Frank Dill

KNBR Morning Man For 32 Years (1965-1997)
Elected to the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, 2006

Frank Dill arrived in San Francisco in 1963 after being hired by NBC's KNBR to be an afternoon deejay and sports announcer. Frank had been a radio and television personality at WGR and WGR-TV in Buffalo, N.Y., for nine years and had impressed Bill Decker, an NBC executive, who ran a competing station in Buffalo. When Decker became the General Manager of KNBR, he remembered Frank and brought him to California.

One of his early assignments was coverage of the Bing Crosby Pro-Am golf tournament for NBC's weekend "Monitor" program. Taking his cue from Monitor anchors such as Joe Garagiola and Gene Rayburn, Frank gave hourly updates with guests such as Bing, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Ray Bolger, Fred MacMurray and other stars of that era. This led to various NBC assignments including the Bob Hope Desert Classic and NCAA basketball.

While simultaneously reporting sports nightly on KPIX and later KRON-TV, Frank was offered the morning-drive show on KNBR by then Program Director Al Hart. That was 1965 and it began a 32-year marathon. By 1968 Frank had acquired a cast of characters, many of whom were the creation of his friend and eventual partner, Mike Cleary.

Mike's ability to do voices combined with a talent to stay "in character" as that voice created an entire cast for Frank to deal with. Mike became a newsman ("O'Bradley O'Bradley"), a wine expert ("Connie Sewer"), a film critic ("Rex Rude"), and a weatherman ("Willis Flopp") to mention just a few. "The Frank and Mike Show" ran more than fifteen years.

Frank began his career in broadcasting in 1948 at WMAL-TV in Washington, D.C. While attending Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, Frank came to the attention of popular radio personality Jim Gibbons.

Frank would frequently call Gibbons' morning radio show with the answer to a sports trivia question. When Gibbons came up with the idea of a new TV show, "Sports Cartoon-a-Quiz," which would feature young sports trivia buffs in a visual format, he naturally thought of Frank. That began a relationship that eventually resulted in a series of jobs for the eager Dill after graduating from high school.

From office boy to TV production aide to personal assistant to Gibbons himself, Dill progressed to a few announcer chores including subbing for Gibbons on the Channel 7 Monday Night Fights. The Washington Times Herald took note of that assignment and commented "...and he's only 18."

Thus began a career that spanned more than fifty years and included stops at WCHV in Charlottesville, Va., the Armed Forces Radio Service in the Philippines, KRTV and KARK-TV in Little Rock, Ark., and WGR and WGR-TV in Buffalo, N.Y.

Frank met his wife, Mary, in Little Rock. They've been married since 1954 and have two children and two grandsons.

Frank Dill was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the first class to be enshrined.