NBC Memories 1942 - 1964
by Bill Roddy

Future stars who began at Radio City San Francisco.

Jack Webb; Ben Alexander; John Robinson (Dragnet)
Art Linkletter, Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Jack Kirkwood (next page)

Jack Webb  
In 1948 my mother and aunt bought an old Victorian house at 915 Fulton Street and rented out rooms; it was their only income. I was 26 years old and lived in one of them. (I had not yet left the roost.) We had a lot of great parties there with Radio City friends.

KGO was in the same building at Taylor and O'Farrell with KNBC and one day I met one of their new announcers, Jack Webb.
Jack mentioned he was looking for a place to live and I told him about Fulton Street. He came out with me one day and met my mother and rented the tower room. Julie London came up from Hollywood often to stay with Jack for the weekend.

We opened our stations at 6 a.m. and usually left the house at 5. We took turns driving and always stopped at Foster's Cafeteria for breakfast. My favorite was minced ham and scrambled eggs with an English muffin. No bakery since has ever made a better muffin.

Jack was not destined to remain an announcer for long. He produced his first radio drama in San Francisco and soon was off to Hollywood and Dragnet. Ben Alexander, Jackie Robinson and producer Dick Breen joined him. Ben was Officer Frank Smith, Jackie, the show's writer, and Dick, the producer.

Footnote: Jack and I once spent the weekend at the Crane House in San Juan Bautista. Went to a Mexican dance and had a lot of fun.

Ben Alexander
Ben had a morning show on KNBC and I was the announcer. Don't remember too much about it, more a less a commentary on things. The show was in Studio G, the fanciest studio KNBC had. It was fitted out like a living room with carpet and couches and easy chairs. It was originally used for guests who were afraid of radio and sterile studios. The living room atmosphere was supposed to put them at ease, but it rarely did. Eventually the studio was used as often as the others when there was no need for an orchestra.

Ben's wife Leslie usually sat in with us. She was a wonderful person, very beautiful and I have to admit now some sixty years later, I had a serious crush on her.

John Robinson
When I first knew Jackie, he was an NBC page, as I was. His father owned a steam bath on Turk Street. Once I had a terrible cold and Jackie said he would fix me up. He gave me a note to the steam bath which said, "Give this twerp the works." (funny I should remember that line.) They did, and my cold evaporated in clouds of steam.

He was later promoted to the Sound Department. Here is Jackie at work.
His boss was Lloyd Creekmore, another great friend, who had the perfect name for a sound engineer.

But Jackie was a writer and Jack Webb knew it. Jackie went to Hollywood and if you ever listen to Dragnet on old time radio you will hear, "written by John Robinson."  Why are the sound effects on Dragnet so realistic?
The clump clump of shoes down the hall.
Because the writer was a soundman,

Here is  Art Linkletter, Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Jack Kirkwood