CUMULUS, the giant radio company that just declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy didn't just kill KGO; it has diminished and ruined a once-entertaining KFOG now dangling in FM radio irrelevance; reduced KSFO to a one-trick pony morning zoo with rightwing goo-goo and train whistles; and its only breadwinner, KNBR is about to lay off most of its work force, on and off the air. What a bonanza."We come to work each day and just hope to get outside the building with our heads up high," a KGO Insider tell me.
"The atmosphere here is beyond toxic, it borders on extreme depression and loneliness --it's hell to work here."
Lonely indeed, as KGO main studio has only, get this, ONE human being (actually, 3) people working in it. Fake, boring, embarrassing, Ethan Bearman, the tofu expert, does his show out of LA; "Dr. Drew Pinsky" is syndicated as are the morning morons "Armstrong and Getty", who babble out of Sacramento. Chip Franklin is the only actual person who does his show out of the KGO studio.
The weekend is even worse; outside of Pat Thurston and John Rothmann (on occasion) every show, pretty much is either taped or consists of financial and syndicated babble.
*Since Dave Morey left, KFOG has been in decline as an insignificant radio station with multiple morning experiments and iterations that has all the authenticity of a Concord 7-11. Because the music has been watered down and the "personalities" no longer have any Bay Area flavor, no one is listeing. KFOG, is, to be kind, BORING. Antiseptic stereo at its finest. Its sales department is an empty forest. The only people that make any money are female millennials that have a boyfriend who works for Google or some other techie; quite the life, eh? So yes, KFOG is cooked.
*KSFO long ago lost its heart and soul and exists today largely on a morning program, zoo really; its only local show that used to be a rightwing talking points program with intermittent interviews, traffic, weather and Brian Sussman reading from Drudge Report links to drive calls and interest. His partner, a traffic lady with a persistent, annoying hoarse voice provides sidekick material but only manages to kick herself. I know Brian and like him; he has to make a living but at what cost? Fart sounds, train whistles, constant, overbearing "dammit Jim" sound drops that make the show sound like some radio melba toast with chipped beef. Outside of Michael Savage, I don't listen to KSFO.
*107.7 'The Bone': I don't listen to juvenile "Lamont and Tonelli" --I tried but was bored after five months and considered heavy duty therapy afterward. The only good thing is that I'm still, finally, seeing a therapist but 'The Bone' never came up, Thank God.
*KNBR ceased being a real radio sports station moons ago; Pete Franklin was funny, cranky and original; Ralph Barbieri was pompous, unpredictable, grumpy, and entertaining if a bit too full of himself. Ralph was fired from the station because he'd show up late a few times but his ratings were excellent. Tolbert is a good listen now and then but his partner is a joke and the endless commercials are unbearable. Radnich? Why bother? The "Morning Show"? Please. KNBR is Giants and 49ers broadcasts. Everything else? Call the coroner.
I moved here to Albuquerque a couple of years ago...and the same H-bomb tactics are clearly apparent at the Cumulus radio stations here: Minimal staffing at the actual studio...taped programming galore...and weekends chock full of paid real estate/nutritional supplement garbage.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear from other Bay Area transplants in other cities--and see how the Cumulus effect is in their new cities.
Rich, I couldn't agree more about Brian Sussman (except I don't know him, but from what I hear on the air, don't care to know him). His "Dammit Jim" drives me crazy, as does his constant repeating of words or sentences, does he think his listeners are hard of hearing and have trouble understanding him? Also what is with the 'gak, gak" that he and Katie throws in here and there?
ReplyDeleteGood riddance to "Hey everybody! I'm not really a black guy!" Copeland and his race-baiting rubbish. Copeland. The perfect Cumulus brown-noser.
ReplyDeleteIs there anyone on the air at KGO that isn't twenty one? I was listening on the way to the grocery store the other night and they sounded overly young, overly female (trying way too hard) and overly amateurish even by Bay Area standards. I know all of us here seem to live off the mistakes of the young and stupid with too much money in their pockets but wow. It hit me right in the face.
ReplyDeleteFor the 487th time Radnich told the story on kron/knbr that he was asked to change his name. Only this time he said he resisted.
ReplyDelete? He DID change his last name. Radunich to Radnich.
By the way Aveson told Raddy "Your Dad would have decked you if you had changed your name".
