come to work for him at KIOI. Jim was already a radio legend in 1976, having built the mighty KIOI after taking out a small loan when he was still a student at Stanford University. I was a young disc jockey working at my first job in San Francisco. KCBS-FM was low-rated and wasn’t a big deal in Bay Area radio, but CBS surely was, and I was a lucky guy, having been chosen to work there four years earlier, when the station was “going oldies” to mimic the success of WCBS-FM in New York City. Opportunity was knocking! What to do? I said roughly this: “Jim, I’m flattered that you like my work, but I’m raising two boys and can’t afford to get fired, and I hear you do that a lot.” Jim graciously accepted my rejection, only adding that he didn’t fire people all that much. After we hung up the phone, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had made the right decision. KIOI was a top-rated station. KCBS-FM was 25th in the market. But…CBS. How could I leave such a successful organization, one that had taken good care of me and advanced my career? I’d gone from morning DJ to News and Public Affairs Director, had my own office with a Bay view, and was treated very well. I couldn’t leave, and on that day, I didn’t. KCBS was not only a pretty big deal in the Bay Area, but also a beautiful place to work. I’d come from KDON in Salinas in 1972, located above a barber shop in a mall, KDON was definitely not the showplace that KCBS-FM was. Situated on the 32nd floor of the brand-new One Embarcadero Center, it was the jewel in the West Coast crown for CBS Radio.
What changed my mind? Over that summer of 1976 I learned that KGO-TV was looking for someone to do weekly entertainment features on their ever-popular morning show, called “AM San Francisco”. I auditioned and got the job! 1976 was an amazing year for me and things were looking up for the kid. The San Francisco Chronicle did a Sunday piece on me that was very flattering and mentioned that I was about to embark on a television adventure on “AM San Francisco.” Oopsie! The big boss at CBS in New York got wind of it and one afternoon he called me to tell me I had to turn down my big break because it was on a rival network, ABC. I stayed at my desk for a while, trying to figure out my next move. Follow my ambition? Or play it safe and stay with the job I was so fortunate to have scored? Being a 29-year-old with my future before me and my hope for TV success very real, I picked up the phone and called Jim Gabbert. “Are you still interested in hiring me?” I made plans to go to KIOI and talk to Jim and his partner, Mike Lincoln the following week. Then fate dealt me nasty hand. On the way home, I fell while trying to board a Muni bus and broke my jaw, losing several teeth and separating my shoulder in the process. I wound up in the hospital that Friday evening. Being hospitalized for several days gave me time to think. My marriage was already in trouble. Time to make some big changes in my life. When I was released from the hospital, I reset the meeting with KIOI and a few weeks later I was no longer the morning personality/News and Public Affairs Director at KCBS-FM. I was now the entertainment editor for “AM San Francisco” and the afternoon DJ at KIOI. The chance I took was the kind of risky move made by young (and foolish) people, but it made sense to me. It was also the kind of change that old (and foolish) people ponder over; did I make the right choice? Even now, I wonder, “What if?” How would my life and career have been different if I’d stayed with stable old CBS, with all its benefits? Would I have had a career in television if I’d trusted my CBS boss’s promise to make it up to me? I’ll never know the answer, but what followed was a wild ride, and after all, wasn’t I in this crazy business to take some risks? When I had come back to KCBS-FM after a couple of weeks of recovery, I gave two weeks’ notice immediately. Typically, my boss told me I had to leave that day. During my recovery, the recorded features that I did weekly had gotten very stale. My hope was to produce new features and leave on a high note. Oddly, although I was kicked out for quitting! Despite my boss’s understandable reaction, leaving was still difficult. At CBS, even low-rated KCBS-FM, we were treated very well. And in the 1970’s, every major author and every major movie and TV star came by to plug their book, movie, upcoming show at local venues. It was a heady experience, talking to Kirk Douglas, The cast of “Jaws,” Michael Jackson, Johnny Carson and other stars, and also the top writers of the day. And it was very difficult to to leave my cozy nest for a job that would not include the daily perks available at CBS. I remembered reading an article about stress and death, which essentially described the kinds of life changes that put you at risk of dying. The top four – job changes, injuries, divorce and moving from your home. That year I somehow survived all four, despite losing over 30 pounds when my jaw was wired shut and I couldn’t eat solid food for several weeks. The Fall of 1976 turned out to be among the most challenging in my life. Fortunately, all the new doors were opened by friendly people – the people at “AM San Francisco” couldn’t have been nicer to me, and KIOI was a very cool place to land.
Good ratings kept me at KIOI until a year after Gabbert sold it to an Oil Company based in Florida. During that time, I worked several jobs in TV – KGO -TV, then Evening Magazine on KPIX, then a live show on KRON-TV called “Saturday Live”. I had other TV jobs later, but it became clear to me over time that I was best at being a radio DJ. Still, ya gotta try, right?
Over the years I worked at Jim Gabbert’s TV 20, hosting the Ten O’Clock Movie and a feature called “Movietone News”, which focused on American History in the 1930’s and 1940’s. All in all, though, the best times of my career were spent working on the best radio stations: KCBS-FM, KIOI, KYA, KSFO, KNEW-KSAN, BIG 98, KGO Radio, KFRC, and 94.5 KBAY in my hometown, San Jose. That’s where I proudly wrapped up my career in 2018 at the age of 72. In 54 years, I somehow circled the Bay, from Gilroy and Salinas to San Francisco, Oakland and finally back home to San Jose. Who knows whether I made the right choices? I confess that I still don’t know after all these years. But it sure made for a thrilling ride!
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