The inter-office e-mail went out the night before --Wednesday night became Thursday morning and it said be on time. It was so important they (Cumulus) wanted everyone there, including part-time workers and off-air and on-air alike. For those unable to show up, a Zoom camera was in place.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, the boom was about to be lowered.
A few minutes later, Cumulus SF Market manager, Larry Blumhagen fired the assembled 20 or so employees of KGO. In typical Cumulus corporate speak, Blumhagen said, "this is a hard day." Now give us your card keys and go sign your dismissal papers. And Medoro, according to an eyewitness who was right there, uttered out casually, "well, I guess I was wrong."
Mark Thompson, another fired host, was on the air at 10: 07 AM --a source told me Thompson was advised to announce to his audience--from his remote broadcast set-up in LA-- that a guest was waiting but "take a pause and go away from the mic."
Literally, a few seconds later, KGO (Cumulus) went to a looped, canned promo promising a "new Bay Area radio station" would debut Monday and crappy canned music with betting-themed words were heard. Thompson's voice was cut as was KGO.
*THUS, another KGO Radio (Cumulus) purge, not as dramatic or shocking as the first one in 2011 or the last, in 2016, but shocking nonetheless which is dramatic enough because everyone knew it was coming, (the death notice) because KGO was hemorraging cash. By industry estimates, they'd lost $20M dollars over ten years.
Blumhagen himself told the assembled masses at the meeting. With all that, sadness, a few cries were seen inside the building, according to the eyewitness and even more so, when they left.
Cumulus barely advertised KGO; barely promoted its talk hosts, even the good ones. They tried everything, (albeit, half ass) give 'em that, but ultimately failed because ultimately you get what you pay for, even if you lease out pretty office buildings near the Embarcadero and buy expensive TV monitors and laptops. You still need human goods and working capital to engross your product and make it sustainable and Cumulus failed big time on that front, then and now.
See, Cumulus is a radio destroyer. They don't know radio, that's pretty evident and they sure as hell don't know fundamental business. I mean, haven't you discovered this after almost thirteen years?
When you're owned by a hedge fund and have no clue as to how to run a radio station (not just here), then go about hiring middle-aged, uninteligent white men who have ZERO gravitas in directing basic broadcast practice, then you're doomed. And when you defend your ineptness by constantly saying, "we have no money," then look in the goddamned mirror! That's why you have no cash is because you don't know what the fuck you're doing!
Cumulus FUCKED UP KGO from the start and everyone with scant intelligence knew this all along so the latest killoff, while a bit unsettling, was not as sad; maybe for those losing their job and livelihood, that's another story. But in overall terms, it's not such a depressing moment.
Gimme a fucking break.
You dance with the devil and you get the consequences.
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Yes Cumulus sucks. Why do they keep and destroy a station like KGO instead of just selling it off. The old Newstalk format could be very successful, if they spent the money and knew what they were doing. FACT, KFBK in Sacramento is Newstalk and #1 in the market. FACT, KFI in Los Angeles is Newstalk and #4 in market. FACT, KGO was Newstalk for decades and #1 in market. FACT, KGO's ratings were rising fairly fast for the past 4 months. FACT, the Bay Area is liberal and therefore should destroy KSFO in the ratings if they financed it. FACT, the Bay Area already has 3 all sports stations, one of them KNBR, which is also owned by Cumulus. They will be watering down it's ratings, with KGO also being all sports (although much of it betting themed). This plan is pure idiocy by anyone who examines the facts. The new KGO will be a bottom rated station for sure and will never bring in any meaningful revenue. Stupidity.
ReplyDeleteGood post with some good solid points. I agree.
DeleteThank you for the KFBK reference. I didn't know about the station and will tune-in next week when I'm in that area. I'm on the road a lot and will usually just listen to my iPhone music or streaming service as I drive through that area. If I had scanned through some stations, I suspect I would have just gotten some of the many commercial ads and missed the actual station's content, then changed the station. I'd normally just tune to 650AM (in Sacramento area) for Hannity or Bongino if I'd wanted to listen to talk radio.
