The KGO abyss fronted by Citadel

There's a tremendous amount of angst inside the ABC Broadcast center at 900 Front Street which houses KGO Radio.

In a span of two weeks...

**GM and VP, Mickey Luckoff abruptly resigned, (forced out in reality by an inept and thoroughly dysfunctional corporate parent)

**Luckoff's replacement, Deidra Lieberman, (no relation) has been at KGO since 2003, and worked as a head honcho in the Sales dept, is liked by many, but also distrusted by those who view her as a "Citadel puppet." I wouldn't go that far, (but a staffer used those words) but she was hand-picked by incompetent COO, Farid, (Fa-Greed) Suleman. Needless to say, many of the troops are feeling anxious. (They wanted OM, Jack Swanson to take the post, but as I pointed out, Swanson is too much of a Luckoff ally and Citadel suits wanted no part of that and in fact, Swanson is probably headed out of KGO soon anyway, either by retirement or resignation, a la Luckoff.)

**Popular morning host, Ronn Owens, reluctantly fired his longtime producer, Mark Silverman, ostensibly over the embarrassing last-minute cancellation of the Jerry Brown-Meg Whitman debate, but in fact, Owens "fired" Silverman many times before, (confirmed by Silverman) but was talked out of it by Luckoff himself.

**Weekend talker, David Lazarus, was let go.

--All of of these matters underscore the beginning of the end of KGO as we all have been accustomed to listening to it. Gradually, there are several incremental changes being drawn up that will forever transform it into a syndication-heavy format of news-talk, the complete eradication of all LOCAL late-night programming, the elimination of the afternoon news, and the infusion of re-runs, multiple, conservative-heavy talk-host programming and at least two-three more on-air removals.

One of the many of syndicated shows being seriously considered is the Don Imus show and before you give you a deep chuckle, consider the fact that Suleman already hired the controversial NY-based "I-man" for one of his other stations.

Citadel is now essentially running KGO. Citadel brass was responsible for the decision to literally lock Luckoff out of the building the other day. They are, if not anything else, consistent with their abysmal management. As one insider told me, "they'd -uck up a wet dream if they could."

One of KGO's "biggest star's" intimated to me that the tension inside the offices spreads all the way from the studios, the sales dept. to the executive suites. Nobody is immune and nobody knows what to expect next or when the next move(s) are imminent.

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E-mail and tips: Rich.Lieberman@Gmail.com

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