(top)The initial KEWB Top 40 survey as we can tell – for the week of June 20, 1959 , transitioning from DJ Ted Randal’s ‘Bay Area’s Most Authentic Top Tunes’ Survey -week of June 5, 1959 (bottom). Credit Walt ‘Survey Man’ Hurd for surveys and Bay Area Radio Museum and Hall of Fame
Oakland, CA and the Bay Area was introduced to the New Sound of Top 40 Radio with one of the better ‘rock and roll radio’ platforms earlier than most markets when the Oakland Tribune sold KLX to Crowell-Collier Publishers for $750,000 in the summer of 1959. The fading publishers had the foresight to pick up on the ‘new sound’ and hire some of the top voices -many yet established- such as Gary Owens, Casey Kasem, Don MacKinnon, K.O. Beachin (real name: Bob Elliott, later known as K.O. Bayley on KFRC), Bobby Dale, Robert W. Morgan, Ron Lyons, Chris Borden, Don Bowman, Ken Knox, Ron Reynolds, Ted Randal, Michael Jackson (the talk show host, known as Michael Scotland at KYA) and the one and only Real Don Steele.
Throw in the innovative programming skills of Chuck Blore, and the recipe for success was complete.
KEWB opening lineup of DJs led by Gary Owens who would go on to national fame on TVs Laugh-in, and Ted Randal, late of ‘Most Authentic Bay Area Survey’
KEWB came into being during the Summer of 1959 after Crowell-Collier Publishing purchased KLX (910 kilocycles on the AM dial) for $750,000 from its original owners, the Tribune Publishing Company of Oakland, which had founded the station thirty-seven years earlier.
The Oakland Tribune, owned by the Knowland family since 1915, was one of the countless newspapers across the United States that saw the potential benefits of radio in the dawning days of commercial broadcasting, and debuted 250-watt KLX on May 3, 1922, from the landmark Tribune Tower at Thirteenth and Franklin streets.
Through its familial relationship with the Tribune, KLX became a popular and influential voice on the Bay Area airwaves, increasing its transmitter power incrementally over the years to 5,000 watts.
The station moved out of the Tribune Tower — where it had occupied the 19th, 20th and 21st floors at the top of the venerable edifice — to new studios and offices in the Bermuda Building on Franklin Street in Oakland in the latter part of 1956.
This move was a prelude to the sale to Crowell-Collier, a company that was best known for publishing Collier’s, a weekly magazine 
that once enjoyed circulation levels on a par with its main competitor, the Saturday Evening Post. However, by the 1950s, Collier’s had begun to fade; it ceased publication on December 16, 1956, as its owner ventured into the world of broadcasting. Eventually, Crowell-Collier would own three historic Top 40 stations: KFWB/Los Angeles, KDWB/Minneapolis and KEWB/Oakland-San Francisco, each of which received the distinctive programming imprint of Chuck Blore.
Crowell-Collier sold KEWB to Metromedia Radio in April 1966 for nearly $2.5-million. The station became KNEW in September of that year under its new owners.
Some representative lineups for KEWB over the years, based on information from the station’s music surveys, included:
September 1959 — Gary Owens (6 to 9 a.m.), Ted Randal (9 a.m. to noon), Frank Bell (noon to 3 p.m.), Mark Foster (3 to 7 p.m.), Buck Herring (7 p.m. to midnight), Bill Wood (midnight to 6 a.m.).
January 1960 — Gary Owens (6 to 9 a.m.), Ted Randal (9 a.m. to noon), Frank Bell (noon to 3 p.m.), Mark Foster (3 to 6 p.m.), Buck Herring (6 to 9 p.m.), Bill Wood (9 p.m. to midnight), Bob Dunn (midnight to 6 a.m.), Bill Enis (Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.).
September 1961 — Don MacKinnon (6 to 9 a.m.), Chris Borden (9 a.m. to noon), Ken Knox (noon to 3 p.m.), Don Bowman (3 to 6 p.m.), Buck Herring (6 to 9 p.m.), Casey Kasem (9 p.m. to midnight), Michael Jackson (midnight to 6 a.m.).
December 1963 — Honest John Trotter (5:30 to 9 a.m.), Scott Bridges (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), Art Nelson (1 to 4 p.m.), Bobby Dale (4 to 8 p.m.), Ron Lyons (8 p.m. to midnight), Carr Pecknold (midnight to 5:30 a.m.), Perry Roberts (Saturday 3 to 8 p.m., Sunday 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.).
October 1964 — Scott Bridges, Jim Tharp, Pete Bunny, Art Nelson, Don Steele, [Robert W.] Morgan, Perry Roberts. (Airtimes not noted.)
December 1964 — [Robert W.] Morgan (6 to 10 a.m.), Art Nelson (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Don Steele (3 to 7 p.m.), K.O. Beachin (7 p.m. to midnight), Ron Dunn (midnight to 6 a.m.).
 Gary Owens |  Don MacKinnon |  Robert W. Morgan |  Ron Reynolds |
KEWB Color Channel 91
1959
KLX Becomes KEWB (Monday, June 8, 1959):
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This rare and interesting recording by Jim Zahn captures a defining moment in local radio history: the departure of the pioneering Oakland station KLX after nearly four decades of ownership by the Tribune, and the launch of Top 40 KEWB in its place. The broadcast begins with “stunting” by KLX, consisting mostly of the recitation of listeners’ names and occasional announcements of what is to come. Finally, KEWB arrives with a message by Crowell-Collier Broadcasting president Robert M. Purcell, followed shortly by the station’s raucous new star, Gary Owens.
