KGO fired Burns, Rothmann, Gross and Taliafero today!!!

[MC]

This is what I posted in October regarding Swanson leaving, I was wrong about Owens:


"Younger people spend free (or at least they did) and have not become set in their buying patterns.

Sex pills, gold, beds and baldness. Swansong was used to a high budget radio station. I bet they dump Owens, Watenburg, ans Burns a long with Karel and Simpson. They need infomercials in off hours, so Taliafaro will be dumped too."

They will do cheap promotion using the NET.

At least the people being dumped have money I would think and at least Burns and Ray are at retirement age. Rothman does have kids going into college...maybe he will have to sell his book or walking stick collection?

Gil Gross was probably thinking he had a job for life, times change.

Hey Gene Burns! are you still the libertarian you used to be? or are you having second thoughts about the corporations you defended over the years???

 

[RadioJunkieMike]

So, I'm guessing doing news at KGO was the "opportunity" ex-KFOGger Peter Finch was hinting at last month?

and Mr Finch just announced on Facebook that he'll be at KGO starting Monday.

 

[Gregg]

Wow, KGO had slipped to #20 in the 25-54 race? It was only a few years ago when they were usually #4 or #5.

I'm starting to wonder, do today's 25-54 listeners have no interest in the Talk format anymore (except for KFI LA)? We can't say KGO was poorly programmed. I think Ronn Owen, Gil Gross and Gene Burns are three of the best local talk hosts in the nation. They move their shows along briskly, getting callers on and off quickly, keeping their topics relevent. Short of getting an FM simulcast, what should KGO have done differently? KGO was the rare Talk station that wasn't about non-stop Conservative politics. Are the only people still listening to commercial Talk Radio those who are angry at the government, liberal politics and a changing world?

KGO was a rare Talk station in that it never moved to the all-Conservative format. Maybe only WGN Chicago and KIRO Seattle are the last that aren't all-Conservative? How ironic that only a couple of days earlier, Clear Channel announced it was taking Progressive Talk off AM 960. So San Francisco loses its two left-of-center Talk stations in the same week.

I thought the idea of the fired KGO hosts pooling their resources and buying time on KTRB was a smart one. After all, KGO isn't replacing them with other talk hosts. So all those Talk listeners would likely follow them over to 860. The audience might be getting older but you can still do something with a format that had been ranked #7.

I get the feeling Cumulus thinks it won't take much to go Mostly-News. After all, KGO already has the anchors and reporters in place who've been doing All-News 5-9am, Noon-1pm and 4-7pm. If those same people simply expand their hours on the air, you've got an Almost-All-News station. Even on a good News station, the same stories get read over and over. The stories filed by the reporters get repeated.

But with no FM signal and the decision NOT to go All-News around the clock or on weekends, I don't think KGO can compete with KCBS. Maybe if KCBS had no FM signal and KGO was willing to go 100% All-News, they could have been a true competitor. But not like this.


Gregg
[email protected]

 

[recto101]

So, I'm guessing doing news at KGO was the "opportunity" ex-KFOGger Peter Finch was hinting at last month?

and Mr Finch just announced on Facebook that he'll be at KGO starting Monday.

Wow Mr. Finch does not fit on all-News the same way Stan Bunger, Mike Sugarman, The late Mike Pulsipher would on KCBS. I like Mr.Finch on KFOG morning updates but not on KGO that make it easier for KCBS to run them over. But then The late Dave Mchellhatton was seen as too strange for KPIX5 good as a Talk show host and reporter for KCBS. but that was proven wrong once dave presented the news very well on KPIX5.

 

[DavidKaye]

Still, 7th in a market the size of San Francisco with a 4.2 6+ on a cume of 600,000+ isn't disastrous. There are things that you could do to climb back up. Instead, Cumulus chose to kill it. Kinda like suggesting euthanasia for someone with the flu.

When you're #17 in 25-49, you've got trouble.

 

[DavidKaye]

I'm starting to wonder, do today's 25-54 listeners have no interest in the Talk format anymore (except for KFI LA)?

Uh, KQED is news/talk and they're the highest rated pubcaster in the nation. And they've consistently been beating KGO not only in raw numbers but especially in 25-49. KGO's problem I think was largely its steady diet of politics. I myself worked in talkradio for a time and even I couldn't stand the incessant political talk topics KGO was doing.

