A few KGO questions and answers


To reiterate, we normally focus on the Los Angeles radio dial, but the demise of KGO has triggered nationwide reaction. Of course, there are a good number of KGO veterans who traveled down either I-5 or 101 to arrive in Southern California, but it appears there's a lot of interest 380 miles south of the Bay Area.

Mark Thompson (kgoradio.com)

So what happened yesterday at KGO?

At 10:09 Thursday morning (October 6), host Mark Thompson was talking with his colleague Kim McCallister about the day being “National Noodle Day,” then briefly discussing the controversy associated with Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Suddenly, Thompson said “yes, go to that…something transpire(ing) in the studios…yep, this is KGO San Francisco, a Cumulus Media station.”

After a few seconds of dead air, a loud promo stated: “Coming Monday, it’s the biggest gamble in Bay Area radio history!” A snippet of Pink Floyd’s “Money,” was followed by another promo stating: “It’s a safe bet – this Monday, a radio station that handles all comers!” A snippet of “Take the Money and Run” by the Steve Miller band set the tone for a loop that repeated short cuts of money and gambling-related songs (“Viva Las Vegas,” Elvis Presley; “(The) Winner Takes it All,” Abba; “All I Do is Win, ” DJ Khaled…you get the idea) and sweepers (announcements) all alluding to wagering and betting.

Within minutes, KGO posted an announcement on Twitter:

Today we say goodbye to the legendary KGO.

Over the last 80 years, KGO has been here for Bay Area listeners covering and discussing all the news that has impacted our world and local communities. We thank you for your loyalty and for trusting KGO to be your source for information. We also want to sincerely thank all the talented men and women that worked so hard over the years to produce award-winning programming on KGO.

On Monday, 810am begins a new era. We hope you will tune in.

You can hear the recording, courtesy of formatchangearchive.com, by clicking here.

Thompson himself posted on Twitter:


Thanks to everyone who has reached out on this day…

Yes, the KGO we knew as a talk station is going away.

The broadcast industry and all ad-supported legacy media are in brutal times.

Sadly, that brutality hit us suddenly and completely.

We worked so hard to create a fun, energetic and interesting show.  It sucks that we are forced to close it up.

Hoping I can reconstitute our show as a podcast.

But this all just happened so no plan yet.

This sucks, for sure.

The next few hours reflected great confusion. It wasn’t until the afternoon that San Francisco news outlets were posting online the demise of the legendary “newstalk” station.

All of the current talent has apparently been laid off.

usatoday.com

What’s next for KGO?

Here’s what we’ve been able to discover so far, please note this is a story that’s evolving quickly:

·       KGO will offer a format heavily leaning on sports betting and wagering.

·       The programming will be largely syndicated, though there’s some room for a couple of local hosts.

·       The current moniker appears to be “810 The Spread.”

·       The KGO call letters appear to be intact, for now.

·       The new format will debut Monday morning.



What does this mean for Cumulus?

Or, more simply put, what does this mean for KABC?

The station has been on the market for quite some time. Apparently, the current price is somewhere around $4 – 5 million. Cumulus sold the property on La Cienega Boulevard which housed both the studios and the towers, which means any real estate has already been sold off. The station now operates out of a small Culver City industrial park, with towers diplexing from Baldwin Hills

The great fear is what happened to KGO will be happening to KABC. Much of KABC’s programming is syndicated, with the notable exception of John Phillips, whereas many of KGO’s hosts were live and local. It simply cost more to run the San Francisco talk station, which likely prompted the abrupt changes. Of note, in the Bay Area, Cumulus Media also owns all-sports KNBR, 107.7 The BONE (KSAN), and conservative talker KSFO. The sports and music outlets appear profitable, while KSFO is largely syndicated programming, so not terribly expensive to operate.

We’ve been in touch with several who’ve shared their thoughts about KGO, which we’ll be offering in the next couple of days. Please stay tuned.

ayodaradio@gmail.com

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