JIM GABBERT, I GUESS, doesn't want to die rich and has made inquiries to Cumulus about buying KGO, as I reported here Monday.
It's past rumor stage although Gabbert has tried to make his action(s) secretive, yeah good luck with that, Jimbo because my contacts are all over this as am I now.
Gabbert hasn't formally offered a serious number to buy KGO let alone buy it at all but I'm told Cumulus won't take a nickel under $8M while Gabbert is looking for a steal, somewhere around $5M but given the state of AM radio and the advertisers feeling about terrestrial radio, that 5 MILL might be an overpay and Gabbert knows so. Which is why I'm feeling that if he's serious, and I think he is, his negotiations stance has just begun. Gabbert has the leverage here and Cumulus has a fifty-thousand-watt AM powerhouse with a prime signal, in the center of the dial. So right now, both sides can just sit by and wait until one party is ready, (if they're serious) to talk turkey.
| Jim Gabbert |
To understand how devalued KGO is, take a ;listen to the ads on their air. They're mostly remnants and quite a bit of PSAs swimming all across their platforms. They once had ample local spots and virtually all retail including banks, supermarkets, car dealers, box retail and the like. They no longer enjoy that ad revenue, at least the amount they possessed in the 2000's any beyond. KGO isn't the only radio outlet to see this considerable decline but they have easily seen the fastest advertising disinterest.
Again, Gabbert knows this but Gabbert has the money available to reinvigorate KGO and make it something more akin to its original format. Cumulus has tried to reinvent its wheel but so far, there's been little, if any, listener interest. Nobody is moving the needle.
*Why is big shot, Mark Thompson, KGO's 10-Noon prime host STILL doing his show from Los Angeles? That' s a good question because it was assumed Thompson would move back to the Bay Area to do his broadcast; he hasn't. He's still in LA which should tell you about how he regards his KGO gig. Yeah, guys, live and local my ass.
"It's past rumor stage although Gabbert has tried to make his action(s) secretive, yeah good luck with that, Jimbo because my contacts are all over this as am I now"
ReplyDeleteYea Jimbo. Rich is all over this like a pastrami sandwich at Grumpys.
I would assume Thompson is in L.A. because he doesn't feel like stepping in human shit and having his car broken in to daily.
ReplyDeleteDon't say no one is interested. I am happy to have Pat Thurston and John Rothmann back on the air.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is, why is Mark T. still on the air. He totally sucks as does Brett. Time for a change.
ReplyDeleteBoycott every advertiser on every Cumulus owned station.
ReplyDeleteThe latest ratings for NYC: Not a single AM-only station in the top 12. First time ever that's happened.
ReplyDeleteAM is dead. D. E. A. D.
Combine the decline of AM with the fact that KGO hasn't been KGO for more than a decade now, and you realize there's no hope for a return to the glory days.
Time has marched on.
The Thompson/Burkhardt BS session need to go.
ReplyDeleteWhen did Gabbert get so old?
ReplyDeleteJim has been in the Bay Area for a long time...I believe he is 82yo.
DeleteJocko, Gabbert just decided to get old. It won't happen you.
DeleteIs this the same Mark Thompson that I hear at night on the Tim Conway Jr. show on KFI? Just heard him last night in fact.
ReplyDeleteYes it is. He has been Conway's sidekick for a while, off and on. Is this why he remains in LA or maybe he couldn't find a place to live here. Also, his longtime girlfriend might not have wanted to move. His show is more than boring and Brett doesn't help at all! What a waste of two hours...
DeleteYes, I've heard him fill in for Tim Conway Jr.
DeleteI'd pay the $7-$8 million for KGO IF it includes the transmitter site in Newark. Because it KGO loses that transmitter site, the station ain't worth beans. And you know that Cumulus would sell the transmitter site to someone else for big money and then Gabbert would need to go develop a new site somewhere else which would cost major $$$. I think Gabbert is too smart to buy KGO unless it includes the transmitter site and everything inside the facility. If he had to move KGO elsewhere it could result in a real diminishment of the signal and then what do you have? A 50kW AM with a lousy signal. No way Gabbert makes that deal without the xmtr site. That's my 2 cents
ReplyDeleteI'd buy it too. And hire Rich to do a show and watch the peeps at the other stations cringe! :)
DeleteI think Mr Gabbert could make something of the station.
What is AM radio? I forgot. I can remember when FM was a novelty in the late 1960s. It offered a clearer signal than AM, but didn't have capabilities of picking up distant stations like KFI of Los Angeles in San Francisco. It was great listening to the Dodgers and Vin Scully in those days.
ReplyDeleteJim Gabbert is a smart man. With the exception of turning the old K-101 into a disco-heavy station in the late 1970s for a nightmare spell, he's made solid decisions and got out when the getting was good. If he's smart, stay away from the radio and do something with satellite programming. It's the way to go. Many old fogies will disagree, but they're probably the same ones reading newspapers. Change with the times. Get over it.
Is KGO still a 50,000 watt operation? Most nights its signal is weak, weak, weak anymore.
ReplyDeleteWait! Thompson made a personal visit after his show last week to Washington HS to check out the murals being painted over. Talked about it on todays show! And he regularly talks about his excursions out and about town. He has to be here, right?
ReplyDeleteShades of that fool ethan beerman again. KGO, what a fraud!
I still think that KGO will wind up as a foreign language station, likely "brokered time" format .
ReplyDeleteAM Radio isn't worth a damn penny unless someone allows the spectrum to be used for some other purpose. No one gives a damn about any of these hosts and no one knows who they are. No one listens to the AM signal in the Bay Area unless it's sports. I'd be shocked if 100,000 people listen to the ENTIRE AM BAND. It's dead. Stop talking about it. Get a new idea to talk about already. It's been like 20 years Rich.
ReplyDeletecan't decide who is the biggest phony mark thomspon or ryan scott, they finally fired scott five years too late, lets hope thomspon doesnt come anywhere near approaching that
ReplyDeleteJim, as a fan of yours since Berkeley in the '60s (listened to KPEN on a Dynakit receiver) and an early entrant into FM radio management, I encourage you to rescue KGO.
ReplyDeleteI deleted it from our pre-programmed buttons about a year after the slaughter. I have been sad about AM radio since.
Jim, remember when an FM station was $75,000 and an AM station was a million dollars? Remember when a very young broadcaster would be met with a blank stare from owners when he would tell a simulcast station "I can make your FM frequency make money."
Jim, KGO is no less a bay area icon than Alcatraz. If that prison island were awash in garbage and seagull shit now, it would be rescued.
Jim, please rescue the most important talk radio station in the nation.
I promise to listen again.
"Gabbert doesn't want to die rich." Don't worry, he won't -- cute young guys are a lot more expensive these days than they used to be.
ReplyDelete