Dusty Street Interviews Bill Graham, 1975

Dusty Street (1946-2023), born Dustine Frances Street in Palo Alto, got her start in Bay Area radio as one of the fabled “chick engineers” at KMPX in 1967. She went on the air for the first time when she covered for an absent disc jockey. She became a full-time DJ in 1969 after moving to KSAN, where she worked until the mid 1970’s.

Street is considered to be one of the country’s first female FM DJ’s.  She spent time at KTIM before moving to the Los Angeles market where she starred on KROQ until 1995. She was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2015.

This interview is among several Dusty Street recordings in the Bay Area Radio Museum and Hall of Fame archives. While the source tape was not dated, the content of the interview allows us to place the time of the interview as April 1975.

Street's interview subject is the legendary San Francisco music promoter Bill Graham (1931-1991). Graham discusses the changing nature of the music promotion business ahead of a concert at Winterland Ballroom on April 18, 1975 featuring the Average White Band, the Chambers Brothers, and Etta James.

The interview took place shortly after another memorable San Francisco music event: the SNACK (Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks) Concert at Kezar Stadium. That fundraiser for San Francisco public school sports and arts programs featured performances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, members of The Band (Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson), the Grateful Dead, Santana, The Doobie Brothers, Joan Baez, Jefferson Starship, and Tower of Power.

The source audio tape lacks an introduction or conclusion, making it unclear if this interview was broadcast in its entirety. At the time of its recording, Street would have been working at San Francisco station KSFX after leaving KSAN earlier in 1975.