Bonnie Simmons and KPFA Interim General Manager Ahmad Anderson, who thoughtfully brought flowers
The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame inducted a slew of new worthies into its hallowed halls on Saturday night, including free form pioneers Bonnie Simmons and Dave McQueen. It was a great event at the Double Tree Hotel in Berkeley, which Radio Survivor attended.
McQueen was inducted following a great introduction from Bill Schechner—long time Bay Area journalist, radio host, and videographer. McQueen started at KSAN and subsequently did the news on KNEW, KFRC, KKCY and KKSF, then culminating his career at KCBS. He retired in 2009.
I briefly introduced Simmons, who also started out at KSAN, then moved on to KFOG, Live 105 (KITS), KOFY-FM, and KUSF. At present she hosts a terrific show on KPFA with Derk Richardson. As Radio Survivor readers know, we lobbied heavily for Bonnie to get into the Hall, and were thrilled when that happened.
Lewis Hill, founder of KPFA-FM, also received the honor, as did a host of other radio notables, including Ben-Fong-Torres, Evangeline Baker, Amaury-Pi-Gonzalez, Don Sainte-John, Dave Morey of KFOG, and Stan Bunger of KCBS.
The event was quite a marathon, with many people reminiscing about their careers. The Bay Area Radio Museum’s David Jackson kept it all going with good humor.
“The bad news is the bar is closing,” he told everybody about 11 pm. “But the breakfast table will soon be up.”
