A KGO Radio source has just confirmed the following:
Gene Burns, Gil Gross, John Rothmann and Ray Taliaferro were all let go today in a major personnel shake-up at 900 Front.
Only Ronn Owens was spared a dismissal. Owens has a "personal services" contract that runs through Jan., 2013.
No details were provided, but it was a significant move. KGO is owned by Cumulus.
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about fucking time
ReplyDeletePlease dont stop. Here is a name for you or two.
ReplyDeleteRalph DUI/Miata/Sperm Donor Dad Barbieri
Eric Byrnes
How sad. This is another nail in the coffin of a once great radio station.
ReplyDeleteI will certainly miss Gene Burns and John Rothmann.
There will be nothing to listen to now in the evenings. I guess I'll have to catch up on my KQED podcasts.
I hope Ronn speaks Spanish, because I head KGO is going 24-hour salsa.
ReplyDeletedamon bruce to kgo?
ReplyDeleteThey gutted their weeknight line-up...I can understand Gene Burns & Taliaferro but Gil Gross & John Rothmann. KGO 810, Radio on the Cheap!
ReplyDeleteIs anyone surprised?
ReplyDeleteGene Burns should have left a long time ago.
No more phony "I am a liberterian" nonsense.
He turned out to be a closet liberal Democrat.
Ronn Owens is very good with his spanish.
ReplyDeleteI understand AM 860 is looking for mid-day hosts.
They were let go..and Damon Bruce in return was hired? LOL..They might as well just play elevator music between commercials.
ReplyDeleteThis is just the beginning. Look at how Cumulus gutted KNBR. They'll do much the same with KGO as they move them from 900 Front into 55 Hawthorne.
ReplyDeleteSure, those aforementioend guys were making lots of money and some (Ray and Gene) probably needed to retire anyway....but this is just one more move by a small market company that moved into big market territory in 2006 and is running its radio stations on the cheap.
Unfortunately, broadcasting is a 'copy-cat' business (like a lot of businesses!) and this model seems to be working for a lot of companies.
Americans should be ashamed that they've elected officials to congress and the presidency (Clinton of all people signed the Communications Act of 1996 that deregulated the industry!)
that has allowed this sort of thing to happen to our media. And it's not just KGO and KNBR that have been gutted, but other venerable stations throughout the US of A. Thanks Lou 'Dickhead' Dickey (CEO of Cumulus)
We're now a weaker, less informed society because of your greed
to make a profit and keep you and the shareholders happy!
BRAVO! to the above!
ReplyDeleteAmen to poster at 6:01. That's the crux of this whole bloodletting. I will dearly miss Gene Burns. I wholeheartedly disagree that he needed to retire. He suffered some severe health problems but battled back and sounded great again. He could not be pigeonholed as a political "type" and was one of the best spoken, intelligent members of the broadcast community that we had. Farewell Gene and thank you for telling it the way you saw it all these years.
ReplyDeleteHuge mistake, KGO.
ReplyDeleteHUGE.
Gil Gross was the best host you have.
Inconceivable!
Rich, why does nearly everyone who comments on this blog comment anonymously? Just wondering.
ReplyDelete(No, you don't have to answer that question. The answer is obvious.)
Don't swallow anything bad, guys. If you do, the poison hotline is 1-800-222-1222.
ReplyDeleteThat's the end of my listening to KGO. Without
ReplyDeleteGene Burns and John Rothman I have no interest in that station anymore. How sad. It was my favorite radio station for many years. No one on KGO that I will listen to anymore. To bad, but true!
I am so sorry to hear this. I like most of the KGO radio people. Can only hope that they surface somewhere findable on the internet.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to all of you who lost your jobs today.
Gene Burns is on the air right now at his normal time. Rothmann to follow.
ReplyDeleteSo they were let go today, but will continue to do their show until the end of the week? Will there be an official announcement by each host as to what has happened? Interesting.
Gene Burns just came on at 7...promo'd Rothmann at 10p....interesting...
