KGO's all-day, (Wednesday), on-air charity to World Concern, a Christian outreach ministry; a day in which commercial spots were not played, was, in fact, a client of the station. Furthermore, according to two independent sources close to KGO, the "charity" paid for the commercial time and made it appear as if it were a charity event.
Both sources provided information on the condition that they were not named due to the nature of the story.
Added one source: "this was a far cry from the leukemia foundation work where KGO really did give
up all its time and all the money went to the search for a cure."
Added the other source: "I'd be willing to bet the reason KGO dropped all their ads for a day to fight
parasites....is that they were either being paid by Christa or getting a cut of
the donations."
It would be great to know. Repeated calls to KGO were not returned.
Curiously, the all-day event was not promoted much and appeared out of nowhere. In addition, most on-air staffers seemed indifferent, at best, to the goings-on. Even Ronn Owens seemed to pooh-pooh the proceedings.
"It's even uglier than you thought.", offered one of the sources.
This sort of reeks of distortion, if it's true, and I stand by my source's information. Nobody faults any non-profit providing aid and contributions to people and kids who need it. Only it would have been nice if KGO sought to inform its listeners where exactly the donations were going and, more importantly, if this was really a true no-commercial affair or that the organization paid for the time.
*Rich Lieberman 415 Media Exclusive
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Hokey smoke! I'm an old radio guy. And I said earlier I heard it and it sounded "weird." This is amazing and (literally) unbelievably disgusting.
ReplyDeleteA new low for Cumulus, but it doesn't surprise me.
ReplyDeleteWho cares? Who's listening to KGO any more?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the Arbitron ratings for August are in, and the big news is that the "good guys," led by the station that picked up the slew of KGO all-stars fired late last year, continue to gain steam.
In fact, for the first time ever, KKSF Newstalk 910 AM beat out KSFO Hot Talk 560 AM for the first time ever with a 1.8 versus 1.7 share in August, according to Arbitron. KSFO's ratings have slipped 0.4 points, from 2.1, in May, while KKSF's increased by the same amount.
KKSF's sister station, KNEW 960 AM, which features Dave Ramsey's personal financial advice show weekday mornings and liberal talk-show hosts at other times, pulled a 0.5 rating.
KGO's ratings were flat-lined at 2.5, which means it's lost about half its audience since the abrupt format change from news/talk to mostly news late last year.
KGO's rival,all-news KCBS 740 AM, maintained a 4.7 share in August.
Replace Colmes in the evening with Rothmann, and they'll have winner.
ReplyDeleteI've grown to appreciate Colmes but I agree. I truly believe Rothman from 7 to 10 would be a winner.
DeleteSorry, but as much as I enjoy John Rothman, I have discovered Colmes and his show cracks me up. He is so bright, funny, and factually correct, that I think he needs to stay. His callers are a strange lot, but he handles them in a very entertaining way. I'd love to hear Rothman another time, even on week-ends or later in the week-day evenings like he did at KGO (10-1).
DeleteMaybe this is why Ronn called in sick today.
ReplyDeleteSickening it was.
Hey everyone! Tomorrow is Friday. That means the return of Rho-duh and the Gil-man from 4-7 pm. Rho-duh, no doubt, will be giving us her insights into the Obama DNC speech along with her usual mixed of feigned shock and high-pitched giggles. Gil-man, as always, will be pitching his favorite cabinetmaker and engaging in lighthearted banter with weather man Lloyd Lindsay Young (also a KGO veteran) and news man Sebastian Kunz.
ReplyDeleteThe intense and serious John Rothmann would be an excellent addition to the Newstalk 910 AM line-up, replacing Alan Colmes, from 7-10 weeknights, further solidifying its local talent base and as the logical successor to KGO, which has mostly abandoned the newstalk format.
I like and admire John Rothmann. He's extremely knowledgeable, especially in politics and international relations, although sometimes he comes across as wound just a little too tightly and too hawkish when it comes to Israel.
Colmes' show could be moved to sister station KNEW 960 AM, where it would it fit in nicely with other liberal nationally syndicated radio talk shows. Colmes, while bright and articulate, seems to waste a lot of his air time taking calls from not too bright Tea Party males, and the calls usually degenerate into shouting matches. For whatever reason, intelligent conservatives as well as liberals rarely call Alan--or they do but he doesn't take their calls. Why?
I dread Fridays because of Rhoda's now seemingly permanent appearences on Cabinet Man's show. Her cackles are so grating I rarely tune in anymore on Fridays. Anybody know why Gil still does not take many callers? His loooong drawn out monologues are getting to be too much. Btw, big shout out to KPFA for its coverage at both conventions.
DeleteRich what have you ever done for anyone, especially poor people?. You whine and bitch too much.
DeleteAlan Colmes has a unique and incendiary show. He is liberal but all of his callers are right wingers. That's the gimmick of the show. The entertainment is in listening to Alan eviscerate the caller, or himself blow up in frustrated rage. However, I can only listen for so long, because there is too much shouting!
DeleteJohn Rothmann is brilliant and insightful, but a little dull/dry for prime time. It would be cool if he could do overnight weekends on 910. I love Coast to Coast (another inspired acquisition by KKSF) but I don't need to hear it seven nights a week.
Almost every time I listen to Alan Colmes, I find myself having a similar fantasy. In my fantasy, the intelligent and educated people of the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest invent a technology that allows us to fire an energy beam from space.
DeleteWe then use this beam to cut across the Mason-Dixon Line and down the Colorado River Basin. After the cuts are completed, we float the entire American South out to sea, along with all the rude, ignorant, racist, bigoted, crackers that live there. Once out to sea, we sink the entire land mass, like the mystical continent of Atlantis.
