415 Media Source: KGO Radio Is For Sale But Is Anybody Interested

I WANDERED through a maze of tables into the back corner and began munching on a club sandwich --lunch was on the guest who wanted to talk shop and overall schmooze --we do this a lot --I wasn't expecting a whole lot and really concentrated on the delicious bacon and turkey I devoured and accompanying fries, and then came a shocker from the lunchmate, an industry veteran:

"KGO is for sale." "What?, I gasped. "KGO Radio?" For Sale? That can't be right, I thought.

Then again, the news of Cumulus selling a big-market radio station is proof positive, enter WABC in the Big Apple.

It can happen and then some.

Here's the skinny:

Cumulus is selling its big top stations so it can liquidate some of its more lucrative assets to keep in line its BK status and raise some much-needed cash to stay alive, not just now but for the future. Which is why selling KGO in the Bay Area makes sense and getting Top 10 market money for it.

Cumulus propped up KGO in March with a revamped weekday line-up of talk hosts and went back to its original news-talk roots; so far, it hasn't set the Bay Area on fire with only modest buzz and barely a ripple. The upcoming election is always a ratings boon and there's tremendous interest in a race featuring the unpredictable and zany current Prez, Donald Trump. That said, KGO is still largely underperforming. Does KGO Radio even make money anymore? Ask 12 people and you'll get 12 different answers.

In its heyday, KGO used to bill more than $50 million dollars yearly but it's not 2000 anymore. KGO has a supreme dial position but hardly anybody listens to AM radio anymore except me and the commuter crowd interested in traffic on the approach to the Bay Bridge which is largely why KCBS exists.

What could KGO fetch and who would buy it? In a perfect world, a guy like Jim Gabbert, who used to love the originality of the old KGO and its top-flight format but Gabbert isn't interested in such a venture preferring to live out his remaining years flying airplanes in Mexico.

If a WABC could fetch only $12M; a legacy station with historic call letters could KGO Radio be a steal? My contact told me the magic number to Cumulus was north of 8 million bucks.

Let the negotiations begin.

Savage Did More Than To Become The King of SF Radio, Was The Only Bay Area Talk-Show Host That Made It Nationally Too; KSFO 'Savage Nation' Compelling Part Of Syndicated Radio; 'Beat All Odds'

 Who'd have believed that a quirky, educated, unconventional guy from the Bronx would end up in San Francisco as one of the most popular voices on American syndicated radio?

The King of Interesting, provocative, entertaining, talk radio with an eye for unpredictability did one better.

Michael Savage --heard live on KSFO here from 12-3 PM, has become the only talk-radio voice in the Bay Area to make it big in the syndicated radio fortress--against all odds and out of the blue. Savage began at KGO in 1994 and quickly established himself as a force in the business --how ironic that it was Savage that would emerge from the 415 area code into the heart of America and beyond --out from the same station where Ronn Owens, a once-dominant talker couldn't cut it in LA.

I bring this up not to embarrass Owens and others who, behind the scenes, are said to bemoan Savage's popularity and are still aghast at his ability to connect to a national audience--I'm merely pointing out that Savage's success both locally and nationally didn't figure in the equation early on.

He's still regarded as something of a professional outcast because he doesn't play the game practiced by others. To Savage's credit, he's built a professional pedigree that doesn't kowtow to the establishment; that doesn't cozy up to the nebeshes that act one way on the air and are precisely the opposite off. Savage had the other essentials: he earned his PhD from Cal after two Masters degrees -- he's one of the most educated talkers in the US which may explain his ability to walk with kings but never lose the common trust.

Savage's critics, (and I'm one occasionally even if many of you don't know or care) point out his drifts into extremism rants and borderline insanity--and that's what makes him so weirdly compelling, so thought-provoking genius --his own worst element is his best attribute. "Savage Nation" is more than borders, language and culture--which is important and unique discourse; don't get me wrong.


Savage Nation and its leading conductor, Savage himself, has built up this successful broadcast reservoir due to a basic human element--it's, as I've always said, different, funny, brilliant and yes, unconventional --bring on the Chinese food buffet and meatball recipes.


Get a table for one for Teddy. And THIS JUST IN.


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Michael Savage Brings Us His Version Of Show Biz Vanity: A Day In The Life Of A Progressive Hollywood Producer (Audio)

 THOSE OF YOU who have disdain for Michael Savage, the popular syndicated talker (heard here on KSFO --Monday/Friday Noon-3 PM) will probably not like this hysterically-funny 3-minute vignette. If so, you have no sense of humor and probably put sprouts on your sandwich and actually eat tofu.

Those of you that are fairly objective and like to laugh out load every so often will think this is brilliant--It is. Just LISTEN to it and appreciate it. Give it a try, c'mon I know you too well.

And you know what? I don't even necessarily agree with the premise but knowing people in the movie business and how they play it out, Savage's hysterical repertoire with the perfect tiny-bubble music in the background pretty much nails it.

Word.

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