John Mack Flanagan hails from New Mexico via KTKT in Tucson. He was brought to San Francisco by PD Michael Spears in 1974, doing late mid-days and eventually pm drive (back in those days, KFRC jocks only pulled 3 hour shifts; consequently, mid-days was divided into 2 shifts– early and late).

Mack Flanagan stayed until 1981, when Gerry Cagle cleaned house and bounced John, Rick Shaw, Mike Novak and several others out. After KFRC, John spent 4 or 5 years at CBS’ KRQR doing all nights. From KRQR, he headed south to San Jose (Gilroy) to KWSS, doing that commute for almost 10 years, until Bob Hamilton hired him back in San Francisco at KYA/KSFO to do pm drive. Until the demise of KYA/KSFO, John had a successful several-year run there.

After that gig ended, he headed up to Santa Rosa to KMGG, a locally-owned FM oldies outlet, staying for only a couple of years since the commute was a killer. That was John’s final on-air gig. In 1999, he decided to retire from the grind and insecurities of radio since it had taken a very real toll on his health. He can now be found working as greeter/security guard at SFO (International Airport), where his commute is now only a 10 minute drive from where he’s never moved: Daly City.

This January 17, 1977 aircheck of John Mack Flanagan on KFRC was recorded by long-time Repository contributor Curt Lundgren during a trip to San Francisco.
Included: Dr. Don Rose for Daly City Chrysler-Plymouth, Bay-Area talent Tom Campbell for Comfort Zone Waterbed Warehouse, several jingles from the TM “You” series (including one lengthy “image” jingle), a newscast from John Winters and an editorial from then-GM Pat Norman.

This 57 minutes is a great snapshot of afternoon drive on the “Station of the Year” in 1977.

John had Congenital Heart issues and passed away March 31, 2018.