KCBS Radio SF

Feel the earth move? Tune to KCBS to find out what that San Francisco earthquake registers on the Richter scale. One thing to remember, news never stops happening. Broadcasting an all news format is an arduous task but KCBS rises to the challenge everyday, 24/7.

KCBS Radio SF Origins

The station did not start out with the KCBS call letters. Actually, the station started before there were call letters. It's considered the world's first radio station and was started as a hobby by local scientist, Dr. Charles Herrod. With help from his engineering students, Dr. Herrod began broadcast programs in 1909 using an impressive 14-watt transmitter in the South Bay. The pioneering broadcasters announced themselves only with, "This is San Jose Calling."

Radio licenses were issued in 1921 and the station was assigned the call letters of KQW. In 1949, CBS bought the landmark station and the call letters were changed to KCBS. It wasn't an all news station at that time. The format change occurred in the late 1960's with the station leveraging its relationship to CBS for news feeds and elevating their journalistic breath. Today KCBS radio in San Francisco mixes their daily programs with local news and information augmented with national and international news fed by CBS News, KPIX TV, and CBS Sportsline.

The Morning Commute

The time when most people listen to the radio is during the morning commute. Forget the morning zoo radio shows, the banal talk shows, or the nondescript cool jazz music stations and stick to news. KCBS radio's morning commute news team includes seasoned broadcast professionals that are familiar voices to Bay Area listeners. The lineup starts with Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor working as news anchors, Steve Bitker covering sports, Bob Price bringing in the financial news tidings, Kim Wonderley passing on the good and bad traffic news, and Roberta Gonzales prognosticating the weather from 6:00 AM to 10:AM. They report on local, national, and worldwide news as it happens.

The news team also weaves in regular features such as CBS's Osgood File with Charles Osgood commentary or a daily weekday chat with ex-Raiders coach and ongoing NFL Football sportscaster, John Madden. The news team changes throughout the day, into the evening, and works through the wee hours of the morning for the night owls until the next day's sun rises and the new cycle starts again.

Noteworthy Shows

KCBS Radio SF spices up their broadcast with several personalities and segments. The following are some highlighted features.

• John Madden

Sports chat with whimsical tangents with the Coach, joined by KCBS's Stan Bunger, Steve Bitker, and Susan Leigh Taylor.

• Charles Osgood

CBS News Sunday Morning program's anchor thought-provoking stories and musings can be heard here daily.

• Narsai David

Get in the kitchen with Narsai David with food and dining news, features, and discussion with a local San Francisco orientation.

• Phil Matier

One half of the Matier and Ross report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Phil delivers the lowdown on City politics as well as the usual topsy-turvy world of the Sacramento and Washington D.C. capitals.

• Jan Wahl

Movie reviews and talk from the lady who wears hats.

• CBS Evening News with Katie Couric

KCBS broadcasts Katie Couric's newscast from CBS live at 3:30 PST.

• Al Hart

Al was the longtime and well-loved morning news anchor at KCBS who retired in 2000. Well, not quite. Al still contributes feature stories and joins the morning team on Wednesday to discuss sports with John Madden.

KCBS on the Web

KCBS aggregates all the news on their website. Their site offers news, sports, weather, traffic, videos, and links. Also, if you want to listen to KCBS live via the internet sans a radio, there's an audio link as well.