Remembering Jim Price
• Late last week San Diego radio icons “Shotgun Tom” Kelly and Tommy Sablan received word that San Diego broadcast legend Sunny Jim Price had passed away at the age of 87.
As Shotgun Tom recalls, “Jim Price was best known for bringing 101.5 KGB monster ratings in the 1970s, and was responsible for three iconic promotions: He orchestrated the ‘KGB Sky Show,’ was the mastermind of the ‘KGB Homegrown Albums,’ and was also the man behind the beloved ‘KGB Chicken.’ Billboard once listed those three promotions as the best ever in radio history.”
After KGB Price became President/GM and part-owner of KYXY/San Diego. He was later named GM of News-Talk KSDO and hired former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock, who became a successful talk show host. Price and his late wife Brandy also co-founded “Air WatchTraffic” with Steve Springer.
In the early ’60s Price worked with Ron Jacobs and Robert W. Morgan at 1340 KMAK/Fresno. In 1965 he arrived in San Diego as the PD of 910 Radio KDEO — where Shotgun Tom’s origin story begins: “Sunny Jim gave me my very first radio job at Radio KDEO when I was only 13 years old,” Shotgun explains. “He was the first PD to add ‘California Dreamin” by The Mamas & The Papas. I know this because I was 13 and he wanted a teenager’s opinion of a new record he was thinking about adding, so he asked me to come into his office to listen to it. I said, ‘Mr. Price, I really like it!’ So he added it. Other stations added it the next day. After that he gave me my first radio job, helping out the jocks by passing out the swag at remotes. So you see, I owe him for the start of my career.”
The photo above featuring Price (foreground) was taken during a Nov. 2021 taping of On the Air with Sully, Little Tommy & Russ on KUSI-TV/San Diego.
Shotgun Tom and Tommy Sablan are in the process of producing a special video tribute to Price that will be posted on YouTube sometime in April. [Special thanks to Shotgun Tom Kelly]
