The News Vault from KCBS Radio

On August 25, 1981, a construction crew punctured a 16-inch natural gas gas pipeline within a block of KCBS Radio's Embarcadero Center studios in San Francisco. The leak went on for hours, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people--including everyone from the KCBS Radio newsroom and studios.

The next morning, the station had returned to its facilities. Al Hart is the station's lead anchor, joined by Ken Ackerman. Chris Brecher is the traffic anchor. Reporters include Jerry Wilcox, Wilson van Alst, and Charlie Seraphin
This audio is from a collection of radio airchecks assembled by the late Bay Area radio engineer Mike Schweizer.

On August 25, 1981, a construction crew punctured a 16-inch natural gas gas pipeline within a block of KCBS Radio's Embarcadero Center studios in San Francisco. The leak went on for hours, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people--including everyone from the KCBS Radio newsroom and studios. This edited version of live coverage reveals the challenges facing the broadcast team.

An edition of the KCBS Radio newsmagazine program "Jan Black's Journal" broadcast from San Jose's Fairmont Hotel on April 27, 1988. The guest host Jan Hutchins, himself the host of a regular evening interview program on KCBS Radio, discussed San Jose's history and role in the Bay Area with two guests: longtime San Jose Mercury reporter and political writer Harry Farrell and Bob Haulman, a longtime Bay Area broadcast journalist then serving as KCBS Radio morning traffic and weather anchor.

Our thanks to the San Jose Historical Museum Association for preserving this audio file. Jan Black, by the way, was away from her show because she was on maternity leave.

On August 27, 1987, KCBS Radio broadcast an hour-long special report, "The Feinstein Years". Produced and reported by longtime KCBS Radio San Francisco City Hall reporter Barbara Taylor, the piece examined the legacy of a political figure who had served at San Francisco City Hall for more than 17 years (sworn in as a city Supervisor in 1970) and was a few months away from the end of her mayoral term. Feinstein would run for Governor of California in 1990, and after that failed campaign, would be elected to the United States Senate in 1992.​

On December 23 1993, KCBS Radio broadcast a special report entitled “Gourmet Garbage”. Reporter Mike Sugerman looked into the amount of food wasted by the food service business, at a time when public attention was focused on the growing problems of hunger and homelessness. As part of his research, Sugerman spent time peering into trash cans behind stores, hotels, and restaurants.

The anchor lead-in read: “A lot of Bay Area food is getting trashed these days—literally. Every day, tons of good food is being dumped by commercial kitchens in restaurants, hotels, catering services, and other places that feed a lot of people. And every day, thousands of other people in the Bay Area are going hungry, more now than at any time in the recent past. Critics say if chefs would only save the food they are now wasting, there would be little hunger in the Bay Area.  KCBS Reporter Mike Sugerman spent some time investigating the tasty trash problem and has put together this in depth special report: ‘Gourmet Garbage’.”

This May 31, 1961 KCBS Radio broadcast featured host Scott Beach interviewing UC Berkeley Professor Jack London, an expert in the area of Adult Education. The "News Conference" format allowed listeners to submit questions while the studio host conducted the live interview.

On November 10 1945, KQW (the predecessor call letters to KCBS Radio) aired a live production celebrating "25 Years of Broadcasting" as the radio industry marked a quarter-century since the first government-licensed broadcasts on KDKA/Pittsburgh and WWJ/Detroit. Of course, KQW/KCBS roots ran deeper, traced to the 1909 broadcasts by Dr. Charles Herrold in San Jose.

This audio file, courtesy of the California Historical Radio Society,  includes that 1945 broadcast as well as an introduction delivered in 1975 by Paul Cortland Smith, who was the engineer for that 25th Anniversary production.

This is a “telescoped” reel of audio from the period between 5pm and 6pm on October 17, 1989 as KCBS Radio swings into gear after the Loma Prieta Earthquake—the first hour of coverage following the 5:03 pm quake. Jan Black is the studio anchor. Stan Bunger and Mike Woodley are at Candlestick Park.

Of note: a pre-recorded  safety announcement, which urged listeners to consult the front of their phone books for detailed information.  The first reports of the destruction of the elevated Cypress Freeway came 32 minutes after the quake struck. The first magnitude readings were broadcast nearly 40 minutes after the quake hit (originally referred to as 6.9 in Hollister area).  The first reports of the failure of a portion of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge came more than 45 minutes after the quake.

