KGO Radio has lost one of its signature and veteran personalities: John Hamilton, the travel show guru and host of "On the Go" has passed. His death was due to cancer. He was 85.
Hamilton was a 49-year contributor to KGO. He recently retired.
His early-morning Saturday travel program was a station staple and provided interesting, personable and often times, funny, travel stories and adventures --most of the time involving the quirky Hamilton himself.
KGO is planning a memorial tribute. Hamilton's last show was March 8th.
I liked him, very mellow. A class act. Go with flow I say.
ReplyDeleteContrast that to all the hate filled posts from Christine Craft today.
Contrast that to all the hate filled tweets from your Jackass of a president today and the last 3 1/2 years.
DeleteChristine sure has a lot of admirer's lately. She should have her own show on KGO, with all this man love. I used to listen when she filled in on KGO. Good stuff. And didn't give in to the dimwits.
ReplyDeleteRich wrote a blog about John Hamilton who has passed away. Why bring up Trump and Christine Kraft. Neither here nor there.
ReplyDeletedear 6:46. I did some fill in shows for John. He had a core audience that loved him. It is not an easy show to do. I had to really scramble to find interesting travel experts. I think it is remarkable that John died with his boots on, so to speak, doing his last show just a short while ago. Top o' the morning, to John...
DeleteI rarely listened to John Hamilton, I didn't really have the money to do the kind of travelling he was talking about, although I travelled a lot when I was younger, have even lived in 4 countries. He sounded like a nice guy, I just thought there was no reason to write posts being critical of you and Trump when the blog Rich wrote about the passing of John Hamilton.
DeleteMr. Hamilton was on class act. I truly enjoyed listening to his show on Sunday mornings. That was back when my entire morning was grounded on KGO. In no particular order, "The Happiest Gardener, Barbara Simpson, Rabbi Lapin, and John Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteHis theme song alone would set the mood.
Something about San Francisco sung in a very elegant manner by a woman with a Dutch accent. So lovely.Thank you, John H. for your knowledge, joy and grace! I'll be 'seeing you upstairs' one fine day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs90OqBvOb4
Delete- Sigh. Hamilton had only a 2 1/2 month retirement. Too soon.
ReplyDelete- Craft has empathy, unlike the Dago-in-Chief that 6:07 referenced.
I agree with you about Craft has empathy and the President does not, just thought this wasn't the place to point it out.
DeleteI rarely listened to John Hamilton's show, but it is my understanding he absolutely loved doing the show. When he retired he casually mentioned he had cancer, I think he retired because of his cancer, not because he really wanted to.
Sorry to hear this. Good pipes. Enjoyed him 9am Sunday mornings.
ReplyDeleteI worked with John at KGO in the late 90's. Good god, what a dullard. But RIP.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hamilton was the real deal, a true believer; he continued to slog it out, driving down to the station for his reduced-to-one-hour show on Sunday mornings and beaming his broad, trademark smile at everyone he encountered, right until he couldn't do it anymore. If he had a spiteful or resentful bone in his body, I never saw it, and I encountered John for over 20 years in those halls on Sundays. I think maybe once, back in the day at 900 Front, I got to board-op for him when someone couldn't post their shift; other than that we just mostly made small talk.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say he was a 'true believer,' I mean he never gave up on the magic of radio, even when Cumulus did most everything they could to grind that magic into the ground.
Re: 7:20 pm above, Rabbi Lappin, Barbara Simpson, and America's Happy Gardener were always on KSFO, not KGO. Glad you enjoyed all these hosts, regardless of that distinction; everyone you listed was an "old school" talk radio host, and everyone you listed brought a unique, personal, non-corporate touch to what they offered on those weekend shows. A lot of contrast between those, and say, Doug Andrew, who gets the majority of weekend airtime on both KSFO and KGO these days. You can count "live and local" hosts on one hand between both stations anymore, and when the remaining hosts of that era die off, there won't be any "live and local" on these stations on the weekend at all, period.
The trend in U.S. Commercial Radio is toward centralized, syndicated hosts and paid programming: the former is relatively cheap to put on and "sounds good,"* and the latter puts money in the corporate coffers, audience be damned. The era of "in the public interest" ended a long time ago.
*By "sounds good" I mean nationalized "local shows" sound just like real radio; nice and polished. The same can be said for time-shifted traffic reports; they sound just like useful live radio. They are both examples of useless, irrelevant hot air that does nothing for local communities; examples of form over function, fake fronts, lying to the audience, etc. In other words, hallmarks of a dying industry. You're welcome.
Doug Andrew is paid for informercials, and what he is pushing is totally bogus, he wants people to buy it is either whole life or universal insurance, and cash out their 401K. If you listen to finance guys on the radio, Ric Edelman or Dave Ramsey, or just research it on the web, those products are not good investment products.
ReplyDeleteRIP John. Sad news.
ReplyDeleteAlso - hadn't looked at this blog in a while and now I remember why...a post about a radio host passing away and on the SECOND comment, it turns political. You're all such malcontents. You must be the most miserable people ever. Pathetic.
So sad. I worked with John at his recreation report company many years ago. I loved working with him. I ran in to him at the Orpheum Theater a couple of years ago - it was great catching up with him. He will be missed!
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