jim dunbar

Since 1963, Jim Dunbar has been at KGO/San Francisco, first acting as program director and afternoon talk show host. Beginning in 1974, he became anchor of the 5 to 9 KGO Morning News. 

At KGO, Dunbar has covered virtually every major news event that impacted Bay area listeners over the past four decades. Under his guidance, KGO moved from a distant last in 1963 to a dominant first place in the 1990s. In fact, KGO Newstalk AM 810 is one of the most successful radio stations in the history of the medium.

Dunbar was born on October 9, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan. His radio career dates back to college at Michigan State, where he did play-by-play football for WKAR/East Lansing.

After dabbling with radio while in the Army, he was a disc jockey for WXYZ/Detroit for two years. Then Dunbar moved to WDSU/New Orleans, where he was program director and morning drive-time host from 1956 to 1960.

From 1960 to 1963, Dunbar was a disc jockey and assistant program director at WLS/Chicago, then one of the pioneering rock ‘n’ roll stations in America. From Chicago, it was off to San Francisco for his place in radio history.

Jim Dunbar was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999.