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Changes at KGO

The Talk version of KGO-FM was in the early 80s. According to info on the internet, KLOK-FM signed on to 103.7 in 1984, so the talk version lasted only a couple of years. You are right that it was NOT a simulcast. Even the short news breaks were separate from the AM, though they may have used news readers from the AM side - I don't recall. There was very little actual news content though - just brief headlines and weather.

The programming came from ABC's fledgling talk network. I believe it provided the programming for WABC-AM in NYC, which had finally dropped it's long-time Top 40 format. No doubt, it was syndicated to other ABC stations on both AM and FM, and possibly to other stations in markets where there was no interest from ABC affiliates.

The morning host was Owen Spann of KGO-AM, who moved to New York. I believe this was Ronn Owen's opportunity to move to mornings on KGO-AM to replace Spann. Prior to that, Ronn had been doing evenings. Mid-days on KGO-FM was psychologist Dr. Toni Grant, who was a kindler-gentler version of the later Dr. Laura Schelessinger, though not by much. I don't remember afternoons, but evenings were Ira Fistell, a longtime talk radio veteran.

It was a good effort, I thought - but never really caught on. I listened quite a bit, but ultimately preferred the local hosts on KGO-AM, and I think that was what most listeners felt. They later tried some local programming, including Don Chamberlain's Sex Talk. It was a apt title because the show was very explicit in its content. I remember being amazed at the time that they could get away with it without intervention from the FCC. I guess it was because the content had socially redeeming value and was presumably helping people. Chamberlain had done a more censored version of his show a few years earlier on KNEW called California Girls, but it had been cancelled when KNEW flipped from Oldies to Country music.

About a year in, they stopped calling the station KGO-FM and rebranded as "Talk Radio FM 104," almost as if they were afraid the failure would sully the legend that was KGO-AM. It limped along for a few more months until the frequency was sold.

As I recall, the morning news was simulcast. I remember listening when the format cutover from rock to KGO-FM happened, the last song being a Doors song "when the music's, over, turn out the lights..." before the KGO morning news came on. They had Michael Krasny in the evenings, with the obnoxious tagline in the intro "Armed with a PhD..." Don Chamberlain had also been on KYUU doing essentially the same show on Sunday nights prior to the KGO-FM show. The KGO-FM "Sex Talk" had Rosie Allen (obviously before she went big on KGO-AM) doing the news breaks. As risque as the "Sex Talk" show was, the weekend evening show hosted by a gay man (don't recall his name) was even more shocking, including guests from NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association. (Sadly I kid you not, hard as it is to believe now, back then you could actually put pedophiles on the air and talk to them as though their views were rational.) I think KGO-FM tried a little too hard to be different at the expense of sanity.
 
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Michael Jackson did afternoons,I believe. That's the line up that WABC aired upon their switch to talk in May 1982. On the east coast,Owen Spann aired middays, Michael Jackson in early afternoon and Toni Grant in PM Drive. Ray Breim followed Ira Fistell. Good line up,but as mentioned it never really caught on. WABC had a local AM drive show and a noon hour news program hosted by Art Athens. Dr. Toni Grant just passed away. In two years WABC would replace Toni with another Grant, Bob locally in PM Drive and he and then Rush Limbaugh a few years later would help WABC's ratings quite a bit.
 
As the above poster stated, two things were in place: The clause in his contract that stated he couldn't be moved and the clause in Mark Levin's contract stating HE couldn't be moved. Wonder why these two crucial items didn't surface until after the announcement? Of course there was a public outcry on Social media and on KGO's website and the station used that as a reason Ronn was staying put. You didn't see that coming? Great PR and a nice positive spin stating the listeners are the reason Ronn is staying. Positive spin for KGO. You have to wonder if this was all staged?

Cumulus isn't smart enough to come up with a stunt like that, involving the contractual obligations of two of its hosts.

Which also makes them too stupid to check said contracts before making plans like these.
 
