News Radio

Talk Radio Reacts To KGO 810 Format Change

Listeners were shocked to hear the station interrupt The Mark Thompson Show Thursday with a recorded message shortly after 10 a.m.

Published

2 years ago

October 7, 2022

Ryan Hedrick

One of the oldest news/talk brands in the country is signing off. San Francisco’s KGO 810 is changing formats Monday. The station made its debut back in 1924.

The Cumulus-owned station has not confirmed what the format change will look like but according to The Desk, KGO Radio will relaunch as a sports betting format using the moniker, ‘The Spread’. A combination of BetQL and local sports betting talk programming is expected to be featured starting Monday.

Late Thursday, broadcast industry professionals reacted to the news via social media.

“It has been a dream come true. When I was a college student at San Jose State University, I always said my dream was having my own show on KGO Radio,” said host Nikki Medoro on Facebook. For the last several years, I fulfilled my dream of talking with people in the Bay Area, the hometown that I love.”

Listeners were shocked to hear the station interrupt The Mark Thompson Show Thursday with a recorded message shortly after 10 a.m.

“End of an era, but not all that surprising considering the way the winds are blowing in that business,” tweeted former overnight man Ray Woodson.

“This is extremely sad. I have nothing but happy memories of producing @KGO810 for 6 years. Feel terrible for my old coworkers losing their jobs and to the KGO listeners,” said former producer Albert Ermelo.

KCBS Radio’s Doug Sovern said he was shocked to learn of the format flip.

“This is shocking, to say the least,” he tweeted. “A Bay Area Radio institution, which had already been gutted, quite frankly, for years, is dead,” he said. “One of the great stations in the history of radio. Rest In Programming.”

“So apparently, the last shovel of dirt has been thrown on KGO, interestingly after their best book in some time,” added former KGO host Gil Gross. From the teasers during the music stunting of songs about money and the stupid tease line “you can bet on it”, it’s going to be another robot run sports betting format which is all the rage among brainless, out of ideas, radio companies.”

WBBM Radio host Rob Hart said that KGO’s 27-year run as the top-rated station in the city was remarkable.

“I had two co-workers who had long tenure at KGO Radio in San Francisco, and a bunch of people who were second- and third-degree radio connections so I knew the esteem it once held in that city,” he added.

Ryan Hedrick

Ryan Hedrick works for WIBC in Indianapolis as a Morning News Anchor/Digital Content Producer. Prior to moving to Indy, he served as Assistant Program Director and Co-Host of the Morning News Express at WFMD. His career also includes stints at News Talk 103.7 FM in Chambersburg, PA, Sirius XM in Washington D.C., WBEN in Buffalo, NY, and WIBW-AM in Topeka KS where he earned the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) award for Major Market enterprise reporting in 2016. To connect with Ryan, find him on Twitter @SureToCover.

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8 Comments

Dick
October 7, 2022 at 12:21 pm
I guess this is the end of AM radio for me….this is truly SAD….. I don’t listen to other people sports, but nice to see your comments (at “3 seconds” after you posted it this morning..)
:… I have only listened to KGO from Junior Hight days(nights)……(talk show at the Hungry Eye….)(also, later in the night, conversely, Wolfman Jack on XERB “over Los Angeles”…….)
My latest ‘find’ on KGO AM radio was John Batchelor’s show `”CBS Eye on the World”
Good luck with KGO ‘news’..Thanks for listening…Dick(Oregon/Idaho with a C.Crane radio)
Reply
Jay Berwanger
October 7, 2022 at 5:35 pm
What kind of format will the station have this Monday? Does anyone know, or the keeping it a secret? RIP KGO!!
Reply
kay gee oh
October 8, 2022 at 12:17 pm
What a joke. They are going to turn it into a sports betting circus show. They are counting their chickens before it hatches. prop 26 and 27 for sports gambling in California will not pass. The people have spoken. Mark my words on it. This new format stage act of a show is a dud and a failure from the get go. It too will go out of business.
Reply
SeaPenny
October 10, 2022 at 2:48 pm
I listened to KGO for decades. I did so because I wanted to hear what the left was thinking and talking about. I am very far politically from all of their hosts. I remember Bernie Ward, before he went to prison… I really like his show… Owen’s, he was full of himself. In the last few years KGO went even further to the left, the woke pronoun focused left. I figured they would still make it in the bay area because they were preaching to the choir down there…. This is a bad sign for the leftists in the bay area… To go woke and broke in the bay area is a sign the left has jumped the shark. RIP KGO
Reply
Nick Priest
October 10, 2022 at 7:47 pm
I must say I am highly disappointed in KGO’s new programming. As of today, I quit listening to KGO.
Reply
Sandra Abraham
October 11, 2022 at 2:46 am
I don’t like the new format. I like the talk show listening to people with their ideas & opinions and the talk show hosts. I’ll miss them. All I can say is good bye KGO Radio I won’t be listening to you
Reply
Pedro C Wilson
October 11, 2022 at 7:11 pm
I’m at a total loss, I live in Arizona where the GOP still pretty much have a strangle hold on everything. It was so nice listening to KGO radio, it was like a breath of fresh air for us here. I will miss you KGO. I don’t gamble so I won’t be listening anymore.
Reply
Linda Shelby
October 12, 2022 at 4:00 pm
I have been listening to KGO all my life. I am now 75. Stated with listening with my Grandmother.
It was the one station where you could get the “real new”!!!
I will never listen again!
I see the station has gone the way of the world.
How very disappointing!
Sports and betting!! All I can say is wow!
All about the money, big business and no more real, honest talk about what is really happening in the world!
Reply

