Cumulus Media has pulled the plug on the News/Talk format on 810 KGO San Francisco .
Midday host Mark Thompson was abruptly taken off the air around 10:16 this morning quickly signing off with “This is KGO San Francisco, A Cumulus Media station” before a stunt loop began. The station is currently running a loop clearly teasing a Sports Betting format, “The most unique radio station in the Bay Area is coming on Monday. You can bet on it”. The sweepers include song clips referring to gambling and making money.
A message on KGORadio.com states, “Today we say goodbye to the legendary KGO.
Over the last 80 years, KGO has been here for Bay area listeners covering and discussing all the news that has impacted our world and local communities. 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.
On Monday, 810am begins a new era. We hope you will tune in.”
Under ABC ownership, KGO was the dominant player in the Bay Area with Ratings Expert Chris Huff noting the station had 125 consecutive #1 ratings periods from 1978-2008. Its demise began with the shift from diary to PPM measurement and then multiple retoolings under Citadel Media and Cumulus. The station ranked 20th in the September Nielsen Audio ratings with a 1.7 share trending up from a 1.2 and 1.5 the previous two months.
Thanks to everyone who has reached out on this day…
Yes, the KGO we knew as a talk station is going away.
The broadcast industry and all ad-supported legacy media are in brutal times.
Sadly, that brutality hit us suddenly and completely.— mark thompson marktlive.eth (@MarkTLive) October 6, 2022
We worked so hard to create a fun, energetic and interesting show. It sucks that we are forced to close it up.
Hoping I can reconstitute our show as a podcast.
But this all just happened so no plan yet.This sucks, for sure.
— mark thompson marktlive.eth (@MarkTLive) October 6, 2022