KNBR

KNBR, "The Sports Leader", are the call letters associated with 680 AM in San Francisco and KTCT 1050 AM in San Mateo. Between the two stations, the entire seasons of San Francisco Giants baseball, Golden State Warriors basketball, San Jose SaberCats arena football, and San Francisco 49ers football are broadcast to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Schedules and Shows

Programming from KNBR's flagship station (680 AM) is discussed here. For "KNBR 1050" (KTCT), see entry.

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Past Programs

• "Frank And Mike in the Morning"
• Frank Dill and Mike Cleary (hosts)
• Cammy Blackstone (traffic, occasional news, character voices)
• Kim Wonderley (traffic, occasional news, character voices)
• Kevin Radich ("Kevin the Rat") (sports)

This long-running show (1978-1995) was a staple of San Francisco Bay Area morning drive-time radio. It was variety show with interviews, light satire (sketch comedy, complete with characters), and occasional remote broadcasts, such as from the AT&T Pebble Beach Open. Until the early '90s it, along with the rest of the station, also featured Adult Contemporary music selections.

Related Topics:
San Francisco Bay Area - Drive-time - AT&T Pebble Beach Open

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While "Frank" usually played the straight man, "Mike" provided the majority of the program's ubiquitous sketch-comedy character voices, which included a confused newsman, a chef ("Julia Chives"), an heiress ("Noone Gotmore Danyudu"), and others. Cleary left the show in the '90s and was replaced by other sidekicks, including traffic reporters Blackstone and Wonderley and sports reporter Radich. John Madden appeared with Dill regularly for several years; shortly after Dill retired, he moved his daily show to competitor KCBS-AM.

Related Topics:
Straight man - John Madden - KCBS-AM

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• "C.J. Bronson"
• "Carter B. Smith"
• "The Steve Jamison Couch"
• Steve Jamison (host)

Typically an interview show, rather than a call-in show, Steve Jamison typically interviewed notable figures from the Bay Area, as well as national newsmakers and figures from entertainment.

Related Topics:
Bay Area - Entertainment

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• "The Leo Laporte Show"
• Leo Laporte (host)

A relaxed afternoon talk show with an electic focus. Laporte went on to develop and host KNBR's "California Weekend", a block of weekend talk shows that lasted (in various forms) until KNBR's adoption of an all-sports format in the 1990s.

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• "Joel A. Spivak, Speaking"
• "The Peter B. Collins Show"

An afternoon talk show focused primarily on current events, with various entertainment elements. These included "Dialing for Dorks", in which Collins called various shady companies whose advertising he or listeners had received.

Related Topics:
Current events - Called - Shady - Advertising

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• "Sportsphone 68"
• Hank Greenwald (host)
• Ken Dito (host)
• Ralph Barbieri (host)

The station's flagship program, later known as "SportsPhone 680", has featured numerous hosts over the years. The program was one of the first sports talk shows available in the San Francisco Bay Area, and eventually helped steer KNBR toward an all-sports format in the 1990s.

Related Topics:
Sports talk - San Francisco Bay Area - 1990s

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• "California Weekend"

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, KNBR broadcast a suite of weekend talk shows on various topics, including Real Estate, Automobiles (Brian Douglas), Home Repair ("On the House" with Morris Carey and James Carey), and computers ("Dvorak On Computers" with: John C. Dvorak.) Broadcaster Leo Laporte anchored all of these programs, allowing the "expert" hosts, which had less radio experience, to concentrate on their topics, and answering callers' questions.

Related Topics:
Brian Douglas - Morris Carey - James Carey - John C. Dvorak - Leo Laporte

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• "Hollywood Calling"
• Jan Wahl (host)

During the early 1990s, KNBR aired a weekly show that introduced San Francisco Bay Area media personality Jan Wahl to the broader public. Although the show's introduction referred to Wahl as a Television Emmy-award-winning producer and television director, the program focused on motion pictures, with discussions of current film releases, personalities, Hollywood history from the days of the studio system to the present, Hollywood collectibles, and included interviews of various Hollywood personalities, mostly from behind the scenes. Wahl later went on to become the movie critic for San Francisco television station KRON-TV, and its cable offshoot, "BayTV".