I guess Radnich needs to alter the story to keep it "fresh"...
Raddy,the bay area's Trump.
ReplyDeleteStan, Rich's Al Sharpton.
Delete226 If true? Proud of it.
DeleteStan, the resident ass hole
DeletePlease don't call Stan an asshole as it insults assholes.
DeleteProud to be compared to that huckster Al Sharpton? I was just reading an article about 16 things that fraud has done. He perfectly sums up the Obama administration.
Delete"Chip Franklin is the only actual person..."
ReplyDeleteI have to correct you there, Chip Franklin is actually an inflatable clown, not a person. He's a large part of the reason everybody hates clowns.
Stan, you are the guy Radnich talks about. Sitting home alone in front of your computer, holding yourself, thinking you're insightful, bright, clever, and a broadcasting expert. I doubt if you can spell TV let alone radio.
DeleteHaha...you got that right!
DeleteAt least I'm not sitting in front of my computer at 3:30am Tweeting like a mad man "The MEMO IS PROOF I'M NOT A TRAITOR!" That's your psychotic President in action.
DeleteOr,unlike Radnich now losing job after job,taking cuts in pay all along the way,THEN beat on Pam Moore or Cathy Heenan in anger.
I think I hit a nerve...
You hit a nerve? Don't hold so tightly next time.
DeleteAs long as KSAN, is left alone, then all will be alright.
ReplyDelete"Armstrong and GIDDY" - I don't think I've ever heard any radio hosts giggle and laugh so much at their own non-funny commentary. At first I had some hope for them. But now, no.
ReplyDeleteThere are good products out there but you won't see them on Cumulus. Mark Davis in Dallas is absolutely top drawer and was one of many who got fired out Cumulus early on. I'm a huge Bill Bennett fan but he's getting up there. I like Prager but he's Prozac without the chemicals.
DeleteHugh Hewitt's good but a little arrogant and smarmy even for my tastes. Jesus, man...we can't all go to Harvard and Michigan Law. I can't imagine what he's like at home.
Agree with 11:45am.
DeleteI would listen more often to the Armstrong and Getty show, but the constant laughter (seems artificial at times) drives me nuts. I find myself changing the station to Jim Rome. Yikes!
The only reason I have KGO on overnight is for Batchelor and Noory. They can have the rest.
DeleteMark Davis sometimes fill in for Dennis Prager on 860 am. Years ago he had a Sunday morning show on KSFO, I think it was 3 hours, and I use to listen, and for the most part I liked him, although politically I don't agree with him, he seemed to be fair, and took calls and could engage callers, even if they disagreed with him. However, the times I have heard him filling in for Prager, he sounds more and more like another right wing host, Trump can do wrong, Democrats are dumb etc. Same reason I can't listen to Rush or Hannity. Frankly Hannity sounds like he is going to have a nervous breakdown, if Hillary does not end up in jail. Every time I turn on his show, being it beginning, middle or the end, all he goes on and on about is Hillary and her e-mails. Granted I don't listen for long, since I cannot stomach him, and his blatant propaganda. I do listen to Michael Medved and Tom Sullivan, since they are more evenhanded, and not so predictable. Same can be said for Savage, but when he starts ranting and raving about immigrants he looses me.
DeleteThe "company" is in debt billions. Thanks to their ousted owners. Thanks to a fraudulent system that allows this to happen. A toothless FCC and a 20 year old decision opening the doors for an insane idea that consolidation/monopoly would be a GOOD thing.
ReplyDeleteThis "company" is in tatters. All across the country, its once profitable and prosperous stations are scattered in decimated ruin. The effect is inestimable in its devastation for future generations.
Future generations won't listen to terrestrial radio.
DeleteYou can thank Bill Clinton and the Dems running everything back then. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, thanks libs!
DeleteI'm a huge Republican but by 1996 the Democrats weren't truly running anything because of Gingrich's House majority. It's sort of an open secret that Clinton failed to be convicted by the Senate in 1998 as part of a deal where he agreed to sign Gramm-Leach-Bliley:
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/magazine/28wwln-reconsider.html
That got rid of the wall between retail and investment banking which is part of caused the '09 recession. Jamie Dimon said it's always real estate that causes these things. It's all about leverage. Greenspan said earlier this week that he thinks we're building two more bubbles right now, in the bond market and a lesser one in stocks. He's not so worried about the stock market because the earnings are there.
