I grew up listening to KGO 810 radio in my teens. It was always a source of comfort for me when I'd visit my family decades later in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Recently, I was up north, I turned to KGO and realized the station had been gutted of its charm and personality. It's now an impersonal news machine, and a not very good one at that. I'm sure money is behind the story.
My disappointment isn't alone. Radio Survivor writes about the many complaints in reaction to the change. Even the Huffington Post writes about the outrage.
I can hear KGO overnight here in Seattle. They used to feature more locally-originated programming, with local hosts, right? A lot of broadcast stations, particularly AM stations, are trying to survive by cutting costs. They may use satellite feeds instead of having local hosts/DJs. A longtime adult standards/middle of the road station here, KIXI 880, appears to have only one on-air host, Dan Murphy, doing all the station i.d.s, commercials, etc. He must come in for a few hours a day and pre-record all of them.
Posted by: Keith Beesley | August 25, 2012 at 09:32 AM
I was listening to some lady host screeching on KGO tonight while I was on my walk. It sounded like a speaker from an Occupy Wall Street rally. There are all sorts of comments on Yelp and Radio-Info about the firings, and ratings collapse that Cumulus has brought on at KGO 810.
Posted by: Karl Dahlquist | August 25, 2012 at 11:25 PM
I noticed the low Yelp ratings also. Looks like most people are unhappy with the change.
Posted by: herculodge | August 26, 2012 at 06:33 AM