There's no denying Mickey Luckoff had a thoroughly profound impact at KGO and his legacy will be forever ingrained, good and bad.
He denies that he was forced out in his sudden resignation Monday, and I've heard from several broadcast people close to him that he's been planning this departure for months. Maybe, maybe not.
I wrote that he was indeed, forced out. I'll take his and others word that he'd been planning this action for months; I know, its those tactics put forth and instituted by Citadel that finally forced Luckoff to abandon ship.
Take a good look at the current KGO landscape. Its likely to change dramatically in the coming months. Citadel is a losing money machine that is part of the larger no-room-for-extra expenses mentality. They are bleeding and are forcing the hand of even their most profit-making radio stations, like KGO even.
For that, I applaud Luckoff and respect his business acumen for running a very tight ship for nearly four decades and churning out a tremendously successful outlet like KGO; a station that consistently possessed #1 ratings for over thirty years and had the universal respect of almost everybody in the business.
It's no surprise that KGO was king of the hill and retained some of the great broadcast legends, including Jim Dunbar, Ira Blue, Ted Wygant, Owen Spann, Jim Eason and the like. And let's not forget Ronn Owens, who has been a mainstay in Bay Area broadcast lore and continues to be at the top of his game.
Nobody has more respect for Luckoff than I do; I'm not that crazy about all the stories I've heard about his legendary autocratic means of negotiating and such, but if you last nearly four decades, I guess you've earned the right to run a company your way and your way only, (like I'm sure Luckoff cares, but that's another story)
Bottom line is that KGO is about to undergo massive change--that, I'm 100% sure of. There's an assortment of stories and rumors making the rounds, some have legs and some don't. The word, "syndication" is huge in the conversation. And there's talk of at least two more significant changes in on-air personnel that had Luckoff's back.
We'll see, but I'm going to stick by my story. Yes, literally, Luckoff didn't quit, but the actions and pending agenda by corporate finally took its toll. Luckoff was tired of the machinations and waived the white flag.
Those actions were done for a reason.
During the p.m. drive news, Mickey intimated that he has both a book and TBA plans in the works. Both should be interesting. Having lived in quite a few different media markets, I've been acquainted with some of the great and near-great full-service powerhouse stations during their prime: WJR in Detroit, WSB in Atlanta, KMOX in St. Louis, WCCO in the Twin Cities etc. However, KGO is the only station where the GM, Ops Mgr., Production Mgr. and producers were as well-known to the regular audience as the talent. That's just one indication of the station's uniqueness. However, the place is fraying around the edges and could use some remodeling; but not the changes I expect Citadel will bring.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure his book will be as exciting as anything Ron Lowey has ever come up with. Call it snoozefest part II. This guy's biggest accomplishment was bringing Michael Savage to radio and I guarantee it's not in his resume'.
ReplyDeleteKGO should go to conservative talk format.
ReplyDeleteI suspect an ideological course change is coming. Think less Taliaferro and more Mark Williams.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Howard Stern will have Mickey on his show to talk more. Howard had Rick Sanchez on the very next day after he was fired. He really opened up, it was outstanding radio.
ReplyDeleteMark Williams? Oh, say it ain't so!!!
ReplyDeleteRadio needs more people like Gene Burns and a whole lot less of the Citadel, Clear Channel and Cumulus crowd.
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