Twin casualties, KGO and now KFOG.
Your Cumulus Bay hit squad at work. My oh my, have you seen the comments here? On Facebook too. They managed to rile up the fogheads now. That's courtesy of a new lovely morning show devoid of any humor and apparently hated supreme by a whole bunch of folks with good demos. They're even younger than KGOne's--that's meant to be funny, but come to think of it it's not. It's their way of thinking now being that they are firmly enemy #1 in the city and burbs.
My e-mail is all scathing. Matter of fact, I think it's more venomous than those left by the old KGO people...and get this? As I've said numerous times, it's only going to get worse. Don't be surprised if they begin a new pink slip show--they're about due. And not just at KGO and KFOG, but at The Bone and KNBR too, after all, that's their mission in life now: to make people miserable, not just the listeners, but their little people too. That's "workers" in Cumulus speak.
ATTENTION: BAY AREA MEDIA: CAN YOU HEAR THESE PEOPLE? Why are you IGNORING this tragedy? Hey, BEN FONG-TORRES? Is it all about coffee table pieces in the Sunday Pink? Surely, Ben, one would think you'd at least try to devote at least one column on this? Can you hear me know BFT, or are you wed to banal bathroom radio minutiae. There's a huge story out there and I'm the only schmuck that's covering it...I don't want any accolades because that's not the point here. Is it the cynic in me that says that corporate media has no use for this systematic attack on Bay Area radio? I guess so.
Folks, fogheads, old KGOers, I read all your e-mail. I understand your anger and feel your frustration. The Cumulus mob has devoured your favorite radio station(s). Unfortunately they simply have no conscience, not to mention any form of decent PR people. And boy oh boy talk about trying to put lipstick on a pig.
We will continue to monitor. And you continue to vent.
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What is the point of all this ranting about these broadcast radio stations? Why do you need other writers jumping on you bandwagon? You're not going to make any difference because the times have changed. Jim Lange is not coming back!
ReplyDeleteHey idiot...radio is going downhill. Are you too stupid or blind to see it? That's why the rants, you simpleton.
DeleteMust be from one of the insider interns. If none of the listeners like what's being done to their favorite radio stations and stop listening, your job will be at risk too. Listening to the radio is more than just hearing some voice, any old voice, filling up the air. Quiet beats inane nonsense coming over the air.
DeleteAgree entirely with 7:22!
DeleteWhat is the point of all this ranting about these broadcast radio stations? Why do you need other writers jumping on you bandwagon?
Rich has one moron disciple who constantly accuses anyone who disagrees with Richof working for Cumulus.
NO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORK FOR CUMULUS to raise questions about Rich's obsession and jealousy!
Wow 7:32 You're mean! Are you saying that ranting will stop radio from going downhill? and 7:34 my job will be at risk only if people stop eating mushrooms.
DeleteI love all of us anonymous posters talking smack to each other...we be bad ass mofo's eh?
and Bachelor number #3 is a guy who writes fluff pieces, loves business lunches when someone else picks up the tab. and knows that a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse who has two good eyes but still won't see. Let's have a big Dating Game welcome to a man who knows that payola lives, it's Ben Fong-Torres!
DeleteFogheads and The Bone followers were rather old too. Heavy metal in the Bay Area is pretty much followed by elderly people at this point.
ReplyDeleteThe SF Bay Area is changing demographically. One is either an Asian/Hispanic immigrant with zero dollars in all the SFBA cities (& therefore doesn't care about those stations) or one is making loads of money in tech, and doesn't listen to those stations either as those stations are for the elderly who managed to buy or rent places in the SF Bay Area. Techies are not into that music either.
Yes, the entire Bay Area radio scene is a mess because we have too many Asian and Hispanic immigrants here who don't have any money here. I agree that tech people don't listen to the radio either. In fact, during the late 90's dot com boom, not one tech company bought radio ads.
DeleteI should also note my senior citizen brother of 41 years of age loves Metallica. My 39-year old cousin is also an old Foghead and is bordering on retirement and the seniors home.
I can't wait to read your full thesis on Bay Area radio, you dummy!
Some of us are not old people, hispanic/asian. I am in my 40's, have lived in the bay area all my life & care a lot for all these stations. It is the cranks & ranters that get things done. Certen thongs should not
Deletego away (KGO, KFOG!!). Not all of us are techie egg heads eather. We want inteligent radio!!!!
