Stan Burford to retire after long career

Burford

Traffic reporter Stan Burford is retiring Sept. 28 after 51 years in the Bay Area broadcasting business, including 32 years at KGO-AM.

"I've achieved everything over the years that I've set out to do and my various roles have been extremely rewarding. Now, I'll get to spend more time with my wife and family," he said.

In the 1960s, he was the traffic reporter on radio powerhouse KSFO, a station headed up by icons such as Don Sherwood and Jim Lange. But Burford lost his job after a joke he made on the air rubbed Sherwood the wrong way, according to his bio in the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Northern California newsletter.

He went on to bigger and better things including jobs at KPIX, Metromedia's KNEW Channel 32 and Kaiser's KBHK Channel 44. He would eventually head the production department at KGO-TV, where he oversaw 22 producers, 19 directors and a dozen production assistants. He also was an executive with a production company that made shows for the Disney Channel and PBS.

In 1988, he returned to KGO TV and began reporting traffic from the Sky7 helicopter, and he was on the air, and in the air, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit on Oct. 17, 1989.

"I was in a plane over Berkeley at the time," he told the NATAS Norcal newsletter. "I flew until 1 a.m. the next morning. I reportred what I saw below — the detours, the devastation — for days. Those were four days of my life I will never forget. ...

"It was important for me at the time to get information out over the air. ... The status of the Bay Bridge, the freeways ... where you could go, where you couldn't go," Burford said.

Burford has won 14 Emmy awards and 10 RTNDA awards, and is a member of the Bay Area Broadcast Legends. (Photo credit: KGO-AM)

KGO-AM/KSFO moves in with KNBR, KFOG, etc.

The new KGO-AM newsroom at 55 Hawthorne St.

KGO 810 and sister station KSFO 560 have completed their move from the ABC Broadcast Center at 900 Front St. to Cumulus Media’s studios at 55 Hawthorne St. in the South of Market area.

There’s been the occasional glitch, such as on Sunday when a new phone system prevented KGO host Christine Craft from letting her callers talk to her guest, suspended sheriff Ross Mirkarimi.

But the most awkward moments might be taking place at the watercooler or in the hallway, says media blogger Rich Lieberman. That’s because KGO’s staff is unionized while the other broadcasters at 55 Hawthorne who work at KNBR, KFOG, etc., are non-union.

Lieberman also says that Cumulus wants to buy out KGO talker Ron Owens’ contract by August or September, before it expires in January. (Photo from KGO-AM website.)

Gil Gross gets afternoon slot on 910 AM

Gross

Veteran broadcaster Gil Gross, one of the hosts KGO-AM sacked last November, will become the permanent 4-7 p.m. host at Clear Channel’s KKSF NewsTalk 910, the station announced today.

Also, former KGO late-night host John Rothmann has been hired as 910’s political analyst. He will contribute to the station’s newscasts and talk shows. He will also host 910’s election night coverage.

Gross was one of a group of former KGO hosts has been substituting for Gene Burns in the 4-7 p.m. time slot since January. Burns, a month after he was fired by KGO, was hired by 910 AM, but suffered a stroke before he was able to start his new job. So Gross, Rosie Allen, Ed Baxter, Rothmann and Bill Wattenburg rotated the afternoon shift.

Baxter has been hired by KKSF to do a feature called “Making Sense,” which will air every day.

Gross will follow former KGO legal guru Len Tillem, whose advice show airs from 3-4 p.m. on 910.

KGO-AM overnight slot goes conservative

With the exception of Bill Wattenburg, the KGO-AM’s hosts fired Dec. 1 could be described as “left of center” or liberal. And that included Ray Taliferro, who held down the overnight shift for decades. Now in the overnight slot is a national program, “Red Eye Radio,” hosted by Gary McNamara and Eric Harley out of Dallas. They’re unabashed conservatives. Their show is carried on other Cumulus stations including WABC New York. When KGO was owned by ABC, Disney and Citadel, the conservative hosts were carried by sister station KSFO 560. But in the overnight slot, KSFO airs George Noory’s popular “Coast to Coast,” which delves into topics such as UFOs, mind-readers, psychics and calls about chemtrails (airline exhausts laced with mind-controlling drugs). KSFO veered away from its “hot talk” conservative format last year when it added syndicated talker John Bachelor in the 6-8 p.m. time slot. While Bachelor might be a conservative, his show features phone interviews with journalists of all political persuasions discussing international events.

