RL 415 Media BREAKING NEWS!KGO RADIO GOING BACK TO A 'LIVE and LOCAL' TALK FORMAT.
WHO HAD THE NEWS FIRST?
I'm not bragging now but this move figures to look like a listener revolution that evolved because of all of you--right here, go figure!
The details are a little scant now but supposedly the "new" KGO will go back to a similar, traditional talk format with lots of live, local and "unique" personalities combined with news-talk. We should get a more detailed account soon.
There figures to be a lot of high-fiving at Grumpy's Monday Night.
To the skeptical crowd who bombarded this "little blog"; who belittled my reporting and made fun of the loyal core of people who refused to back down, refused to go quiet and see a legacy station fall to ruins, well, damn, this day is for you. You fought the good fight.
And you, Cumulus, Mr. Dickey, Steve Sklenar, Ron Escarsega: Congratulations for seeing the light. Finally.
*Developing Story...
Keep it here at 'Rich Lieberman' 415 Media for the latest news and information.
*Follow me on Twitter
KGO 810, KGO RADIO, CUMULUS, TALK-FORMAT
You had the news first?
ReplyDeleteBetter question: who else even cares?
The person with the news first was the person who told you, which means that person probably told a lot of people. You've been making this prediction for 2.5 years! It's something everyone knew anyway!
What you don't realize is how wrong you'll be regarding programming.
Old hosts will not be returning.
sounds like Ronnnn
DeleteWoo Hoo! Woop! There It Is, Woop, There It Is, Woop, There It Is!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Rich! Two years, five months, one week and one day. Man o Man.
This isn't about back patting and, yes, hi-fives at Grumpy's for sure. It's about "dogged" reporting, some naysayers, some downright abuse at times but, as you've seen, a lot of dedication in your corner this past weekend, the end of last week and many months before, never losing hope, soul or voice here with you at 415 Media!
They came, some doubted, many learned, everyone here contributed. We trusted, Rich, and you came through.. You hit a walk-on grand slam with two outs, two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, with us down by three. You connected and took us deep. The posters were your team and they each spoke and told the story of their feelings well. This is your victory, Rich, and the poster's WIN!
Give credit to Cumulus. They knew something needed to be done and this was planned, obviously, before coming to a head at 500 Hawthorne as Lew Dickey came in to troubleshoot what would be the right decision We thank him and his team.
Never say never.
"Like a room without a roof. I'm sayin' I'm HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!"
Thanks to each and every poster on 415 Media who contributed to these moments with thoughts, reflections, suggestions, methodology, science, hope, love and desire. Let's keep those feelings coming and share the love.
Cumulus is watching and offered the olive branch at long last. Let's thank them and urge them on to do great things with our K-G-O 810. Let's hope for the best.
Hitting a walk off grand slam implies that the team was actually only down two runs, because they're walking off the field after the hit. Your "walk on" grand slam down three means that Rich tied it up... the game is still going and its a *tad* early to pop that champagne just yet.
DeleteI knew this a month ago.
ReplyDeleteSo I was first.
But it's still Cumulus, but it will be sucky low-paid talk hosts.
ReplyDeletewith too many long adds over and over.
DeleteWill they bring back John Rothmann? I sure hope so!!!
ReplyDeleteSo do I, if John want to come back, he use to fill in fairly often for Gil Gross, he always said he was hoping to return to talk radio. I haven't heard him on 910 in a long time, either he has not been available or they have not asked him, their other fill in hosts have been mediocre at best, but so is 910 in general. As for too little too late (7:13), I will follow the changes with an open mind, talk radio in the Bay area is so bad these days, KGO has an opportunity to improve that in a big way, even if they don't become the "old KGO", that will probably not happen, but they still have a chance to provide the listeners with interesting programming.
DeleteToo little, too late for those listeners who still haven't forgotten what the December massacre did to Gene Burns.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be awful talk dictated by Atlanta with their staff of sophomoric morons like Randall Bloomquist.
ReplyDeleteNo one cares about John Rothmann. Give it a rest. I've been in this business for nearly 30 years and I can state with near positive certainty it won't be the "old KGO." It won't even be the style. That would be an utter admittance of failure by The Dickeys. They won't ever do that.
They'll recreate talk in the image of their "younger demo", then claim they were still right. That leaving talk was a bad idea, but that the old version wasn't working. THEIR version is what works. Run by their idiots in Atlanta. Who have no sense of how nyc is different from St Louis, or how Atlanta differs from San Francisco.
Don't get your hopes up. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone, including weekend staff, lost their shifts.
A step in the right direction for Bay Area Radio. Now all we need to do is for CBS to get the message and bring back KFRC.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Rich on your fine reporting.
ReplyDeleteRadio Ink has a story now: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2792283&spid=24698
Decision more likely driven by poor ratings/loss of ad revenue than someone's blog.
ReplyDeleteI think Rich realizes that.
DeleteRIP Gene Burns - we miss you. So sad that this failed experiment was all for naught...
ReplyDeleteQuote from the Radio Ink story: "The plan is for KGO to reflect the views and sensibilities of the Bay Area and Cumulus wants it to be extremely local." Does that mean they'll drop the Dallas traffic reporters?
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean they'll drop Karel? Please!
