Jim Lange
Encyclopedia
Jim Lange is a former American game show host and disc jockey
. He was particularly well known to listeners in the San Francisco and Los Angeles
radio
markets with stints at several stations in both markets, racking up over 45 years on the air. Lange was also known to television
viewers as an announcer
and host of several game shows, including The Dating Game
.
career in the Twin Cities after winning an audition as a teenager. He graduated from St. Thomas Academy
high school, before going to the University of Minnesota
. After graduating from the University of Minnesota
and serving in the Marines
, Lange moved to San Francisco. After making his Bay Area
broadcast debut as "The All-Night Mayor" on KGO
, he moved to afternoons on KSFO in 1960.
Show in 1962, where Lange was announcer and sidekick to Ford. Three years later, he would sign on to host The Dating Game. While still on-air at KSFO, he commuted to Los Angeles to tape the TV program.
His other game shows include $100,000 Name That Tune
, Bullseye and The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
, as well as short-lived shows including, Spin-Off, Triple Threat
and Give-n-Take
.
He also appeared as himself in Bewitched
, Laverne & Shirley
, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
, Parker Lewis Can't Lose
and Moesha
. He also appeared during the week of December 9, 2002 on Hollywood Squares
for their "Game Show Week", which also featured Monty Hall
, Carol Merrill
, Bob Eubanks
, Peter Marshall, Wink Martindale
, Brett Somers
, Charles Nelson Reilly
and Chuck Woolery
.
In the early 1990s, he returned to full-time radio in the Bay Area, when he originally worked afternoons on 610/KFRC
and eventually accepted an offer to broadcast weekday mornings on "Magic 61," by then owned by real estate magnate Peter Bedford (Bedford Broadcasting). Magic 61 was formatted as "American pop standards" (Frank Sinatra
, Tony Bennett
, Johnny Mathis
, Harry Connick, Jr.
, Peggy Lee
, Ella Fitzgerald
, et al.). During this period Jim also hosted promotional events for Magic 61, including Big Band Dances and a resurrection of his popular "Leo Birthday Party," which he'd initiated on KSFO years before.
The "Lange Gang" show on Magic 61 was produced by Steve "Dino" Donikian, whose background cackling laugh punctuated Lange's jokes, jibes and ad-libs. They would work together for much of the next decade.
After the sale of KFRC AM
and FM
(99.7) FM (the new owners decided to simulcast the FM "oldies" format on 610 AM), Jim and the show decamped for a run on KKSJ, San Jose
.
In 1997, Lange became morning host of The Lange Gang on KABL in San Francisco. Lange retired in 2005 after KABL - by then owned by Clear Channel
- went off the air.
He currently lives in Marin County, California
, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, with his wife, Nancy Fleming
, a former Miss America
; she had been Lange's co-host on a local KGO-TV
morning TV show in San Francisco decades previously in the 1970s.
Lange appeared in the critically acclaimed movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
as himself.
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. He was particularly well known to listeners in the San Francisco and Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
markets with stints at several stations in both markets, racking up over 45 years on the air. Lange was also known to television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
viewers as an announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
and host of several game shows, including The Dating Game
The Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
.
Early career
Lange began his radio broadcastingBroadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
career in the Twin Cities after winning an audition as a teenager. He graduated from St. Thomas Academy
Saint Thomas Academy
Saint Thomas Academy , originally known as Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary, and formerly known as Saint Thomas Military Academy is the only all male, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory, military high school in Minnesota. It is located in Mendota Heights near Saint Paul...
high school, before going to the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. After graduating from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
and serving in the Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, Lange moved to San Francisco. After making his Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
broadcast debut as "The All-Night Mayor" on KGO
KGO (AM)
KGO is a news/talk-format radio station radio with offices and studios in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other American news/talk stations, KGO originates nearly all of its own programming locally. Since 1978, KGO radio has received Arbitron's number-one ranking in the Bay Area...
, he moved to afternoons on KSFO in 1960.
Game shows
His network television career began in San Francisco with The Tennessee Ernie FordTennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
Show in 1962, where Lange was announcer and sidekick to Ford. Three years later, he would sign on to host The Dating Game. While still on-air at KSFO, he commuted to Los Angeles to tape the TV program.
His other game shows include $100,000 Name That Tune
Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta....