ReplyDeleteI've been a long time listener of KGO just because of these talk show personalities. Bye, Bye KGO.
ReplyDeleteShould have let Ron Owens go and kept the rest.
Get back to me when they fire that bloated POS Radnich that Greasy FatFuckFitz and the angry asshole Bean-polesmoker Brooks.
ReplyDeleteThen we'll talk
Wow, talk about a bloodbath, nobody spared...yeesh!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very sad day. Despite what you may think of their politics, we have been blessed by the intelligence of Gil, Gene and John. (I do not know Ray due to sleep requirements.) I am in mourning already.
ReplyDeleteI'll miss Gene Burns. I can't say that this bothers me much except in the abstract. If you were going to listen to an all news station why wouldn't you choose KCBS? I bet KGO ceases to exist in 18 months.
ReplyDeleteThere's only one ALL-news station and that's KCBS. Watch them kick the shit out of KGO :)
ReplyDeleteNo wonder Ray T was so utterly vulgar and nasty to Novato Frank in the 4 o'clock hour in the 1st. Pathetic. Ray owes the man an apology.
ReplyDeleteWas LLY doing the weather during thursdays afternoon news broadcast? He was mysteriously absent at 5:41pm with no explanation.
Whew..... glad to see Dr Bill isn't on the list! Hope he hangs in there. He's about the only thing left worth listening to.
Thank God for CBS. First in the business and still the best.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Len Tillem?
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't bode well for Ralph Malph's contract negotiations at KNBR. Cumulus shows no mercy.
ReplyDeleteI have listened to Ray for a few years late at nIght. He has gotten pretty Cantankerous and spent too much time talking without taking calls (which is why I liked to listen). Last night took the cake as two people called his names and he got real riled up.
ReplyDeleteWell...there is always Clark Howard podcasts on line....
Jay
Down in Corona CA
regular radio going the way of the horse and buggy. podcasting is the new medium (and no bleeping fcc nonsense)
ReplyDeleteDamon Bruce said today on his show that Larry Baer had put out a "fatwa" on him to get him off the post-Giants game Sportsphone 680, and kicked over to 1050. Pretty ballsy statement, and amusing, and what everybody with half a brain assumed anyway...
ReplyDeletethere's no point to listening to KGO radio anymore. guess i can change the buttons on my car radio--- but to what? ggrrrr.
ReplyDeleteWTF? I am in shock. Gene Burns is on air right now. Is this a repeat show? Rich, this is your time to shine baby. This is when you can show your true worth as the only independent blogger in the Bay Area!!!! If this is true I bet Ronn Lowenstein will not say anything tomorrow like when Luckoff resigned.
ReplyDeleteGene Burns is on the air tonight, but it's a rerun. I listened for a couple of minutes, and realized that it's the same show I heard a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI would rather listen to dead air, then listen Mac, Murp, Radnich, Krueger,Fitz, Brook, Ralph blow hole Barberi, and Byrnes.
ReplyDeleteI listened to most of the hosts with the single exception of Ray Taliafero. His exit is long overdue. I'll gladly follow the other hosts wherever they end up.
ReplyDeleteWow. I just saw this and then turned on Gene Burns. It's a bit unusual for a massacre like that to happen and for the dismissed personalities to stay on the air. I hope this story is wrong. If it isn't substantially accurate, Rich has some 'splaining to do.
ReplyDeleteAmazing that Burns' health let him last this long on the air. Taliafero finally ticked off Tricky Dickey enough. The rest? Just basic cost cuts.
ReplyDeleteGod damn you Lew Dickey. Dining around was go to radio for me Saturday mornings. Joel Riddell the producer for dining around just Tweeted that the cookie exchange is cancelled. Gene Burns survived several close calls with his maker but his career did not survive the plague called Cumulus. May Lew Dickey and his ilk get cancer ASAP.
