Norman Davis, a veteran air talent known for his magic-mushroom-fueled overnight shows on San Francisco’s KSAN during the 1970s, has passed away at the age of 88. Davis’s career spanned 70 years across both AM and FM and almost every genre.
First broadcasting at Boise’s KGEM in 1954, Davis spent two years on the air in Spokane before moving to San Francisco doing weekends at KOBY, before landing at KYA-AM. He stayed there for six years before leaving for Denver’s KLZ in 1965. He went further east to KCMO in Kansas City before hitchhiking back to the Bay Area with a hippie caravan to work at KZAN.
It was after a brief stint in Eugene, OR then that Davis got the job at KSAN, where he introduced audiences to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
After that job, he bounced around the Bay Area, Oregon, Boise, Florida, Salt Lake City, and even New Mexico. He also hosted the syndicated Blues show Midnight Flyer. In an interview with The Journal of Roots Music, Davis said he wanted to be remembered, “As a hick from Idaho who developed a very good ear for great music and had a hell of a time playing radio.”
The California Historical Radio Society Museum plans to host a memorial tribute to honor Davis’s legacy.
