The format switch was in late 2011. I don’t think it had any connection to the Ward incident.
KGO was what I would call mainstream democrat prior to that. They had a few lefty bomb throwers but most of the hosts were moderate left. They also had a very good conservative - Bill Wattenburg - on the weekend.
Many of the fired hosts went to other local stations and the audience followed them there.
Gene Burns was a Libertarian and unless he too a radical turn leftward in his fiscal policies after he left Boston he was pretty conservative.
Savage started there in 1994, and he had a fabulous show at the beginning.