KOGO - San Diego

[fybush]

Dragging this thread once again back to somewhere in the vicinity of its title ;D ...

Many of San Diego's TV and FM transmitters are in a very, very upscale residential area, on Mount Soledad in La Jolla. That includes the former KOGO-TV/KOGO-FM, whose tower (now KGTV/KMYI) sits right between fancy homes. You couldn't get a new tower built up there to save your life, but grandfathering is a beautiful thing sometimes. (Ditto for the KGB site; the transmitter building on 52nd Street is almost indistinguishable from the residential homes that surround it.)

There are examples in LA as well: the KYSR/KCRW site up on Briarcrest is also surrounded by million-dollar homes. And KWKW 1330's transmitter is in a very residential area, as I recall.

 

[jonbruce]

As KCBH 98.7 was in one of those expensive homes with owner Art Crawford living in it. Met him there in the late 1960's.

 

[michael hagerty]

Who's in the oldest studios now in LA? For TV, either KNBC (but not for long) or KTTV; for radio, I'm thinking KABC/KLOS is now the longest at the same address, though the original KABC building on La Cienega was replaced 20 or so years back by the newer building behind it. After that, possibly KKGO?

Scott: I think it's KNBC (for the time being), followed by KTLA.

KTTV has only been on the Westside 15 years or so, along with sister KCOP.

As for radio, if we're not talking continuous occupancy, then KCBS-FM and KROQ take the prize, working out of the old KHJ transmitter building (expanded many times) on Venice Blvd., which I think pre-dates even the original KABC/KLOS studio building on La Cienega.

 

[michael hagerty]

K.M. Richards sent me an e-mail letting me know AMP 97.1 is also in the Venice Blvd. building with KROQ and Jack.

 

[ercjncpr]

KOGO carries the syndicated programs of Rush Limbaugh, George Noory, Art Bell and Leo LaPorte (all heard on KFI as well), plus "The Jesus Christ Show" (with KFI's Neil Saavedra taking on the role of Jesus and answering callers' theological and personal issues). On weekends, KOGO's newscasts are provided by the KFI news team. In other words, if you've "had enough of KFI," you'll find that KOGO isn't much different.

By the way, KOGO began in 1925 as KFVW and a year later became KFSD, for "First in San Diego"; it was the city's first commercially licensed radio station. It's been KOGO since 1961.

I used to listen to Monitor on KOGO because they carried more hours of it than KFI did

 

[fybush]

K.M. Richards sent me an e-mail letting me know AMP 97.1 is also in the Venice Blvd. building with KROQ and Jack.

If so, that's a fairly recent move; in its KLSX days, 97.1 was part of the Miracle Mile studio buildout along with KRTH and KTWV on the same floor and KNX/KFWB upstairs.

As for KTTV on Bundy - yes, it's been only 15 years or so that it's been there, but remarkably, that still makes it an older TV studio site now than KCBS/KCAL-TV, KABC-TV, KCET, KMEX/KFTR, KWHY, KOCE and - soon - KNBC and KVEA! Lots of changes in this last decade or so.

 

[michael hagerty]

As for KTTV on Bundy - yes, it's been only 15 years or so that it's been there, but remarkably, that still makes it an older TV studio site now than KCBS/KCAL-TV, KABC-TV, KCET, KMEX/KFTR, KWHY, KOCE and - soon - KNBC and KVEA! Lots of changes in this last decade or so.

A combination of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the shift to digital and high-def made new facilities a smart way to go for a lot of stations. As a TV reporter in the 80s and 90s who supplied ABC, CNN and CONUS with live shots (KTVK was affiliated with all three), I worked out of KABC, KCAL and KCOP's old studios and they were pretty creaky...old movie studio spaces retrofitted for 1950s TV.

 

[Tim L]

Admittedly not thread-related, but because Scott mentioned pre-WWII stand alone radio stations still in use, WHBC-AM In Canton, Ohio is in such a building, built in 1939..

 

[fybush]

A combination of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the shift to digital and high-def made new facilities a smart way to go for a lot of stations.