Luckoff can't find a station for his newstalk format

It doesn't look as if former KGO-AM president and gm Mickey Luckoff is going to find a station where he can bring back his station's former format with its recently fired hosts. Here's a letter Luckoff sent to those who have been working with him on this project (courtesy of RadioInk):

As promised I have made every conceivable effort to accomplish the goal as we originally discussed. I have exhausted every conceivable opportunity to package and relocate our incredible newstalk team in its entirety. Much to my dismay there is not a single facility with a market wide signal available to purchase, lease (LMA) or to be made available by one of the multiple owners to adopt the format at this time. 

Luckoff

We have dealt with brokers, owners, consultants, lawyers, local market managers and conglomerate owners in our quest to buy, lease, or if necessary to give the talent lineup and format to a wise owner/operator. Our P&L projection which was developed by a highly skilled industry financial expert was so good we were astounded that one of the corporate entities neglected to jump at the opportunity.

What we learned was of the three remaining multiple owners one was interested in doing it 'on the cheap' on a limited AM facility. One major company literally said, "If we're interested we'll call you," and the best of the remaining groups with the ideal FM facility after 2 weeks said, "Not now, maybe next year." 

In spite of the fact we had a major leak(er) among us (which at one point I feared would sink our ship) it ultimately is the total lack of courage and imagination among current day owners and operators which prevents us from returning as a (profitable) format which would also have dominated Bay Area newstalk audiences for the foreseeable future.

I have turned over very possible rock I am aware of in my effort to make this happen. While I am flattered and honored with your trust, confidence and loyalty to the group it saddens me to realize this cannot be accomplished at this time. I do hope we are able to stay in touch with each other in the days ahead.

Please accept my deepest and sincere good wishes for the future.

Meanwhile, two of his former stars, Len Tillem and Gene Burns, have landed jobs at Clear Channel's 910 AM (see below).

UPDATE, 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6: The Pacific Sun, a weekly newspaper in Marin County, has posted a lengthy interview with Luckoff in which he details his efforts to find a new station for his former hosts and discusses the state of the radio industry in general. A few quotes:

• I don't think the public realizes how badly they're being fleeced by the radio industry. I think a story like KGO talk going away awakens people. 

• [The fleecing of the public] started with the government deregulation of broadcast ownership about 20 years ago. There used to be limits on the number of stations companies could own. When the Federal Communications Commission removed the limits of the number of stations that these companies could own, that was the beginning of the end. Then Wall Street people started investing. They came in and pillaged the product. Run it cheap. Throw syndicated programming on the stations. To hell with the listeners. 

• When KGO was owned by ABC, Cap Cities and even Disney, all of the managers would go to Washington at least once a year to meet with our congresspeople. We knew them all, because they were guests on KGO. On one trip, the company told us that we were pitching deregulation to our congresspeople. I said — I don't want deregulation. I think it's the worst thing that can happen. They told me that's what the company wants. ... Do you remember Jim Topping? He was the manager of KGO-TV. Very well spoken fellow. We were visiting Anna Eshoo (Democratic congresswoman representing parts of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties). I'm sitting in the back of the room. Jim is spieling deregulation. Anna looks back at me and I'm shaking my head. She said, "Gentlemen, the day will never come when I'm going to vote for deregulating broadcasting."

KGO-AM paying for news tips

KGO Radio, which recently switched to all-news from noon to midnight, is opening its checkbook for news tips. “Become a part of the KGO 810 Mobile News Team and you could win $810!” the station’s website says. “Send us breaking news 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and at the end of each month we will pay $810 to the listener who submits the best story.”

Protest planned over KGO 810 firings

The format change at KGO-AM and the firing of hosts such as Gil Gross, Gene Burns, John Rothmann, Len Tillem, Bill Wattenburg and Ray Talifero has sparked plans for a protest at the station, 900 Front St., on Thursday, Dec. 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Media blogger Rich Lieberman is encouraging people to bring signs. He writes, “Let the stooges know you won’t back down.” Here’s a link to the Occupy KGO page on Facebook. A second protest is set for Dec. 30.