This is an example of the journalistic tradition known as the “yearender”. Aired on December 29, 1957 and January 1, 1958, it is a KCBS Radio broadcast anchored by Don Mozley. He sums up the year’s developments in California politics—including the announcement by state Attorney General Pat Brown that he would seek the governor’s office in the 1958 election. When he won that race, Brown launched the dynasty that saw he or his son Jerry hold the governor’s office for 24 of the next 60 years. The 1958 campaign season was notable because an announced challenge to incumbent Republican Governor Goodwin Knight by Senator William Knowland  resulted in Knight declining to seek re-election. Instead, he ran for Knowland’s Senate seat, and both lost.

On May 24, 1967, KCBS Radio host Harv Morgan devoted his nighttime “Contact” program to a discussion of the brewing crisis in the Middle East. The “Six Day War” would break out two weeks later. Morgan’s first guest is Christina Harris, a longtime Middle East expert at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. His second guest is UC Berkeley professor George Lenczowski, who the founder and first chair of what would become the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Cal.
(Note that gaps exist where commercial breaks were apparently “telescoped” and recording ends suddenly).

This episode of the KCBS Radio weekly program “In Depth” aired the weekend of August 28^th/29^th, 1999. Governor Gray Davis was the guest. He was interviewed by Mike Pulsipher and Ed Cavagnaro.

Davis had been elected Governor the previous November, defeating Dan Lungren. His election ended a 16 year period during which Republicans controlled the Governor’s office. Davis was re-elected Governor in 2002, and nearly immediately, was targeted in a recall election that led to his removal from office. That October 2003 recall election installed Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor.

Among the issues discussed: the Bay Bridge retrofit. Ten years after the Loma Prieta earthquake, decisions still hadn’t been made about how to proceed.  Davis also decried the ability of wealthy candidates to sidestep campaign-finance laws and self-fund their campaigns.

In August, 1964, The Beatles launched their first American tour, and the first stop was San Francisco. In the midst of Beatlemania, an enterprising KCBS Radio journalist named Hilly Rose scored an exclusive: an interview with the Fab Four in their hotel room.  This episode includes the actual interview, held in the collection of the Bay Area Radio Museum, as well as an interview with Rose conducted in 2014 in which he told the story of how he scored his scoop. The typed label on the reel-to-reel tape box was clearly added later as it places the year as "1965" rather than the correct "1964".

This is a complete KCBS Radio aircheck of the 4 PM to 5 PM hour on Sunday, October 22, 2000. Dave Padilla anchors. The major stories of the day relate to a windstorm that caused numerous power outages and helped drive a wildfire in the Oakland Hills, not far from where the October 1991 fire destroyed thousands of homes and killed 25 people.

KCBS Radio reporter Stan Bunger produced this special report, interviewing Nazi death camp survivor (and Bay Area resident) Eddy Wynschenk as well as the commander of the unit that liberated the Birkenau camp, Colonel Bob Clark of the 104th Infantry Division "Timberwolves". Original broadcast date: July 27, 1986.

Al Douglas was well-known to KCBS Radio evening listeners in the 1960’s. He hosted a call-in program called “Viewpoint” as well as an interview program called “The Al Douglas Show”. He was known for his wide-ranging interests, choosing interview subjects from across a wide spectrum. This example from the California Historical Society/Bay Area Radio Museum collection is an interview with legendary photographer Ansel Adams, aired in November 1963.

A power failure inside the Transbay Tube led to massive headaches for BART commuters in 1996.  KCBS Radio reporters on both sides of the Bay swung into action to cover the story. The coverage led to numerous awards for the station.

In May 1989, KCBS Radio reporter Mike Sugerman looked into a controversy surrounding the California Victims Compensation Fund and whether it was properly paying out claims.

On September 22, 1975, President Gerald Ford was the target of an assassination attempt outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square. This audio file is a compendium of KCBS Radio coverage of the event.

In March of 1988, the legendary radio broadcast "The World News Roundup" turned 50.  The weekly CBS Radio program "Newsmark" devoted an episode to honoring the WNR. 

This program, hosted by Hilly Rose, examined the defeat of a bond measure that would have funded the reconstruction of the War Memorial Opera House. Rose’s guests were two legendary names: impresario Sol Hurok, who favored the bond measure, and Louis Lurie, real estate tycoon and theater investor. Lurie had opposed the bond measure. 

It was a spirited exchange, to say the least! At one point, the station breaks for a commercial while the two guests argue in the background. Upon return from the break, they’re still arguing.

Note: there are a number of gaps on the original reel-to-reel recording; they remain in this digitized version. Host Hilly Rose explains he was responsible, having cut the microphones when he felt the conversation had gotten too heated!