On KGO and KNBR; the Monday pulse

Ben Fong-Torres reported Sunday in the Chronicle on the rapid descent of once-dominant KGO and KNBR radio, the latter, who's only luck is that is has the Giants, 49ers, and to a lesser extent, the Warriors as flagship sports affiliates.

Break Down--

KGO has always been considered "old", even in its heydays as the SF market's perennial #1-rated radio outlet in overall listeners, (1978-2008--Arbitron) but back then, KGO had a more solid corporate owner, (Disney) and a very respected and popular talent line-up with the likes of Ronn Owens, Jim Eason, Michael Krasny, and news vets like Jim Dunbar, Greg Jarrett, and Rosie Allen.

It was also managed very well by GM Mickey Luckoff, who is known as a tough negotiator with regards to contracts, but was nevertheless respected by industry analysts for captaining a ship that for 32 years ruled Bay Area radio.

Today, its another story at KGO, which is now owned by financially-challenged, Citadel Broadcasting, which is trying to re-emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Owens is still tops in his time slot, (9- Noon, overall listeners) and is widely considered a very popular talent in the Bay Area, but his audience demos, (like KGO's) are older and his future status is clouded with uncertainty.

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KNBR is in a more favorable position, with its sports-talk status, but the Cumulus outlet has always relied on heavy male-dominated, /A25-54 demos, built around the Giants, 49ers and Warriors. The fact that it has now fallen to 18th in its core audience base should be cause for concern for the folks on Hawthorne.



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