In related news, KSCO-AM 1080 in Monterey (10,000 watts daytime, 5,000 nighttime) is offering jobs to all of the fired hosts, according to radiosurvivor.com. Wattenburg will be guest hosting the station’s morning show this week.

KSCO owner Michael Zwerling says the firing of the hosts is indicative of KGO owner Cumulus Media’s “contempt for both the talent and the listeners” and management’s “incredible, Darwin-award-winning stupidity.”

Advertisers dropping KGO-AM after format change

Media blogger Rich Lieberman was the first to report the shakeup at KGO 810. We earlier incorrectly said that Matier & Ross had the scoop. Rich has been following the story closely, getting a lot of reports from insiders. If you haven’t been to his blog, here’s a link.

He reports that Rector Porshe Audi, Airport Home Appliance, Just Remnants, Burgermeister and C Crane Radio have pulled their spots.

As for the mood at 900 Front St., Lieberman quotes on anonymous employee as saying:

“It's been really bad. And unfortunate. They should have scheduled practice runs. There's lots of angry e-mails. And the number of listeners calling the station to protest the format switch has overwhelmed the newsroom phone system. There have been threats too.”

In addition to firing Gil Gross, Gene Burns, John Rothmann and Ray Taliferro, two other popular hosts were shown the door — Sonoma attorney Len Tillem ("How come you're cawlin' a loy-yuh?") and nuclear physicist and conservative Bill Wattenburg. Also fired was weatherman Lloyd Lindsay Young, replaced by ABC7 weather staffers.

Len Tillem.

Hosts who survived, in addition to the well-paid Ronn Owens (rumored to be making $1 million a year), were Pat Thurston, Karel and Brian Copeland.

Owens is on vacation in Hawaii this week and next week, and Copeland is filling in. Owens said his vacation was approved by management long before the shakeup, but for listeners tuning in between 9 and noon, it gives the impression that he was swept out the door, too.

Wattenburg, who has been on KGO since 1972, told Examiner.com blogger Ed Walsh that he was fired during a three-minute phone call. He said he viewed the switch to all-news in the afternoons as a mistake but he wished them luck.

Bill Wattenburg.

“There are other stations that want to enter the talk radio business in the Bay Area and West Coast ... Killing KGO talk radio will make it much easier for new stations to build up instant audience very quickly. The hosts fired from KGO take with them a combined audience 10 times greater that any new talk radio station could hope to create in several years if they start with unknowns in the business. Surely, the new stations will have places for those released from KGO. And they will profit very nicely with no start up delays. Many of the talk radio sponsors want some place to go.”

Dickey

Lieberman reports that shortly after Atlanta-based Cumulus Media acquired KGO in September, CEO Lew Dickey told Wattenberg that he had listened to him since Dickey was at Stanford, and that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Another casualty of the KGO shakeup is the ABC hourly news during daytime hours. Apparently the network on-the-hour newscasts will still air on weekends and overnight.


Meanwhile, KGO has moved the ABC Radio top- and bottom-of-the-hour news to :15 and :45 during daytime hours, and is promoting the fact that they now carry 10 minutes of Bay Area news at the top of the hour.

(Photo credits: Wattenburg shot by Michael Maloney of the Chronicle; Tillem from the JWeekly; Dickey from the Cumulus Media website.)

KGO-AM will go to news from 2 p.m. to midnight

In a stunning move, Cumulus-owned KGO-AM has decided to switch to all-news from 2 p.m. to midnight starting Monday, and has sacked hosts Gil Gross (2-4 p.m.), Gene Burns (7-10 p.m.), John Rothmann (10-1 a.m.) and Ray Taliaferro (1-5 a.m.).

Ronn Owens (9-noon) will survive as will Brian Copeland, who has a weekend show.

The story was first reported by media blogger Rich Lieberman, followed by Matier & Ross. Radio-Info.com has some interesting comments. (Earlier, we said Matier & Ross were first, but Lieberman beat them by a couple of hours.)

