One of the brightest, creative newspaper people I ever worked with was a man named Ken, who had started interning at the paper while still in high school and was hired -- over the objection of the publisher's wife, who valued college education above experience when it came to full-timers -- right out of high school. He advanced to sports editor, copy desk chief and, finally, design editor before his unfortunate death from a pulmonary embolism at 47. No college grad in the building, including several with advanced degrees, was more capable.
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A Change Coming to KGO
- Thread starter atthestars
- Start date
You make an interesting point.
I looked at market cume rating for LA, SF, HOU and NYC for 18-34 for the book that came out Tuesday and the prior two books.
New York 72.8 with weekly TSL of 4:41
LA 76.4 with weekly TSL of 5:41
SF 70.6 with weekly TSL of 4.52
HOU 76.0 with weekly TSL of 5:34
If you go to 25-34, it jumps up to just under 80. And on 25-54, it goes to near the mid 80's, but on the low side.
New York always has lower TSL because so many people use public transit and can't listen to radio in many or maybe most cases.
Which leaves SF on the low side with no reason except market uniqueness. I suspect part of this... and maybe all of the uniqueness... is in the nearly 30% Asian ethnicity of the market. Nielsen has no differential treatment of Asians, has no recruiting procedure for any Asian language and, thus, likely severely undermeasures that group due to language issues.
Seattle has a simpler explanation: it is the whitest of all those markets, and it can be shown that Blacks and Hispanics, for a variety of reasons, use radio more than non-Hispanic whites. Fewer Blacks and Hispanics, lower usage. We see that in places like Milwaukee and Fargo and Minneapolis, too.
Yeah, it shows you how much really bad music gets produced.
True too!
Again, as I pointed out to Y2K---the Chronicle piece is about private citizens donating. And there's a cap of $100 on those donations.
I'm still waiting to hear how that's immoral. And what it would look like if candidates could only raise money from the people they'd represent if elected.
Corporate money in political campaigns is a whole 'nuther discussion.
All-news, while misbegotten—especially with KCBS getting the 106.9 simulcast—at least took advantage of the large news staff KGO still had. Even with THAT amount of overhead, it was less expensive than a large roster of talk talent proving less and less ROI.
It just never had a chance because longtime KGO listeners were being faced with the blunt truth, and they (especially an oft-discredited blogger) lashed out, and still lash out, at Cumulus instead.
You have not illustrated a problem. You have illustrated how politicians should run for office: without a staff of political consultants, and without needing to be so wealthy that they can quit their day job for several months just to campaign.
Yes, of course. Owning or controlling a corporation is not a pass out of immorality.
I'm pretty sure you only feel this way because you think the donors in San Francisco would agree with your perspective. If it was oil & gas millionaires in Texas, would you still feel this way?
I’m sure all those small-town radio and television stations in Georgia appreciate the infusion of cash from all those political ads, no matter where they come from.
As I recall, Cumulus flipped several talk stations to news, including WYAY Atlanta, and was rumored to be launching a national news service with the help of CNN. I'm sure it seemed like a great idea (just as it did to Randy Michaels when he started Merlin Media). But people weren't using radio in 2011 the way they did in the 90s. So it all collapsed, bringing KGO where it is now. As you say, it's easier to blame radio companies for all this, but the real culprit is the radio audience itself.
I have removed a few political posts. The do not belong here.
Inside Radio coverage of the KGO change. Mark Thompson wanted to say "goodbye" to his audience:
www.insideradio.com
This is typical boomer thinking. Mark Thompson shouldn't be saying "goodbye" to his audience. He should be looking for a way to re-engage with them on his own platform, where he can say & do what he wants without restrictions. That doesn't mean another radio station.
KGO Host ‘Saddened’ That He Couldn’t Say Goodbye.
Mark Thompson was told just before starting his 10am-12pm show on KGO San Francisco (810) Thursday that Cumulus Media planned to flip the station and that his show would be
This is typical boomer thinking. Mark Thompson shouldn't be saying "goodbye" to his audience. He should be looking for a way to re-engage with them on his own platform, where he can say & do what he wants without restrictions. That doesn't mean another radio station.
I don't know the current demographics for Country stations (David?), but historically, Country has been an adult format (25-54?) while Top 40 in the 60s and 70s was aiming for teens and CHR is 18-34.
That would also explain the sudden nature of the flip. They possibly realized Mark was very close to going off-script and “going rogue”, effectively taking the station hostage.Inside Radio coverage of the KGO change. Mark Thompson wanted to say "goodbye" to his audience:
KGO Host ‘Saddened’ That He Couldn’t Say Goodbye.
Mark Thompson was told just before starting his 10am-12pm show on KGO San Francisco (810) Thursday that Cumulus Media planned to flip the station and that his show would be
This is typical boomer thinking. Mark Thompson shouldn't be saying "goodbye" to his audience. He should be looking for a way to re-engage with them on his own platform, where he can say & do what he wants without restrictions. That doesn't mean another radio station.
KGO Abruptly Signs-Off - Format Change Archive
Previous Format: News/Talk New Format: To Be Announced Date & Time Of Change: October 6, 2022 at 10:16am More Info: RadioInsight, Wikipedia
formatchangearchive.com
I had to step away for an hour, so I don't know what was removed, but there was a conversation about KGO's programming involved in that Mark Thompson was discussing the Georgia Senate race when the station dumped his show and went to the promotion of the new format, and, barring any partisan position, I thought the discussion of local talk radio (and its audience's) interest in out-of-state races (something PTBoardOp opposes) is relevant and interesting.
Let's not read too much into that. Mark said nothing that indicates he was on the verge of making the announcement himself. Most pros won't.
The fact of the matter is KGO mishandled that. If you want to be sure talent doesn't talk about the change, make the change before they go on the air, or don't tell them and make the change at the end of the show, after the mics are off.
Letting someone get nine minutes into their show after the news and then pulling the plug at 10:16 is disrespectful to the audience and the talent.
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One of my friends on Discord noted that the flip of “FM News 101” in Chicago was done with far more dignity, and all “FM News” did was interrupt a pre-taped newscast at 10:03 a.m. with a terse shutdown announcement.
The posts which are deleted are partisan in nature.
That may be, but there's NOTHING in a format change that's respectful to the audience or talent. That's not why it's done. The time for respect was while the format was on the air. Once this decision has been made, that time is over. That may sound brutal, but that's business.
BigA:
There's business and then there's business that makes you look bad. Again, I'm not arguing for a "gosh, weren't we wonderful" production piece on the history of KGO. But it's pretty f-ing simple to program the server to hit the promo loop at the top of the hour after the legal ID. There are 24 spots on the clock where you can do that in any given day. 10:16 am is just bush league. Doing it at 8:10 am would at least have been clever (for the two people who got it).
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