Michael Jackson did afternoons,I believe. That's the line up that WABC aired upon their switch to talk in May 1982. On the east coast,Owen Spann aired middays, Michael Jackson in early afternoon and Toni Grant in PM Drive. Ray Breim followed Ira Fistell. Good line up,but as mentioned it never really caught on. WABC had a local AM drive show and a noon hour news program hosted by Art Athens. Dr. Toni Grant just passed away. In two years WABC would replace Toni with another Grant, Bob locally in PM Drive and he and then Rush Limbaugh a few years later would help WABC's ratings quite a bit.

Thanks, Benale. How could I forget Jackson? He local KABC program was a staple in my parents' house when I was growing up
 
Changing gears just a bit.

What do you all think of the new logo?

I don't like it. it looks like something I could do in Photoshop in about 10 minutes.
 

Attachments

  • kgo_newlogo.PNG
    kgo_newlogo.PNG
    15.3 KB · Views: 4


Reminds me of Mr. Magoo.

ROFL! It does look like the Mr. Magoo title. I don't like it either. Why highlight the 'G'? There seems to be a trend lately for logos to look very minimal and drab. For example, the old DirecTV "cyclone" logo compared to the new boring block-letter one:



http://forums.solidsignal.com/auximages/DIRECTV_logo_old.png

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...5uY0W3MwPyer7gmmZIRmqv0c64bRUY6sYfYMHwSsgFrSw



(Sorry - I don't know how to insert a thumbnail into a post)
 
Michael Jackson did afternoons,I believe. That's the line up that WABC aired upon their switch to talk in May 1982. On the east coast,Owen Spann aired middays, Michael Jackson in early afternoon and Toni Grant in PM Drive. Ray Breim followed Ira Fistell. Good line up,but as mentioned it never really caught on. WABC had a local AM drive show and a noon hour news program hosted by Art Athens. Dr. Toni Grant just passed away. In two years WABC would replace Toni with another Grant, Bob locally in PM Drive and he and then Rush Limbaugh a few years later would help WABC's ratings quite a bit.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?55802-1/michael-jackson-radio-talk-show

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/aug/06/entertainment/ca-10469

Interestingly 20 years ago KABC-AM used to simulcast Ronn Owens but Ronn Didn't really last that long at KABC for various reasons. But one of them was that KABC's then demographics was outraged that Michael Jackson was removed from 790 AM back in the 1990's.
 
The Talk version of KGO-FM was in the early 80s. According to info on the internet, KLOK-FM signed on to 103.7 in 1984, so the talk version lasted only a couple of years. You are right that it was NOT a simulcast. Even the short news breaks were separate from the AM, though they may have used news readers from the AM side - I don't recall. There was very little actual news content though - just brief headlines and weather.

The programming came from ABC's fledgling talk network. I believe it provided the programming for WABC-AM in NYC, which had finally dropped it's long-time Top 40 format. No doubt, it was syndicated to other ABC stations on both AM and FM, and possibly to other stations in markets where there was no interest from ABC affiliates.

The morning host was Owen Spann of KGO-AM, who moved to New York. I believe this was Ronn Owen's opportunity to move to mornings on KGO-AM to replace Spann. Prior to that, Ronn had been doing evenings. Mid-days on KGO-FM was psychologist Dr. Toni Grant, who was a kindler-gentler version of the later Dr. Laura Schelessinger, though not by much. I don't remember afternoons, but evenings were Ira Fistell, a longtime talk radio veteran.

It was a good effort, I thought - but never really caught on. I listened quite a bit, but ultimately preferred the local hosts on KGO-AM, and I think that was what most listeners felt. They later tried some local programming, including Don Chamberlain's Sex Talk. It was a apt title because the show was very explicit in its content. I remember being amazed at the time that they could get away with it without intervention from the FCC. I guess it was because the content had socially redeeming value and was presumably helping people. Chamberlain had done a more censored version of his show a few years earlier on KNEW called California Girls, but it had been cancelled when KNEW flipped from Oldies to Country music.