DeleteRich, was Rothmann and Pat at that early morning meeting? You wrote that Rothmann didn't hear about this until much later and you were the one to tell him?
DeleteAnd Rich, let's be clear, it was only in 2019 that cumulus had KGO return to full time Pat, John, and added Mark. So it was a relief for listeners to have some semblance of 5 days a week hosts. It lasted 3+ years. Pathetic. A special place in Hell awaits cumulus, the Dickey's, the current management, and all who participated in the (totally avoidable) collapse of local radio.
So Bernie’s not coming back?
DeleteKFBK didn’t have its audience split by KSFO - tough one for KGO to climb when some of the most talk centric listeners have local competition and it’s owned by the same corporate
Delete2:22 Tom Sullivan is on from noon to 3 p.m. at 1530 am Sacramento, he is one conservative I can stand listen to. He does bash Biden a lot, but he was not too big on Trump either, liked his policies not his personality. And he has some interesting callers with a different point of view, and he lets them talk even though he might not agree with them.
DeleteRich, I don’t quite understand the timeline … Did this meeting , where everyone was fired, happen before or after Nikki’s morning show? If it happened after, did it go on at the same time as Mark was starting his show and then turning it over to the music loop?
ReplyDeleteAFTER.
DeleteAnd yes, they literally pulled the plug at beginning of Thompson's show.
Classy Cumulus.
I'm guessing that Mark Thompson was doing his show remotely down in Southern California
DeleteOne have to wonder why they decided to do it in the middle of a live show and in the middle of the week, couldn't they wait to the weekend or would the lose money if they did during paid programming such as Doug Andrew. They could have waited to the Jim Bohannan show at least he was syndicated.
DeleteI think I saw Nikki dropping off my Amazon packages earlier. I could be wrong tho.
DeleteWhy are you insulting her? What did she do to you? She’s a nice person, who did her best, worked hard and hope for better results.
DeleteNo reason she should be insulted for trying to provide you free entertainment.
David
@946pm...Jerk!
DeleteRich, you are so right on the money. You knew it, I knew it, everyone knew it except for the assholes in Atlanta, those boneless ass kissing fucks here in SF and the retarded lame brains who took the bait long time ago and gave all that money to these bloodsuckers who took the money and ran. I once worked for the almighty KGO Radio, first under CapCities, then under Disney, but when Disney sold the radio division to that other bastard company, that's when I told all those around me, that this was the beginning of the end of this once mighty radio station. At least I can say I was once there when you felt proud working in an industry that mattered, that's all gone now!
ReplyDeleteRich, It’s simply is not true that Cumulus “tried everything” to make the station work. They only tried relentless, one sided “progressive” Trump-bashing. It was so slanted and mindless that my centrist, independent-minded wife would forbid me from playing the station if she was in the car with me. She likes intelligent discussion, not angry propaganda. I’m sure she’s not alone, which is probably one reason the “progressive” KGO barely had a heartbeat when it came to ratings
ReplyDeleteYes, maybe part of the problem was being a bit too progressive/one sided. However, I think the biggest problem was lack of funding. A gutted news department and support staff, skeleton crew of talk show hosts, syndicated programing from 7:00 pm on, and infomercials all weekend. No station could be successful with that formula.
DeleteAll the posters that complain about one sided, that is not really what the mean, they mean that they don't agree with the views that a particular host has. My guess is many of same complainers are listening to Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and others, but somehow those hosts are not one side. Defies common sense.
DeleteBefore 2011 KGO had a balanced set of hosts -- liberals, conservatives, Libertarians. Remember the KGO All Stars? Then the station switched to news. After that was over, they returned to talk, but it was all liberal. If you want a big audience, cast a big net.
DeleteThe other problem is that they stopped doing local topics. Their hosts were parroting what you would hear on The View, Don Lemon or MSNBC. Why have a local station if there's no local content?