DeleteThe question remains: How will that spineless schmendrick named Ronnnn Lowensteinnnnn react to the news? Will he open up the phones or talk about the latest gadget? What a little mannn you are Ronnnn
ReplyDeleteNo, but rather expect Ronn Owens to discuss cell phone use while driving followed by the latest installment of Dancing With The Stars.
DeleteRichard,
ReplyDeleteYou actually think that Cumulus was prompted to make this move due to a "listener revolution" that evolved from 415 Media?
The bean counters saw the revenue decline and stagnation in the ratings for some time and decided a change was in order. Strictly numbers, no emotion.
Let us wait and see what talk show talent is provided before singing Happy Days Are Here Again.
Didn't you read 10:48? Rich realizes that!
DeleteMy dear Miss Anon 4:34,
DeletePlease forgive my lack of ESP. My post preceded Miss Anon 10:48 by a good half hour.
Okay, Rich, Talk show format returns to KGO. Now what to do with the dimbulb NDs at KGO-TV & KTVU, as well as the GM at the latter?
ReplyDeletePlease bring Len Tillem back. I miss the lawyer.
ReplyDeleteThis comes under the heading: even a broken clock is right twice a day. That's if indeed this comes to pass. Taking credit for a "listener revolution" is patently absurd. That would mean Cumulus is responding to their listeners desires (the few that still exist) and tweaking the format because of it. Not in your wildest dreams. And if there is any high-fiving going on, it wouldn't be at Grumpy's which is a fair distance from 55 Hawthorne. Let's see what, if anything, shakes out before giving any credit to what is one of the worst, if not THEE worst, media ownership groups to date.
ReplyDeleteWell, Bernie Ward should be out soon. LOL He would probably work for cheap.
ReplyDeleteLet's play "Guess the Schedule!" Here's mine
ReplyDelete5a - 9a:
Morning News (with, probably, the same anchors/reporters)
9a - 12p:
Ronn Owens
12p - 2p:
Mid-Day News with increased emphasis on tech reporting
2p - 4p:
Pat Thurston
4p to 6p:
I don't know...does the Afternoon News remain? What about a news/talk combo? Two hosts and a news anchor who do short interviews, talk about current topics, maybe a musician drops in who is playing in town, with news/traffic/weather at 00, 15, 30, 45...kind of the Good Morning America format...???...
6p - 8p:
General newstalk...maybe Matt Ray
8 to 10p:
John and Jeff (they'd stay in LA, I'm sure, but they can talk SF issues)
10p to 12a: Don't know who, but a host who enjoys, but doesn't go off the deep end with, conspiracy theories, rants about injustice/unfairness, is willing to do a little bit of "easy target" stuff (affirmative action, guns, legalizing drugs, etc). Karel could learn to do this, and probably would for a $50K paycheck...
12a - 5a: Bloomberg rebroadcast will probably stay...or maybe they'll broker the time...
Good job Richie! Your spot on. Karel, Pat, Ronn, and maybe even Christine on weekends.
ReplyDeleteNo Karel. Absolutely not.
DeleteThat could mean any kind of talk: Right Wing radio, sports blather. But if they do it right, it will be nice to have something to listen to besides KQED.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait ' till the end of the year ..... to see the improvements!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIncluding that famous crock-pot christmas party.
Lucky for us worker bees.
Will we get a christmas bonus ?
Christine Craft, Pat, and Bring back John Rothmann!! John Rothmann from 7-10PM M-F - please!!!! My heart still aches for Gene Burns...
ReplyDeleteAMEN, you are so spot on. I too miss Gene, he will not be back, we need to move on.
DeleteWill Ray Taliaferro be coming back?
ReplyDeleteI have just been informed that KYA 1260 AM radio will be coming back.
ReplyDeleteKFRC the Big 610 will be coming back.
KROW 960 AM radio will be back.
KNEW 910 AM will be back.
You heard it here first.
They need to get rid of that hack Owens
ReplyDelete810 PRESET was removed from both cars. Not sure if it will ever return.
ReplyDeletedare we pray for ray's return?
ReplyDeleteIf Rich is right, on the one hand I'm glad that listener pressure has succeeded. But, on the other hand, I've already switched allegiance to KQED and won't be turning back to KGO. It's too little, too late. It's clear to me that KGO wants to use hosts like Casey Bartholomew, Matt Ray, Spencer Hughes (Svein Silva) and David Weintraub (all of whom sound oddly similar to each other), rather than old guard hosts like Christine Craft, John Rothmann, Ray Taliaferro, Len Tillem, Dean Edell, Bernie Ward, and even Ed Baxter -- so, even if it goes back to a talk format, it'll be junk talk that isn't worth hearing. Basically, they'll be competing against 910 and the likes of Frosty and Armstrong & Getty, rather than against 740. Net gain? I don't think so. The best thing KGO could do right now would be to run syndicated programming like Norman Goldman and Mike Malloy, with Bloomberg overnight and in the mornings, with a local news block from 6a-9a and 4p-7p and traffic throughout the day, and try not to burn through cash. They'll still be #20, at a cost savings. Because, frankly, the listenership ain't returning -- not after you've pissed them off so badly and continue to be mule-headed about not using hosts like Craft/Rothmann/Baxter/Nemko, etc.
ReplyDelete