Im not sure on your take on the demographic of Asians and Hispanics "not having money here. They live here in large number and seem to paticipate greatly in in everything. but you are right , the demographic is changing. Fact is, young people just dont listen to the radio that much, especially talk radio, its all about the iphone or other device.
DeleteAll the white people are either goofy techies, hipsters, or yuppies.... They could care less about talk radio, unless their right or left wing, then they tune in via internet.
The Hispanics listen to music only for the most part, and certainly not KFOG. The Asians, Chinese type and Indian type, could care less about KGO or KFOG, They are the most tech savt and do everything with tech devices.
Gee. Such (mistaken) generalities. I am a 66 yo white woman with TONS of friends of similar and other ages. Some of us have little money (thanks to the recession) and some have WAY more than is needed. We ALL listened to KGO ALL the time, and depended on it for its range of topics and variety of associated discussions, not to mention the constant tie-ins to(if not outright sponsorship of) Bay Area events that help people feel part of a larger community. Regular listeners would note that people of ALL ages, political "stripes", incomes, educational, ethnic and other backgrounds, etc., would listen or call in. To eliminate thoughtful radio, especially that which encourages freedom of speech and the exchange of opinions and ideas, is extremely dangerous in a society that portends to be a democracy. One realllly has to wonder what those idiots in Atlanta have in mind. They scare me.
DeleteBen Fong Torres cover a controversy at a Bay Area Radio station?
ReplyDeleteNever in a 100 years. All that guy cares about is not getting on the bad side of bay area media.
The only stories you will hear from Ben Fong Torres will be vanity features.
Similar to what you find at the Chronicle sports department when it comes to writing critical stories about the Giants.
Must keep my job at all costs!
"That music?" Hello, intern! Lots of we Baby Boomers are NOT into Heavy Metal. The diversity of music in the Bay Area precludes that one. And let me inform you--there are lots of people NOT listening to commercial radio in the Bay Area these days! With the dumbing down of content added to the constant commercial assault--we are going elsewhere! KQED is Number One? Mistake? I think not, sweet cheeks.
ReplyDeleteI am going to be 60 next year and have an iPhone with music downloaded so I can listen in the car when I need to! You have NO idea what MY demographic enjoys!
Bay Area radio is in its death throes. Sadly.
I hate to say it, but they don't care what someone your age wants. 25-54 is the magic number, and maybe shave off the top third of that too. And I'm not saying this with malice toward you because I'm only 1 year away from being out of 25-54 myself.
DeleteThe latest census numbers indicate the median age in California is higher than it's ever been. The median age in SF is higher than California as a whole, and Marin County and much of San Mateo County is even higher than SF. By 2025 it is possible that in San Francisco, 1 in 5 people (20%) will be older than 65.
DeleteI'm 43 and I know people younger than me who have been upset over the last year or so at the decline of KFOG and have turned it off with the new morning show as I have.
Sure, there are some young people making good money in tech and elsewhere but the vast majority of the wealth in this region is with people over 40 and Cumulus et al dismiss such a large and wealthy group at their own peril. What works somewhere else won't necessarily work here but that's not my problem. My problem is finding some alternatives to local radio which I probably should have done a long time ago.
This week I've been turned on to Radio Paradise and some other cool internet radio stations and I'm working on recording so I can easily move to my iPhone since I can't get a reliable signal in my office and don't want to pay for a bigger data plan for streaming or XM.
-TB
Yes. I keep wondering what happened to the love for boomers and their big bucks. I think we (I'm 66) still have money to spend! Ignoring this group is financial suicide, no matter HOW much a younger demographic may also earn.
DeleteNice to see you and the masses wait a whole week to pan a show. Way to take the long view, as per usual. Another well thought out belch from Dick.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention another about-face- I believe the quote was "KFOG sucks" , "There is no there-there". until it suits you. embarrassing.
Can you write another blow piece on female anchors? That was riveting
Rich says, "There's a huge story out there and I'm the only schmuck that's covering it."
ReplyDeleteThe second part is correct, he is the only schmuck covering it!
There is something disturbing about the people who complain about this blog so emotionally.
ReplyDeleteReally, please refer to a specific example of people complaining about this blog "so emotionally."
DeleteThe biggest purveyor of emotion here is Rich with his self-righteous indignation with Cumulus, unrestrained anger at his critics i.e. Ben Fong Torres, and incessant sniping at imagined enemies.
