On Air Staff
Officer Vic
Officer Vic, AKA Tom Benner, KSFO’s morning traffic reporter, doesn’t recall much of his early life. He remembers the happy chittering of the prarie dogs at the ranch his Ma and Pa ran; the rest is a blur. Deputy Vic, as he was then know, began his radio career in 1969 when a blow to the head as a result of a brawl over a bag of prarie dog chow at the local feed shop resulted in Deputy Vic gaining the uncanny ability to mimic people’s voices. Realizing that with great power comes great responsibility, Deputy vic packed his bags, said good-bye to Ma and Pa Vic, the prarie dogs and left his hometown of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico for the bright lights of San Francisco.
Officer Vic arrived in the Bay Area in 1981. The intervening 12 years are something Vic refuses to discuss. All we know is that Deputy Vic became Officer Vic in a coming of age ceremony performed by a Hopi shaman whole name was Bob.
Upon arrival in San Francisco, Officer Vic hosted several radio shows for KSAN/KNEW in a variety of time slots. In 1997, Officer Vic had the good sense to audition for the KSFO morning show. He joined the staff of the morning show as a traffic reporter, guiding hundreds of thousands of Bay Area drivers around the parking lots known as the Northern California freeways.
His ability to mimic voices has brought numerous politicians, celebrities and newsmakers to call the KSFO morning show, including Al Gore, Bob Dole and President Reagan, Clinton, and Bush (both of them).
OV also has hosted muscular Dystrophy telethon segments, radiothons for St. Jude’s Children Hospital, stunt broadcast fundraisers for Oakland’s Children’s Hospital and the Bay Area food banks. His interests include internet exploration and development, spending time with his family, and golf . . . lots and lots of golf.