ReplyDeleteAll those let go from KGO should move to Monterey, buy a big goddam 50kw transmitter and begin broadcasting there as an independent. Thinking that true radio pros can best beat corporate radio in popularity AND profits, then put corporate radio outta business. Amazing how in two days, San Francisco gets more Glenn Beck, and less Gene Burns. Just amazing.
ReplyDeleteI would gladly follow the hosts wherever they end up...hope Mickey can buy a station and give KGO a run for their money.
ReplyDeleteWill not patronize their advertisers and will also write Sleep Train, the Lasik guy, and a few of their other regular sponsors and tell them that I will be taking my business elsewhere because of the actions of KGO.
By the way, they took all contact information down for all the hosts except the ones staying.... I posted to Gene on the Dining Around site, they haven't removed that yet...but they did cancel the cookie exchange, etc.
It really is like losing dear friends....
Hopefully KABC 790AM Los Angeles (another Cumulus station) will also follow and cut the entire staff except for the syndicated Red Eye Radio and Peter Tilden. Everyone else, especially Larry Elder, John Phillips and the syndicated righties, Hannity and that nut case Levin should all be replaced. The station has been circling the drain for a long time w/less than a 1 arb.
ReplyDeleteGee, KCBS beats KGO up in the ratings and so the answer is don't improve but to go head-to-head with... KCBS! Yes, a market like San Francisco needs TWO news stations but no talker. You know the the folks at Cheap Channel are thinking... FORMAT CHANGE!!
ReplyDeleteI have listened to the last of KGO. If I wanted KCBS news 24/7, I would listen to KCBS news. Hosley is just there to guide the demise.
Good riddance to Gil Gross, John Rothmann and Ray Taliaferro. Maybe we can have some intelligent & balanced discussion of issues and interviews of guests. Enough of the constant one-sided programming.
ReplyDeleteA great moment on Gil Gross' show today: he was making a point and made reference to "... well on the weekend I have a real estate program on that other (negative term) station over there..." referring to KSFO. Did he know then ... what we know now? Look up Gil Gross in the Dictionary and you will see his picture and below it will be defined as Undecided, undefined and irrational.
I have been listening to KGO since I was about 10 years old. I am now 50 something. My Grandmother had KGO on almost 24/7. On air then was Ira Blue, and I can't remember the guy before him. I will miss them all. Even though I didn't like or agree with everyone. They helped me make it through many bad nights. Divorce, death and depression...
ReplyDeleteI popped on here just to check on Dr Bill since I listen from San Diego on the weekends. It appears that he's been spared for now...good news!
ReplyDeleteIf I want to listen to news, I'll turn to KCBS.
ReplyDeleteI'll still listen to Ronn Owens in the morning, then tune to KCBS for the rest of the day.
This sucks.
Goodbye, KGO.
Wasn't that Kareil returning to the KGO airwaves last weekend?
ReplyDeleteKGO had it coming. The lost many listners when they made a hard left turn in their point of view.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they can all ask Obama for a job. Get in line folks.
Heres hoping Ralph Barbieri is next.
ReplyDeleteLets see how tough of a negotiator he is.
Tough holidays for all those involved. This always seems to happen in December before the holidays so the companies can get all their ducks in a row by the new year.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to miss Gene and John the most. Thank you, gentlemen, for your intelligence. Ray T wasn't my thing but I did enjoy the occasional show he did without the preaching and shouting and just talked about SF history like Playland at the Beach. Enjoyable shows.
I agree, podcasting, satellite radio, and internet radio are the way to go as many have already migrated there from terrestial radio. Higher income listeners have already made the move so maybe that is why conservative and spanish stations still thrive on radio because they appeal to a lower income listener.
So, why can't many of these ex-radio people ban together and form a new station? Why aren't there more new stations popping up rather than just the same spots on the dial changing formats every few years? It isn't like AM and FM are crowded with stations. I'm sure the cost of having a station via the FCC and the start up costs may not be cheap but maybe the FCC needs to be deregulated so that we get more innovators trying radio start ups rather that it being a game that only corporate conglomerates can enter into.
