No more.
KGO IGNORED the anniversary today, we knew that all along.
What we didn't expect was that KGO hosts, John Rothmann and Pat Thurston IGNORED it likewise. Thurston did not mention the milestone on her show today (Wednesday) and Rothmann told a KGO source that he wouldn't even mention it. Shame on Rothmann, who should know better. It was Rothmann himself that told people months ago that the anniversary date was nearing and how much he would acknowledge it. I guess there's no place he'd rather be, (Rothmann) than caught in a 810 AM fib.
KGO has finally entered the abyss. It's now official.
All the people involved in that decision are gone. Could it have been handled better? Yes, but the reality is the programming budget was no longer sustainable post-PPM. Ad dollars moved online, so it was just a matter of time. Cumulus is not an effective major market operator, so wallowing in the past is just a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteRothmann is free to talk about whatever he wants,he gets very defensive when people accuse him of being told what to say..but the old days of KGO, rothmann is the link to it, he's been involved in politics all of his adult life, he claims to personally have known the last eight mayors of SF,he's related to everyone or knows everyone or went to school with everyone over the last 60 years..
ReplyDeletePerhaps you don't know John's legit, familial connections. They are very real. Have you ever heard of Levi's? the Haas School of business at Cal? Do the basic research. It's not evil to come from a storied and extremely well-connected family.
DeleteThank you Christine, Some people on this site just have a problem with John Rothmann, he was always one of my favorite hosts, along with Gene Burns. I think the Bay Area is lucky to have a knowledgeable liberal talk show host, to counter balance all the right wing hosts.
DeleteKGO could have hung in there and added Facebook, twitter, etc. Many hours of no sleep at night listening to KGO. Day or night always something interesting. I learned a lot from KGO. The things we could be talking about now. Miss the old station, can't believe it's been gone for 10 years.
ReplyDeleteYou expected them to pay homage to the past? Seriously? The people at KGO right now could give a rat's ass. They're no different than most of the people in society these days. It's about the here and now. There's no respect for history. Blame tech for this attitude. It's about the latest iPhone or the most recent video on TikTok. It's the dumbing down of our society. Today's listener could give a s*** about Ira Blue, Jim Dunbar and Jim Eason and the quality programming some of us were lucky to get exposure to. Legacy means nothing to today's 20-and-30 somethings.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have expected them to talk about it. Pat Thurston was the only honest one back in the day when it went down: she said something like "TBH, we won't announce what other stations the hosts go to." She was the only one with the courage to say so. Ron was a coward, and look how his time ended there. The Big Man ended with the biggest whimper ever, barely a footnote.
ReplyDeleteActually, I was the first one to talk about it, more importantly to let the listeners talk about it all they want. I had the first program with a live host, filling in that evening. Every call was about it. We were jammed for three hours.
DeleteAh. Didn't hear it. Not surprised that's all the listeners talked about. Huge mistake on KGO's part.
DeleteNo one cares about what happened 10 years ago! What happened today? Why does public radio dominate news/talk sector in most major markets? How can talk radio reinvent itself to attract real audiences? Will only conservative talk work on the radio? Those are the type of questions that you should be asking? What happened when a radio station cleaned house 10 years has no relevance today. Radio stations blow out personnel all the time. Welcome to show biz!
ReplyDeleteRich, May I ask a serious question? Why does KGO bother you so much? I agree with you in that it is a shame to hear what has happened to the once fine station but why does it bother you so much?
ReplyDeleteJust curious....
Re: KGO was already in decline [10 years ago]
ReplyDeleteFair enough, there was indeed a few ratings points drop from its heyday, when it was always either number 1 or 2. But even 10 years ago, it was still consistently in the top 5 Bay Area radio stations. I fail to see how launching a plan to move the stations from number 4 or 5 to number 20-30 makes sense. I guess it depends on the profit picture; maybe the station's operatings costs have been reduced over the past 10 years enough that the profits have increased?