Radio-Info says the weekends will apparently stay mostly talk. As for overnights, there’s speculation that Cumulus Media-syndicated talker Doug McIntyre will take over Talifero’s slot. Talifero has been at KGO since 1977.

KGO had been the market leader for decades, but lost that position two years ago after KCBS added an FM frequency and moved up to No. 1.

The move means that the Bay Area will have three news stations, including KQED 88.5, which has added several local newscasts throughout the day.

Whether San Francisco listeners want that much news remains to be seen. Los Angeles can only support one all-news station, KNX 1070. Then again, KGO’s future might be brighter if Cumulus put KGO on one of its three FM stations.

With the switch, KGO is dropping its “Newstalk 810” label and replacing it with “KGO-810, the Bay Area news and information station.”

UPDATE, 10 a.m., Dec. 2: Peter Finch, the morning newsman on KFOG, will be joining KGO when it changes its format on Monday. Both stations are now owned by Cumulus Media.

Ronn Owens said on his show this morning that he has a sense of "survivor's guilt" for being the only major host to survive the shakeup. He said he feels sorry for his fellow hosts, who he regarded as his friends.

“When I heard about the new format, what we’re doing more news and all of that, if it included my friends, I’d be thrilled to death,” Owens said. “I’m still excited about the new format, but I feel guilty. I feel guilty being the one guy who is left."

Owens defended the format change, explaining that KGO had begun to slip in the ratings.

"This is an iconic station. We’ve been around forever. We’ve been known as the best station in the country. And all of a sudden we started to slip more and more and more. So management comes in and says, ’This is not working. We’ve got to do something that will work.’ They came up with a concept that I think will work," Owens said at the beginning of his 9'O clock hour today.

Swanson out at KGO-KSFO as Cumulus takes over

Swanson

Jack Swanson, longtime executive at KGO-AM and KSFO, is leaving the stations which recently changed hands from Citadel to Cumulus. He said in an email to his staff that he and wife Melanie Morgan will be “going to a very small island very far away to recharge, and think and reinvent.” He emphasized that he is not retiring.

“This has been a tremendous run,” Swanson said in the email.  “Cumulus is inheriting the greatest staff in the radio industry. To a person, they are all rock stars.”

"I will be popping up somewhere soon,” he said in the email with the subject line "Farewell.”

He has been with KGO for 28 years, rising to operations manager and has a string of 120 No. 1 rating books for KGO, an eye-popper for his resume.

Also leaving is Ken Berry, program director at KSFO since 2009. Berry was news director at KGO in the 1980s and 90s. Radio Ink says that in addition to Swanson and Berry, six other people were let go.

Swanson was the right-hand man of Mickey Luckoff, who headed the stations for decades and left last year in a noisy spat with Citadel management.

“He will be sorely missed,” said KSFO fill-in host David Gold in a post on his blog. “It is so sad to witness radio consolidation result in diminished radio. Sad day.”

Media blogger Rich Lieberman is predicting that management will cancel KGO's "Afternoon News," though he cites no source for that information.

Last week, longtime KABC/KLOS Los Angeles president and gm Bob Moore was let go by Cumulus, fueling talk of a bloodbath at the former Citadel stations.

Mabel from Livermore, don't bother calling KGO

Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman says that KGO-AM is cutting off older callers as the station attempts to reach a younger demo. “It’s no secret that younger (read: A25-54) cute-sounding housewives from, say, Walnut Creek or Burlingame are given far more time than the old geezer from the outer avenues. Sounds harsh, but it's true and it’s entirely consistently with KGO's almost obscene over-embracement of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.”

Gene Burns has medical scare prior to show

Burns

KGO-AM talk show host Gene Burn had a medical scare prior to this show on Wednesday night that resulted in paramedics showing up to the station on Front Street, according to Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman. Lieberman said Burns fell to the ground during his pre-show prepping. He was OK, however, and able to do his 7-10 p.m. program. Burns has suffered a number of medical problems in the past year, prompting speculation about whether he's going to be retiring soon.

KGO-AM/KSFO hires digital director

KGO-AM and KSFO are looking to expand their digital offerings with the hiring of a new digital director, Suzie Larson, who was the web program director at Cumulus Broadcasting from 2006 to 2010. Prior to that, she did online journalism at Mother Jones and U.S. News and World Report. Larson, a San Francisco resident, plans to join KGO/KSFO on Dec. 28.