In the process, we get rid of a lot of wasteful consumption of good oxygen and simultaneously elevate the national average IQ by a significant number of points.
And it would surely sound the death knell for the conservative movement as well.
I like the idea up until the sinking part. Then I could move there to be away from people like you.
DeleteSeriously; if that is the way you feel... don't fight it if part of the country wants to break off... because I know I'd really like to do that moving thing....
Last year, Cumulus demanded. Cut of the donations to the Thankgiving Charities campaign. Gil Gross had already been announced as the spokesperson, and threatened to walk if Cumulus didn't back down incredibly, the company gave in. Of couse, two weeks later, Gil and the rest were gone.
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: I'm a former KGO employee now with another SF station.
Christine Craft's Left loving Obama fest this morning sitting in for Ronn actually made me turn the dial. Only in the Bay Area do we still have people chanting Yes We Can and Change Change Change. Most of the country has woken up by this point. On a side note, when Feinstein Boxer and Pelosi each spoke before giving their delegates to Obama last night was I the only one that thought "here are 3 ladies well into their 70's that look nothing like it"?. Yea, they really represent the common woman who wouldn't have the money to sink into plastic surgery.
ReplyDeletePat thurston sat in for ronn, not christine. Don't you know who you are listening to? It is possible to be rich and still look out for the less fortunate. As a senior citizen, (don't like to admit that since I'm of the generation that said, never trust anyone over 30), 67 year old female who is collecting social security and working part time (30 to 35 hours a week) to make ends meet, I just don't trust that Romney will do anything for me, Ted Kennedy was wealthy, but I felt he cared for the poor, middle class, elderly etc. Romney might, but I haven't heard it. I don't care that Romney has money, nor do I care that much how much he pays in taxes, but I resent that said if you can't get a $22.00 an hour job, get two jobs. Please at my age, working retail and being on my feet 6-7 hours a day, I can barely handle one job. Furthermore I work for the same company (big national department store) I did in 1991, and only make $1.30 more an hour. The middle and lower class is loosing ground, and I don't see where the trickle down economy has helped people like me. I see companies freeze salaries, demanding more and more work from their workers. In some way I'm fortunate, I do have other income and for my age I'm quite healthy, I also have an insurance license and can go back to that and make more money, not everyone has these options. Also I probably pay more percentage wise in taxes than Romney does, and I resent that.
Deletewith all due respect, I haven't filled in for Ronn in many years. Pat Thurston and I share a point of view on some things, but not on everything. In addition, our styles and our voices are nothing alike. I was on last weekend for Karel. See you on the radio
DeleteI wholeheartedly apologize to Christine Craft. I always enjoyed listening to Christine Craft. And yes, I sometimes do get the voices mixed up.
Delete@305 apparently you have a lot of voices speaking to you inside your head...
DeleteCan somebody stop by KGO and ask to see the logs?
ReplyDeleteSee if the whole charity drive was, in fact, commercial time.
7:10 PM - what station were you listening to this morning? Pat Thurston, not Christine Craft, was filling in for Ronnnnn.
ReplyDeleteNo need trying to give facts to irrational, knuckleheaded Repubs. Save your words....
Delete@9:25 typical Democrat spewing hate, racism, division, elder discrimination, on and on and on. Whatever dart stick to the dartboard and gets more votes. Lets legalize everyone, thats millions of voters!
DeleteWow. If true, this deserves some attention in the broader media. It really shreds what little credibility the station has left.
ReplyDeleteI know Cumulus is built on obfuscation, but if they were really proud of what they were doing, why was there no tranparency about this "charity/commercial" situation? Why hid what it really was?
ReplyDeleteSince most of the news media in town are owned by Cumulus, there's apparently no place that will report on this.
Color me disgusted..
I meant to post this last week..speaking of underhanded media...I was surfing and stopped at KNTV because,they had a headline "A's move to San Jose"..I thought-like anybody would-something had broke.
ReplyDeleteNope. Just a misleading tease. Really not up to KNTV standards I would think.
btw,The passwords? too hard now..and wors, some number pics are too faint to make out.
Cut to Gil-man and Rho-duh on Newstalk 910: Gil-man and the always intense but insightful John Rothmann on this afternoon's broadcast are talking about how tight the race is between Romney and Obama; that the outcome will be determined by a handful of "swing states." Rho-duh interjects, asking "what are swing states?" Duh.
ReplyDeleteHey KGO Engineer..Pull the plug on the transmitter, lock the door and walk out. Then let's watch Cumulus suffer a bit. Then do it again next week. :)
ReplyDeletePoor pathetic Cumulus. It makes my day whenever I hear something going wrong for that dirtbag company.
I found that fundraising incredibly annoying. First of all, it seemed shady and I didn't trust the organization. Secondly, every freaking commercial was an extremely irritating format. Thirdly, although I feel sad for children who suffer, I don't want to think about parasites all day long. It grosses me out. Lastly, I don't trust Cumulus.
ReplyDeleteThe old KGO also kept an eye on the budgets of charities. If the charity kept too much for 'overhead' KGO would not do any partnership work with them...
ReplyDeleteHey dirtbag Repubs...take your racist, head in the sand, gone-toting, 'my way or the highway!' attitude with you back down to the deep south or the midwest where you can eat your grits, fat-burgers, beer and white bread and spew your hate monger vitriol while you listen to the likes of 'Rushbo,' one of the biggest blowhards on the radio! You would really would be more at home in the 19 teens and 20s where you could wear your white sheets with impugnity!
ReplyDeleteKFOG did one of these World Concern-a-thons several months ago and I wondered then why Cumulus was so enamored of this particular charity. Now we know.
ReplyDeleteIf a charity buys commercial time, why is that shady?
ReplyDelete