Actually KGO was much more balanced than KSFO. They had conservative talk show host Jim Bohannon at 7pm followed by conservative host John Batchelor at 10pm. Both were syndicated, but so are all the shows on KSFO
DeleteThe all stars where mostly liberal, but you had an ultra liberal like Ray Taliferro and Bernie Ward, compared to them Ronn Owens and John Rothmann seemed more middle of the road. If you compare Ronn and John to Rush, Michael Savage, Hannity then they are very liberal. Gene Burns were had to pigeon hole, he was against the war in Iraq, he was liberal on social issues, after his fall in Tahiti where he received excellent care he became much more in favor of socialized medicine, not much use for religion, hardly a conservative position. Gene was a great talk show host, he could engage callers, but he certainly argued with them and often called them fools. Every host bring their personality to the job, Gene's personality was unique thus he was successful.
DeleteKGO covered plenty of local issues, e.g., they aired both sides of the DA recall.
DeleteLikewise, the “return to talk” was not “all liberal.” At 7 PM it took a far-right turn until 1AM, then blasted off into full blown paranoia and conspiracy theories until dawn.
The weekend ‘programing’ was remarkable, too.
2:54 my point exactly. Jim Bohannan was okay, not as rapid as some right winger i.e. Mark Levin, and would have guests on that he didn't always agree with, although he had some guests on that defied common sense. John Bathelor could be very interesting, he often talked history, rather than politics, but yes he was conservative.
DeleteTimes were different back then. I actually enjoyed Pat, Kim, Mark and John more than the earlier hosts. They are middle of the roadies and not ultra liberal as some of these posts portray them. Health Care for All, Oppose Putin and Honor our WW2 Commitments, and be against those who don’t support Peaceful Transfer of Power -geese - that’s hardly left wing! It’s middle America now. Miss the team.
DeleteThe problem wasn't that the most prominent hosts were progressive. It was their inability to tolerate conversation that included different viewpoints and their tiresome obsession with Trump.
Delete9 p.m. You are right, but can't convince the right and especially the Trumpers of it. Seems to me, these day, if you don't agree with the extreme right, you are a lying liberal leftist. People are too lazy to see the difference nuances.
DeleteRich, All these fired hosts could get back on the air at KGO if they would pool their money and buy infomercial time on weekends. It works for Doug Andrew and the Laser Fund. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteA few facts from a former insider:
ReplyDeleteKGO was billing 23 million a year up to 2011
KGO never billed above 5 million after the cumulus idiots blew KGO up
The building manager at 900 front offered cumulus a years free rent to stay and move the other cumulus stations onto the third floor, which had been vacated by the lawyers and was available
The move to Hawthorne and then back to Battery (a block away from 900 front) wasted millions and never delivered a facility even close to 900 front in quality. In 2000, Mickey had invested 1.2 million into the two main KGO studios alone. The two studios were beautiful and 100 percent functional.
Cumulus has lost much more than 20 million from destroying KGO.
The level of destruction, of both property and employees lives, is incalculable. The most mindless act I have ever witnessed in my career.
So sad. Cumulus has no right being in the radio business. Why they persist, I have no idea.
DeleteCumulus bought a Ferrari race car and wrecked it in the first corner.
DeleteSpare me the comments about one sided. What exactly do you hear from Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Dennis Prager, Armstrong and Getty, who use to be funnier and not so political. Certainly Mark Levin and Sean Hannity spend 8 years bashing Obama and now it is Biden. I guess if your wife does not like angry propraganda she is not listening to above mentioning hosts?
ReplyDeleteKGO should have put on the governor and his benefactor. The Hairdo & Getty Show.
DeleteAnother blow to the AM radio band.
ReplyDeleteNow just an infomercial marketing portal with bad sound quality. What happened to digital AM stereo ?
TV went UHF-VHF digital in 2009.
The mono sound quality was an issue in 1986 with the death of KRFC. Turned "magic 61"
Fast Forward to 2022. Now we get "Magic 81" Your money infomercial portal with outdated taped programs.
Even the music on KGO now has a eerie vintage vibe to it. A reminder of an obsolete AM band that needs serious updating.
