The Bonnie Simmons Show – February 19, 2015

Bonnie has been programming her mix of singer/songwriter folk, rock,
soul, country, and R&B on KPFA since the late 1980’s. One of the
best loved personalities of Bay Area music radio, she was raised in New
York, and then moved to San Francisco from Denver in 1968 and became a
pioneer of free form radio.
During her eight years, from 1970 to 1978, at the legendary KSAN, she was program music director and disc jockey.
After leaving KSAN, she worked at Warner Bros, promoting Prince as
well as the first Dire Straits and Rickie Lee Jones albums, amongst
others, and also worked at Hightone Records. She moved in and out of
radio at KFOG, LIVE 105, KOFY-FM, KVRE, KDBK “Double 99” and KUSF.
As the Audio Director for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she created
the disc jockey audio exhibit and many of the exhibits involving sound
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
On a local level, Bonnie spent several years working as a
sandwich-maker at Ozzie’s Soda Fountain in Berkeley, and currently hosts
her eclectic weekly show on KPFA.
Bonnie managed the band Cake for eight years, and represented Noe
Venable and Etienne de Rocher for many years. For the past nine years
she has spent a lot of her time working on the three day free music
festival in Golden Gate Park, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and currently
serves as the Executive Director for the Bill Graham Foundation.