AM Frequency of the Week: 810

[cc333]

Late nights when Ray Taliaffero had his show on KGO, in his intro at the top of the hour he would mention how he can be heard in 'parts of Canada and parts of Mexico'.

And that was before streaming was much of a thing!

That sports betting format is a despicable waste of a good 50kW signal. I remember KGO back at the peak of its format around 2004-2007, and was fun to listen to on long drives late at night. Each host had their own distinct personality, and were all engaged in the community (KGO was largely live and local back then, save for some shows in the overnight hours, particularly later on).

Then they tried that KCBS-like all news format with most of what little talk was left relegated to overnight, with only a couple being live (most of the overnight was syndicated). They didn't really offer anything new, and the overall presentation was kind of mediocre and unpolished compared to their competitors, so eventually the format basically fell flat on its face so hard it's no wonder KGO's ratings fell so miserably. They gradually adjusted it until it approached an approximation of it's former mostly-talk format, but it was too little, too late, and most of their long time listeners jumped ship.

It's too bad they couldn't try something more inspiring and interesting than sports betting. Just about anything other than religious sermon-talk would be an improvement (there's already so many of these crowding the dial, both local and DX, especially at night, that I really don't think we need yet another).

I, personally, wouldn't mind hearing some kind of music (again, not ethnic Spanish, Indian or Chinese; we've got enough of those), but I'll concede that, unless an AM has some decent translators and/or an Internet stream set up from which they reach most of their audience, most AMs aren't really doing that anymore, preferring some sort of talk-oriented format instead (KYNO 940, playing their Drake-era like oldies format, seems to be a notable exception, as I don't think it has any FM translators, does it? I've never seen or heard any mention of their having any....)

Anyway....

Over here in the east bay, it's all KGO, all the time, such as it is.

Up in the far reaches of the north bay (northern Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino), KGO is decent in the daytime, but like most SF stations from that distance (~100-150 miles), it tends to become a noisy mess at night, especially up in the mountains.

c

 

[TomásEstefan]

Late nights when Ray Taliaffero had his show on KGO, in his intro at the top of the hour he would mention how he can be heard in 'parts of Canada and parts of Mexico'.

I miss Ray. Whether you agreed with him or not, his opinions were to be found virtually no where else on talk radio.

 

[cc333]

I remember him.

Like many of the other KGO hosts at the time, he was entertaining and fun to listen to, especially during the long, mountainous drives home to Lake County that often happened quite late because of needing to wait out the terrible and almost ceaseless Bay Area traffic to let up enough to allow some space to get onto the freeway safely.

c

 

[davideduardo]

And that was before streaming was much of a thing!

That sports betting format is a despicable waste of a good 50kW signal. I remember KGO back at the peak of its format around 2004-2007, and was fun to listen to on long drives late at night. Each host had their own distinct personality, and were all engaged in the community (KGO was largely live and local back then, save for some shows in the overnight hours, particularly later on).

By 2005 to 2007, KGO was on a decline even in the diary. By the time the PPM came out a year later, it was moribund.

It's too bad they couldn't try something more inspiring and interesting than sports betting. Just about anything other than religious sermon-talk would be an improvement (there's already so many of these crowding the dial, both local and DX, especially at night, that I really don't think we need yet another).

But there is obviously money in the sports betting that is not dependent on ratings.

I, personally, wouldn't mind hearing some kind of music (again, not ethnic Spanish, Indian or Chinese; we've got enough of those),

What is "ethnic Spanish"? Spaniards from Basque country or Catalonia?

There are as many possible formats in Spanish as there are in English... maybe more.

 

[Mark Roberts]

By 2005 to 2007, KGO was on a decline even in the diary. By the time the PPM came out a year later, it was moribund.

Despite the KGO cheering section in ba.broadcast, I felt from the start of my time in the Bay Area 24 years ago that KGO was an old-folks station.

What is "ethnic Spanish"? Spaniards from Basque country or Catalonia?

Those stations are playing mostly rock anyway. Best listening experience of all time: hearing "It's Raining Men" on SER Radio 40 Principales in a taxi taking us up to the Alhambra in Granada.

Then there was the afternoon in Sevilla where there was play-by-play of the local bullfights on two stations. (Yeah, I know tauromachy isn't a thing in Catalonia.)

Oh, I guess he didn't mean that Spanish. Maybe Al Hurricane?

 

[cc333]

What is "ethnic Spanish"? Spaniards from Basque country or Catalonia?

Well, of course not! I just couldn't think of any other descriptor for the various Spanish-language format stations that exist in the SFBA, since there seems to be many, and I'm not keen on what the formats are called.

Despite the KGO cheering section in ba.broadcast, I felt from the start of my time in the Bay Area 24 years ago that KGO was an old-folks station.

By 2005 to 2007, KGO was on a decline even in the diary. By the time the PPM came out a year later, it was moribund.

Yeah, I guess so. It in late 2011 that they began playing around with the "all news by day, syndicated talk by night" format, and that's when I stopped paying much attention to it (once in awhile, I'd still listen to Ronn Owens and John Rothman occasionally when they were still on).

Be that as it may, I really think that Cumulus could've found a way to make some form of its prior format work, but instead they ran it into the ground, and rather than gracefully acknowledging the heritage nature and the long standing history and reputation of the station, they chose the rather abrupt, guillotine-like approach they used, where they basically "pulled the plug" with no explanation, leaving everyone at first stunned, and then disgusted once they revealed the new format.