Related Topics:
San Francisco Bay Area - Media personality - Jan Wahl - Television - Emmy - Producer - Television director - Motion pictures - Hollywood - Studio system - Collectibles - San Francisco - Television station - KRON-TV

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• "Costas Coast to Coast" (syndicated)
• Bob Costas (host)

A weekly radio interview program, often recorded before a studio audience, "Costas Coast to Coast" aired weekends, originating as a nationally syndicated program. Hosted by nationally-known media commentator Bob Costas.

Related Topics:
Studio audience - Media - Commentator - Bob Costas

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• "Instant Replay" (syndicated); later "Pat Summerall's Sports in America"
• Pat Summerall (host)

A weekly radio interview program, begun in 1990, "Instant Replay" featured host Pat Summerall interviewing many of the highest-profile sports figures of the day, including athletes as diverse as Pete Rose and Arthur Ashe. Airing during the peak of Summerall's long broadcasting career, many of the show's interviews were later reprinted in a book entitled Pat Summerall's Sports in America (ISBN 006270186X).

Related Topics:
Pat Summerall - Pete Rose - Arthur Ashe - Broadcasting

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• "The Rush Limbaugh Show"

KNBR began carrying Rush Limbaugh around 1990, but retained the show long after the station's focus was shifted to its sports programming, due to its popularity. The station finally dropped the show and went all-sports about 10 years later.

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• "The Morning Show"
• Steve McPartlin (host)
• Kevin Radich and Kim Wonderley (hosts)
• "Fitz and Brooks"
• Rod Brooks, Bob FitzGerald (hosts)
• "The Pete Franklin Show"
• Pete Franklin (host)

KNBR brought an edgier form of sports talk to the Bay Area air by hiring Pete Franklin from Cleveland. The station promoted Franklin as "the King of Sports Talk", perhaps in part to establish his reputation in the Bay Area radio market, where he was not yet well known.

Related Topics:
Sports talk - Pete Franklin - Cleveland - Reputation

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Franklin quickly became popular among KNBR personalities, and (like Limbaugh) was unafraid to attack callers whom he disagreed with, or whose reasoning he found faulty. One of Franklin's signature "bits" was the use of a "toilet flushing" sound effect, with which he would dismiss callers.

Related Topics:
Limbaugh - Signature - Bits - Sound effect

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Current Programming

Programs airing on KNBR (680) in 2005 include:

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Weekdays

• 0000-0530: ESPN Radio
• 0530-0930: KNBR Morning Show: Brian Murphy and Tim Liotta
• 0930-1200: Gary Radnich
• 1200-1500: Rick Barry with Rod Brooks
• 1500-1900: The Razor & Mr. T.: Ralph Barbieri & Tom Tolbert
• 1900-2200: Sportsphone 680
• 2200-2400: ESPN Radio

Weekends

(Various times)

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• "ESPN Radio"
• "Public Affairs with Gimmy Park Li"
• "At The Track with Sam Spear"
• "Hooked On Golf"
• "Ray Brown On Real Estate"
• Gary Allen - Business
• "The Weekend Insiders" with Bruce Macgowan
• "The Fishing Report with Brian Hoffman"

Ongoing

• "The Gary Radnich Show"
• "The Razor and Mr. T"
• Ralph Barbieri, Tom Tolbert (hosts)

An afternoon Sports Talk show, begun in 1996. The premise of "The Razor and Mr. T" was the pairing of Ralph Barbieri (promoted from evenings to afternoons) with former NBA (and Golden State Warriors) player Tom Tolbert.

Related Topics:
NBA - Golden State Warriors - Tom Tolbert

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• Untitled (Public Affairs)
• Gimmy Park Li (host)

Originating as part of the station's statutory requirement of public affairs, the station continues to air an hourlong interview show Sunday mornings at 5 a.m..

Related Topics:
Statutory - Public affairs - Sunday - A.m.

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During the 1990s, the program typically began and ended with the phrase "This is Gimmy Park Li, Your Host". No program title was given. Interviews for this program often consisted of local individuals in volunteer, charitable, or minor governmental capacities.

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Due to its time slot (Sunday morning at 5:00 am), see the article Statecraft for discussion of the "Sunday-morning public affairs ghetto". The program has, apparently, never been promoted outside of its timeslot. "Gimmy Park Li" is the station's Public Affairs Director.

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