Warning: That resonant baritone voice booming out of the KTYD airwaves may trigger pangs of déjà vu for long-in-the-tooth Santa Barbarans. Yes, that is the comforting and wit-lined sound of Zeb Norris, one of the pioneering voices of Santa Barbara's beloved “classic rock” station — founded in the heyday of the FM “album rock” revolution, before the term and concept of “classic rock” was even a gleam in our eyes.
Norris began his radio life and career at the then-fledgling KTYD back in May 1976, and after years of traipsing around America's radio and literal landscape, he has made a grand homecoming return. His journey through an assortment of radio jobs, from Sacramento to Spokane to San Francisco and Vermont for the past 18 years, steered him back to Santa Barbara recently, lured back to the fold with the offer of a job at KTYD.
“New England is so beautiful and charming,” he said, “with a deep sense of community. We had a great time, but my wife is born and raised in Santa Barbara, so not long ago, we came back here for non-work-related reasons for a change, and then the new KTYD gig magically opened up.