The 'family' feeling at KGO is gone with Luckoff departure; Wednesday round-up

There's always been a "family" feeling at KGO Radio. Much of the personnel, from the producers, the sales staff, the news dept. and talk hosts themselves, have always bonded in the Mickey Luckoff era. That bond is all but gone now that Luckoff has been forced to leave, courtesy corporate brass at Citadel.

That's what made KGO a unique station. Sure, it helped that the ratings were great for over thirty years, (albeit older listener demos) nevertheless, Luckoff's tenure included a multitude of hires that have been at the station for decades.

Consider Ronn Owens, (35 years) news anchor, Ed Baxter, (32 years) sports anchor, Rich Walcoff, (26 years) Luckoff also negotiated the generous buyout given to former afternoon news anchor, Rosie Allen, who left last year. He was also instrumental in KGO's involvement in the Leukemia Society "cure-a-thon", which raised over $18 million for the charity. (The future of that project is now in doubt.)

**Luckoff had plenty of detractors; a few inside the building at 900 Front, some of whom have been there for over a generation, spoke about his notorious negotiating tactics. He refused to talk to one of his most prized on-air talent for over a year when the staffer won an injunction. On the other hand, his loyalty was universally lauded by friends and foes alike.

**The immediate future of KGO is unclear. There's a lot of rumors circulating about who's about to go. What talk-show host is next to leave, "retire", etc...A few radio industry execs I spoke to have offered up some beauties, everything from Luckoff perhaps, (with other investors presumably) buying KTRB, (860 AM) and teaming up with the Oakland A's to run that station, (currently in receivership.) I've also heard of Luckoff perhaps running another station; we'll be on top of all the talk and when we have something more concrete, we'll check back.

**An apology to Brad Kava of Examiner.com. I took a cheap shot at him and frankly, it was out of line. We spoke, (via e-mail) and the matter is behind all of us. And yes, shame on me, what the hell was I thinking? Brad is a good dude and excellent media writer. We'll be breaking bread soon.


**Yes, KGO has had better weeks: First Meg Whitman/Jerry Brown cancel debate, then Luckoff's appearance with Ronn Owens is nixed. Next thing you know, locusts invade the studios near 900 Front.

**Yes, its pretty much 24/7 SF Giants on Knibber, but I did like Gary Radnich's twenty-minute phono with Larry Baer on Tuesday. It was funny, informative, chock full of non booster-club blather and yes, frankly a delight. You don't have to go all rah-rah when the home team gets into the playoffs. You can have interesting guests that actually SPEAK human without the aid of gooey promos and incessant sound drops and yes, I know it's a broken record.

**Assignment desk heaven: Fleet Week, Giants/playoffs, tourists and predicted nice weekend weather. Expect a lot of newsies doing tons of MOS's.

**I'm not much of a movie guy, but did catch "The Social Network" and yes, critics nailed it: Good writing DOES make for a very good movie.

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