KGO-AM news director to program KSFO

KGO-AM 810 News Director Ken Berry is taking over the role of program director at KSFO "Hot Talk" 560, the station that airs Brian Sussman and Rush Limbaugh.

Former KGO-AM news director Paul Hosley, who left in 2009 to start his own social media company, will return to KGO as news and social media director.

The changes are effective Dec. 29.

Jack Swanson remains as operations manager and program director for KGO.

Citadel backs off of "shocking" pay plan

When Mickey Luckoff resigned at KGO-AM/KSFO GM and President, he slammed Farid Suleman, the CEO and chairman of station owner Citadel Broadcasting. Luckoff told Ben Fong-Torres:

Luckoff

Everything that the CBS people warned us about came true: total control, can't spend a dime, and you'd have to go through layers ... And then you found out that the layers were one person. He's something else. He has no regard for people whatsoever. He's apparently pretty damned skilled financially. To be able to overpay for the ABC Radio group, take the company into bankruptcy, come out of it, pay every one of his hand picked (board) directors $1 million each and get himself a $43 million package (in grants of stock) is unbelievable.

Luckoff isn't alone in thinking executive compensation at Citadel was out of line. The New York Times blog DealBook reports:

In a highly unusual move, the board and management of Citadel Broadcasting have agreed to rescind $110 million in stock compensation after R2 Investments, a hedge fund based in Dallas, attacked the radio company for its executive compensation practices, according to a court filing late Tuesday in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. 

Suleman

R2 Investments accused Citadel’s management and directors of “a shocking display of corporate greed and dishonesty” for rewarding themselves with stock grants worth $110 million — more than $55 million to its chief executive. 

The Citadel board also awarded more than $1.35 million of stock to each of its members — “a disturbing game of quid pro quo,” the filing by R2 contended. 

A spokesman for R2 declined to comment. 

R2 asked the judge to revoke the stock award “to prevent one of the most egregious frauds by a company emerging from bankruptcy under Chapter 11.”

In Tuesday’s filing, Citadel’s lawyers said the company’s board would issue stock options instead of common shares.

Luckoff resigns, citing disagreements with Citadel

Luckoff with his Radio Hall of Fame award.

Longtime KGO-AM and KSFO president and gm Mickey Luckoff abruptly resigned today, citing disagreements with the stations' owner, Citadel Communications.

"The day you're not able to stand behind or believe in the decisions you are being asked to make is the day you must be true to yourself and to those you care about," he said in a letter to staff that was obtained by the SF Business Journal. "Thus I am closing my door for the final time here at KGO and KSFO."

"I have repeatedly assured our incredibly talented and loyal staff that I would stay until they or the on-air product we created became compromised," Luckoff said in the letter. "Unfortunately, that time has come."

Luckoff, who has headed KGO-AM for 35 years and run KSFO since the mid-1990s, said there was no single event that precipitated his resignation, but that his disagreements with station ownership have accumulated over time.

"I've had a resignation letter in my desk for nine months," he said.

Luckoff said he plans to write a book on his 52 years in the radio industry and will remain active with foundations. He's also planning to get married.

UPDATE 5 P.M. — Luckoff told Andrew S. Ross of the Chronicle that he didn't like how he was being treated by his Citadel bosses in Las Vegas.

"I'm used to running a first-class operation, but they were constantly going behind my back and over my head. Nobody knew who they were supposed to report to. That's the way they operate."

Luckoff also told Ross: "These aren't good people ... They don't treat people well. They undermine you at every turn."

KGO-AM falls to No. 3 over holidays

People love Christmas music. A lot of people do. Because KOIT-FM jumped from third to first during the holiday season (from 4.3% in November to 8.1%) when it switched to all Christmas music. KGO-AM 810, which has been No. 1 since the Marconi era, fell to third. Remaining at No. 2 in both surveys was KCBS, which was likely bolstered by its FM signal (now just a year old). Here's a link to the Arbitron ratings at Radio-Info.com. And here's the usual disclaimer. Cumes are only beauty contest figures and they don't matter to advertisers. Advertisers buy time based on listenership in key demos, like women 18-49, etc.