If Ronn Owens has any balls he'll quit and tomorrow will be his last show.
ReplyDeletekGO will all but be forgotten trying to compete with KCBS as an all news station.
I thought they'd leave Ray on until the end of the year. Actually, I thought they'd leave everyone else mentioned on until the end of this year. Doesn't make all that much sense to me. . . but I can say this much: If the new ownerships' ultimate goal is to turn both stations into, in the words of Alex Bennett, "A Repository for a bunch of right-wing jack-offs," they are in deep doo-doo. We'll see how "profitable" they'll be then. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteAfter the shock of reading these Lieberman postings late this evening, I tuned in to KGO and during the first Taliaferro segment Mr. T said "... this week of NOVEMBER 14th" !!
ReplyDeleteJohn Rothman was the most intellectual talk show host in the Bay Area. He will be sorely missed.
ReplyDeleteGil Gross added a touch of class to KGO's lineup, but he has a strong news background and should have no problem landing a contract with a major news outlet (like ABC network, where he was a mainstay before accepting the KGO job).
We're watching the dismantling of what once was a great AM station in the Bay Area. What a pity.
I am 52 years old and as long as I can remember, I've listened to KGO off and on...Many a night during the 80's, I would sit with my grandmother and listen to Mr. Taliaferro...Over the past 4 decades, I've listned to all of the talk show hosts. I've agreed with some. I've disagreed with others. I've had had my point of view changed...The wide range of opinions has always been the mainstay of KGO...Granted, it did not have a specific host that was on the extreme right. I figured there were plenty of other stations I could turn to if I wanted my dose of conservatism...It is disapointing to read some of the disparaging comments posted. Not because of their opinions, but, the sheer nastiness that comes across...To opose an opinion is one thing. But to lash out via personal attacks? A sad, sad commentary on our collective mindset...Lastly, I'm listing myself as anonomous not for fear of someone recognizing me...I'm just another former KGO listener...I'm just one of the many 100's of thousands that listened up and down the West Coast and most of the western hemisphere...
ReplyDeleteI live near the beach in Santa Cruz and cannot receive a clear KGO radio signal. I have listened on the internet for a few years. I have enjoyed going to sleep listening to John R. He was such a class act.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that the KGO people with real expertise, like Rothmann, will migrate to satilite and internet radio. I wondered last night why the program seemed to be a rerun of last week.
Hopefully someone will keep track of where our favorites can be heard and pass along the news. I will not miss the incessant ads. I will not bye from anyone who sponsors on KGO.
Good bye KGO
What a dumb move by KGO. Len's show was entertaining, and Gil was pretty good, too. I don't see the need for another (almost) all-news station; KCBS can't be touched. And aren't most people getting their news from the internet anyway these days?
ReplyDeletePeter Finch, formerly of KFOG, will be reporting for the "new" KGO, and rumor has it that Gil Gross will be freelancing for ABC network news from San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteMore rumors: Cumulus is going to replace Ray Taliafero with a syndicated talk show (1am-4am).
I listen to KGO via internet stream...no longer, I've removed the application from my devices and am now a former listener.
ReplyDeleteThis radio station is on a slow down Hill slide that started one or two years ago.. So why listen to this station in the after noon ! when there are many other news stations !! People Like to Talk about the news just not hear it..
ReplyDeleteMany of us in Boston, where Gene Burns worked for quite a while, have been listening to him online from KGO and will miss being able to do that. Talk radio around here had its glory days quite a while ago, with few programs left where I can consistently learn something, John Batchelor currently leading the way.
ReplyDeleteI will miss Gene Burns; I've listened to him for years and years and have enjoyed his insights.
ReplyDeleteWhile I didn't always agree with Burns and the other hosts, they offered insights that engaged and challenged critical thinking and reasoning skills.
Apparently KGO's owners feel that they know more what the audience wants and needs than we the listeners...in one of the most educated areas of the country, I might add.
Just wait until the next rating sweeps--KGO will be hurting.