, Bullseye and The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime is an American game show which offered a $1 million grand prize to winning contestants. Based on a late 1970s unsold game show pilot titled The Letter Machine, the show aired in syndication from January 6, 1986 until September 11, 1987...
, as well as short-lived shows including, Spin-Off, Triple Threat
Triple Threat (game show)
Triple Threat is an American television game show that pitted two teams of three generations against each other to test their knowledge of past and present television, movies and music. Produced by Television Program Enterprises, the original version aired in weekly syndication from October 8, 1988...
and Give-n-Take
Give-n-Take
Give-n-Take is an American television game show which ran on CBS from September 8 to November 28, 1975. Jim Lange hosted, with Johnny Jacobs announcing...
.
He also appeared as himself in Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
, Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is an American television series based upon Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 video games. It was originally broadcast via first-run syndication to mostly independent or Fox television stations from September 4, 1989, to December 1, 1989, with...
, Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Parker Lewis Can't Lose is an American teen sitcom that originally aired on FOX from September 1990 to June 1993. During the last season, the series sported the simpler title Parker Lewis. The series was produced by Columbia Pictures Television and was strongly influenced by the feature film Ferris...
and Moesha
Moesha
Moesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...
. He also appeared during the week of December 9, 2002 on Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
for their "Game Show Week", which also featured Monty Hall
Monty Hall
Monte Halperin, OC, OM , better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born MC, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.-Early life:...
, Carol Merrill
Carol Merrill
Carol Merrill was a model for the television game show Let's Make a Deal during the show's original run between 1963 and 1977.-Modeling:...
, Bob Eubanks
Bob Eubanks
Robert Leland "Bob" Eubanks is an American television/radio personality and game show host, best known for hosting the game show The Newlywed Game on and off since 1966, where he was known for using the catchphrase, "Makin' Whoopee"...
, Peter Marshall, Wink Martindale
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad Martindale , known professionally as Wink Martindale, is an American disc jockey and television game show host.-Radio:...
, Brett Somers
Brett Somers
Brett Somers was a American actress, singer, and comedienne who was born in Canada and raised in Maine...
, Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
and Chuck Woolery
Chuck Woolery
Charles Herbert "Chuck" Woolery is an American game show host. He has had long-running tenures hosting several different game shows. He was the original host of Wheel of Fortune from 1975–81, the original incarnation of Love Connection from 1983–94, and Scrabble from 1984–90...
.
Later work
He was introduced to Los Angeles local audiences on KMPC in 1970, in order to limit his commute while taping "The Dating Game". He returned to Gene Autry/Golden West station KSFO by 1971 and remained there till the station was sold in 1984. He then returned to KMPC, where he did mornings and afternoons (at different times) until the end of the decade.In the early 1990s, he returned to full-time radio in the Bay Area, when he originally worked afternoons on 610/KFRC
KFRC (defunct)
KFRC was a radio station in San Francisco, California in the United States, which made its first broadcast on Wednesday, September 24, 1924, from studios in the Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street. KFRC originally broadcast with 50 watts on the 270 meter wavelength , then moved to 660 kHz. in...
and eventually accepted an offer to broadcast weekday mornings on "Magic 61," by then owned by real estate magnate Peter Bedford (Bedford Broadcasting). Magic 61 was formatted as "American pop standards" (Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, et al.). During this period Jim also hosted promotional events for Magic 61, including Big Band Dances and a resurrection of his popular "Leo Birthday Party," which he'd initiated on KSFO years before.
The "Lange Gang" show on Magic 61 was produced by Steve "Dino" Donikian, whose background cackling laugh punctuated Lange's jokes, jibes and ad-libs. They would work together for much of the next decade.
After the sale of KFRC AM
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
and FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
(99.7) FM (the new owners decided to simulcast the FM "oldies" format on 610 AM), Jim and the show decamped for a run on KKSJ, San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
.
In 1997, Lange became morning host of The Lange Gang on KABL in San Francisco. Lange retired in 2005 after KABL - by then owned by Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
- went off the air.
He currently lives in Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, with his wife, Nancy Fleming
Nancy Fleming
Nancy Anne Fleming won the Miss America crown in 1961.A native of Montague, Michigan, Fleming competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Michigan. She competed in Miss Michigan as Miss White Lake....
, a former Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
; she had been Lange's co-host on a local KGO-TV
KGO-TV
KGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
morning TV show in San Francisco decades previously in the 1970s.
Lange appeared in the critically acclaimed movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency...
as himself.