The Music & The Voices Of KOBY
As we roll into the summer of 1957, KOBY was one of the most popular radio stations in the Bay Area. The first voice heard on KOBY would belong to Jim Wayne. He would come on the air at 5:50 AM Monday, October 8. By October of 1957 he would be the host of the “Rolling Home Show” (5:00-7:00 PM). Another KOBY voice was Ted Rogers, a native of California (he was the program and production manager of KOBY). He was the host of the “Ted Rogers Show” (9:00-11:00 AM) and “The Top 40 Show” (2:30-5:00 PM, Monday-Friday). Ken Williams was also one of the early voices of KOBY and at this time he is 25 years old. He started his radio career in the San Joaquin Valley in California. He would be the host on the KOBY weekend specials, “The Saturday & Sunday Serenades. The voice of Ted Cooper would also come over the airwaves at 1550 on your radio dial. He was a native of San Francisco and before being a disc jockey he would be a policeman, a tree surgeon, a truck driver, a gourmet cook and a society photographer. He would host “The Ted Cooper Show” (1:00-2:30 PM) and “The Jukebox Serenade” (7:00-9:00 PM) on Saturday and Sunday. A legendary Bay Area radio voice could also be heard on KOBY. His name was Ted Randal (he would be on KOBY for a short while before leaving to do a local TV dance party on KPIX (channel 5). The morning personality at this time was Bobby Beers. As a youngster, he sang with the orchestra of Lawrence Welk. He would serve in the Navy during World War 2, returning to the Welk Orchestra until 1947 when he would join the Orchestra of Blue Barron. He would eventually become interested in being a disc jockey, starting with KOBY on October 1, 1957. He would be the host of “The Musical Clock” (5:30-9:00 PM) and “The Bobby Beers Show” (11:00 AM-1:00 PM), Monday -Friday. Pictured below is Bobby Beers.
July 1957
As we begin he month of July 1957, one of the most popular songs on the KOBY Top 40 was “Bye Bye Love” by The Everly Brothers.
Songs that would debut this month on the KOBY Top 40 were “White Silver Sands” by Don Rondo, “Send For Me” by Nat ‘King’ Cole, “Chicken Baby Chicken” by Tony Harris, “Tammy” by Debbie Reynolds and also by The Ames Brothers, “Whispering Bells” by The Dell Vikings, “The Juicy Crocodile” by The Cellos, “Moonlight Love” by Roger Williams, “Flying Saucer, The 2nd” by Buchanan & Goodman, “Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” by Billy Williams, “Shangri-La” by The Four Coins, “Come What May” by Etta James, “C.C Rider” by Chuck Willis, “Rainbow” by Russ Hamilton, “Cool Shake” by The Del Vikings (this was the Mercury Records group, they were The Dell Vikings on Dot Records), “Stardust” by Billy Ward & The Dominoes, “The Rockin’ Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu” by Huey ‘Piano’ Smith & The Clowns, “When I See You” by Fats Domino and “Beautiful Weekend” by Googie Rene.
August 1957
Songs that would debut on the KOBY Top 40 during the month of August 1957 would include “Fascination” by Jane Morgan and also David Carroll, “And That Reminds Me” by Della Reese and also Kay Starr, “Bermuda Shorts” by The Delroys, “Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On” by Jerry Lee Lewis, “To The Aisle” by The Five Satins and also by Roy Hamilton, “J.D’s Boogie Woogie” by Jimmy Dorsey, “Love Me To Pieces” by Jill Corey (one of the performers on TV’s “Your Hit Parade”), “That’ll Be The Day” by The Crickets, “Honeycomb” by Jimmie Rodgers, “Remember You’re Mine” and “Technique” by Pat Boone, “Desirie” by The Charts, “Swingin’ Sweethearts” by David Carroll and also by Hugo Winterhalter, “Goody Goody” by Frankie Lymon ,”June Night” by Jimmy Dorsey and “Diana” by Paul Anka. A new star was born this month when Paul Anka climbed to the top of the charts with “Diana”.
