By Mimi Pollack
As a fourth-generation Californian with a keen sense of curiosity and adventure, Ken Kramer was a natural as the host and producer of “Ken Kramer’s About San Diego,” which airs for the last regularly scheduled time on Thursday.
The long-running local radio and later television show about the places and people of San Diego will be broadcast for the final scheduled time at 8 p.m. Thursday on KPBS.
The last regular show will be dedicated to the centennial of the Panama California Exhibit at Balboa Park, and looking back at the 100 years since then.
Kramer, who retired earlier this year, was born in Pasadena and studied at Pasadena City College where he first got interested in broadcasting. He later transferred to San Diego State University and graduated in 1974 with a degree in radio and television.
It was at SDSU where he began working as a student assistant at the small campus radio station, KEBS — now KPBS. At that time, it was a classical music station and Kramer worked as an announcer. He later added some news segments. This transitioned into a job as the director of news and information programming in 1971.
Inspired by television personality Ralph Story’s show, “People and Places of Los Angeles,” he thought about doing something similar here in San Diego. Like Story, he wanted to explore the human condition and discover people and places in the San Diego area that most people didn’t know about.
In 1972, he did just that, making his first half-hour radio show, “About San Diego.” Six years later, in 1979, he hosted and produced the first TV version of “About San Diego” with a group of volunteers for KPBS. The show was about homeless children south of Broadway and a young, female boxer.
Slowly “About San Diego” became a fixture in San Diego and was broadcast in the morning and afternoon drive-time radio segments on KSDO — now KOGO — radio seven days a week from 1984 to 1996, reaching more than 200,000 listeners a week.
Although his heart was with KPBS and public television, he left to join NBC 7 San Diego in 1995 to do individual “About San Diego” segments while working as a news reporter.
Those NBC segments became a half-hour program from 2006 to 2009. In 2010, he worked out a deal with both KPBS and NBC to share stories and cross-promote the show. Eventually, he left NBC and just worked for KPBS, where the show was a half hour prime-time program.
The last show on Thursday will be a bittersweet ending for many of Kramer’s loyal fans, who over the years have enjoyed watching his show, and going on adventures with him. The show also struck a chord with the public and his peers.
“About San Diego” was honored with numerous Emmy and Golden Mike Awards. The County Board of Supervisors proclaimed “Ken Kramer Day” in 2008, and described the show as “…more valuable to San Diego history than any two or three of our local museums combined”.
When asked how he went about finding stories for his shows, he said that his natural curiosity, suggestions from people, and help from local libraries always provided material. He developed a special style for the shows in which he engaged the audience without revealing the place or event until the end of the story.
Kramer told many stories, but one of special interest was about Art Gonzalez and his home in Kensington. Underneath the home, there was a whole network of underground tunnels that the previous owner, Glenn Holmes, had built. Apparently, Holmes was obsessed with digging, the why being a mystery.
The TV crew were allowed access and found 70 feet of tunnels that went down more than 50 feet. There were also several large underground rooms, one with a ping pong table. Today, it is too dangerous to go down as the tunnels have deteriorated.
Ken Kramer is a modest man who feels fortunate to have been able to discover new places, and meet many interesting people in San Diego. He confided that he will miss doing his shows, but also looks forward to retirement. He enjoys traveling and pursuing his hobbies. He is a ham radio operator and fluent in Morse code.
Although his landmark show will be missed by many, he will be remembered fondly by the public who wish him well.
Mimi Pollack is an ESL teacher and a freelance writer.