 

[michael hagerty]

Still, 7th in a market the size of San Francisco with a 4.2 6+ on a cume of 600,000+ isn't disastrous. There are things that you could do to climb back up. Instead, Cumulus chose to kill it. Kinda like suggesting euthanasia for someone with the flu.

When you're #17 in 25-49, you've got trouble.

Yeah, I didn't know the demos were that far down. But how does all news on AM help? Or is the next step an FM simulcast of the new KGO?

 

[LKellerIII]

Still, 7th in a market the size of San Francisco with a 4.2 6+ on a cume of 600,000+ isn't disastrous. There are things that you could do to climb back up. Instead, Cumulus chose to kill it. Kinda like suggesting euthanasia for someone with the flu.

When you're #17 in 25-49, you've got trouble.

Yeah, I didn't know the demos were that far down. But how does all news on AM help? Or is the next step an FM simulcast of the new KGO?

Possible, I guess. But Cumulus's two San Francisco FM stations; KFOG 104.5, and The Bone (KSAN 107.7) get fair to middling ratings, and bill rather well - or so I've heard. It doesn't seem very wise to me to kill one of those stations to simulcast a reformatted and unproven station.

KCBS is different - when KCBS began the 106.9 simulcast, the All News format had been a 40+ year winner, and the two formats CBS had tried on 106.9 had been losers.

Cumulus also owns 97.7, a South Bay frequency that's now used to repeat KFOG - but that would only give KGO a viable simulcast to the south of San Francisco.

 

[DavidEduardo]

But is all-news on AM against a dominant,established and PPM-successful KCBS and KQED likely to improve their position?

Well, news has always been a big part of KGO. I'm guessing they figured that talk would take lots of money and time to rebuild for a younger demo... and difficult on an AM. News could do something immediately, and Cumulus is likely looking at the demos on KCBS and KQED with some envy.

My opinion is that with two nicely differentiated FM offerings, one with a huge backup signal, the KGO effort is going to be very "iffy." But, they have a catatonic station, and they don't have many choices.

 

[wordgrl]

Micky Luckoff was right and these people are idiots. These are giants of the air and the only truly thoughtful discussion on commercial radio. I have followed Gene Burns since I heard him in New York. I say we occupy KGO! All in favor, say "aye" and propose a date and time.

 

[Truthiness4DaBray]

Cumulus just shot the only healthy horse in its stable.

The KGO talkshow hosts and other interested parties might want to pool their money together and buy KTRB 860 out of bankruptcy. With KGO out of the running, KTRB stands a much better chance of making it as a talk station. Also, its dial position proximity to KGO means it could trade on KGO's casual listener base. Plus, with KTRB's fire-sale bankruptcy price it could well work from a cash flow basis.

I would not be so sure that KTRB would go for a "fire-sale bankruptcy price". The nut to the bank is over 20 million, and they blew up a deal with the A's that was in the high 7 figures. That does not sound like someone willing to accept chump change.

 

[chris319]

What kind of drugs is someone on if they think they can make so much as a scratch, much less a dent, in KQED-FM's and KCBS' ratings? News on the cheap certainly won't do it, and full-service news will cost them as much or more than their talk hosts were costing them. Yes, KGO has demo problems, but they're swapping that problem for problems associated with competing against two extremely strong, established franchises, with one AM and two FM signals between them.

Here in L.A. we've gone from the former news duo of KNX and KFWB (both Viacom) to just one all-news on KNX. One of Saul Levine's formats-of-the-month on 1260 was all news (on the cheap) but that was consigned to history long ago.

Maybe Cumulus could do an LMA and put KQED-FM on 810?

 

[scott salvatori]

shocked to hear this KGO format adjustment via michael savage today. started listening to KGO mid/late 70's from WA state. i'd still occasionally tune in at night and hear ray taliafero, and bill wattenberg on the 10PM -1AM weekend shift.

ray was one of the first loud mouth, in your face, political newstalk shockers out there i ever heard. our politics were opposite, but loved the overnight entertainment during the reagan/bush era especially.

bill wattenberg, was one of the greats on KGO. still tuned in via CCWiFi to hear his broadcast. what a loss.

 

[LKellerIII]

One of Saul Levine's formats-of-the-month on 1260 was all news (on the cheap) but that was consigned to history long ago.