This is going to make me listen less. . . Lol
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think the move to "more news" is a place-holder. And coming a day after Green 960 announced its change?
ReplyDeleteA real shame, and a discredit to the decades of work done by those who lost their jobs.
Burns, Taliaferro, Rothmann are great hosts. Part of the Bay Area family. It will be like three empty chairs at Christmas dinner this year.
This gives me hope that they will do the same at KNBR and get rid of Ralphie among others.
ReplyDeleteAnd so goes the Lukemia Cure-a-Thon, the all-star debates, the Holiday help-outs (Thanksgiving and Christmas), Jack Swanson, Mickey Luckoff (damn great award-winning management), Taliferro/Gross/Burns/Rothmann... Now I believe Lloyd Lindsey Young was shown the door, his name was not mentioned on the morning and noon newscast today. Who's likely next? Stan Burford (very!), Mike Amatory? And Ms. Liberman being demoted? What a sinful, lown, dirty shame.
ReplyDeleteCumulus, we will thank you for putting the great team of KGO/KSFO to the bottom of a septic tank. Effective as I finish this, I'm pulling my name out of the contest page, and removing my e-mailngs. Rest in peace. And as what Lee Rodgers would say, "and now, if you will excuse me..."
so very sad....no longer a listener.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad, sad day. KGO was my radio station for as long as I can remember. Who needs another all news station? They end up putting in fluff pieces because they don't have enough real news to report. Gene Burns feels like one of my relatives, I can't imagine not being able to hear him every day. Even though I missed Pete, Gil was a great replacement and I enjoyed listening to him. Thanksgiving day we always listened to his live broadcast, such great radio. Ever since they got rid of Greg Jarrett, they've been going downhill. Well, at least I don't have to listen to any more of their stupid commercials, I only put up with them because I liked what came after...
ReplyDeleteTrue about the annoying commercials. Did like the post that suggested that Ronn Owens resign which of course, he would never do. I listened all day every week day. I'm outta here and hope these fired folks show up somewhere. Anybody know a good talk radio station in LA or elsewhere???
ReplyDeleteSame here...bye bye KGO
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the above posts. Gil, Gene and John Rothman were the best on radio. Why would I listen to KGO anymore? For the annoying Sleep Train and State Farm commercials? Better off on 740. I'll follow Gene, Gil and John wherever they might turn up.
ReplyDeleteAnd what happens to GodTalk? Stacey's show? Len's? This is insanity!!!
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if Ronn stays on for the ride to the bottom. If he does it’ll be out of pure spite!
ReplyDeleteBay Area radio has had changes before and will have changes again. The KGO format change leaves a format gap available to other local AM stations with low Arbitrons. Right now there are no spots for the four guys known to be on the out list.
ReplyDeleteBurns and Taliaferro have such inflated egos that they'll price themselves out of low priced recycled stations, if such occurs sometime in the future. Ray has roots here, but Gene has a history of moving around. I predict that Ray stays, but will have trouble finding radio gigs, because there won't be any new ones available to anybody. Gene will be gone, probably far, far away. His departure will leave SF with a major pomposity gap.
Gross is a newsman with a horrible inability to create caller interest and controversy. His afternoon shows were dead sleepers. His syndicated RE show is similarly boring and constantly displays Gil's amateur status in the RE business. He must have found a producer to feed him enough subject matter to get him to pass muster with non-professionals, but he serves out weekly doses of weak pap. He needs to go back to do what he does well - read news copy for one of the major services.
Rothman is as sharp as anyone on radio. But that doesn't necessarily make for good talk radio. He doesn't do 'zings', and a few carefully selected zings get peoples' attention and interest in talk shows. It works wonderfully for Owens, for example; yet is distractingly overdone by that undies streak, Karel.
Two giant AM news stations will never survive in SF. KGO doesn't have the people to do it, either. Their limited news format allowed them to be the 'cutsy' news with personalities instead of reporters and get away with it during the commute hours. But after hours listeners won't put up with that kind of crap - they'll want the hard news, read over and over correctly. Just like what KCBS has been doing well for decades. IMO, KCBS will kick KGO's ass in the Arbitrons as long as KGO keeps up the expanded news format.
