Bettisworth's voice resonates across the San Jose airwaves on news station KLIV as he delivers daily stock reports. So when listeners don't hear his distinguishable voice every hour, they know he must be on vacation.

"You become kind of their friend," Bettisworth says of his listeners. "They wake up with you. When they're eating their lunch, they listen in and hear me at lunchtime."

Bettisworth says it can be startling and gratifying to become a household name. "I would meet strangers, and they'd look me in the eye and say, 'George, I know you. I've listened to you for five years.' It was kind of like a newfound friendship."

Money management has always been a part of Bettisworth's life. While he was growing up, his family owned a True Value hardware store in Cupertino, so he was involved in retail from the age of 6.

"I had been involved in retail up through the beginning of the '80s," Bettisworth says. "I thought perhaps I wanted to do something else besides retail trade, and investments have always intrigued me. My dad had me buy my first mutual fund at 8 years old."

With the help of his family's broker, 8-year-old Bettisworth invested $100 in a mutual fund. "That was 42 years ago," he chuckles.

"Going through business school, in every spare moment, I was reading the stock pages," Bettisworth says. In 1984, he interviewed with Dean Witter, and despite name changes—his business card now reads MorganStanley—he has been working there ever since. He helps clients with an array of investment planning issues, from retirement to college savings to inheritance.

Nearly 13 years ago, Bettisworth began his broadcasts for KLIV after the big band station changed its format and became a CNN-affiliated news station. The arrangement was ideal for Bettisworth. He enjoys regular exposure on the air and the station receives the local stock news that keeps listeners tuned in.

"Their niche was local news, local traffic, local sports and of course local stocks," Bettisworth said.

Bettisworth says KLIV is consistently earning better ratings and increasing its listenership, which means more ears tuned to his 12 daily stock reports. "It's a big commitment," Bettisworth says. "Every hour I've got to do research and then get on the radio to do the report."

Bettisworth estimates that he's done about 36,000 stock updates through the years.

"I do 12 broadcasts per day, five days a week, probably 50 weeks a year—for almost 13 years," he says. "It's become kind of like combing your hair."

George Sampson, KLIV news and program manager, says the station's listeners appreciate Bettisworth and the local financial information.

"We pride ourselves on having a very local focus here," Sampson says. "Strictly a strong South Bay focus."

Bettisworth's updates, broadcast at 25 minutes past the hour, are well received because, Sampson says, because "there's so much financial interest in what goes on with local companies."

Bettisworth focuses his reports on stocks with local interest, either because they're headquartered here, like Cisco or Intel, or because there is a large employee base in this area, such as Lockheed Martin or IBM. So many companies call San Jose home that Bettisworth says he couldn't possibly get through the list in one day.

And for every company that earns a remark on the air, a small start-up is ignored. Bettisworth says he regularly receives calls from employees asking why their companies aren't mentioned.

"I try to announce the names of companies that have wide appeal," he says. "There's got to be public interest in the company, locally speaking."