KGO RADIO's King Still On Top After 33 Years; Ronn Owens, "Mr SF Morning Radio"

After 33 years of dominating the San Francisco radio
landscape, you'd think there'd be a little let-up
in the morning phenomena known as the "Ronn
Owens show" on top-rated KGO "News talk" 810,
yet just listening to whom many consider to be
the quintessential "Mr. Morning of SF culture", there's no holding back Owens, who has been at the City by the Bay's talkie since 1975.

Owens strength has been outlined by several media analysts, including his innate ability to success by being "squarely in the middle", from politics to his choice of restaurants.

While the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Mark Levin have put their political mark firmly on the right-wing meter, Owens blend of middle-of-the-road, moderately-advocated takes on various issues have been met with a huge amount of approval by the Bay Area's sophisticated, nationally-renowned reputation of cosmopolitan culture and left-of-center political niche.

There are those, (like me) who've often privately grumbled that the KGO titan should be more hard-nosed and partisan on certain issues, but Owens, who voted for Barack Obama, thinks otherwise. And the ratings prove his point; since taking over the prestigious morning seat from the late, great talk-host Owen Spann in 1984, Owens has consistently been #1 in overall ratings from Arbitron, and annually beats both Rush Limbaugh (opposite him on neighboring KSFO) and Gary Radnich on all-sports KNBR.

Owens program is a mixture of national news, politics, (his chief favorite) local subjects, with caller-driven reaction and commentary that spice up his popular program. He is generally regarded as one of the best interviewers in the business, as evidenced by his hard-nosed grilling of former President Jimmy Carter last week. While Carter's comments on Israel have drawn international criticism as being biased against the Jewish state, his interviewees have rarely tried to be even remotely critical of the 39Th President; Owens was anything but congenial toward Mr. Carter, challenging him on almost all his Middle East offerings, and making Carter appear to be mostly on the defensive and what made for great radio listening.

Owens recently won the prestigious "Marconi award" for best talk-show host in the country and has received numerous national and local broadcasting awards. While many of his competitors have either tried syndication, did well, or perhaps did not; while many have relied on "shouting" and/or creating 'shock-jock' radio antics, Owens mix of local flavor and congenial attitude toward his radio audience has been received with critical praise and intimate approval.

Owens is one of the few radio performers that treats his loyal audience to sincere, straight-up talk and conversation; no crazy antics, no bizarre, phony phone-call shenanigans--simply an honest, compelling, daily three hours of topical news talk, hot guests, (Owens scored Barack Obama early in his campaign) and even local favorites as to the Bay Area's best restaurants, movies, and places to go. For Owens, that may be across the bay in nearby Albany, CA, the site of Golden Gate Fields, one of Northern Calif.'s premier horse-racing tracks. Owens is a huge fan of the ponies and can be seen at the turf club on any given Friday scouring the races.

There are the famous cable cars and Fisherman's wharf, the celebrated Golden Gate Bridge and Chinatown and hills of San Francisco, but when it comes to morning radio culture, from 9-Noon weekdays, it seems everyone in their car or at home is tuned to KGO listening to the King of the airwaves, Ronn Owens.