![\"The](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/San-Francisco.jpg\")
<\/a>The Golden Gate<\/p><\/div>\n
Our ancestor, Joseph Billiou,\u00a0first ventured to Northern California in 1856<\/strong>, long after\u00a0the gold rush had peaked and the “easy money” was\u00a0gone.\u00a0 Thus\u00a0creating the family motto:\u00a0 “Always a day late and a dollar short”.\u00a0 Despite failing to make his fortune,\u00a0Joseph set down roots and our family became one of the lucky ones who could call the Bay Area “home”.\u00a0 To us, and most other families\u00a0in the region, San Francisco was the\u00a0centerpiece of cultural, sporting and culinary experiences<\/strong>. I was also fortunate enough to earn a living in the Financial District for more than 20 years.\u00a0\u00a0San Francisco has always had a unique vibe –\u00a0welcoming people\u00a0with divergent backgrounds and talents while maintaining a sense of unity and cohesiveness.\u00a0 But it would appear “The City”\u00a0is changing, in large part due to a 2011 decision by the supervisors to offer\u00a0generous tax breaks<\/strong> to any tech company willing to relocate to San Francisco.\u00a0 As a result, the companies are gobbling up real estate to establish a presence there.\u00a0 Thousands of\u00a0“techies” are moving to the area\u00a0for work.\u00a0 \u00a0The result is that the housing market, which has always been expensive, is now downright ridiculous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>New condos are going up in some of the older, “less desirable” neighborhoods which has resulted in\u00a0evictions of people\u00a0who have lived there for generations.\u00a0 And to add insult to injury, there is no affordable\u00a0place for them to go.\u00a0 San Francisco, it would seem, is on the brink of reaching Venezuelan levels of wealth inequality<\/strong>.\u00a0 In the past four months I’ve seen three documentaries covering the changing dynamics – all of them were depressing.\u00a0\u00a0 After watching the last one I became nostalgic for the city that once was.\u00a0 And for some reason, I thought about the song that was an anthem for San Francisco for more than 30 years – “The Sound of the City”.<\/strong><\/p>\n KSFO in its heyday<\/p><\/div>\n The song actually wasn’t a song at all.\u00a0 It was the jingle for what was then the powerhouse radio station<\/strong> in the region – KSFO.\u00a0 From the late 50’s until the early 80’s the station was owned by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry<\/strong>, and was billed as “The World’s Greatest Radio Station.\u00a0 Particularly in San Francisco”.\u00a0\u00a0 In those days San Francisco had\u00a0five TV stations and\u00a0AM radio<\/strong> to cover news, sports and entertainment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Autry quickly maximized his crown jewel by hiring a Murderer’s Row of disc jockeys:\u00a0 Don Sherwood, Jim Lange, Del Courtney, Jack Carney and Al “Jazzbeaux” Collins.\u00a0 Autry negotiated broadcasting rights with the 49ers and the Giants<\/strong> and had two legends, Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges,\u00a0call the games.\u00a0 Back then\u00a0TV and radio stations\u00a0had the good sense to sign off for a few hours in the wee hours of the morning and Autry wanted a jingle to use as the station went dark each night.\u00a0 So in 1960 he commissioned the multi-talented Johnny Mann<\/strong> to write\u00a0one for him.\u00a0 When the song was first aired people thought it had been recorded by the Four Freshman, but in fact it was sung by eight studio singers in Hollywood, the most famous of whom went on to be the voice of Tony the Tiger.\u00a0 The result was a beautiful masterpiece: the Sound of the City<\/a> .\u00a0 When you click on the link you will hear a\u00a0lyrical song,\u00a0reminiscent of a softer time when fun and bonhomie reigned supreme.\u00a0 It is now the ringtone on my phone and each time I play it for a native of the Bay Area\u00a0the person becomes misty-eyed.<\/p>\n The inimitable Don\u00a0\u00a0 Sherwood<\/p><\/div>\n How did a song – and a radio station – become so ingrained in our psyches<\/strong>?\u00a0 Well for starters, as I said, our entertainment choices were pretty limited.\u00a0 But more importantly it is estimated that two-thirds of people<\/strong> living in the\u00a0Bay Area during the 1960’s tuned in to listen to the bibulous Don Sherwood every weekday morning.\u00a0\u00a0He was the Pied Piper of the Bay Area<\/strong>, with his throaty, cigarette-tinged chuckle that made even his reading of a Yami Yogurt\u00a0commercial sound just the slightest bit dirty.\u00a0\u00a0Each morning people gathered around the water cooler or the gym locker to talk about what prank Sherwood had pulled off during the morning commute.\u00a0 That’s assuming, of course, that he had even bothered to show up<\/strong> for work.\u00a0 A native-born San Franciscan, he was the product of two alcoholic parents and suffered from the disease himself.\u00a0 It was a crapshoot each morning as to whether Mr. Sherwood was “not feeling well” that day.\u00a0 But his\u00a0show was so popular that even on the days he didn’t show up for work, his sidekick Carter B. Smith garnered higher ratings than the competitors.\u00a0 Sherwood’s manic personality was hard for management to control and his wisest bosses never tried to make\u00a0 “Donny Babe” conform.\u00a0\u00a0After all, part of his appeal was his irreverent humor and his running gags.\u00a0\u00a0 No idea was too outrageous.\u00a0\u00a0He once instructed everyone to crank down their car window<\/strong> and turn the radio up full blast.\u00a0 He then broadcast the blare of\u00a0a police siren. \u00a0Law enforcement reported a spike in fender-benders that morning but the gag had everyone laughing for weeks.\u00a0 On another occasion he told drivers that on his command they should all turn left<\/strong>.\u00a0 That stunt created havoc all over the Bay Area, particularly for the foolhardy souls who were crossing\u00a0the Golden Gate Bridge at the time.\u00a0 In 1961, when\u00a0he challenged the young Jim Lange to a foot race from Stinson Beach to the Ferry Building in downtown SF, more than 60,000 people lined the route<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0What was the attraction?\u00a0 It was because KSFO, and Sherwood in particular, made people\u00a0feel like they\u00a0“belonged” to a community, regardless of their socioeconomic status.<\/p>\n The recent documentaries I watched report that San Francisco\u00a0is becoming\u00a0the epicenter of the “sharing” economy<\/strong>.\u00a0 Which is somewhat ironic given that every picture I saw\u00a0of the new “techies” featured them with headphones stuck in their ears, eyes cast downward at\u00a0their\u00a0phones, oblivious to the people and culture<\/strong> around them.\u00a0\u00a0San Francisco has always been a city that changes and evolves but personally,\u00a0I’ll take the “sharing” of 50 years ago –\u00a0outstanding radio, a beautiful song and every once in a while, everyone turning left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Our ancestor, Joseph Billiou,\u00a0first ventured to Northern California in 1856, long after\u00a0the gold rush had peaked and the “easy money” was\u00a0gone.\u00a0 Thus\u00a0creating the family motto:\u00a0 “Always a day late and a dollar short”.\u00a0 Despite failing … read more<\/a><\/a>