David "Diamond Dave" Whitaker

David "Diamond Dave" Whitaker (November 12, 1937 – March 2, 2026) was an American poet, author, radio host, activist and community organizer associated with several generations of San Francisco counterculture including the Beat movement, the hippie era, punk subculture, community radio and grassroots political activism. He was known for hosting the open-mic radio program Common Thread Collective on the San Francisco community station Mutiny Radio (and its predecessor Pirate Cat Radio), as well as for organizing poetry events and political activism in the city for more than six decades.

Whitaker was also notable for his early connection to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, whom he met in Minnesota in the early 1960s. Dylan later referenced Whitaker in his memoir Chronicles: Volume One, recalling that Whitaker introduced him to the work of folk singer Woody Guthrie.

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