News Radio

Dave Ramsey: We Have a Simple Strategy For Employee Compensation

“We figure out what people should be paid. We figure out what they can be paid if they went somewhere else. Because we don’t want them to go somewhere else, we want them to work here.”

Published

13 hours ago

April 19, 2024

BNM Staff

(Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for National Radio Hall of Fame)

Dave Ramsey has built a multi-million company from the ground up. But his place in the talk radio landscape is a unique one. While hosting one of the most popular programs in America, he also serves as the Founder, Owner, and CEO of that multi-million company, leading him to talk about how he operates that business.

During his EntreLeadership podcast, Ramsey was approached by a caller asking how to go about asking for a raise because they felt they were underpaid.

That led Ramsey to reveal how he goes about deciding on raises and compensation for his employees at Ramsey Solutions.

“I get emotional about stuff, but having somebody asking about something about pay? I mean, we can talk about it but I’m not gonna give you a raise if you work for us based on a feeling,” Ramsey said. “We don’t do feelings in that regard. You’ll have to take your feelings somewhere else.

“Now a fact? Facts are a good thing. So we do comp studies. We figure out what people should be paid. We figure out what they can be paid if they went somewhere else. Because we don’t want them to go somewhere else, we want them to work here, and we need the help.”

Dave Ramsey concluded by stating their thought process is simply “We want to be fair in our pay, you want to be paid fair, but you’re not asking and you’re not being greedy.”

BNM Staff

News Radio

Clay Travis Goes on Cross Country Speaking Tour

On Tuesday, Travis was in Atlanta, before hosting another speaking engagement in Seattle the next evening.

Published

17 hours ago

April 19, 2024

BNM Staff

(Photo: Premiere Networks)

Clay Travis is a busy man. Between hosting The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show and continuing to contribute to the outlet he founded, OutKick, he stays active. This week, he added a pair of speaking engagements on opposite ends of the country.

On Tuesday, Travis was in Atlanta and spoke in front of more than 300 attendees at Greater Georgia’s second annual Legislative Awards ceremony. As emcee of the invent, he welcomed severe guests including former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and his Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, as well as State Rep. and Speaker of the Georgia House Jon Burns.

During his time in Atlanta, Clay Travis co-hosted his nationally syndicated show at XTRA 106.3 FM.

On the very next night, Travis spoke in the Seattle area at Hillsdale College’s National Leadership Summit, which drew more than 500 attendees. A sponsor of his radio program, Hillsdale College welcomed Travis to address politics, economics, and culture in his keynote address.

While he was in the Seattle area, Travis visited affiliate 1090 The Patriot, where he hosted The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.

BNM Staff

News Radio

Stephanie Miller Named to Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame

“Each inductee has made important contributions to broadcasting in Buffalo.”

Published

17 hours ago

April 19, 2024

BNM Staff

(Photo: Stephanie Miller)

The Buffalo Broadcasters Association has named its 2024 Hall of Fame class and longtime news/talk host Stephanie Miller is one of nine inductees.

Host of the nationally syndicated Stephanie Miller Show, Miller began her radio career doing comedy bits on WBEN host Sandy Beach’s program. She later moved into talk radio roles at both KFI and KABC in Los Angeles, among other career endeavors including acting and stand-up comedy.

“Our Hall of Fame classes become more impressive every year,” said Steve Monaco, president of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association. “Each inductee has made important contributions to broadcasting in Buffalo.”