GO digital NOW...or die.
Kim McCallister (spelling?) is the person I feel most for. Has anyone ever said or written a negative word about her? Bright, thoughtful, knowledgeable, fair-minded. There’s probably no place in todays rage-driven talk radio space for her as a host. And the News side at any radio station is always at risk of cuts. Hope she lands a well-paid corporate communications job or PR in public sector with benefits and pension. (BTW, I’m a conservative who probably disagrees with her on most, but you have to respect her).
ReplyDeleteNo, Kim was solid across the board. Real people are impacted by these stupid decisions. Kim is a mother and a hard worker. I wish her the best. She's no fool. She saw this coming, but did what it took to stay employed. She wasn't a yes man, just a nonconflict type who kept the needles moving.
DeleteThis last Tuesday afternoon, October 4, Kim covered John's show. At 5 p.m. she started talking about the homeless people living in vehicles on Rydin Rd. in Richmond. She spent a whole hour on the topic. Funny (as in ironic) thing was at 5:12, I texted her that the City of Richmond had cleared the homeless encampment on Rydin Rd. and had also placed K rails along the road to prevent any more squatting. Did she acknowledge my text on the air? Nope. She just continued talking about the homeless people on Rydin Rd. Later on during that hour, she acknowledged some other texter's message (who did not know that no more homeless people were on Rydin Rd.). So much for "fair-minded" Kim McCallister.
DeleteNot sure about this, but I think the producer is the one that gives the texts to the host. Also if she is already in the middle of a subject might be hard to change. Finally if the situation changed does not mean that the subject is not valid, probably same situation might happenen some other place.
DeleteWell said, Rich. "Radio is dying" they would say. But clearly it was executed by stupid people.
ReplyDeleteThere has been digital radio on-air for years. It gets a miniscule audience, largely because nobody is particularly interested in investing in the purchase of new radios. The automotive industry could have helped by putting digital radios in all the dashboards, but instead they went with pay services like XM radio (satellite borne iPod playback) and "Onstar." They don't even put radios in a lot of cars anymore, and you'll have to google pretty hard to even find a digital receiver for sale: that ship sailed and flopped.
ReplyDeleteAs has been eloquently said by others many times on this forum, the key to terrestrial radio is local engagement: Get into the community and promote local events (bay to breakers, etc.). Be out there with a reason for people to seek out your signal, regardless of whether it is am, fm, or Internet borne. Do trade-outs with the local TV and print media outlets, so you can remind people that you exist and why they should listen. Hold contests that encourage listening and have tie-ins for local sponsors.
Cumulus did none of these things; in fact quite the opposite: programming is increasingly dumbed down, generic, national, and canned. Contests are national; they give away $1000 a week nationwide across almost 500 stations; the odds of winning are comparable to the lottery; people stop caring. Cumulus spent millions building out their studio complex at Battery & Broadway, and with the demise of KGO fully HALF of those studios sit empty; the place has been a ghost town for years -- hanging there with all that potential and no there there.
A sad sendoff for my many friends at KGO, many of whom have been there longer than I have; 30+ years of dedicated service and all that BS they put up with, to be discarded like a used candy wrapper in the end. I'm sorry y'all; you were the best in the business and deserved better.
Thanks for your insight as an insider and so sorry for you and all else affected.
DeleteYou are exactly point on, live and local is what radio is all about. When done right, and run with experienced broadcasters, it's a license to print money, and we all thrive.
DeleteKNEW and KSAN had signed a lease to move to 750 Battery from Jack London Square before Loma Prieta in 1989, Malrite already had the lease for the entire 2nd floor. Earthquake, off to SF. I was the first person to take KNEW 910 live from that building on a Saturday morning.
It was a great run at 750 Battery. Then Malrite sold to Shamrock (Disney- Roy's family), Evergreen, (others), Clear Channel and then, ultimately, iHeart at
340 Townsend. Then Univision took over the lease at 750 Battery. After that, Cumulus came along, and the rest is history.
kgo killed it self ,by being boring ,one sided ,and goin woke
ReplyDeleteOK, you go run a 50,000 watt radio station with all of about 10 people and a dime store budget and tell us how it works out.