Almost forgot the South Bay. KBAY-FM, which also switched to Christmas music, was No. 1 with 9.8%. But KBAY is often No. 1 in the South Bay. No surprise there. KOIT surged, going from 3.1 to 6.0. When it comes to News and News/Talk in the South Bay, KCBS is tops (No. 3 overall) and next is KSFO (No. 7). No. 8 is KQED and ninth is KGO. KLIV 1590, San Jose's all news station, is 29th.

“How come you’re cawlin’ a loy-yuh?”

That's the question attorney Len Tillem asks on his top-rated noon-hour show on KGO 810. Andy Altman-Ohr of the J weekly profiled the 65-year-old Sonoma attorney. Turns out that Tillem's sister screens every call, and only articulate people with salacious and interesting sagas make it on air. “I get e-mails how rude she is, which is her job,” Tillem says. “We are not Legal Aid. We are not there to help people on the telephone. We are there to find interesting calls so we can entertain an audience.”

“To this day, I still don’t understand why the show is so popular,” the ever-humble Tillem says. “A lot of people come up to me and try to do the imitation, ‘Why ya cawlin’ a loy-yuh?’ But that’s not it. I think it’s because people like the stories from the callers.”

John Rothmann gets the Bernie Ward slot

KGO Newstalk 810 announced today that long-time overnight weekend host John Rothmann will become the permanent host of the 10 p.m.-1 a.m. time slot beginning Monday.

That time slot has been vacant since the arrest of Bernie Ward on child porn charges in 2007. A number of hosts have been filling in, including Rothmann.

Rothmann has been at KGO since August of 1996 when he was brought on as a fill-in. Then, in October of 1997 he was pegged for the overnight weekend show where he has been ever since. He has lectured on American politics, the Presidency and the Middle East throughout the United States, Canada, and Israel.

“As an author, teacher, and political consultant, John will definitely keep up
his end of the of the conversation on the air,” said President and General Manager Mickey Luckoff.

“I’m thrilled”, exclaimed Rothmann “and can’t wait to get started!”

Rothmann co-authored a book with David G. Dallin entitled "Icon of Evil" that comes out in paperback later this month.

John is a 4th generation San Franciscan and lives with his wife, Ellen, and their two sons, Samuel and Joel, in the city by the Bay.

Gross responds to comments about advertisers

KGO-AM's Gil Gross responded to some of the comments that were posted after our Aug. 28 item "Gil Gross drops sponsor over rape case." But a lot of people don't read the comment or only get the e-mail version of the Press Club blog (which doesn't include comments). So we've decided to repeat his response below for everyone to see.

Hi, it's Gil. ... let me answer those questions. For Purina I actually met with their vets and ran by everything with my own vet who is one of the handful [78] of board certified feline specialists of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in the world. My two cats also use Purina One and have done amazingly well on it.

The investment adviser you mention wasn't a sponsor of mine but he also wasn't touting AIG products. He made trades through them and that part of AIG was not a part of the CDO scandal. It just processed stock trades. In any case, because the tie lead to misunderstandings he switched firms, but the AIG name was on there until he could make the change because by law he has to state what firm he is using to make trades so people can check to make sure he IS making them [which is why Madoff never answered that question when clients asked him who processed his trades. The answer turned out to be no one, because there never were any. Ironically, if he had advertised, his ruse actually would have been unmasked at the start.]

Yes, there are some spots on our station that drive us nuts, but they are generally not KGO generated, though I understand that is lost on the listener because it all sounds alike. Some are spots from the network and companies that help supply traffic, business reports etc; We have MUCH less of it than most stations because we don't use long form syndicated programming, but some of it is inescapable. I hope that clears it up. Frankly, I have never worked at a station that has stayed on the up and up on these matters as much as KGO, and when I made my decision in the case of this one client, there was absolutely no dispute from sales or management and I can promise you, that would NOT have been the case at 99% of other stations on the air.

As for the advertising claims that newspapers and weeklies routinely accept, I'm much more comfortable with our standards. When we start running hooker and massage parlor ads and the like, we will have come down to print standards. That would be a long drop from where we are.