KEWB PAMS “Color Radio” Jingles (Circa 1959):
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Gary Owens on KEWB (September 29, 1959):
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Buck Herring on KEWB (1959-1960 Composite):
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A very brief bit of Buck on KEWB, courtesy of Dave Billeci.
1960
KEWB Johnny Mann Custom Jingles (Circa 1960):
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KEWB Sande & Greene Jingles (Circa 1960):
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Gary Owens on KEWB (August 10, 1960):
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1961
Don MacKinnon on KEWB (Circa 1961):
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KEWB “Image” Theme Song (October 1961):
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An instrumental theme built around the six notes of the three Crowell-Collier stations’ call letters — KFWB (Los Angeles), KDWB (Minneapolis) and KEWB (Oakland-San Francisco), written by jingle gods Bob Sande and Larry Greene. The theme, entitled “Image Part I” and performed by Hank Levine & Orchestra, was released as a single (ABC-Paramount #10256) and charted for one week only on the Billboard Hot 100, showing up at #98 on October 9, 1961. It was played regularly, often in the evening hours, on the stations through 1963. (For the complete exhibit featuring this audio clip, please click here.)
Non-descript KEWB survey for the current week (June 8) in 1962 . Remember?
1962
KEWB “You Heard It First” Jingles (Circa 1962):
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“Casey At The Mike” on KEWB (October 2, 1962):
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The mighty Casey Kasem, not quite 30 years old here, presides over his evening program on “Easy To Remember” KEWB. Notable are Casey’s references to minutiae, such as band members’ names, later an essential element in his “American Top 40” broadcasts. A native of Detroit, Casey had been at KYA prior to joining KEWB, and would shortly move on to KRLA in Los Angeles. John Hamlett, who provided the recording to the museum in 2009, noted “I recorded the original on a reel-to-reel Wollensak by laying the mic(s) on a pillow next to my portable radio speaker. Then the tapes were stored away and traveled around the country with me for the next 45 years untouched. When I found them last year I transferred the recordings to my PC (using another reel-to-reel Sony which I bought in ’65 in Japan) and they came out pretty good.”
1963
Ron Lyons on KEWB (July 29, 1963):
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Courtesy of Ron Tomberlin (a/k/a Ron Lyons).
Bobby Dale on KEWB (August 4, 1963):
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Shortly into his career on Bay Area airwaves, Bobby Dale demonstrates the singular style that lands him in the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. For more about Bobby Dale, please click here.
1964
The Real Don Steele on KEWB (August 16, 1964):
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Less than a year from becoming a Tinsel Town radio legend, the Hollywood-born Real Don Steele holds down the afternoon shift at KEWB, where he also serves as program director. For more on RDS at KEWB, please click here.
Pete Bunny on KEWB (October 1964):
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A short ‘scoped segment featuring Pete Bunny, courtesy of Fred Krock; from a compilation provided by Norm Howard.
Gene Price on KEWB (December 19, 1964):
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Robert W. Morgan and Don Steele on KEWB (December 25, 1964):
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Who says that big radio stars don’t work on Christmas Day? Two of the biggest in the history of the business – KEWB’s morning man Robert W. Morgan and afternoon driver The Real Don Steele – were at the microphone on this particular Christmas Day, only a few months away from moving in tandem from the Bay to L.A. as the drive-time dynamos of the newly-relaunched bastion of Boss Radio, 93/KHJ. Listen for a very brief moment with K.O. Beachin at the tail-end of the recording. Courtesy of Barry Salberg.
1965
KEWB Rock-A-Pella Jingles (Circa 1965):
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Ron Reynolds on KEWB (July 1965):
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Scroll down for another aircheck featuring Ron Reynolds on KEWB in August 1965.
K.O. Beachin on KEWB (July 1965):
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For more on K.O. Beachin (a/k/a K.O. Bayley), please click here.
Johnny G on KEWB (August 1965):
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Another aircheck featuring Johnny G on KEWB can be heard under “1966” below. For more about Johnny G, please click here.
Ron Reynolds on KEWB (August 1965):
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1966
Johnny G on KEWB (January 19, 1966):
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Another aircheck featuring Johnny G on KEWB can be heard under “1965” (above). For more about Johnny G, please click here.
EPILOGUE:
KEWB became KNEW in September 1966 under its new owners, Metromedia Radio.
RELATED EXHIBITS:
I have a very rare 3 box set of KEWB 45s from the oldies from KEWB given away from a contest by Casy casom collection in MINT condition! There is about 100 45s with sleeves in 3 leather bound boxes
I was born in 1949 and raised in Oakland, California during the 50’s and 60’s. I remember my introduction into pop – doo wop and rock and roll on KEWB in 1959. I was then ten or so and the first artists I recall listening to were Bobby Darin and Rick Nelson. As time went by, I gradually started listening to KYA and Emperor Gene Nelson. I recently came across an article on Dr. Don Rose, who I remember listening to on KFRC. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person on a cruise that we were both on at the time. Knowing who he was, I gave him space and respected the fact that he was on vacation too. By chance, the opportunity rose to talk with him and after telling him I grew up in the Bay Area, we hit it off and he and his wife turned out to be very nice people indeed., I feel as a kid living in Oakland back then, we were blessed to have such wonderful radio stations to listen to then versus today offerings. Awe, the good ol’ days.
Notable survey from the week of the JFK assasination- the day the music began to change (in our opinion) – see article elsewhere in these pages
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I grew up in California and used to listen to KEWB when we lived in Santa Rosa. Moved to New York when I was 12 but never forgot this station. Always remembered the jingle but not much else. I’m 68 now so thanks for the trip down memory lane.