"News on the cheap" has been tried twice in the Bay Area. KFYI 1310 some time in the 80s - independently owned - lasted about 3 weeks before the owners failed to meet payroll and the whole thing went belly-up. I realize that isn't a good analog to KGO since Cumulus is a big company, so how about...

KPIX 95.7 in the 90s - owned by Westinghouse - the All News pros. For some reason, Westinghouse decided not to copy their success with KFWB and WINS, and instead do it on-the-cheap. I remember field-reports from laughably rank amateur reporters (probably young underpaid Intern types), and almost constant traffic reports (read by the anchor) to fill up air-time. KPIX-FM only lasted as long as it did because they decided to run live OJ Simpson trail coverage from the courtroom. But when the Simpson trial was over, KPIX became a talk station...some irony there, for KGO, I think. Shortly thereafter, Westinghouse gave up and sold the station to Bonneville,

 

[MC]

I wonder what happens to KSFO? There are a few people to can out there

 

[DavidKaye]

Micky Luckoff was right and these people are idiots. These are giants of the air and the only truly thoughtful discussion on commercial radio. I have followed Gene Burns since I heard him in New York. I say we occupy KGO! All in favor, say "aye" and propose a date and time.

Mickey Luckoff ran KGO into the ground by selling their FM just as listenership was moving to FM, then not exercising his considerable clout with ABC (at the time) and buying an FM when he realized his error. Plus, his PDs seem to have always pushed toward political talk, something that alienates much of the audience. Back in its heyday, KGO was a lot more than political talk. It was a potpourri of topics.

 

[TiminSalem]

I am heartbroken.

I live in Oregon, but have listened to KGO since I was a boy. I remember the beautiful voice of Ira Blue.

I've listened to Bernie, Chris Clarke, John Rothmann, etc.

Now...

This is a disaster. Obviously, people have made a decision who know nothing about the history of the station, the fan base, the philosophy.

Why?

Let me guess. It's $$$$$

When Bernie was on, KGO was number one in the market. Do you mean to tell me that John Rothmann didn't have the same following? Gee, do you think it might take awhile to build that up?

Gene, Pat, etc., etc.... All gone?

I'm sorry, but this is terrible. How many bay area stations carry news? Can KGO compete? Can it distinguish itself in the crowd?

After things completely fall apart, and just before bankruptcy looms, perhaps management will figure out their mistake. But, it will take years to build the station back up again.

Meanwhile, I'll be looking to see where John Rothmann and Pat Thurston land. They are very talented, and are sure to find stations elsewhere.

RIP KGO.

 

[HenryOchs]

I wonder what happens to KSFO? There are a few people to can out there

Maybe Cumulus Media should flip KSFO's format back to Adult Standards. KSFO was successful with this format back in the 1970's and early 1980's.

 

[chris319]

KPIX 95.7 in the 90s - owned by Westinghouse - the All News pros. For some reason, Westinghouse decided not to copy their success with KFWB and WINS, and instead do it on-the-cheap. I remember field-reports from laughably rank amateur reporters (probably young underpaid Intern types), and almost constant traffic reports (read by the anchor) to fill up air-time. KPIX-FM only lasted as long as it did because they decided to run live OJ Simpson trail coverage from the courtroom. But when the Simpson trial was over, KPIX became a talk station...some irony there, for KGO, I think. Shortly thereafter, Westinghouse gave up and sold the station to Bonneville,

Ah yes, KPIX 1550. That's exactly where KGO is headed, but with a better signal. It reveals a great deal of ignorance of the S.F. market on the part of Cumulus. As they say, those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. (I once DXed KPIX(AM) down here in LA-LA land during the time it was all news.)

On Saul Levine's 1260 AM down here, I remember hearing Doug Llewelyn (formerly of People's Court fame) during the time it was all news. If memory serves, the news format was followed by Saul's all-Beatles format.

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-08-12/entertainment/ca-33531_1_southern-california-listeners-radio

 

[chris319]

Well, which is it? Can KGO's decline be attributed to the use of PPMs, the departure of Bernie Ward, competition from new media, or a combination of the above? Yes, KGO's demos suck, but ratings are only part of the equation. I know from my experience in network television that the cost of making the product is the other part of the equation. Profit = revenue - costs.

Yesterday had to be one of the happiest days in the careers of the managements of KQED-FM and KCBS.