Your KFOG rant regarding the morning show is a tad late but not without merit.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is that Cumulus, no Bungeroth, has singlehandedly decimated four heritage Bay Area radio stations and it's heartbreaking. His maneuvers are all about money but the irony is that he's not making much relative to what these stations historically yielded. Former owners and management, especially Luckoff, understood that investing in the product was the way to attract and retain the sophisticated well heeled listener. But more importantly they saw the value of serving a community with informative and entertaining local content that over the course of decades became vital radio.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Except Bunghole is merely a corporate stooge carrying out Lew Dickeys cost cutting edicts. Dickey, the Harvard genius apparently sees no relationship between pleasing the audience and making money. Just shows once again that all the degrees in the world can't fix stupid.
DeleteThe piece BFT ran in the Sunday Pink involving Nikki Blakk was recently written: that anecdote she told about Zeppelin I heard earlier last week, so the column wasn't "in the can" and BFT could have put some blurb about KFOG sackings that happened 2 weeks ago. I would like a critical comment BFT, but since you don't have a set, at least MENTION it otherwise no backbone with no set!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that really blows me away about Cumulus is they got rid of the one thing in all their morning programs that was decent. The Dirty Old men with their fake phone calls are still on the other FM property and "Hey did you watch the game Mr Soundboard?, it is a sports station you know and you could ask an interview question" is on the AM...Unbelievable! When I get a car upgrade, time for satellite. The old dog is barfing and crapping all over the place and needs to be taken out back and shot!
ReplyDeleteYeah, no big surprise BFT didn't cover it. At all. He's only into fluff pieces now. What's wrong with journalists these days? There's a story here. No one but Lieberman is covering it.
ReplyDeleteThe new morning show stinks. Dull, inane.
It came to me in my sleep..... Sirius Satellite is to Cumulus as GM and Standard Oil was to mass transit in Los Angeles in the 1940's. It is so simple and we all have missed it! Howard Stern and Co. are behind all of this. So silent and so devious! No one has a clue until it is too late.
ReplyDeleteI will take credit for blowing the lid off this conspiracy.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?!
DeleteThank you for calling it what it is.
ReplyDeleteBFT sold out when he started reading bad copy as a color man for the Chinese New Year's Parade on KTVU.
ReplyDeleteAnd no mention whatsoever in his 5/27 column on the 5/18 passing of his one-time KSAN colleague Travus T. Hipp. BFT has become irrelevant, exclusively pimping anyone who's desperate enough (or generous enough)to pick up the lunch tab. Payola lives on...
DeleteWas Travus "before your time", Rich, or just broadcasting below your radar? Sometimes we wonder, other times we're sure...
Can you imagine CBS Co-orprate taking apart KCBS? It would NEVER Happen! CBS and KCBS are class acts from Doug Harvill VP & GM, Ed Cavagnaro, the News Director down to all the folks in the the newsroom. it has nothing to do with money but everything to do with pride and service to the community; obviously something Cumulus is not interested in.
ReplyDeleteAnother dead on observation. Cumulus just does not care about people, whether they be employees or listeners. Cumulus SF has fired, laid off, or forced to quit at least 100 employees over the last few years. And you can bet that 95% of the people still working there are looking for a job.
Deletethey're deleting negative comments off the kfog Facebook page. cowards.
ReplyDeleteLove the new sCumUlus name, Rich. Too bad that same 'lipstick on a pig' outlet is often in bed with Palin-like zealots in the business and political worlds. Eventually, even Baer will have had his fill with Tricky Dickey, no matter how much of their own biases the Giants have. At least they try to deliver a quality baseball team.
ReplyDeleteI posted a negative comment about KGO last week on their Facebook page. Not only was my post deleted, but KGO no longer appears on my News Feed on Facebook. It's sad to see what was once a great radio station being run into the ground.
ReplyDeleteKFOG in the morning? No chemistry between Greg, Tom and Melanie.
ReplyDeleteGreg sounds mortified and depressed. Melanie--ugh. She's the equivalent of white bread. Tony/Twitch--he's really not KFOG material. He's not San Francisco material.
DeleteI'm curious if KFOG is going to promote this year's Gay Pride Parade. They'd be hypocrites if they did. Twitch once hosted a Straight Pride Parade in Detroit--on the same day and same street as the local Gay Pride Parade.