Top 40 radio would come to the Bay Area in early October of 1956 in the form of radio station KOBY, 1550 on your radio dial. Jim Wayne would be the first voice heard on this new radio station. He would sign in the new station at 5:30 AM on October 8, 1956. Now we open our vaults to show you the music we were listening to in those days over 64 years ago. For less than a year it would be the only local radio station that was playing the new music. Rock & Roll was in it’s infancy and KOBY was the place to hear the new sounds of the day. Back to the early days of KOBY. And now it begins-Top 40 radio comes to the Bay Area. The souvenir first copy of the KOBY Top 40, from the week of October 8, 1956. A new teen idol would have the number #1 song in the Bay Area.
—————————————————October 22, 1956———————————
I remember listening to KOBY in it’s early days. We now had access to the new music that was sweeping the country-rock & roll. You will notice that these early surveys will show a mixture of rock & roll and pop music that would be reminiscent of earlier parts of this decade.
—————————————————October 29, 1956———————————-
—————————————————–November 12, 1956—————————–
—————————————————–November 19, 1956——————————-
—————————————————–December 10, 1956—————————–
“Singing The Blues” by Guy Mitchell will now be the #1 song in the Bay Area this week. This will be it’s first week at #1, but it will remain #1 for 7 weeks.
—————————————————-December 24, 1956—————————–