DeleteAs I have written in other posts the past several days, one sided is NOT the problem, if it was there would be no Hannity, Mark Levin or from the past Rush Limbaugh. Some people think people that don't agree with them are boring. Funny how same people that complain about one sided never replay to any of my posts! Wonder why?
Deletemeanwhile..
DeleteKMJ and KABC sound like real radio stations, and a lot more polished than KGO ended up being.
Trust us...
If Cumulus could have found some leftist newstalk programming that could sell, they would have tried it.
The only place leftist radio gets ears is KPFA and the NPR outlets.
Everyone in radio sales remembers Air America.
@12:16PM, the opposite of “woke” is asleep. And as for one-sidedness, as another poster so eloquently put it - Rush Limbaugh, may you RIP (REST IN PISS).
DeleteTo 1 pm, Your point about KSFO isn't supported by the facts. The September ratings had KSFO at No. 19 and KGO at No. 20. Only one-tenth of a percentage point separates them.
DeleteWell a lot of posters here think that left wing radio is boring, but not right wing. I think my point was it had nothing to do with the hosts, but with management. KSFO is all national syndicated, except for Armstrong and Getty, they are syndicated too, but out of Sacramento.
Delete2:48 thinks he's cute calling himself woke. He's the same type that goes on twitter and replies "ratio" to comments and talks about milkshake ducks. You're nothing here. Move along child.
DeleteIn my 21 years in radio I've seen this time and time again. Bad ownership run by consultants. How is this going to work in a market that is oversaturated sports related formats? Yes KGO needed some major tweeking but to completely blow it up? Asinine!!
ReplyDeleteSimilar happened to me in the 90s. A company I represented in the Bay Area was a going concern until they sold it to a bank run by idiots who didn't know the business and turned it into a pile of shit in no time at all.
ReplyDeleteKudos to Lieberman for this story. The feckless Peter Heartthrob wrote a Benny Fong-like self-serving story in today's Comical. He even quoted the egoist in his story. Meanwhile, the Comical web site thinks a shooting in Berkeley that kills one and wounds three is a mass shooting. Boy does media suck out here. You think we were living in an Alaskan fishing town with the quality of the dribble that's produced by our so-called media.
ReplyDeleteI guess none of us are expressing any concern or sympathy for KGO listeners since we must all know there aren't many.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every October that i remember has had big tragedies- worldwide, national, statewide or local- this is a tragedy of cumulus continuance.
ReplyDeleteAnd like kiss-ass numero uno, Ronn Owens said, "it's gonna be bigger & better than ever!"
Suckk it!
There’s something seriously wrong with a local talk radio station that ignores or downplays negative stories about powerful local politicians. Did any KGO host shine a light on Pelosi and her family’s success in the stock market? And I remember when Pelosi was filmed mask-less in a beauty parlor during the pandemic - it was a big story nationally but not on KGO as I recall.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wondered whether Pelosi was part owner of the station. I have no knowledge that she is, but it might explain the kid -glove treatment. Now that KGO is pushing sports gambling, I wonder if Mr Pelosi will place some bets.
Oh, please - there was lots of deep digging with stories excoriating the Mayor, the District Attorney, the Governor, PG&E, etc. And they discussed Pelosi, though for some reason the entire congress is engaged in the same legal activity. Meanwhile the Orange Pumpkin's twit-in-law grabs two billion from Saudi Arabia. And who knew about the great reporters on the Marina Times??? And the High School murals. Not since Savage did his in depth dive into the Buffets of Chinatown has this city seen so much muck exposed.
Delete2:55 You are of course 100 percent correct, but you won't convince those here you thinks it all had to do with liberal hosts. I guess people hear what they want to hear, I also have to question how much these critics listened, can't imagine it being a lot, seeing how awfull and boring they think the station was.