Cumulus seems to be doing everything wrong with their programming decisions at KSFO and KGO (KNBR hasn't really changed much so far). With luck, they'll give up and get the hell out of town, selling the pieces for what they can get. Locally based talk radio will become popular again here, though perhaps not for a few years. I'd love it if Gabbert bought a station and cranked it up. That man knows the business, the people and this market.
Ronn Owens' made a sad attempt to talk about it with out really doing it. He was sucking up to the management,. Gil Gross didn't get to end his show, instead was KGO jingle way too long. What a sad ending to a once great radio station. Only Ray won't be missed.
ReplyDeleteWhile I liked the (mostly)intelligent conversations between callers and hosts. (egos aside)
ReplyDeleteI say Hear Hear to this previous post....
"Cumulus seems to be doing everything wrong with their programming decisions at KSFO and KGO (KNBR hasn't really changed much so far). With luck, they'll give up and get the hell out of town, selling the pieces for what they can get. Locally based talk radio will become popular again here, though perhaps not for a few years. I'd love it if Gabbert bought a station and cranked it up. That man knows the business, the people and this market."
.... I relish our Bay Area thoughts shared around left and right or just good common sense.
All this, and they keep Karel? Talentless blather.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad -- I'll miss Gene Burns on my long commute home, and Len Tillem on my lunch hour. For news, I'll go to KCBS. I guess I will finally give books on tape a try.
ReplyDeleteBurns was too enamored with the wine/food scene... it got to be a bit much. I quit listening to that long ago, didn't like the elitist approach. He was a professional however. I have watched him with along with Joel and they are a super team. Thought Gill Gross was a good hire in the beginning but soon got tired of his racing rhetoric that seemed to be for effect and less to actually engage the listener. Len Tillem is totally entertaining and informative... love him. Ronn Owens is the best... calm and so well informed. I've had enough of the news however... KGO becoming just one more news stations. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteSo, enough about the OAPs. Did Mickey L. and Jack S. make the cut? Or are they gone, too?
ReplyDeleteI am so bummed, sad and shocked! I absolutely LOVED these hosts that are no longer on KGO. I, like most of the posts, have no interest in the new format. If I want to hear news, will tune in to KCBS. What a sad, sad, day for KGO. Can someone please let us faithful listeners to these hosts let everyone know where they go? Good bye, KGO.
ReplyDeleteKGO is off my presets. As far as I'm concerned, 960 doesn't exist anymore. I have been a faithful listener and the brutal, insane way they went about firing what I consider my friends will come back to haunt them. The corporate model_- gut the station, sell off (or in this case, fire) its assets, hire interns for next to nothing. WarMart-ization of the Waves. Get ready for wall-to-wall informercials. Sickening. Expect it will come back to bite you, Cumulus.
ReplyDeleteGood Bye,KGO! Long long time listener, saw many changes and adjusted.
ReplyDeleteBut......this change NO. I will tune to KCBS less commercials, fast format no fluff.
KGO worked for me for as long as it lasted. Change is difficult but life goes on....Thanks to all for the many hours of listening and sharing of views.
Once again, the most liberal are let go... Fascism is here, folks.... get used to it..... long live the Occupiers!
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable, News are you kidding me. People want to talk about the news not hear it repeated 3 to 5 times an hour. I hope if the hosts choose too, stay that they land locally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your service.
Roger,
San Carlos
I too am in shock...can't believe what has happened at KGO. Ray was my favorite, then John, but I liked most of them except Dr.Bill who is in love with nuclear power. I quit watching TV at night so I could listen to KGO radio. Not anymore. I have been a listener for 20 years, but now I will not go to 810 again. So sad.
ReplyDeleteHow about dumping that huge liability that calls itself Karel? "Charles" should never have been allowed to return to the air.
