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KGO 810 kHz on the AM band, is a news-talk format radio station based in San Francisco, California owned by ABC/Disney. Broadcasting with 50,000 watts of power as a clear channel station, it can be heard throughout the western United States and beyond. It is one of the West Coast flagship radio stations of ABC.

History

KGO signed on the air in 1924 from General Electric's Oakland electrical facility, as part of a planned three-station network comprising WGY in Schenectady, New York, and KOA in Denver, Colorado. Due to GE's involvement in RCA and RCA's launch of the NBC radio network, KGO was soon operated by NBC management as part of the NBC network. See the KNBR entry for a fuller discussion of NBC's San Francisco radio operations.

In 1943, the Federal Communications Commission forced NBC to sell off one of its two networks and the stations it owned which were affiliated with it. The NBC "_The_Blue_Network_Becomes_ABC" became ABC, and KGO went its separate way.

In the postwar period, KGO originated many live music programs, including that of Western Swing bandleader Bob Wills, a popular staple of the period. KGO was also instrumental in bringing the first exercise show to broadcasting, hosted by Jack LaLanne, a fitness instructor and gym operator in Oakland. LaLanne conducted his radio fitness show for many years on KGO, and moved in the late 1950s to KGO-TV and a successful TV syndication career.

By the late 1950s, KGO had suffered a malaise and poor ratings. In 1962, ABC management brought in new management and a new program director, Jim Dunbar, who revamped the station into one of the country's first news/talk stations. While initially unsuccessful, Dunbar stressed the live and local aspect of the programming by running the talkshows every day from locations such as Johnny Kan's Chinese restaurant, Senor Pico's Restaurant, and the legendary Hungry i nightclub. This higher profile caused KGO's ratings to begin a steady climb.

Today, KGO has had over 27 years (rated quarterly by Arbitron) as consistently the #1 rated station in the Bay Area, a feat unheard of in broadcasting. The KGO signal also registers in surrounding metropolitan areas as a station listened to. Due to the nature of the signal, KGO broadcasts essentially on a north-south axis, which protects from interference with WGY at night. This makes KGO easy to listen to at night in places like Seattle and San Diego, but difficult to receive in Reno and points east of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Unlike many other talk radio stations in the United States, KGO has limited syndicated programming. The majority of its programs are hosted by broadcasters who live in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, KGO has hosts from a wide variety of the political spectrum, unlike most talk radio stations who are either liberal or conservative. Of their weekday hosts, Bernie Ward and Ray Taliaferro are liberal Democrats, Gene Burns is a libertarian-conservative, Ronn Owens is a centrist Democrat, and Pete Wilson is a political centrist. Weekend host and frequent fill-in Dr. Bill Wattenburg is KGO's most conservative host. KGO runs news during the morning and afternoon drive, and an hour of news at noon. Its news coverage tends to have more anchor banter, longer stories, and lighter stories than the hard news format of KCBS.

KGO was the radio broadcast home for the San Francisco 49ers football team until 2005. It still broadcasts the college football games of the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears.

Click here for an unathorized look at KGO's history since 1992.

Annual Cure-a-Thon

Every year, KGO hosts an annual fundraiser named the KGO Cure-a-Thon to help raise money for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. All of the station's regular programming is preempted for an entire day for the event. Listeners are encouraged to call in donate money to help fight cancer. An auction is also held to help raise money. Notable items have included a trip with Gene Burns on a private jet to various destinations such as Las Vegas or Italy.

At the end of the Cure-a-Thon, Ray Taliaferro generally encourages more donations by shouting his signature phrase that "It is not enough." The Cure-a-Thon then continues past the designated 24 hour mark (with encouragement from Ray), causing the station management to have a fit because advertisers have paid for advertising that isn't being broadcast. However, this long running joke was spoofed in 2006 when the Cure-a-Thon was planned to run a bit over 24 hours.

please help to expand the cure-a-thon section

Daily Hosts

Weekend Hosts

Newscasters/Reporters

Substitute Hosts

Former regular and guest hosts

Syndicated Hosts

See also

External links

Disney radio stations | Radio stations in the San Francisco Bay Area | Radio stations in California | Class A radio stations in North America

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "KGO (AM)".

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