No argument there...and yet LA still stands distinctly apart from even similarly large markets in the sheer extent to which its TV stations have moved since the 1990s. In New York in the last quarter-century, WNET has significantly downsized as it's moved to new spaces on Eighth Avenue and at Lincoln Center and WABC has massively renovated its Lincoln Square space, but everyone else is still where they've been for decades, several of them (WNYW especially) in very old buildings retrofitted for TV in the 1950s and 1960s. In Chicago, Fox's WFLD and ABC's WLS-TV have done major renovations but stayed put at the same addresses they've been at for years. NBC's WMAQ had just moved in the 1990s, and only CBS' WBBM-TV made a major move to new digs. Nobody's moved in San Francisco in decades, or in Phoenix, right? In Las Vegas, KTNV moved to a new building right next door to its old one a few years ago.

Brand-new facilities are actually pretty rare for local TV stations in recent years, in my experience. The really high-profile ones outside of LA are so rare I think I can name most of the big ones from the past decade: NBC moving KNSD to downtown San Diego (and moving KXAS from Fort Worth to Dallas next year), the behemoth Fisher Plaza project for KOMO in Seattle, CBS' moves at WBBM-TV and at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Gannett's WKYC-TV in downtown Cleveland, Allbritton's relocation of WJLA from Washington to northern Virginia.

 

[michael hagerty]

Nobody's moved in San Francisco in decades, or in Phoenix, right? In Las Vegas, KTNV moved to a new building right next door to its old one a few years ago.

Here in Phoenix, KTVK/KASW left their home since 1955 for brand-new digs in 1996. KNXV built an all-new palace in 2001, and KPNX moved into new studio space in the Arizona Reupblic building (which is also owned by Gannett) in 2011.

KSAZ stayed put, but Fox has extensively re-done it since taking over in 1996, and Meredith put some money into KPHO's 1974 facility both when it became a CBS affiliate in the 90s and when it went HD.

For radio, just about everyone's moved. Bonneville moved KTAR AM/FM and The Peak into their third location in 15 years back in 2011. Clear Channel has all 8 of its stations (KFYI, KGME, KOY, KYOT, KMXP, KESZ, KNIX and KZZP) as well as Total Traffic and NewsSource under one roof next door to KNXV. And after having a split operation for some time, CBS has all three of theirs (KOOL, KZON and KMLE) in the same building...the historic old KOY studios.

The only other major player, Sandusky, continues to run KUPD/KDUS, KDKB and KSLX/KAZG out of three separate facilities that they've all occupied for a long time (KSLX for between 15 and 20 years, at least 30 for KUPD and more like 40 for KDKB).

 

[fybush]

I completely forgot about KPNX's fairly recent move - and didn't realize the KNXV palace was as relatively recent as it is. (Where were they before that?)

As for radio, that's a different animal, of course. While TV stations tend to own their studios, radio clusters in big markets are, on the whole, renters, and with good reason. With the way clusters have shifted around and the way technological changes have altered the need for radio studio space, 20 years is probably about the maximum lifespan for a contemporary commercial radio facility. (KOOL in Phoenix being a pretty big exception at the moment, I suppose...and, to come back around to the original topic of this thread, KFMB AM-FM as well, largely due to co-ownership with KFMB-TV.)

 

[michael hagerty]

I completely forgot about KPNX's fairly recent move - and didn't realize the KNXV palace was as relatively recent as it is. (Where were they before that?)

As for radio, that's a different animal, of course. While TV stations tend to own their studios, radio clusters in big markets are, on the whole, renters, and with good reason. With the way clusters have shifted around and the way technological changes have altered the need for radio studio space, 20 years is probably about the maximum lifespan for a contemporary commercial radio facility. (KOOL in Phoenix being a pretty big exception at the moment, I suppose...and, to come back around to the original topic of this thread, KFMB AM-FM as well, largely due to co-ownership with KFMB-TV.)

KNXV had been in a couple of warehouses in south Phoenix since signing on in the late 70s.

As for KOOL, they are in an historic property, but they got there last of the current CBS cluster and may have moved the most often of any station in town (4 homes in 30 years). KESZ might be tied with them.

Most of the other majors I can think of are in their third homes in 30 years, but a lot of that came from consolidation.