KGO Radio was the only "liberal" radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, and has lasted for 80 years. Was this Censorship? Was it a Conspiracy? Did someone buy them out? Or did people complain about being cut off while speaking and the parent company could no longer bear the responsibility and forced them to go? Was this politically motivated?
KGO Radio once had Financial news and local news that residents relied on. Its forced departure will be investigated.
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/radio-hosts-remember-kgo-17494929.php
American broadcasting company Cumulus Media abruptly announced Thursday during a morning talk show that it’s ending the KGO (810 AM) news-talk format as listeners know it, and company officials told SFGATE in an email that it will be revealing a new brand on the channel on Monday.
“The Mark Thompson Show,” which aired Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to noon, was interrupted just after 10 a.m. with a pre-taped announcement about the format change.
KGO talk show host Mark Thompson said he was told just before going on air that the format was changing and his show was being canceled along with all the other regular programming.
“I was told right before I went on that it was coming,” Thompson, who has worked for KGO for three and a half years, told SFGATE on the phone. “I was saddened by the fact that they didn’t want me to say goodbye to the audience.”
He added: “It was really rough. We were really shocked. We didn’t have any idea.”
After the announcement, pre-taped music started playing.
“@KGO810 just interrupted their morning talk show to announce a program change. It’s all canned music and statements for a new format beginning Monday,” one Twitter user said.
The 80-year-old station’s format change was also announced on social media: “Today we say goodbye to the legendary KGO. We thank you for your loyalty and for trusting KGO to be your source for information. We also want to sincerely thank all the talented men and women that worked so hard over the years to produce award-winning programming on KGO.”
The message didn’t specify what will happen to the channel on the radio and offered an ambiguous look at the future: “On Monday, 810AM begins a new era. We hope you will tune in.”
Broadcasting personalities and journalists shared their disappointment over the news. KTLA reporter David Lazarus wrote, “What a damn shame. At its peak, KGO was a bastion of fair-minded talk radio, with some of the best hosts in the business.”
“This is shocking, to say the least,” KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern said. “A Bay Area Radio institution, which had already been gutted, quite frankly, for years, is dead. One of the great stations in the history of radio. Rest In Programming.
Many listeners also expressed frustration. “This is the worst decision ever. One of the greatest stations in the country. I really want to cry!” wrote one Twitter user.
KGO’s call sign was a nod to its founding in 1924 by General Electric Oakland. General Electric was originally founded by Thomas Edison in 1892 and went on to become a mainstay in the electrical industry and a pioneer in developing radio stations across the country. The company built a high-powered radio station at E. 14th Street and 55th Avenue in what’s now East Oakland in 1923, and the next year KGO hit the radio waves, according to the Radio Historian website.
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/radio-hosts-remember-kgo-17494929.php
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