BREAKING: Bill Moen, Bay Area Radio Institution, Dies At 93; Longtime KABL-AM Morning Air Personality for 33 Years

By KEVIN WING | Chairperson, Media Museum of Northern California

Bill Moen, who became a Bay Area radio institution during his 33 years as the morning drive personality at KABL-AM, has died at the age of 93, it was announced May 9. Moen died at his home in Lake County on Easter Sunday, April 17.

During an era when the AM band ruled radio’s airwaves, Moen became a broadcasting legend in the San Francisco Bay Area, spending 33 years in the 7 to 9 a.m. morning drive time slot at KABL from 1960 to 1993. Moen was among Bay Area radio broadcasting’s greats of the ’60s era, which included Don Sherwood at KYA and later KSFO, Gene Nelson at KSFO and Frank Dill and Mike Cleary at KNBR, among others. But, while the others would eventually retire, Moen stayed on through the early ’90s in a Bay Area career that began when Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the final year of his presidency.

Moen, who was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2006, came to the Bay Area in 1960. The Minnesota native moved to California in the early 1950s to attend broadcasting school in Hollywood, then went in search of a way to get his foot in the door in radio.

His first job came in 1954, when he joined KFGO in Fargo, North Dakota. That was followed by gigs at KDAL in Duluth, Minnesota, and WDSM, also in Duluth. From there, he was off to a station in Houston before landing at KABL. It was there where Moen not only found stability, but immense success. His work at KABL afforded him recognition through the decades as one of the best in the business.

After 33 years, Moen left KABL in 1993 during a rebranding of the station that year and retired to Lake County. There, he was lured back to radio at Lakeport’s KXBX-AM for a 20-year run before retiring for good. He also entertained his Bay Area radio followers by joining “Classic KABL 960”, an online tribute to his former Bay Area station, on the Bay Area Radio Museum website, accepting an invitation by the museum’s own David Jackson.

KABLRadio.com will stream a tribute to Moen from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 20, and from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 22.