I'm thinking about the 500,000 watt shortwave station in Maine... I hope Brother Stair's estate can keep paying the fees!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBCQ_(SW)
And more on the flat-earth group that leases the high-power facility:
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A Change Coming to KGO
- Thread starter atthestars
- Start date
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBCQ_(SW)
And more on the flat-earth group that leases the high-power facility:
I'm reading very similar comments on the Buffalo board about WWKB. Audacy has done a similar thing with that 50,000 watt heritage signal. All the old timers are bemoaning the loss of history and that they should sell the station rather than air sports betting. They don't realize that sports betting is the savior of AM, in the way conservative talk was 30 years ago. AM radio has been living on borrowed time. It's already dead in other countries.
A day will come (very soon) when either WFAN 660 or one of the other 50K AMs in NYC will flip to sports betting.
A day will come (very soon) when either WFAN 660 or one of the other 50K AMs in NYC will flip to sports betting.
Nobody listens to it. Even in states where sports betting is legal. It's not really doing anything other than clearing network programming. They carry it on HD-2 in markets where they don't have a spare AM.
Regardless of the thoughts on the move itself, Cumulus' handling of this move--unsurprisingly--feels rushed and bizarre. Yeah sure, AM is dying, KGO was on borrowed time, I won't argue; I feel the same way about WINS and WCBS in New York. But in recent memory, I've never seen a move like this done as hastily and with such an abrupt end as Cumulus has done here. Looks like everyone got caught off guard.
KGO 6+ share in the PPM era, starting with July 2008. Their last #1 book was Dec. 2009.
Attachments
Audacy just did this about a month ago on their Sports station in Milwaukee. Fired local staff, cut the show in progress and switched to network programming.
This has also been done in Canada.
Infinity did similar when they launched Jack FM in Chicago years ago. Just stormed in and flipped it.
The usual, and what I would consider proper way of handling this is calling the host in to fire them after their show ends or if in a serious hurry, during a break. They show no respect for listeners and don't deserve any when they do things like this.
That I didn't know from just reading about it. Sheesh.
This is also what I've personally witnessed when letting air talent go regardless of the reason.
That's OK. The betting companies pay for it anyway. As I said, think of it as an infomercial.
Hardly anybody listened to KGO before. So what's the difference? At least now, they won't lose money.
WMAL, WBAP, and WJR were really the only truly good stations on AM to come out of that deal that still do well. The ship was sailing on the rest for various reasons (signal, market dynamics and competition, etc).
They unloaded WABC, KABC is clearing their programming in market #2, and WLS is getting around a 1 share that has to be almost entirely 55+ but apparently it does well enough for them to still hire staff for it. KLIF and KSFO also came with that deal but rely/relied on more syndication.
HUH? This station has been a 1 share station for many years. How long do you have to lose money before you cut & run?
There's no money in selling it. Any buyer will insist on getting one of the profitable FMs to take the boat anchor off their hands.
ESPN won't make as much as sports betting. Anybody who buys it would do the same thing.
Agreed, but one could say it could've been done just a tad bit more elegantly that just an unexpected cut in. I don't think it deserved as much a send off as, for example, WPLJ in New York. They're not bleeding money bad enough to just walk into a show in progress and cut away.
If Prop 27 passes in November, I could see a major force in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, Oklahoma, or Kentucky embracing sports betting
I rather have 101.9 airing country music (formerly on 94.7) than 94.7HD2. Theyre the largest market without country music fm.
No. Cumulus distributes the BetQL network, the content is produced by Audacy.
Not sure why you haze to abruptly end a show at 10:16 AM, especially when you aren’t even flipping the station but instead shifting to a few days of teasers. Station could have easily done this at 10 AM, 11 AM or noon. Fortunately for long term listeners when Greater Media (now Beasley) WPEN-AM flipped from music to sports they gave the on air talent (and listeners) a chance to reminisce and play some old clips right before the format change
They just went through bankruptcy. They ARE bleeding money. All of the people who work at KGO should be happy that they got paid during the pandemic, and they'll receive a severance package. Nobody is being treated badly. It's no different than the other ABC stations that were sold to EMF. If it wasn't for KNBR, this entire cluster would be losing money.
It doesn't matter. Obviously this decision came from above. Not within the cluster management. That's all this tells me.
Who bleeping cares? The old musical sentimentalists were the very listeners Greater Media wanted to blow off. Yeah, the big mean corporation did a kind of nice thing for the on-air staff, but the bottom line is they still got fired. All of them are either dead, retired or working elsewhere by now, and any resentment of the firing must be a distant memory for those still capable of remembering. As for the listeners ... really, are you still shedding tears on your pillow (gratuitous Little Anthony & the Imperials reference) over the day the music died (gratuitous Don McLean reference) at WPEN these many years later? That's life (gratuitous Frank Sinatra reference), get over it. Or roll yourselves up in a big ball and die. (My, myyyyy!)
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