William Gittler

William "Bill" Gittler passed away October 11, 2024 at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.
William Garret Gittler was born April 14, 1939, in Brooklyn, NY, where he later attended public school. He often joked that many of his public-school friends ended up in jail! But, not Bill! Bill started his college years in New York and spent the final two years in Ohio, where he graduated from Ohio State University. Bill's broadcast career as 'The Radio Guy' began at small
market stations in Ohio and upstate New York. His big break came when he was hired at stations in Philly and Baltimore during the heyday of radio. Bill then moved to California and sold airtime for KFOX/Los Angeles and took a partial ownership role at rock station KCAL/Redlands.
It was meant to be that Bill met the lovely Marianne Bundy (later to become Marianne Gittler) originally from Pennsylvania. Bill and Marianne married and established themselves in the Bay Area where Bill sold airtime for KDAI/Oakland. They also lived and worked in Redlands before purchasing KRKC 1490 radio in King City in 1982. Bill was the CEO and Marianne the CFO. Another big change came when the Gittlers' added FM station 102.1 in 1989. The stations had many radio voices over the year as each DJ had a following. The radio voice who has been there the longest is Michael Davis who was hired by Bill in the summer of 1990. Michael and Bill had a 34-year professional relationship at KRKC. By the mid 1990's, FM102.1 had become an official Nielsen-rated station in the Monterey market, thus helping drive advertising sales. Bill was a very persistent salesman and adored promoting his station. After 45 years of a partnership in marriage and then in business, Marianne passed in February, 2018. More changes were on the horizon. Bill made a difficult decision to sell the KRKC stations in 2021 to Dimes Media Central Coast but continued selling advertising for Dimes Media right up until the final week of his life. He just couldn't help himself. Bill was an "old school" broadcaster who loved airing sports, both local and professional. He was the proud voice of the Salinas Valley Fair On-Air Auction for decades.
Bill's heart was full of love for Marianne and broadcasting, but there was still room for his cats. Over the years Bill and Marianne had many different cats they adored. No cats were ever treated so well. Unfortunately, he left behind his feline family members Bonnie and Clyde. They adopted the brother and sister when they were 6-week-old kittens and had them for 13 years. Bill will be remembered for his wonderful radio voice and his lifelong love of the broadcasting business. He truly enjoyed having a building full of professional broadcasters working for him and would often say "get the commercial on air, I know how to collect the money!" Bill was single minded in his love for Marianne, radio, advertising, sports, and his cats. He could watch more than one game at a time on TV and had a phenomenal memory for athlete's names and statistics. The same could be said for recording artists and radio personalities. He knew them all. Bill will be missed for all he has done for the Salinas Valley youth sports programs, the many years of promoting 4-H and FFA clubs and the Salinas Valley Fair. Bill was an active member of King City Rotary for more than 40 years.
A Celebration of life in Bill's honor is pending for the near future. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to your favorite local animal shelter and or rescue