Remembering Geno Michellini

• We’ve lost yet another legend — Rock radio icon Geno Michellini, best known for his Bay Area run at KOME/San Jose and KMEL/San Francisco, and later, at KLOS/Los Angeles, passed away last week from natural causes. He was 77.

A self described “Air Force brat” while stationed in Germany in the ’60s, Michellini broke into broadcasting with AFRTS (much like Adrian Cronauer) as an Air Force jock in the Philippines. After leaving the service, Michellini enrolled in broadcasting school, and went to work for a small AM station in Thousand Oaks, CA. After a stint doing Top 40 in Stockton, CA, Michellini made the big jump to the FM band in 1976 at KSFM/Sacramento. A year later he was hired at KOME, where he remained for six years, before he was hired at then-Rock outlet KMEL.

 Veteran programmer Dave Logan picks up the story: “I was across the street programming KFOG when KMEL dropped out of the rock format wars (August 1984). I was trying to figure out how to get Geno over to our station, but was beaten to the punch by Tommy Hadges, who was programming KLOS in L.A. Tommy called Geno the day the KMEL flipped format and offered him the afternoon drive slot in L.A. Welcome to the big time, buddy.”

Michellini ended up doing two stints at KLOS, where his signature feature was the “5 O’Clock Funnies” — classic routines from famous stand-up comics, designed to make your drive home a little more tolerable.

“Radio’s Best Friend,” Art Vuolo produced this tribute video of Geno, using footage he shot at KLOS in 1987. Making the video even more poignant, Geno is introduced by another KLOS legend, the late Bob Coburn. [Special thanks to David Forman]