Best listening experience of all time: hearing "It's Raining Men" on SER Radio 40 Principales in a taxi taking us up to the Alhambra in Granada.

You mean that record by The Weather Girls or some such? By coincidence, I happen to have that record! (it came with the lot of 45s I got back in September 2020 that was allegedly from a defunct Top 40 station back east somewhere). I've never listened to more than a few seconds of it to check quality, though-- it's not really my preferred kind of music.

c

 

[Mark Roberts]

You mean that record by The Weather Girls or some such? By coincidence, I happen to have that record! (it came with the lot of 45s I got back in September 2020 that was allegedly from a defunct Top 40 station back east somewhere). I've never listened to more than a few seconds of it to check quality, though-- it's not really my preferred kind of music.

It's considered a disco classic. And they sang...well.

 

[TomásEstefan]

By 2005 to 2007, KGO was on a decline even in the diary. By the time the PPM came out a year later, it was moribund.

But there is obviously money in the sports betting that is not dependent on ratings.

What is "ethnic Spanish"? Spaniards from Basque country or Catalonia?

There are as many possible formats in Spanish as there are in English... maybe more.

That would be something...start an all Basque language station and see what happens!

 

[Mark Roberts]

That would be something...start an all Basque language station and see what happens!

Ah, but you should see what TV weather in Basque looks like!

 

[gar hi]

I miss Ray. Whether you agreed with him or not, his opinions were to be found virtually no where else on talk radio.

Yeah, he wasn't the cookie cutter radio talk show host for sure.

When my brother lived in Aptos and I would visit, I would listen to him when I was in bed before falling asleep and the signal of KGO there was just like WABC, WNBC, or WCBS was at night where I lived in New Jersey with that signature fading and scrambling sound you get between 50 to 100 miles from a 50 kw station because of the ground wave and sky wave interaction.

 

[Weiserguy]

Yeah, he wasn't the cookie cutter radio talk show host for sure.

When my brother lived in Aptos and I would visit, I would listen to him when I was in bed before falling asleep and the signal of KGO there was just like WABC, WNBC, or WCBS was at night where I lived in New Jersey with that signature fading and scrambling sound you get between 50 to 100 miles from a 50 kw station because of the ground wave and sky wave interaction.

@gar hi, I don't think that's what your problem was with KGO and Santa Cruz. First, KGO has a Figure 8 pattern (as DavidE pointed out earlier in post #50 with that polar plot of their signal against compass headings). The power goes NNW-ish and SSE-ish in lobes with the equivalent field strength to about 150 Kw. But there are side lobes also, which each pump out the equivalent of a 5 Kw signal to the ENE-ish and WSW-ish. Santa Cruz is virtually due south of the transmitter, in the Bay adjacent to the Dumbarton Bridge. That's about where the main and west lobes overlap, causing cancellation. I mentioned that phenomenon myself, in post #44. I drive both of those areas often, and the signal cancellation is as predictable as the heartburn after an order of In 'n Out fries.

Second, there's the brunt of Silicon Valley between KGO's xmtr and Santa Cruz, as well as the broadest part of the Santa Cruz Mountain range, both of which could have been attenuating the already-weakened signal. And third, Santa Cruz is way too close for groundwave/skywave cancellation. That typically begins becoming noticeable at double the mileage from the xmtr (~75-100 mi, while Santa Cruz is less than 40 miles away).

 

[RyanHoward]

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):
Daytime: splatter from local 800 WTMR, Camden NJ
Night: WGY mostly

 

[Fenway1912]

Cambridge MA

Daytime - nothing

Night - WGY

 

[gar hi]

@gar hi, I don't think that's what your problem was with KGO and Santa Cruz. First, KGO has a Figure 8 pattern (as DavidE pointed out earlier in post #50 with that polar plot of their signal against compass headings). The power goes NNW-ish and SSE-ish in lobes with the equivalent field strength to about 150 Kw. But there are side lobes also, which each pump out the equivalent of a 5 Kw signal to the ENE-ish and WSW-ish. Santa Cruz is virtually due south of the transmitter, in the Bay adjacent to the Dumbarton Bridge. That's about where the main and west lobes overlap, causing cancellation. I mentioned that phenomenon myself, in post #44. I drive both of those areas often, and the signal cancellation is as predictable as the heartburn after an order of In 'n Out fries.

Second, there's the brunt of Silicon Valley between KGO's xmtr and Santa Cruz, as well as the broadest part of the Santa Cruz Mountain range, both of which could have been attenuating the already-weakened signal. And third, Santa Cruz is way too close for groundwave/skywave cancellation. That typically begins becoming noticeable at double the mileage from the xmtr (~75-100 mi, while Santa Cruz is less than 40 miles away).

Interesting.

All I can say is that the signal had that scrambled sound once in a while.

Not nearly as much as KCBS but still there at times.

As far as how close you can notice skywave, whenever my parents and I would be returning from visiting family in north Jersey, WABC would start to get that ground wave/sky wave cancellation sound right around Exit 8 which is 50 miles from the transmitter.

 

[KD4YQR]

Nothing during the day. Nights a weak WGY. Heard WHB, Kansas City, once..