More news and less talk is coming to KGO radio, a move that already has lots of listeners grumbling.The San Francisco-based station at 810-AM, owned by Cumulus Media and long known for its popular hosts and call-in talk shows discussing issues of the day, will make the switch to an all-news format from 2 p.m. to midnight starting Monday. Several of its most recognizable voices, such as Gene Burns, Gil Gross, Ray Taliaferro and John Rothmann will be let go, sources confirmed. Shows hosted by Bill Wattenburg and Joanie Greggains may also be canceled.Ronn Owens, who reportedly has one of the highest-paying contracts in radio, will continue his popular show from 9 a.m. to noon. Brian Copeland will also keep his weekend show.The switches come amid major turbulence in the Bay Area media market. KGO's one-time dominance in the a.m. Arbitron ratings has taken a big dive in recent years as increasing numbers of listeners have switched to satellite and Internet radio. Just two months ago, Citadel Broadcasting sold both KGO (810 AM) and its sister station, KSFO (560 AM), to rival Cumulus Media, which already owned four other stations in the market, including all-sports KNBR (680 AM).One station insider told us KGO had simply lost its way and hopes to reinvigorate itself with a news-driven format.Incidentally, it's longtime moniker "Newstalk 810" will also be replaced. The new slug: "KGO-810 - the Bay Area news and information station."Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/01/MNMM1M7B9E.DTL#ixzz1fXDmZsJy
For Cumulus Media drop Gene Burns, Gil Gross, Ray Taliaferro and John Rothmann from KGO is big Mistake. They should have instead Kick out all those Right Wing Nut Jobs from KSFO and move these hosts to this AM station.
Posted by: Siouxmoux | 12/03/2011 at 08:09 PM