A Change Coming to KGO

[TheBigA]

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.

I agree. I've listened to the audio several times to get an idea why it was done this way. But they're blowing up the station. When you blow things up, you know there will be collateral damage.

Yes it makes them look bad. So did bankruptcy. So does their current financial situation. They look bad. OK.

 

[michael hagerty]

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.

Okay. That's a direct answer. Thanks. I'm not sure if either of us were running for office, though, that we'd think that I haven't illustrated a problem.

In fact, your answer raises another question. If we're restricting the contributions to campaigns to purely within the area the candidate would serve if elected, wouldn't a candidate need to quit their day job to go knocking on doors to raise those funds? Especially without a staff of political consultants handling financing?

 

[gr8oldies]

Okay. That's a direct answer. Thanks. I'm not sure if either of us were running for office, though, that we'd think that I haven't illustrated a problem.

In fact, your answer raises another question. If we're restricting the contributions to campaigns to purely within the area the candidate would serve if elected, wouldn't a candidate need to quit their day job to go knocking on doors to raise those funds? Especially without a staff of political consultants handling financing?

I do have a problem with current office-holders keeping their office but spending all of their time, supposedly on the clock, campaigning for higher office, or stumping for candidates in distant races.

 

[mofocat]

That was 20 years ago. Dunbar retired in 2000. Mickey quit when the station was owned by Citadel. The problem was the station became old & complacent. By 2011, the demos were too old to sell. Plus by then, the population had shifted from what it had been years ago. The station simply didn't adapt to changes in the market.

And as for KFI today? What's the difference that keeps them successful in the same format. Actually, wasn't the Bay Area considered to be more favorable to an intelligent news-talk format?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I recorded about 55 minutes of KGO last night, checked the recording 3 times and it was a booming signal each time… don’t know if it was the whole 55 minutes though.

I was able to widen audio from 1khz to 3khz because the signal was so good 2200 miles away

I’ll post the audio recording at some point.

 

[TheBigA]

And as for KFI today? What's the difference that keeps them successful in the same format. Actually, wasn't the Bay Area considered to be more favorable to an intelligent news-talk format?

KFI suffers from a lot of the same problems as KGO. Older demos and low cume. In fact it comes about half of the other similarly rated stations. But a very loyal audience that they can sell.

 

[michael hagerty]

And as for KFI today? What's the difference that keeps them successful in the same format. Actually, wasn't the Bay Area considered to be more favorable to an intelligent news-talk format?

There are several significant differences between KFI's situation and KGO's:

KFI never fell off in terms of ratings as badly as KGO did. They've had a stable morning show (Bill Handel) for 29 1/2 years and a popular afternoon show (John and Ken) for a few months longer, minus two years across the street at KABC more than 20 years ago. And they kept Limbaugh in middays until 2014. When they moved him over to KEIB, most of the audience didn't follow. KFI retained the bulk of it.

Not that nighttime ratings on an AM talk station are ever anything to write home about, but Tim Conway, Jr is coming up on 13 years on KFI.

The tone of the station is remarkably consistent. There's never been a period of "re-invention" even as previous higher-profile hosts (Phil Hendrie, Stephanie Miller) came and went.

They have a small but strong, reliable newsroom with some top-notch reporters.

Probably the biggest problem KGO has? Even if they had come back with unlimited resources and a willingness to spend whatever it took to get to the top, the demo they used to own (well-educated, interested in depth, largely politically progressive) is now KQED's audience. NPR doesn't have that kind of strength in Southern California and the KFI audience isn't the KCRW/KPCC audience.

 

[michael hagerty]

I do have a problem with current office-holders keeping their office but spending all of their time, supposedly on the clock, campaigning for higher office, or stumping for candidates in distant races.

The every-two-years nature of a Congressional seat forces essentially constant campaigning and fundraising. Which, as you note, then involves other officeholders of the same party making endorsements and appearances.

The reason I'm pursuing the conversation with PTBoardOp is that I'm genuinely interested in how his philosophy (local money in local races) would work. For example, one of the reasons candidates make those appearances for other candidates is that, when the party looks at who'll they'll support in a race for a bigger seat, how well a candidate has fundraised for other candidates is a metric they absolutely look at. Which just pushes sitting officeholders to do more of it.

 

[DarrenVision]

KFI suffers from a lot of the same problems as KGO. Older demos and low cume. In fact it comes about half of the other similarly rated stations. But a very loyal audience that they can sell.

i do want BIN to LA but they have to give up one of the 3 iHeart AMs if they do so or reformat

 

[michael hagerty]

i do want BIN to LA but they have to give up one of the 3 iHeart AMs if they do so or reformat

They don't. It's actually on KRRL (92.3) HD-2. HD-2 clearances make up most of BIN's affiliates. And if another broadcaster wanted to pay the affiliate fees to put it on an AM or FM, I'm sure iHeart would take their money.

They're not gonna put it on KFI or KLAC, and I don't think they're interested in abandoning KEIB, so those are the options.

