You don't suppose the sudden flip, and yanking the host off the air abruptly might have gotten some attention, maybe even news coverage?
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A Change Coming to KGO
- Thread starter atthestars
- Start date
Nowadays talent says goodbye on social media.
No offence, but your attitude seems a little harsh. Yes, the AM band is dying, we all know that. Yes, radio stations flip formats and nothing lasts forever. It’s notable that KGO would qualify as a heritage station, therefore I completely understand people being disappointed by this decision.
From my perspective, I see 810 as being a signal that is one of the more viable ones on AM, so it shocks me somewhat that this is the format that landed there. This format feels more like something I’d expect to see on a signal that is not viable at all.
I also thought that the end of KGO as a news/talk station was sudden. I was hoping to listen to the old format of KGO when I heard the news today, but it was already too late. There was no reminiscing and there was no farewell celebration. This is indeed a sad day for all those who were involved with the station.
I'm retired. Fired once, downsized once. The firing was from my first job, because management (little newspaper in the South) wanted a hometown guy to be sports editor for less pay. My boss told me in the morning after I'd finished that afternoon's paper, but asked me if I could stay on for a month, as it was December and the new guy wanted to have the holiday season off before starting full-time. I had nothing better to do, so I agreed, even did some of my best work that month thinking I could change their minds. Nope. I was gone on Dec. 31, said my goodbyes to everyone and rode off. They tried to deny me unemployment benefits by making up some performance BS after I was safely back in New England, but I quickly gave an oral deposition that they didn't even bother challenging. The first check came a whole week late.
Second came the downsizing, after 32 years. The copy desk was being slashed, and because I was the least social media and technology savvy of the bunch, I was one of the five total newsroom employees to get the bad news. But, deja vu! The managing editor asked me to stay on for another month (July this time) because one of the copy desk survivors was going to be busy learning the new editing/layout software that was going to be installed on July 31 (for the next morning's paper). Again, I said yes. Dead man walking for a month, even watching from an "old" computer terminal a few feet away as my former desk had two new screens installed and my phone removed and replaced on that final day. That was great fun. So was the dog-and-pony show I was asked to endure that afternoon, when the editor and publisher both came into the newsroom and made a big deal about how it was time to say goodbye to five great employees. I even got to give a little speech, as the M.E. had confidence that I wouldn't go rogue. I didn't, until the very end. I had said all the right things, a few funny anecdotes, then wound up with, "You know, I don't want to leave, never have. I could say a lot more, but (agonizing dramatic pause here) ... I won't. Goodbye and thanks." The M.E. took me aside afterward and thanked me profusely for not saying what I wanted to say. Of course, I never intended to say any more, just wanted to make them squirm a little after they handed me my parting gifts of wine glasses inscribed with the paper's logo. I told him, "Thanks. But if you notice blood stains leading back to my desk, that's from how hard I was biting my lip just then." We are still on cordial terms. Well, at least I am because it's on his conscience, not mine. He doesn't understand why I still check in with him from time to time. It's because he's a good guy and I enjoyed talking with him on the job for years when he was a reporter working his way up the ladder.
There you go, my story and I'm stickin' to it. Was I initially stunned to be told I was no longer needed? Of course. But it only took a couple of hours to realize that it wasn't the end of the world and I might as well leave them with a positive impression.
The reason the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose market is still a relatively strong one for AM radio has nothing to do with compelling programming or personalities.
It has to do with geography.
San Francisco is a very hilly area and in at least parts of that market, FM signals don't have as strong reception as they should.
In much of the Bay Area, AM radio reception is better than FM. Perhaps today, it's not as much a difference as it was in the 1960's and 1970's.
Although I'm not from the area, I would think that has far back as the late 1960's, top-40 powerhouse KFRC-610 (which I understand fought neck and neck with KGO-810 for the title of the Bay Area's most popular radio station from 1966 through the seventies) probably had at least one challenger on the FM dial. But thanks in part to San Francisco's hilly terrain, KFRC continued to dominate top-40.
It has to do with geography.
San Francisco is a very hilly area and in at least parts of that market, FM signals don't have as strong reception as they should.
In much of the Bay Area, AM radio reception is better than FM. Perhaps today, it's not as much a difference as it was in the 1960's and 1970's.
Although I'm not from the area, I would think that has far back as the late 1960's, top-40 powerhouse KFRC-610 (which I understand fought neck and neck with KGO-810 for the title of the Bay Area's most popular radio station from 1966 through the seventies) probably had at least one challenger on the FM dial. But thanks in part to San Francisco's hilly terrain, KFRC continued to dominate top-40.
It appears that it's going to be Audacy's Bet QL sports betting network.
All I know is that years ago a station [WARF] in Akron, OH. switched to a sports betting format and now they don't even make the ratings at all. And they bet on everything in this area....like how long will the roadkill remain in the road before someone swoops in to grab it for dinner, up to what member of the Browns will publicly embarrass themselves this week.
There are plenty of stations with low or no ratings that make money due to serving desirable but small or unmeasurable audiences.
Bloomberg's business news station in NYC is one. The Asian language (Chines, Korean, Tagalog, etc.) stations in LA, San Francisco, Houston and quite a few other markets including even DC and NYC and Chicago are also examples. Or Kreyol stations in South Florida, A Farsi station in LA, Polish in Chicago and lots of other specialty stations.
Many sports stations are not in the total audience top 10, yet are often the leading revenue producer in their market.
Years ago in one market I worked in there was a station that only gave the time, once a minute plus 11 5 second spots in the rest of each minute. It made lots of money.
WIND is owned by Salem, so I doubt Salem is willing to give up their own shows for a competitor's. Plus, both WIND and WLS have similarly structured schedules - local shows in drive time, syndicated shows in other hours.
And that's primarily because of terrain issues. The many hills/mountains in the Bay Area make it tougher to pick up FM signals than in markets like Dallas or Houston with flat terrain.
Tell me more, I'm curious...
Sounds like the "Radio Reloj" stations I used to hear on shortwave from Cuba and, IIRC, Costa Rica.
They carry Hannity late at night, and I thought a couple of Salem stations carried Rush when he was alive. Could be wrong on that.
This is no longer entirely correct. You cannot bet through online tools like BetMGM or DraftKings. But all of the native caisnos in western WA now have sport books. Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Tulalip etc.
Here is WIND's weekday schedule and WLS's. WIND does carry Sean Hannity late at night, but Hannity is a Premiere Networks (iHeart) show, and iHeart does not have a news/talk station in Chicago. (Those in the Chicago area who want to listen to Clay & Buck would have to tolerate the static of WISN 1130 out of Milwaukee if not near the Internet.)
To my knowledge, Dennis Prager has always had Rush's noon-3 ET daypart, so I doubt Salem would give airtime to a competitor.
But you can in Nevada and Arizona, where KGO puts in a strong signal after dark. A sports-betting format might actually work on a blowtorch at night, if they market it in those states.
Daytime, on the other hand.....
In Oregon only DraftKings is allowed (unless your living next to Vancouver, WA) as an exclusive partnership with the Oregon Lottery. The other sportsbook choices are 2 tribal casinos and 2 sports bars but Oregon doesn't allow college teams like the Ducks in Medford.
Just noticed their online stream is in stereo. Too bad stereo AM didn’t catch on (it was a victim of lousy hardware support- you had to really look to find anything that could play it.)
Will it keep the KGO Calls?
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