Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He sang in the Saint Beulah Church of God in Christ choir and recorded gospel music at the age of 4, years before attending the Chris Borden School of Broadcasting in San Francisco. (Chris Borden was a jock at KEWB in the early sixties.) After graduating in October 1964, Sly was hired by KSOL and eventually placed on the night shift Monday thru Saturday. He was very popular with the KSOL audience. In early 1967, Sly moved from the night shift to afternoon drive until his departure in June 1967.
During those two and a half years at KSOL, Sly gradually made a transition from a imitator to an innovator. He might have been considered the Bay Area’s first “shock jock”. But by the time of this aircheck, he wanted to devote his attention to the group he had just formed: The Family Stone.
In October 1967, Sly decided to get back into radio and was hired by KSOL’s competitor across the bay, KDIA. He only worked there for about 2 months before signing a recording contract with Epic records.