Sholin's KFRC Debut Moved Back

Contrary to previous reports, the debut date for Dave Sholin and the rest of the new KFRC-FM (106.9) air team has been moved to Monday, July 9.

The original press release from KFRC, excerpted elsewhere here in ye Digest, announced the start date for Sholin as this coming Monday, July 2.

The new midday personality at KFRC will be scintillating Celeste Perry (ex-KSFO/KYA, KYCY), who won't join in the fun until later in the week of July 9; she's reportedly vacationing in Hawaii.

No confirmation from KFRC World Headquarters, but I'm supposing that having the Fourth of July holiday falling in the middle of Sholin's original debut week made moving the start date back a smart move.

McArdle Out At KKIQ; Goss, Friday In?

I heard this week that among those possibly lined up to replace Carolyn McArdle (quit? fired?) at Hometown Station KKIQ/101.7 over in Pleasanton are Dean Goss and Jack Friday, along with current KKIQ midday funny girl Faith Alpher.

Other names were mentioned as potential candidates, but these three are reportedly the strongest candidates.

...Which means I just guaranteed that somebody else will get the job.

Jim Hampton, who was KKIQ's morning man forever and ever, is filling in on the A.M. shift until a permanent morning host is brought on board.

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RIP: Frank Terry

Not a lot of details are currently available, but Frank Terry has died. The pioneering Boss Jock had been battling cancer for many years, and passed away on Wednesday (June 20) at his home in Sonora. He was 68.

Born Terrence Francis Crilly in Rapid City, S.D., on July 5, 1938, he moved with his family to Southern California when he was four years old, where his father became a sales manager at KFXM in San Bernardino.

In an unpublished interview for the book "KHJ: Inside Boss Radio," Terry said he got into radio because "I thought it might be a wonderful way to meet good-looking women, girls. And when I was in high school I actually got my first job."

That job, at KCSB in San Bernardino, began humbly — emptying waste baskets and mowing the station's front lawn — but led to an on-air gig as the teenaged host of a Saturday night show in which he played nothing but Elvis Presley records.

Following a three-year hitch in the Navy (as a telegrapher), he bided his time working for the Santa Fe Railroad (also as a telegrapher — although the railroad no longer employed Morse Code to communicate with trains) while waiting to enter college.

Fate stepped in, however, as a law requiring employers to hold jobs for returning veterans meant that his old position at KCSB had been vacant, awaiting his return.

In the early 1960s, Terry became Boss Radio architect Ron Jacobs' early partner in crime in the development of the format in San Bernardino (KMEN), Fresno (KMAK) and L.A. (KHJ), before moving to the Bay Area as a first-generation Big 610 Man (famously appearing in the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" documentary about the infamous Altamont concert) and a Country jock here at KNEW and KSAN, and at Froggy 92.9 (KFGY) in Santa Rosa.

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Dave Sholin: KFRC Morning Man

The bubbling rumors that Dave Sholin would become the new program director at rebuilding Classic Hits KFRC/106.9 were proved false earlier this week when Tim Jordan got the job.

So, instead, Sholin -- that's right, "Your Duke" -- will become KFRC's morning man beginning Monday, July 2.

Sholin graduated from San Francisco State University and jumped straight over to San Jose's popular Top 40 outlet, KLIV/1590. Proving his skills as KLIV's music director (in addition to holding down an on-air shift), he began building his reputation for having two of the best ears in the business.

He moved to KARA/105.7 in Santa Clara as program director before getting called up to the big leagues at 610/KFRC for the first time, rising to national music director from then-station owner RKO General. He later became Top 40 editor for The Gavin Report, the industry tipsheet that he eventually co-owned and ran as executive director.

On the afternoon of December 8, 1980, Sholin conducted a lengthy, in-depth interview with John Lennon and Yoko One at their Manhattan home in the Dakota. It would be Lennon's last interview; arriving back in San Francisco, Sholin was informed that the former Beatle had been murdered.

More recently, Sholin served as vice president and columnist for MusicBiz.com and as director of adult formats promotion for EMI's Caroline Distribution and Astralwerks Records.

In a prepared statement, KFRC GM Steve DiNardo said "Dave's past experience at KFRC came at a time when the station was in the forefront of popular culture in the Bay Area. He has retained that sense of relevance throughout his career, and we're excited to unleash it on the new 106.9, KFRC."

Radio Dots & Dashes (June 12 Edition)

Speculation that Tim Jordan would be named program director at the relaunched Classic Hits iteration of KFRC/106.9 has ended ... with Tim Jordan being named program director at the station.

Jordan had been operations manager for MOViN 99.7 (KMVQ) -- which had previously been the home for the last version of KFRC -- and program director for podcast/brokered time/A's baseball and whatever else they could stick on it KYCY/1550 (a/k/a KYOU Radio).

Next task for Jordan: hiring up an air staff. The wistful nostalgist in me clings to hope that at least a few ex-Big 610 Men are rounded up for airshifts, i.e., John Mack Flanagan, Don Sainte-Johnn, Big Tom Parker, Marvelous Mark McKay.

(I know. I won't hold my breath...)

Midnight, early this morning, marked the changing of the guard at powerhouse talker KGO/810, as more than fifty years of ownership by ABC (or derivatives thereof) came to an end. The new owners, Citadel Broadcasting, took control of the former ABC Radio station group that includes KGO and jewels such as KABC/Los Angeles and WABC/New York, along with ABC programming staples Paul Harvey and Sean Hannity.

The $2-billion-plus deal was essentially a stock swap that moved the ABC Radio group from control by Disney into the hands of Citadel.

Virtually everyone connected with the KGO end of the operation says that no changes are imminent ... but new owners have a tendency to have different ideas as to budgets and philosophies. Sure, KGO has been successful, and the same stellar crew will continue to be in charge in San Francisco, but those bean-counters always have to have their say...