Dave Morey, A Real Ten, Leaves KFOG

By Tom Walsh

We can imagine that thousands of Fogheads choked on their coffee this morning when longtime SF radio icon Dave Morey announced he plans to leave KFOG for the wilds of northern Michigan on December 19.

In an era of homogenized, computer-programmed radio formats, Morey kept the faith as the old-school local host who made listeners feel like a friend was behind the microphone. Always genuine, warm and intelligent, he and his co-hosts kept the mindless chatter to a minimum with none of the crassness endemic to hard rock radio. While some of the “World Class Rock” at the station tended too much toward classic rock, Morey would mix it up with some new alternatives and add his world class music trivia knowledge to the Adult Album Alternative format.

Morey was at the mic when KFOG went from an easy listening to a rock format in 1982, he was the one pushing the button that kicked off the change to play the Stray Cats’ “Rock this Town.” Perhaps his most loved feature was the “10 at 10,” which packaged 10 songs from a certain year with news radio clips and an introduction by SNL announcer Don Pardo. Morey says he will continue to produce this feature from his home studio after his December retirement.

After 26 years at one station (that has to be close to a local record), Morey said he is hanging it up to hang out. “I’m gonna watch the sun rise over a Great Lake, smoke cigarettes legally, read, bicycle, work at the library,” he explained on his blog. While he says he will miss his friends at the station, KFOG listeners will surely miss him in the morning. World class just dropped a few levels.