It’s funny to quote Greenspan since no one was more wrong than him last time around.
DeleteLiterally no one.
Anyone who thinks the telecom act is why radio is dead has never worked at a station. And anyone who thinks conglomeration wasn’t happening regardless of who was in office is naive and dumb.
DeleteKNBR is the absolute worst sports radio station in the nation. What do they talk about? Nothing. You know they won't take a real stand on any negative news from the Giants or the 49ers. They don't care about the Raiders or the Athletics. And they try to ignore the Warriors. College sports? Forget about it. Robots can do a better job. The programs shouldn't be about the hosts. It should be about the topics of the day. One word: satellite.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware that Chip Franklin is the only live in-studio host at KGO. For some reason, I was under the impression that most of the hosts were in studio.
ReplyDeleteHow times have changed.
I honestly have no idea how Lamont and Tonelli are still employed. They've been boring people every morning since the 90's at KSJO.
ReplyDeleteAs for KNBR, I'd shitcan everyone but Krueger and Tolbert. There HAS to be some new talent out there. Amateur podcasts offer more compelling content. Maybe KNBR should try looking at developing some of those people.
Cumulus radio is terrible. They killed KGO 6 years ago and I have never listened since. KFOG is OK, but it's nowhere near what it was 20 years ago. The Bone's morning show is garbage. How they stay on the air is beyond me. It's just offensive and stupid. KNBR is good for Giants games and I'm thankful they have their 50,000 watt signal for that. KSFO has never been worth a damn.
ReplyDeleteI think Cumulus is a completely clueless company that should lose their licenses. They do not serve the public any good.
So you telling me no one is manning the mike in the Ronnnnnnnnnnnn Owens Studio?
ReplyDeleteSussman's close to retiring and the young girl better get her real estate license
ReplyDeleteCumulus rushed in knowing nothings in hundreds of radio markets. At the same time cell phones were gaining a strong foothold. As While Cumulus screwed up station after station consumers moved to free and paid music services using smartphones. Perhaps Cumulus deserves some credit for the early rise of Napster and others. Streaming gives a lot more variety than Cumulus could ever hope to deliver. No one is going to go back to listen to broadcast radio anytime soon after they experienced the choice and variety of streaming. Broadcast TV once had a lock on entertainment in the home and then cable came along and squashed it. Now streaming video is squashing cable.
ReplyDeleteRELEASE THE MEMO!!!..oh,it was? and it was crap? Trump is still a traitor and money launderer?
ReplyDeleteFigures.
Nice troll, Stan. Didn't get enough attention today in real life? Are "they" still following you around to get personal information on you like you proclaimed on here a few months back? I really hope "they" have stopped following you man!
DeleteNice article in the New York times today. Uma Thurman on Weinstein and Obama's connection. Whoa-boy. You talk about corrupt!
DeleteYeah,126,you sound stable. I have no worry's about you!
DeleteWhen was Uma elected President? Does she have her glossy traitor fingernail on the Nuclear button?
Idiots!
While a big fan of KFOG back in the day, Morey leaving isn't what killed it. They blew out all the jocks, spoofed for a week in order to blow off cume, and tried to come back with a format appealing to a younger demo. Problem was is that they didn't change format enough. They were just trying to blow off the aging "summer of love" rockers who are now in their 60's and irrelevant for advertisers. They still came back as a AAA station only with newer music and jocks that were supposed to be relating to 35 year olds. Result: their old listeners tried to stay loyal but left, and they didn't attract the younger listeners at all. They really ruined an SF legacy.
ReplyDeleteKNBR and KGMZ are beyond bad, apparently chris townsend was filling in with bonty hill this week, i had to stop after 10 minutes of them yelling at each other and the stupid sound effects and drops every 30 seconds...townsend is bearable doing the A's postgame show, but otherwise he is unlistenable, its amazing he has been there as long as he has, people have gotten fired left and right, but he still keeps trucking along, matt steinmentz other annoying boring guy who is overexposed. larry kruger used to be ok, but now i just find him too arrogant and snarky
ReplyDeleteThere may be changes at KGMZ. Chris Townsend and Bonta Hill both said on the air, somewhat cryptically, that Friday was their last day. A promo ran today on KGMZ announcing that the Rich Gottlieb show will be on weekdays Noon-3. Maybe Greg Papa is gone as well.
