Friends mourn Modesto radio announcer Tim St. Martin, a source of news for 40 years
For four decades, Modesto-area radio listeners could get the news from the distinctive voice of Tim St. Martin.
“Tim was a self-described rip-and-read news guy, and every morning on the half hour, he’d deliver the news,” said his former KTRB colleague, Bob Lang, referring to the old teletype machine that brought in The Associated Press news from around the world.
St. Martin died earlier this month of natural causes at his Modesto home at 74. He had been retired for 11 years from a career that included KTRB, KFIV and a few other stations.
Long-time listeners might recall his sign-off: “I’m Tim St. Martin with the information you need. Now back to the music you love ...”
Born on Sept. 1, 1945, in South Gate, Los Angeles County, Timothy Bert St. Martin attended the Don Martin School of Broadcasting in Hollywood and got his first job at KTHO in Lake Tahoe in 1966. He started at Modesto’s KFIV in 1967 and moved over to KTRB two years later. A colleague at the latter was the late Cal Purviance, another local radio legend.
“l hired Tim because of his fine on-air personality and his nose for news,” Purviance said in a 1999 interview archived by the Modesto Radio Museum, an online resource.
Lang fondly spoke about teaming with St. Martin to write commercials for local advertisers. Some of them featured animal characters, such as Spotty and Prince promoting a pet store.
“He was also in charge of a segment called Community Calendar, which allowed us to banter back and forth about various timely topics,” Lang said.
Two-year break, then return to KFIV
St. Martin took a break from radio in 1976 to work as an announcer on the rodeo circuit and as a yacht salesman in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
He returned in 1978 to KFIV, which later became KJSN, also known as Sunny 102.3. He also had stints at KMPH and KOSO in Modesto and KKBN in Sonora.
One of his daughters, Cari St. Martin Walker, shared memories of having “a local celebrity for a dad” in an email to The Modesto Bee.
“He had an incredible sense of humor and a hearty laugh,” she said. “He enjoyed golfing with his buddies, creating adventures for himself, smoking cigars, suntanning and his late dog Chief. He loved being a grandfather so much. We wish we had the time for him to explore that road further. He will be terribly missed and we loved him very much.”
Sunny 102.3 colleague remembers laugh
Sunny 102.3 colleague Kara Franklyn remembered the St. Martin laugh. “Loud and infectious, it was like a warm blanket,” said she in an email.
But she also noted how St. Martin cared about the finer points of broadcasting.
“There were many a conversation with Tim guiding me on what to say, how to say it,” Franklyn said. “He was very particular about not dropping your G’s when speaking.”
Survivors also include daughter Amy St. Martin Baxter, grandson Graham Walker, son-in-law Jim Walker, sister Jill Padgett and brother-in-law Ronnie Padgett.
A memorial service will wait until the coronavirus emergency is over.
“We hope to get together to trade stories when the world returns to normal,” Cari St. Martin Walker said.
