With new management at KGO, it's clear they're going to try to reclaim some of the station's past glory, 20+ years at #1 book after book, and in the top 5 in the 25-54 demo. Even a stronger #1 in San Jose. Then it all came apart when People Meters came in. Here's David Eduardo's reasoning for KGO's fall...
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>>>The station was immensely successful in the diary, although by the year 2000 it became very apparent that the audience was aging and not being replaced by Gen X listeners. When the 2002-2004 Philadelphia PPM tests revealed to anyone who would listen to the conference calls or read the documentation that lower cume higher TSL stations from the diary world were in for a world of hurt in the PPM, KGO seemingly did nothing to prepare for the new methodology.
The PPM hit around 2008 and rapidly decimated KGO. It went from #1 in 12+ in the diary (Spring 2008) to below 10th within about a year or two. The key issue seems to be that, like many other news talk stations, listeners lazily wrote in broad periods of listening; the PPM showed actual listening to be full of interruptions and much briefer in duration.
The move of KGO to Citadel from Disney / ABC certainly hurt, too. And then when Cumulus took over the bankrupt Citadel, they changed format to one already well served on both AM and FM by CBS.
The issue in San Francisco was not KQED, which was often tying it in the diary, but the way KGO did not protect itself against aging. In the last diary book, Spring of 2008, KQED had a 5.4 in the demo, while KGO had a 2.7. KQED was #1 and KGO was #10. The damage had been done, through lack of planning. In 2000, KGO was #1 in 25-54. A little less than a decade and two owners later, it was 10th.
And this is not strictly an AM problem. San Francisco is not a good market for FM. The terrain is not favorable, and the market extends from Santa Rosa to the north to Campbell to the south. No FM covers it all. But several AMs do, and that is why the radio market was defined as a very narrow oval running from NNW to SSE... identical to the KGO pattern and similar to that of KCBS and well within the reach of KNBR. And two other contenders, KSFO and KFRC, also had major listenership to the north and south when the San Francisco MSA was configured long ago... it's an AM based geography where KGO covers vastly more than KQED.
The problem now is that KGO means "old" to Gen X listeners. Can they get them to come back?<<<
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KGO was, in my opinion, the best Talk station in the country. In my visits to San Francisco, I enjoyed hearing all the hosts, finding them to be well-informed, good performers, and fun to listen to, especially Ronn Owen and Gene Burns. The news department was top-notch, staffed 24/7. They were All-News in AM Drive, Noon and PM Drive. The rest of the schedule was live and local talk, even on weekends, even overnight. They even did local news updates and traffic reports around the clock. There was a live host, a newscaster and a traffic reporter at 4am on Sunday, and every hour. But two ownership changes in succession forced cuts in staffing, cuts in quality.
I'm not sure what KGO should have done differently, other than convince ABC not to sell its radio stations. I guess some of the hosts outstayed their time but should you replace someone who's doing a good job with someone who's younger but untested? I don't remember hearing any hosts who were too slow or old-fashioned.
Was Cumulus right to fire most of the hosts and go All-News most of the day in 2012? They realized the All-News segments had younger listeners than most of the Talk hosts at the end. But they didn't commit to going All-News around the clock like KCBS does. How do you compete with KCBS which is All-News 24/7 and has an FM simulcast? On the other hand, WBZ Boston and KSL Salt Lake City seem to do well with All-News sometimes and Talk sometimes. At one point KGO had gotten as high as #12 with its mostly All-News format. But now its ratings have fallen again, and Cumulus has called in new management.
What is the formula today for Talk Radio? KFI Los Angeles is live and local except overnights. Their ratings have fallen. WSB Atlanta is #1, but they run quite a few syndicated shows, although other than Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the hosts are based at WSB, so maybe the Atlanta audience doesn't know they're syndicated? For large markets in June, WSB is #1, and WGN Chicago is #8, but all other Talk stations in large markets are not in their city's top 10?
What would you do if you ran KGO?
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>>>The station was immensely successful in the diary, although by the year 2000 it became very apparent that the audience was aging and not being replaced by Gen X listeners. When the 2002-2004 Philadelphia PPM tests revealed to anyone who would listen to the conference calls or read the documentation that lower cume higher TSL stations from the diary world were in for a world of hurt in the PPM, KGO seemingly did nothing to prepare for the new methodology.
The PPM hit around 2008 and rapidly decimated KGO. It went from #1 in 12+ in the diary (Spring 2008) to below 10th within about a year or two. The key issue seems to be that, like many other news talk stations, listeners lazily wrote in broad periods of listening; the PPM showed actual listening to be full of interruptions and much briefer in duration.
The move of KGO to Citadel from Disney / ABC certainly hurt, too. And then when Cumulus took over the bankrupt Citadel, they changed format to one already well served on both AM and FM by CBS.
The issue in San Francisco was not KQED, which was often tying it in the diary, but the way KGO did not protect itself against aging. In the last diary book, Spring of 2008, KQED had a 5.4 in the demo, while KGO had a 2.7. KQED was #1 and KGO was #10. The damage had been done, through lack of planning. In 2000, KGO was #1 in 25-54. A little less than a decade and two owners later, it was 10th.
And this is not strictly an AM problem. San Francisco is not a good market for FM. The terrain is not favorable, and the market extends from Santa Rosa to the north to Campbell to the south. No FM covers it all. But several AMs do, and that is why the radio market was defined as a very narrow oval running from NNW to SSE... identical to the KGO pattern and similar to that of KCBS and well within the reach of KNBR. And two other contenders, KSFO and KFRC, also had major listenership to the north and south when the San Francisco MSA was configured long ago... it's an AM based geography where KGO covers vastly more than KQED.
The problem now is that KGO means "old" to Gen X listeners. Can they get them to come back?<<<
=============
KGO was, in my opinion, the best Talk station in the country. In my visits to San Francisco, I enjoyed hearing all the hosts, finding them to be well-informed, good performers, and fun to listen to, especially Ronn Owen and Gene Burns. The news department was top-notch, staffed 24/7. They were All-News in AM Drive, Noon and PM Drive. The rest of the schedule was live and local talk, even on weekends, even overnight. They even did local news updates and traffic reports around the clock. There was a live host, a newscaster and a traffic reporter at 4am on Sunday, and every hour. But two ownership changes in succession forced cuts in staffing, cuts in quality.
I'm not sure what KGO should have done differently, other than convince ABC not to sell its radio stations. I guess some of the hosts outstayed their time but should you replace someone who's doing a good job with someone who's younger but untested? I don't remember hearing any hosts who were too slow or old-fashioned.
Was Cumulus right to fire most of the hosts and go All-News most of the day in 2012? They realized the All-News segments had younger listeners than most of the Talk hosts at the end. But they didn't commit to going All-News around the clock like KCBS does. How do you compete with KCBS which is All-News 24/7 and has an FM simulcast? On the other hand, WBZ Boston and KSL Salt Lake City seem to do well with All-News sometimes and Talk sometimes. At one point KGO had gotten as high as #12 with its mostly All-News format. But now its ratings have fallen again, and Cumulus has called in new management.
What is the formula today for Talk Radio? KFI Los Angeles is live and local except overnights. Their ratings have fallen. WSB Atlanta is #1, but they run quite a few syndicated shows, although other than Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the hosts are based at WSB, so maybe the Atlanta audience doesn't know they're syndicated? For large markets in June, WSB is #1, and WGN Chicago is #8, but all other Talk stations in large markets are not in their city's top 10?
What would you do if you ran KGO?