Posted on 10/06/2022 7:02:59 PM PDT by artichokegrower
American broadcasting company Cumulus Media abruptly announced Thursday during a morning talk show that it’s ending the KGO (810 AM) news-talk format as listeners know it, and company officials told SFGATE in an email that it will be revealing a new brand on the channel on Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Wasn’t that where Melanie Morgan and Officer Vic were? There were a couple of guys before them who were great, too, but can’t remember their names.
I hear you. Grew up on the Peninsula and many-a-night listened to KGO on the commute home. Sad what has become of that beautiful part of our country.
I mis Bill Watenberg
Talk radio is slim in the KC area and the best station became a spanish station out of the blue. I miss Kilmeade in the morning.
I hate when stations do this. Especially talk radio.
Yup
“Wasn’t that where Melanie Morgan and Officer Vic were?”
No, they were on KSFO 560.
Oh dear. That day has finally come.
That used to be my #1. station for talk shows.
Ever since the December “Bloodbath” of 2010, when several favorite hosts were fired (The arrival of Cumulus) that station has been quickly wilting. Enough talent to keep it going, but not much more. Terrestrial radio, the radio I grew up on is disappearing. Listening to talk shows online is possible, yes, but just not the same.
I miss hearing Barbara Simpson, and Rabbi Lapin among many others. One of their big stars used to be
Ray Taliafero. A booming voice. A zooming delivery. Lots of interaction with callers. Ray was impressive, and entertaining in small doses. I later realized how myopic and Liberal he was.
Rich Lieberman 415 Media will most likely write about this.
Lee Rodgers is who I was thinking of. Rodgers died in 2013. He was well known for his 14 years co-hosting mornings at KSFO with Melanie Morgan.
Yes, KSFO. Still fairly conservative.
>>> 810am begins a new era <<<
The only profitable AM format is quality and truthful talk. Or Spanglish music/talk.
Loved Lee Rodgers! Armstrong and Getty fill the 6-9 spot.
They started on KSFO and then most of that crowd moved to KGO in the mid/late 1980s.
Conservatives Bill Watenburg, Jim Eason, Lee Rogers and the leftists Michael Krasny and Ray Tagliaferro and pedophile Bernie Ward.
No, that's KSFO.
Si - Habla Español. Love the música norteña - maybe it will get some aritime.....
KGO was great in the past with Gene Burns, Pete Wilson, Jim Eason, etc. Savage was on there too. The December 2011 purge ended my regular listening to the station.
I remember Bernie Ward, we used to get him here in Arkansas on a radio channel, he was a. mess.
KGO Radio ends news-talk format, will relaunch with sports betting
October 6, 2022 by Matthew Keys
A San Francisco talk radio station stunned listeners on Thursday when it abruptly went off the air in the middle of a program.
On Thursday, Cumulus Radio’s KGO (810 AM) announced it was ending its “legendary” news and talk format immediately, with plans to announce a new line-up of programming next week.
“We thank you for your loyalty and for trusting KGO to be your source for information,” a spokesperson for the station said in a message posted online. “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.”
The shake-up happened around 10 a.m. while the station was airing “The Mark Thompson Show.” In the middle of the program, the audio feed suddenly switched to a pre-taped announcement about the format change.
On Monday, KGO Radio will re-launch with a new format focused on sports talk and related programming, a person familiar with the change told The Desk. The shows will incorporate aspects of sports betting as a central theme; some syndicated sports analysis shows are also expected to be on the schedule, the source said.
Shows that are slated to air on KGO Radio under the new format include “Bet MGM Tonight” and “Bet QL Daily,” the source said, and the name of the station will change to “The Spread 810AM.” Other syndicated and locally-produced programming will be announced over time.
KGO Radio will become the second sports betting radio station owned by Cumulus Media. Last month, the company relaunched WPRV (790 AM) in Providence, Rhode Island with a sports betting format.
It was not clear if the format change will result in job losses at the station. Two people who work at KGO Radio told The Desk they were unaware of the planned format change until they heard about it on the air. Officials at KGO Radio and Cumulus were unavailable for comment.
It is the second time in less than a decade that KGO Radio has flipped formats on a dime. In 2016, the station eliminated most of its reporters, producers and other news talent in favor of broadcasting local and syndicated talk programs, The Desk reported at the time.
The change to a sports-betting format comes as Californians are set to vote on two initiatives that could make mobile sports betting legal in the state for the first time. Sports betting companies like Fanduel, MGM Resorts and others have spent millions of dollars in advertisements across local television and radio stations urging voters to pass the initiatives, while most Native American tribes in the state have opposed them.
KGO Radio went on the air in January 1924 and can be heard across Northern California during much of the broadcast day. The station once shared common ownership with San Francisco’s ABC station, KGO-TV (Channel 7).
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