 

[DarrenVision]

They don't. It's actually on KRRL (92.3) HD-2. HD-2 clearances make up most of BIN's affiliates. And if another broadcaster wanted to pay the affiliate fees to put it on an AM or FM, I'm sure iHeart would take their money.

they rely of sponsorships than ads but im curious how many people listen both physical or online

 

[DarrenVision]

There are several significant differences between KFI's situation and KGO's:

KFI never fell off in terms of ratings as badly as KGO did. They've had a stable morning show (Bill Handel) for 29 1/2 years and a popular afternoon show (John and Ken) for a few months longer, minus two years across the street at KABC more than 20 years ago. And they kept Limbaugh in middays until 2014. When they moved him over to KEIB, most of the audience didn't follow. KFI retained the bulk of it.

Not that nighttime ratings on an AM talk station are ever anything to write home about, but Tim Conway, Jr is coming up on 13 years on KFI.

The tone of the station is remarkably consistent. There's never been a period of "re-invention" even as previous higher-profile hosts (Phil Hendrie, Stephanie Miller) came and went.

They have a small but strong, reliable newsroom with some top-notch reporters.

Probably the biggest problem KGO has? Even if they had come back with unlimited resources and a willingness to spend whatever it took to get to the top, the demo they used to own (well-educated, interested in depth, largely politically progressive) is now KQED's audience. NPR doesn't have that kind of strength in Southern California and the KFI audience isn't the KCRW/KPCC audience.

Thats why Cumulus kept KABC to get clearance of their Westwood One shows but now they're in the ratings basement

 

[michael hagerty]

Thats why Cumulus kept KABC to get clearance of their Westwood One shows but now they're in the ratings basement

Yes, but they can charge more for the national advertising within those shows because they have clearance in Los Angeles. For now, anyway, that makes KABC, despite its ratings, worth it.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Thats why Cumulus kept KABC to get clearance of their Westwood One shows but now they're in the ratings basement

If they can make more money running sports betting on KABC, they’ll ditch the talk format and no one will notice.

Honestly it wouldn’t be surprising to see that the bulk of KABC’s revenue right now comes from brokered programming all weekend long.

 

[DarrenVision]

If they can make more money running sports betting on KABC, they’ll ditch the talk format and no one will notice.

Honestly it wouldn’t be surprising to see that the bulk of KABC’s revenue right now comes from brokered programming all weekend long.

If they vote Yes on Prop 27, I see Audacy buying 2 AM's with 830 and 1110 being the targets. I see Disney selling it's last radio station to Audacy and flip to BetQL

 

[CTListener]

What is the maximum number of actual listeners a station that gets a "N/A" or a phony "participation trophy" 0.1 in the 6+ numbers can have? I've never quite understood how programming provider are so happy when they can "clear" a show in a major market when, for all they know, the actual audience for the show might be one man and his dog. Or how the advertisers think placing their messages on such ghost stations is a good use of their money.

 

[fordranger797]

You actually outperformed most people in terms of staying with contemporary music. As a generality, women hang in longer than men, who tend to calcify in their tastes pretty early. But there's a reason CHR is considered an 18-34 format and why "35-plus" is very much an adult demo.

Stereogum has a regular feature called The Number Ones, in which a very talented 40-something writer named Tom Briehan does an essay/review/rating of every single to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 since the chart debuted in 1958. I think he does three a week, and it's still going on now.

In reading that, I found that I knew the music until I was about 43. I've always been really eclectic in my tastes, so I wasn't wanting for alternatives (and this was 23 years ago, when more of those alternatives could be found on the radio), but I had forgotten and was kind of surprised to see that I was still saving a pushbutton for CHR into my forties.

I’m 27. I’ll listen to music radio until stations like KOSF 103.7 and KSAN 107.7 decide to throw in the towel. Once that happens, i’ll have to stick to talk or sports radio.

 

[michael hagerty]

What is the maximum number of actual listeners a station that gets a "N/A" or a phony "participation trophy" 0.1 in the 6+ numbers can have? I've never quite understood how programming provider are so happy when they can "clear" a show in a major market when, for all they know, the actual audience for the show might be one man and his dog. Or how the advertisers think placing their messages on such ghost stations is a good use of their money.

The trouble is ratings only estimate a listenership based on a sample. David's probably the best-qualified to tell us how many meters would have to register the audio of a given station to take it from a no-show to a 0.1. Or from a 0.1 to a 0.5.

 

[michael hagerty]

I’m 27. I’ll listen to music radio until stations like KOSF 103.7 and KSAN 107.7 decide to throw in the towel. Once that happens, i’ll have to stick to talk or sports radio.

So you've already bailed on contemporary music.

 

[michael hagerty]

If they vote Yes on Prop 27, I see Audacy buying 2 AM's with 830 and 1110 being the targets. I see Disney selling it's last radio station to Audacy and flip to BetQL

They're running it on KCBS-FM (93.1) HD3 now. It'll be two years in January.