Sad Ending For Ray Taliaferro
• The body of Ray Taliaferro, former longtime talk host on KGO/San Francisco and a pioneer among African American radio personalities in the U.S., has been found in Paducah, KY, about a mile from where he was last seen on Nov. 10. As reported by The San Francisco Chronicle, Taliaferro’s son Rafael said his father’s body was found on a small tree-lined parcel near Brooks Stadium, a baseball stadium in central Paducah, a city across the Ohio River from Metropolis, IL.
A flier that had been distributed by the Paducah Police Department stated that Taliaferro, 79, was last seen on Nov. 10 talking with the manager of the Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Paducah. The flier said Taliaferro may have been experiencing “disorientation and signs of dementia.” Published reports stated Taliaferro and his wife were in the area some land she had inherited in nearby Brookport, IL.
Taliaferro hosted the overnight show on KGO from 1986 until 2011 and also is a former head of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP. He is credited as being the first African American talk show host at a major market radio station (New York City) and was the first African American member of San Francisco’s arts commission. KGO has posted a tribute to Taliaferro online. [Photo credit: Sarah Adler/SF Gate]
