Outside of that, yeah---I know people in the Bay Area (all over 75) who still think it's [reviving KGO] all a matter of the right six guys and some phone lines.
Definitely. Remember Usenet (sort of the AM radio of the Internet, though there are still corners of it that have some activity)...specifically ba.broadcast? The KGO groupies predominated. I don't think they much liked it when, after I moved to San Francisco in 1999, I took a listen to KGO and then wondered openly why anyone would listen to it. I don't claim to be avant-garde about anything, but I think that perception was largely shared by people my age and a little younger. So at the time, based on what I encountered, I think the predominant KGO listening base...or at least the people who would have been quite vocal about being KGO fans...would have been something like 50+. So, yep, they aged out. And, now, you and I might as well be Soylent Green as far as broadcasters are concerned.
As for the KNBR example: yes, they are simulcasting on 104.5, but I’m not sure I would call 104.5 the solution to any problem they might have. 104.5 has always been a San Francisco-focused signal. Listeners in other areas don’t pick it up as well as other Bay Area FMs, so I’d argue that many listeners still use (and realistically need) 680.
Let's also remember what was going on at the time. KFOG went through a repositioning a couple of years earlier that wasn't successful. KFOG had to do something because its listener base was starting to age out, too. It had a great brand, which Cumulus tried to reposition for a younger generation. All the old features, particularly "10 @ 10", were thrown out. The playlist was tweaked to reduce the classic rock and play up more alternative. But what happened was that previous KFOG listeners were alienated while new listeners largely skipped it over. At the time, I referred to it as "Live 105 Lite". (This was pre-"Dave", version 2 of KITS; when I once said that Live 105 was the official station of angry tattooed restaurant workers.)
So KFOG wasn't doing so well, and KNBR was staring a steady decline in the face, along with a rising FM competitor. What would you do if faced with those circumstances?
When the cutover happened, public reaction was surprisingly muted. There were the usual complaints from the Chronicle but that seemed to be it.
I was just in the Toronto area for a conference, and their radio dial seems to illustrate the point in trying to make. I’ll try to articulate that here.
590am - local sports talk with good reception around the area and interesting shows. Worth listening to even if it’s on AM.
640am - News/talk. Also good, worth listening to.
680am - all news.
740 - Oldies (not going to make any argument for music on AM, but it was cool to see).
And you know what used to be on 740. The CBC has been steadily whittling away at its AM portfolio, particularly in English. The small-town repeaters were mostly converted from the 40-watt AM "iceboxes" to FM long ago. (A few "iceboxes" are still left.) Now the conversion is happening in the bigger cities in the eastern part of the country.
Meanwhile, Cumulus heads to bankruptcy court....
Credit where credit is due. K108 heard correctly:
This could be related to the sudden nervousness on Wall Street about the condition of private-equity lenders and of BDCs (business development companies). The New York Times has a good article about it (gift link):
While the flip in sentiment is mostly related to fears regarding what AI will do to software companies, it also means that companies in other fields with shaky financial prospects will have a harder time getting or even keeping financing, too.
radioinsight.com