September 1957
Songs that would debut on the KOBY Top 40 this month would include “Mr. Lee” by The Bobbettes, “Take The Key” by Richard Berry & The Pharaohs, “You’re My One And Only Love” by Ricky Nelson, “Plaything” by Ted Newman, “Black Slacks” by The Sparkletones, “Be Bop Baby” by Ricky Nelson, “An Affair To Remember” by Vic Damone, “Happy Happy Birthday Baby” by The Tune Weavers, “Chances Are” by Johnny Mathis, “Just Between You And Me” by The Chordettes, “Keep A Knockin'” by Little Richard, “Wake Up, Little Susie” by The Everly Brothers, “Wait And See” by Fats Domino, “Mean Woman Blues” by Elvis Presley, “Jailhouse Rock” and “Treat Me Nice” by Elvis Presley, “Lotta Lovin” by Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps, “Think” by The Five Royals, “Silhouettes” by Steve Gibson & His Red Caps and also by The Diamonds, “Reet Petite” by Jackie Wilson and “Mr. Fire Eyes” by Bonnie Guitar.
October 1957
Songs that would debut on the KOBY Top 40 this month were “Man, Like Wow” by Tommy Sands, “Alone” by The Shephard Sisters and also The Brothers Sisters, “Lips Of Wine” by Andy Williams, “You Send Me” by Sam Cooke and also by Teresa Brewer, “My Special Angel” by Bobby Helms and also by The Sonny Land Trio, “Deep Purple” by Billy Ward & The Dominoes, “Just Born” by Perry Como, “April Love” by Pat Boone, “Little Bitty Pretty One” by Thurston Harris, “Liechtensteiner Polka” by Will Glahe, “Peanuts” by Little Joe & The Thrillers, “Wonderful, Wonderful” by Stan Freberg (this was Stan’s parody of Lawrence Welk), “Could This Be Magic” by The Dubs, “Chicago” by Frank Sinatra, “The Creature” by Buchanan & Ancell, “All The Way” by Frank Sinatra and “Melodie D’Amour” by The Ames Brothers.
November 1957
Songs that would debut on the KOBY Top 40 this month were “Raunchy” by Ernie Freeman, “The Love Bug Crawl” by Jimmy Edwards, “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” by Jimmie Rodgers, “I’ll Remember Today” by Patti Page, “Telephone” by Boreson & Setterberg (this was a novelty record that was done to the melody of “Honeycomb”, one of the big hits of the day),
“Oh Boy” by The Crickets, “Rock And Roll Music” by Chuck Berry, “Jailhouse Rock EP” by Elvis Presley, “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz” by The Hollywood Flames, “You Bug Me” by Larry Williams, “Great Balls Of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis, “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly, “Santa & The Satelite” by Buchanan & Goodman, “At The Hop” by Danny & The Juniors, “Bony Moronie” by Larry Williams and “No Love” by Johnny Mathis.
December 1957
December 1957
Songs that would debut on the KOBY Top 40 this month were “Henrietta” by Jimmy Dee, “Elvis Sings Christmas Songs” by Elvis Presley, “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms, “Hey Little Girl” by The Techniques, “The Hat I Got For Christmas” by Mel Blanc (Mel was the voice for “Tweety Bird”), “Dance To The Bop” by Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps, “Little Sandy Sleigh Foot” by Jimmy Dean, “Stood Up” by Ricky Nelson, “The Big Beat” by Fats Domino, “26 Miles” by The Four Preps, “I’ll Come Running Back To You” and “Desire Me” by Sam Cooke, “Teardrops” by Lee Andrews & The Hearts, “The Stroll” by The Diamonds, “Hey Mary Ann” by The Sputniks, “Walkin’ With Mr. Lee” by Lee Allen, “The Twelfth Of Never” by Johnny Mathis, “The Lord Made A Peanut” by Guy Mitchell and “Silhouettes” by The Rays (the big hit version of this song). 🙂 🙂 🙂
References: All information in this article comes from the music surveys of KOBY (including the disc jockey profiles).
July 195