DeleteJohn did talk about it, of course I don't listen to every show. I think Chip Franklin talked about it. And how much is right wing talking about Herschel Walker, right wing never had a problem with Ivanka and Jared making money off the fact that Trump was president, but they have a problem with Hunter, which I agree is a problem. Hypocrites exsists on both sides.
ReplyDeleteI called KMJ in Fresno on Thursday and told a producer what happened. He couldn't believe it. They are in the top three in ratings and are mainly-- actually all right wing talk except for a morning newsblock. Over the years they have been fairly immune from Cumulus cuts.
ReplyDeleteI drive down to Pasadena every few months since my daughter and her family lives there. I listen to KMJ when I get within their range, they have a male female duo on in the afternoon, if I remember correctly, that seem pretty middle of road, at least the few shows I listened to.
ReplyDeleteWhat a disaster. I worked at KGO during the 80s and professionalism and classy were foundationally prominent. We had old-time radio station announcers (Jay Snyder, Bob Trevor, Larry Doyle); first-class news operation (Dunbar, Wygant, Baxter, Black, Leonard, Shell, Edmonds, Kennedy, Morgan, Haberle, Conway, Bjorkland, Starkey, Stickles, Walcott, Ciolino, Burford and excellent producers); the hosts were a blend of moderate voices (Spann, Eason, Finley, Owens, Coughlan, Wilson, Griffin, Taliaferro, Rogers, Wittenberg, Drs. Edell, Brown and Perez, Ward); a top-notch promotions department and extremely talented engineering department. Remotes were pretty standard and of course, the yearly curation. And behind all this were actual “radio” geniuses, Luckoff and Swanson. They kept this beautiful station humming on all cylinders. I am so proud to have been a part of this world class broadcasting station.
ReplyDelete2:47 I’m not talking about hypocrisy. I’m talking about incompetence. For a locally based talk station to fail to focus on the foibles of liberal SF politicians was marketing malpractice. Pelosi’s stock bonanzas is a made-for talk radio subject, and I don’t care what her politics are. There are so many other stories of outrageous local malfeasance that also got little or no discussion on the “live and local” talk station. These are the kinds of subjects that get listeners riled and build an audience. The John and Ken Shoe on KFI in Los Angeles gets great ratings by skewering foolish or corrupt local politicians day in day out. KGO hosts largely ignored the talk radio ratings gold that is right on their door step - a political class that has gotten rich while running San Francisco into the gutter.
ReplyDeleteConsidering what Rich and others have written about Cumulus management I doubt it would have made a difference. Certainly John and Pat both talked about Chese Boudin, John talks local politics and Pat did plenty of show about PG&E, I doubt one of subject would have made the difference and John talked about Pelosi's stock options and condemned it. As the post wrote at 3:29 Luckoff and Swanson knew how to run a station and get ratings.
ReplyDeleteP.S. 3:39 that gets boring too, if day in and day out the hosts are always talking about the same subject or same theme. I don't need ot turn into Mark Levin or Hannity I know they will be bashing Biden and liberals, all too predictable.
ReplyDeleteActually, neither Pat nor Rothmann did many local topics. Pat had her PGE hobby horse and Rothmann covered the controversies at his old high school. Other than that, it was almost all national topics - mainly Trump-obsessed - with huge piles of outrages in San Francisco, the Bay Area and state government ignored. It became clear to me the station thought it’s base listenership was liberals who didn’t want to hear about mismanagement and corruption by the liberals who run California. Unfortunately, that meant KGO couldn’t exploit great talk radio topics right in its home region, and the station died from being terminally boring.
ReplyDeletethen you didnt listen a lot, because both had on susan dyer reynolds on a regular basis to talk about the corruption in the city.
DeleteRothmann should have his XM own radio slot. I never witnessed a better response to the Trump cult. It was a masterclass every night. KGO thank you for the best informative, entertaining show on the Air!
DeleteWill KSFO be the next to face the chopping block ? They also have very low ratings. An all Spanish format would be an excellent replacement.
