 KGO'S SOOTHING VOICE[Savage specific items in bold. Savage was particularly bad that week. -Ed.]By Brad Kava, SJ Mercury News - Ear (column); Friday, November 26, 1999 Contact Brad Kava at bkava@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5040; fax (408) 271-3786. He may be the only radio reporter to have interviewed the mass murderer known as "Zodiac," who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s. He was shot at through the window of his studio, in a horrifying incident that killed one of his co-workers. In his early years, he stared down then-Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus in the height of the Civil Rights movement. He wasn't afraid to ask his Disney boss, Michael Eisner, how he justified his $550 million salary. And today, Jim Dunbar is not only one of the classiest people in Bay Area radio, but his morning newscast (5-9 a.m.) on KGO-AM (810) is also the only local show beating shock-jock Howard Stern. Dunbar was inducted last week into the Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago. His baseball card-like plaque can't begin to tell the story of this Detroit native, who was inspired by storyteller Jean Shepherd to take his career to the airwaves. Dunbar, a 68-year-old Hillsborough resident who plays tennis in his spare time, started in radio doing color for Michigan State football games. He went on to report news in Manhattan, Kan., while in the Army, and later he aired music in Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago. In 1963, he started at then-struggling KGO as program director. He did an afternoon talk show in 1965 and moved to the morning news in 1974. Most notably, he introduced the "news talk" format to the station, which struggled for a few years. But in 1978, it became the top-rated Bay Area station and, almost miraculously, has held that position ever since. His most irreverent moment? When, upon seeing a man who claimed to be Jesus walking by the window at the station's old Golden Gate studios, he asked listeners whether he should interview the man. The question prompted, as you can imagine, some irate responses. "It got to the point where I said, 'You know what we did to him the first time. It sounds like you want to do it again.' " Another time, as a relief from the 1960s Vietnam war debate that dominated talk shows, he threatened to immolate a dog outside his studio with napalm. In the crowd that gathered, he says, there were some who were disappointed that it was a hot dog. In his own way, Dunbar was an early shock-jock, but always one on the side of good taste. He took 54 calls from a man claiming to be the Zodiac killer, setting him up on the air with legendary lawyer Melvin Belli in an attempt to get him to turn himself in. The Zodiac killer, who was never caught, sent taunting, cryptic letters to news media and the police, the last of them in 1978. He claimed to have killed 40 people, although only six Bay Area killings have been blamed on him, and he is suspected of another killing in Riverside. "I think it was him," says Dunbar. As a young reporter in Arkansas, while his peers were beating around the bush with segregationist Gov. Faubus, about a federal order to integrate, Dunbar asked him straight out what he planned to do. It was a proud moment that helped shape Dunbar's later career. Now he plans to "drop the anchor" -- leave the full-time morning-news slot -- to do commentary and editorials. (He hopes afternoon wag Ed Baxter will replace him.) Dunbar is a father of two. His 40-year-old son, Jim, puts together soundtracks. His latest is for the film "Boys Don't Cry." Daughter Brooke is a manager with Alamo, a car-rentals outlet. Some of Dunbar's thoughts:(box) On Stern: "I have some admiration for the guy's attack. But I think, unless you are 17 and have pimples, how many times do you have to hear (his expletives) before you say, 'I've heard that before?' "(box) On his long success: "It's so comforting to struggle out of bed, head to the can and there's a voice (on the radio). . Maybe you're not wild about it, but he's doing his stuff. You may not have the greatest prospects for your day, but at least that part of your day is ordered." (box) Most embarrassing moment: talking to his future wife on the phone, telling her he is about to interview "kindly old Joan Crawford" and looking up to see Crawford standing behind him. "She was very gracious. At least she didn't whack me with a coat hanger." (box) On the kind of shock-radio broadcast on Disney station KSFO by Michael Savage, who this week talked about playing "sappy fag music" for Tom Ammiano; called Asians "little soy eaters" and claimed no one except European white males has invented anything useful in the world. "This guy has some sort of need: It's the rush that some (pervert) gets when he drops his pants in front of a 13-year-old. Frankly, I don't know why he's on the air. I would have dropped him after two days." Others on Dunbar:Beth, his wife of 40 years, says her most embarrassing moment was when her mother had come to San Francisco from Florida for a face lift, in the days when such things were kept mum. Dunbar, however, broadcast it on the air. "My mother was out here in secret, and he told 50,000 people. I could have killed him. That's when I stopped telling him anything."Colleague Ronn Owens says, "When I came here in 1975 I looked up to him. I still do." Photograph: from file Caption: Jim Dunbar doing his morning news gig in 1986. He has been with KGO since 1963.
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