ReplyDeleteSickening. These radio hosts were like family. I'll miss all of them and all the good they did for the community. No cookie contest with Gene, no Santa Claus visit with Gil. John was so smart about presidential history and politics in general. Ray was always too loud to go to sleep listening to but had great insights into news happenings. I've already made the switch to KCBS. Sorry Karel & Christine. I read somewhere that Cumulus was a cheapo outfit. They'll probably bring in some canned LA "talent".
ReplyDeleteAll intelligence is gone and STUPID HAS SURVIVED. All we need is another news station,bet they turn it into another KSFO with all stupid right wing people, of course the managers are that already. Hope you don't last 6 months KGO. I am gone, unless you get rid of STUPID. I won't listen to Your ignorant broadcasters.
ReplyDeleteTo each and everyone of you KGO fans with all of your threats of desertion and boycotts:
ReplyDeleteAsk us if we care.
Love,
Cumulus
Wouldn’t it be great if Ron came back from his vacation and NOBODY CALLED!
ReplyDeleteHe could just talk for 3 hours & play Home Depot commercials!
I can’t imagine how he can even step foot back in that studio again.
It must be one hell of a check!
I've listened to KGO from wherever I was around the country for years and years. This is clearly a move to get younger listeners, but even I already get breaking news from the net - so who needs another news station?
ReplyDeleteWhat they've destroyed is a community of listeners, and lurkers, who loved thinking out loud about events and talking to each other. Goodbye New Coke. I'll come back if you ever admit your mistake and restore Classic.
Rothman, like Ward was able to make sense of politics and DC and get people to make people sit-up and take notice when warranted. I'll mis him greatly.
ReplyDeleteKGO no longer exists on my radio. KGO was purchased for a song...the music has died.
ReplyDeleteD. Riley
This is terrible. I've listened to KGO since 1985 because of their talk shows with middle-of-the-road perspectives. My 94 year old parents have listened since forever (seriously). Brinker is moving to KSFO. Wattenburg is out too. I hope he lands elsewhere. Leo LaPorte is out. I also liked Gil and John Rothman...I will follow each and every one of them wherever they land, even on the Internet if need be. Gayle
ReplyDeleteAs a San Francisco native, I have listened to KGO for years. I was devastated to hear of the firings of John Rothman, Gil Gross and Len Tilem.I am glad they at least kept Ronn Owens and Karel, but I will not be listening to KGO much anymore. Have Sirus (sp) in my car and will add it to my home radio. Everynight I go to bed listening to John. I am devastated - goodbye KGO.
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to KGO from an island up the BC, Canada coast on the night skip for a number of years. I loved the variety of points of view and the (mostly) intelligent comment and caller response. It was my favorite place to get US news. I was devastated to turn on my radio a couple of nights ago to hear something called Red Dog Radio?? Very weird! I will truly miss KGO and Bill Rothman and others. I'm sorry, the replacement guy doesn't do it for me. All news format..., you've got to be kidding! And what kind of news will that be? So sad, so bad. Big mistake. I won't be a KGO listener anymore. Won't buy CC Radio products anymore either if they continue to advertise. I suggest boycotting any advertisers that stay with the new station!
ReplyDeleteThis is capitalism at its worst.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the loyal listeners?
Radio as we knew it will no longer exist.
I will just have to listen to MSNBC on the net.
So long KGO RIP!!!!!
From the newspaper biz view, that is how Tony Ridder destroyed his KRT empire, just started firing top talent editors in the 90's, and many more staffers quit on their own. So now he's gone, as well as all his papers, and we have BANG - less bang for the buck, but newspaper for your duck.
ReplyDeleteI will miss Ray Taliaferro the most. His opinions mirrored mine more often than not and I have listened to KGO for years at night. Any word on the rest of the night crew? Cristine, Pat, Dr. Bill Wattenberg? There's some guy on there now that is HIDEOUS, last name is Hughes, I think. He is atrocious in his manner, affected in his speech, and generally crappy all around. BORING. I'm going to KCBS.
