Thursday, November 4, 2010

KSFO

This was the most beautiful radio station ID that I have ever heard. I still love it, and was so pleased to find it preserved on YouTube today.

When I was growing up, there was no other radio station in our house, but San Francisco's KSFO. It seems like it was on in our house all day long, especially in the morning hours when Don Sherwood, the self-proclaimed (and who would argue with him?) "World's Greatest Disc Jockey" ruled the airwaves.

KSFO was the home of the Giants, and announcers Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges, who made "bye bye baby" a common phrase--it even became the theme song of the Giants.

Giants games aren't broadcast on KSFO any more. I don't even know what format KSFO is these days...it went through so many (at one time I think it even became a classical music station, briefly). But when I watched the incredible celebration of the Giants today it brought back thoses good old days of KSFO, Donnie Babe, and the Giants gang.

The parade and celebration was incredible. I listened to it on the radio while driving around town, watched on tV while at home, and recorded a lot of it. The crowd alone was amazing.

Someone wrote, "Over four million people live in the San Francisco metro area. The way it looks on the television broadcasts, it would be easy to believe that every one of them showed up for the Giants' parade."

giantscrowd.jpg (26301 bytes)

This picture only shows the crowd in front of City Hall, where Mayor Gavin Newsom presented the team with the key to the city. It is one of the last big acts he will perform before taking his new position as Lieutenant Governor, after his election yesterday. What a way to end a career as mayor!

But the Civic Center photo doesn't show the throngs lining Market Street for the big parade, which went more than a mile up Market Street to get to Civic Center. It was wonderful to see the greats like Willie Mays and Willie McCovey included in the day and I had to think how much Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges would have enjoyed the event.

So it's all over for another year and I can go back to being blasé about sports once again, but I've sure had fun this week!

1 comment:

l'empress said...

The last time I saw Willie Mays -- probably the best all-around player ever, I was watching the farewell to Shea Stadium. Willie needed a companion to see where he was going, but he shook him off and went alone to grab a handful of dirt from the home plate area.

Remember I was a Dodgers fan and a Mets fan, but I never could ignore Willie.