DeleteKGO dropped to a 1.5 share overall in January, down from a 2.5 four months ago. KNBR can only pull a 2.9.
ReplyDeleteI was an avid KNBR listener in the last days of NBC and first decade or so of Susquehanna(bridging the transition from 'full service' format to sports talk, and that weird 'hybrid sports, lifestyle and news' format in between, when Susquehanna took over in '89. I continued to listen even after Frank Dill retired, and the tradition of crappy morning hosts began with Steve 'McPortly' McPartlin. I started to move away from KNBR gradually, first when Radnich got the morning drive show, then gave up on 'Fitz and Brooks' in favor of 'Don and Mike' when they were on KHTK, and, at last, deciding I didn't really like Tolbert enough to listen to him and Ralph Barbieri.
ReplyDeleteAlong the way, I found the almost sound-alikes, Chris Townsend and Larry 'Brain dead Caribbeans hacking at slop nightly' Kreuger, we increasingly getting on my nerves, as was John Shrader trying to offer some pretentious, quasi-NPR 'intellectual' take on sports, in his trademark whiny voice.
I pretty much gave up on radio a decade ago, so I've missed the 45-minute 'stop set' fun since then.
The other thing wrong with KFOG nowadays is (outside drive time) it's completely automated. Canned. An iPod on "shuffle" with a heavy rotation of corporate music. There is literally a 4-foot-tall pile of un-opened CD submissions in the corner. The lights are on but there is nobody home.
ReplyDeleteWith KGO and the other stations in this cluster you’re seeing the beginning of the end of local radio. A few years from now I doubt there will be ANY local programming. All nationally syndicated shows off the bird, like 860 AM is now, and what KSFO is 19 hours a day. Local news will be piped in from Dallas, like traffic is now, read by a rip-and-read specialist doing newscasts for 10 other markets. The crushing debt facing Cumulus and iHeart mean expenses will be slashed drastically. This will accelerate the trend of consumers going to Spotify, Pandora and satellite. You might have heard that the all-news AM station in Pittsburgh decided to close and return its license to the FCC. You’ll see that soon here in the Bay Area. Audience levels are at historic lows for radio, and some stations aren’t making enough money to pay the power bill. Sales are dismal in radio right now, and it’s not a cyclical thing, they aren’t going to rebound. KCBS is probably the station that will survive the longest, but the new owners are already making cuts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Entrecom-owned CBS Radio News launches a National overnight service for all-news stations wanting to save a few bucks by not having an overnight crew — a program that would have the same format as local all-news stations (e.g. sports twice a hour, news at the top and bottom of the hour, etc.) but it would all be national and air from midnight to 5 am. Then they’ll cut back on reporters and editors. Broadcast radio is going away like typewriters and rotary dial phones.
ReplyDeleteChip Franklin ..in studio ?? I guess someone forgot to take out the trash.
ReplyDeleteYeah, what an idiot. Claims to be"smart" all the time. Thinks he invented the work "ironic." He is often interrupting Nikki and Heather only to brag about himself or someone he knows. Do we really care about how much less he masturbates now then when he was younger? REALLY??? He is full of glee when he is putting someone down. Been listening for 30 plus years and Chip is just plan LEWD.
DeleteRalph was great in asking the tough questions, but he was no longer following Sports, compared to Tolbert, he sounded like a intern who knew nothing except crap from the 80's and 90's, I just listen to the game, their morning show is pretty good, although it is annoying that JT has to repeat himself a few times, thinks we are second graders, Tolbert gets way to goofy now with that other guy, so listen to DB in the afternoon, although he gets to damn redundant for not a few minutes but hours and hours, kind of a pompous but he is a good interviewer, unlike Tolbert who can't ask a question under 100 words
ReplyDeleteJeez, biased much? I guess it's no surprise coming from someone in land of idiocy. Chip Franklin is an embarrassment, even to the Socialist party - dumber than a bag of hammers. A&G are the only reason to ever listen to KGO but you have to put up with the grating, annoying godawful bumper music KGO plays in between, along with an announcer who is holding her nose all the time. That station is doomed.
ReplyDeletePete Franklin is dead. Barbieri,Frank and Mike have one foot in the grave. Carter B Smith?
ReplyDeleteIf you could bring any of them back the ratings would be tremendous.