ReplyDeleteHere on the east coast I downloaded some of the KGO shows as usual (John, Gene, Ray, Pat) and started to listen to one, and heard, instead someone (Spencer Hughes) who was not even trying to follow the conversation of his caller but went on about something about his 4 year old daughter instead.
ReplyDeleteGood grief, what has happened? All of the intelligent and informative talk..slaughtered, replaced with garbage. Pat still gets 2 hours late morning weekends, and Brent keeps his restored God Talk..but the rest?
I doubt Gene will return to Boston, where I used to listen to him and saw him during his 50th birthday speaking tour. And John and Ray are so local SF Bay...I am sure they will keep busy on or off radio, but I hope I can get an internet feed if they return to the radio.
Tech Talk with Leo LaPorte got scratched too...I listened to him on KGO live...but I am assuming he will still broadcast from his site?
Anyway, I am really sad to see this mass radio slaughter. I will probably continue to download & listen to Brent and Pat as long as that service is available...and I remember to do it, with the rest of my KGO habit gone poof. But, dunno...
I loved to correct John when he got some small factoid wrong, and he was gracious in correcting himself when I caught it when he was on the air. That is pretty rare in this era of fact free radio egos.
Keep us informed of KGO personality developments please.
Joanie, I don't know whether you have already discovered this, or you will get this message, (or if you are on Facebook!) but KGO former listeners have some Facebook pages- a good source of information about where to listen to some of the hosts on new stations, etc.
DeleteHere is the FB page with the most members-
https://www.facebook.com/FormerKGOListeners
As a longtime KGO listener I'm at a loss for words on the firing of my favorite radio personalities. Their daily discussion on a wide range of local topics will hamper our efforts to obtain fair & balanced information here in the Bay Area and around the region. Hopefully these fine brodcasters (Gene, John and Ray) will find another station to carry on the great legacy of informing us the public.
ReplyDeleteI have listened to KGO daily or nightly since 1975. Time to search for a NEW channel; uh oh there isn't one. Looks like the internet will be the new news leader...? What a sad commentary on the Bay Area news scene. I get tired of the crash and burn news all the other news channels offer.
ReplyDeletei want to know where Ray goes. Where Ray goes I will follow
ReplyDeleteI was a loyal listener since the Ira Blue 1960's. Rothman was great.
ReplyDeleteThis change is awful!!
The night time hosts (especially the condescending late night hosts) should have seen the writing on the wall when Citidal Broadcasting went bankrupt a few years ago. Those hosts were not pulling in advertising dollars with their stale formats. And half the time Ray was playing jazz music instead of having civil discourse with his callers. It was fun to listen to him berate any caller who disagreed with him a few times. Then it became really obvious he was not being persuasive, he was just plain rude. That got really old. Same for Wattenburg. I do wish them well in the future. The king is dead, long live the king.
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ReplyDeleteAs a fan of Gene Burns from his days at 680 WRKO in Boston, I did catch his show in SF on KGO whenever my travels got me within earshot of his broadcast. It was because of this that I was also treated to Ray's show. I hardly ever agreed with him, but he was always a professional. And, at times, could see how he got his point of view. As one of Gene's colleagues from Boston would say...
ReplyDeleteNot a bad guy...
I was a daily listener of KGO 810 for 37 years...but NOT ANYMORE.
ReplyDeleteI will greatly miss Ray, even though he got rather crotchety in the last few years. I will also miss Dr. Wattenberg on weekend evenings.
What a total bummer! The only one staying (Ron Owens) is the one I like the least. I hope Bernie Ward returns to Bay Area radio one day. One of the most intelligent voices of the west coast. Goodbye KG0 810
Ray, a professional? Ha! If a conservative host said some of the insulting things he did, the host would be fired the next day. He appeared to be racist
ReplyDeleteHey I used to love KGO way back when before I escaped the leftist state of CAfonia,, Several ex bay are media are here in Denver
ReplyDeleteSuesan Witkin has been with KOA 850 for a few years now