Jim Lange (and KABL) Saying Farewell
Like sands through an hourglass, time is running out on KABL, available at 92.1 FM and 1460 AM on your radio dial, if you're close enough to either Walnut Creek or Salinas, or on the Internet if you are close enough to a computer.
The new owners of the local 92.1 signal, Coast Radio, will be taking control of the station over the final weekend of July, dooming KABL's Adult Standards format on the local airwaves. Coast also owns Pleasanton's KKIQ/101.7 and Vacaville's KUIC/95.3, with apparent plans to remake 92.1 over in the same style — hometown-focused news and traffic with soft adult contemporary music.
On the same sad note, Jim Lange will also be blowing a final farewell kiss to fulltime broadcasting, with plans to bid adieu on Thursday, July 28.
Gentleman Jim began his big-league radio career as the All-Night Mayor at KGO in 1958, following his graduation from the University of Minnesota (Class of 1954, with honors) and after serving as an officer in the Marine Corps. He moved to KSFO in January 1960 and began hosting TV's "The Dating Game" in 1965, which he continued for eleven years while keeping his day job at "The World's Greatest Radio Station."
After working at KMPC in Los Angeles for most of the 1980s, he returned to the Bay Area in 1990, doing middays at Magic 61 (KFRC) for a year before moving to mornings. In 1994, he signed on at KKSJ/San Jose and, in 1997, he began his current run at KABL.
An avid golfer and tireless champion of charitable causes, he'll begin his post-radio life in a familiar role, as host of the third annual Jim Lange Golf Tournament on Monday, August 1, at Rossmoor Golf Course in Walnut Creek, benefiting Hospice & Palliative Care of Contra Costa.
The Bay Area Radio Museum is paying tribute to Jim Lange with two featured online exhibits, which include a classic 1992 interview and an hour-long KSFO broadcast from 1971.
· Add your comments about Jim Lange...
The new owners of the local 92.1 signal, Coast Radio, will be taking control of the station over the final weekend of July, dooming KABL's Adult Standards format on the local airwaves. Coast also owns Pleasanton's KKIQ/101.7 and Vacaville's KUIC/95.3, with apparent plans to remake 92.1 over in the same style — hometown-focused news and traffic with soft adult contemporary music.
On the same sad note, Jim Lange will also be blowing a final farewell kiss to fulltime broadcasting, with plans to bid adieu on Thursday, July 28.Gentleman Jim began his big-league radio career as the All-Night Mayor at KGO in 1958, following his graduation from the University of Minnesota (Class of 1954, with honors) and after serving as an officer in the Marine Corps. He moved to KSFO in January 1960 and began hosting TV's "The Dating Game" in 1965, which he continued for eleven years while keeping his day job at "The World's Greatest Radio Station."
After working at KMPC in Los Angeles for most of the 1980s, he returned to the Bay Area in 1990, doing middays at Magic 61 (KFRC) for a year before moving to mornings. In 1994, he signed on at KKSJ/San Jose and, in 1997, he began his current run at KABL.
An avid golfer and tireless champion of charitable causes, he'll begin his post-radio life in a familiar role, as host of the third annual Jim Lange Golf Tournament on Monday, August 1, at Rossmoor Golf Course in Walnut Creek, benefiting Hospice & Palliative Care of Contra Costa.
The Bay Area Radio Museum is paying tribute to Jim Lange with two featured online exhibits, which include a classic 1992 interview and an hour-long KSFO broadcast from 1971.
· Add your comments about Jim Lange...
posted by DavidFerrellJackson at 3:30 PM
1 Comments:
I had the pleasure to work with Gentleman Jim at KKSJ/San Jose.
There are many in the business who have giant egos and don't deserve them. And there are many who deserve the giant egos and con't have one.
Gentleman Jim is just that. A warm, fuzzy sincere man who was always consistently at the top of his craft.
I consider it a major honor to have worked with (and sometimes for) Gentleman Jim Lange!
-Dusty Baker
Waldport, OR
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