ReplyDeleteThere are already more Spanish language stations in the market than ad dollars to support them
DeleteI guess we didn't listen to the same station, I heard Pat and John both talk about the homeless, gas prices, fires, other topics. As for the liberals that run California I doubt they are anymore corrupt than the republicans. Mark Johnson had David Cay Johnson on that mostly talked about Trump and republicans, but also liberals that he considered corrupt. All of right wing talk show have more or less ignored or down played January 6th, but I guess trying to overthrow the government and calling for the vice president to be hanged is not considered corruption, just some good old boys that got a little out of hand?
ReplyDeleteThe terrible hosts had the ability on a daily basis to move the needle. Wasted opportunity to cover topics that were not just politics. Remember Mal Sharpe? Can’t really blame management when you don’t have talent. Michael Savage figured it out topics from food to boats dogs etc. Chip Franklin Pat Thuston and Rothman all losers.
ReplyDeleteOf course that is your opinion, many us like Pat, John and Chip, although if I had to list them in the order I prefer them it would be John, Pat and Chip.
DeleteThat is because Savage used to be interesting. Not any more.
DeleteNikki nailed it, it was a cut back. A MAJOR cut back!!!
ReplyDeleteI sure hope this KGO thingy doesn't overshadow the Crap happening at Mix 106.5 in San Jose
ReplyDeletehard to care when KGO has been at "stage 4 cancer" since Cumulus took it over in 2011. Whatever comes next and it sounds like sports betting will be even worse. I barely listen to commercial radio at all with all the podcast options available. Or I'll listen to sports being broadcast. Talk radio is as dead as the horse carriage.
ReplyDeleteKGO died back in 2011. End of story!!
ReplyDeleteTouching that longtime listeners and callers Frank McGovern and Rama got on the air with John Rothmann shortly before their respective deaths.
ReplyDeleteIf both were still around, I’m sure they’d have been saddened by the latest KGO massacre.
With the sloppy way this format change was handled, it sounds like Cumulus got a heads up that a competitor (95.7 The Game) was planning a switch to the sports betting format.
ReplyDeleteProbably most can find employment elsewhere. Jennifer Jones Lee is at KFI. But, Medoro may have to go back to new reading. Not a lot of gravitas there.
ReplyDeleteThe only positive to this is hopefully I never have to hear Doug Andrew's voice ever again. I would literally turn the sound off when I heard his voice with the "4 questions" crap.
ReplyDeleteAmen! An instant station change for sure.
DeleteSomeone should let that guy know that if you are going to be a con man, you shouldn't SOUND like one!
DeleteDespite me not listening to KGO 810AM, much; so sorry to the employees with the apparently zero notice. I've been laid-off before and it feels awful.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I sometimes listened to Pat Thurston's show, but only if KSFO 560AM was just too boring on that day & time. For some reason, I just didn't like Mark Thompson's voice and have no idea regarding his views/leanings.
The station's signal seemed great at all hours in Santa Clara County where KSFO would become too weak to hear in those hours when stations had to cut back on their power output.
(I heard 1080AM, KSCO Santa Cruz, has to cut back to 1000 watts during the evening and was denied its request by the FCC to increase its output power during those specific evening hours. I don't know what output power KGO is allowed but it seems to be more.)
Nikki M., if you're reading this, my wife said she liked listening to you during her morning commute.
I never worked in or considered working in the broadcast industry, thank goodness, and now thankful I made it to a comfortable retirement. Best wishes to all who were laid off and still need to work. I'm so sorry.
KGO runs 50,000 watts day and night - it has a special license known as a clear channel station. In the Winter their signal extends to Alaska, Mexico and who knows where else.
ReplyDeleteHere's a resource: list of Public Radio Stations now playing sorted by subject (classical, jazz, news, etc.)
www-publicradiofan-dot com....
Dam it, Lieberman, I buried my mom with her favorite transistor radio tuned to 810. When I saw her in the morning she talked about Ray T, Doc Wattenburg or John Rothmann the night before.
ReplyDeleteNo more "balance of nature" ? DAMN!!
ReplyDelete