About a year in, they stopped calling the station KGO-FM and rebranded as "Talk Radio FM 104," almost as if they were afraid the failure would sully the legend that was KGO-AM. It limped along for a few more months until the frequency was sold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=braaYPsI6Ko

Hey KGO-AM was not the only Then ABC Radio station with a questionable title for a talk show. Even KABC-AM in Los Angeles even had a questionable title for a talk show "Nude Phone Calls"
 
Perfect example of taking something that worked for years , and screwing with it .For years , if you wanted straight news , you went to KCBS .If there was an interesting event , and you wanted discussion , you listened to KGO . It was easy and efficient .Could they just go along their merry way ? NNnnnoooo !
 
Perfect example of taking something that worked for years , and screwing with it .For years , if you wanted straight news , you went to KCBS .If there was an interesting event , and you wanted discussion , you listened to KGO . It was easy and efficient .Could they just go along their merry way ? NNnnnoooo !

KGO was "screwed" by the natural process of aging.

Beginning around the year 2000, the effects of the first generation that grew up on FM entering the potential news/talk 35+ demos showed that they were not fond of the format and even less fond of the AM band.

So KGO became totally dependent on the aging boomer generation. Each year that went by, a percentage of them... about 6% in fact... moved into the 55+ age group that advertisers did not want. And the under-55 audience began to shrink.

KGO moved out of the top 10 in 25-54, and then out of the top 15.

Move ahead to 2008 and the introduction of the PPM. The low cume / high TSL nature of news/talk was revealed to have far shorter listening spans than people wrote down in diaries.

KGO moved out of the top 20 stations in 25-54. Nothing could fix it with the now-dead format, so they started trying new things, none of which worked, either.

It was the radio equivalent of the perfect storm, and KGO sank.
 
It was the radio equivalent of the perfect storm, and KGO sank.

Along with a bunch of similarly formatted AM stations in a bunch of other major markets. Not a unique situation.

If the world stood still, no one aged, and everything today was the same as it was 20 years ago, KGO would still be a top station. But nooooooo!
 
Along with a bunch of similarly formatted AM stations in a bunch of other major markets. Not a unique situation.

If the world stood still, no one aged, and everything today was the same as it was 20 years ago, KGO would still be a top station. But nooooooo!

I like to think I haven't changed at all in the past 20 years, but then my mirror and my cranky knees remind me that I'm living an illusion.
 
Perfect example of taking something that worked for years , and screwing with it .For years , if you wanted straight news , you went to KCBS .If there was an interesting event , and you wanted discussion , you listened to KGO . It was easy and efficient .Could they just go along their merry way ? NNnnnoooo !


Yes KCBS and all News is still true 20 years later. But for Talk Radio in 2016 the Bay area audiences go to KQED 88.5 FM. KQED is beating KGO Up in the ratings for Talk.
 
KQED is beating KGO Up in the ratings for Talk.

And has been for some time. Technically KQED is not a traditional talk station. It's more of an emphasis on news than talk. Most of their shows don't take calls and aren't built around the views of a particular host. In other words, it's a throwback talk station circa the 80s.
 
And has been for some time. Technically KQED is not a traditional talk station. It's more of an emphasis on news than talk. Most of their shows don't take calls and aren't built around the views of a particular host. In other words, it's a throwback talk station circa the 80s.

If KQED is not beating up KCBS for news, it should be. As I understand it, the problem with commercial news stations is that the format is expensive, and they have to run a huge commercial load to make a profit. The constant commercials are mind-numbing.

And after a dozen or so years listening to KQED, I'm spoiled. I prefer their format which allows them to delve into a story in depth, as opposed to the "Give us 22 minutes, and we'll give you the world" format of KCBS, which really only gives you the headlines, and a few sketchy details.
 
Along with a bunch of similarly formatted AM stations in a bunch of other major markets. Not a unique situation.

If the world stood still, no one aged, and everything today was the same as it was 20 years ago, KGO would still be a top station. But nooooooo!

How long before major group owners start selling these major AM stations to people like Salem or Bustos?
 
How long before major group owners start selling these major AM stations to people like Salem or Bustos?

Salem, maybe. Bustos likes smaller markets and only likes AMs where there are few FMs.
 
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