What is the deal with KGO Radio in SF?

[ailsagirl]

My whole family used to listen to it for years, then it went through some sort of extreme metamorphosis and now I can't figure out what kind of talk show it is. The only two times I've listened to it, the host "John" did not sound like a dumpster at all-- i.e., the views he was expressing were definitely not pro-dumpster. I didn't wait to hear, but I suppose there were all manner of crackpots calling in-- I just wasn't sure. A person can take only so much!

So does anyone know where KGO falls on the political spectrum?

[RockRaven]

1. Owned by Cumulus, who also owns 560 KSFO (which airs the usual syndicated RW trash)

810 KGO airs slightly-less-mainstream, slightly-less-well-known stuff, most of which is libertarian, or Repuke, or tin foil hat, etc., but some of which is more left-leaning -- depends on the program/host. But the unifying feature is that most of it is unlistenable garbage, IMO, regardless of the political orientation.

[ailsagirl]

8. I still think Rothmann is pretty "normal"

The rest sound like some sort of rag-tag conglomeration-- no thanks!

[Clash City Rocker]

2. Oh, that was a unique radio station back in the day

I haven’t lived there for awhile, but I know they were cutting back on the talk radio shows and going more to a straight news format.

I miss Gene Burns. He was amazing. All good things must come to an end, I guess.

[ailsagirl]

9. It sure was-- miss it!

[Adsos Letter]

3. It's a mix.

The morning show is pretty right-wing (Armstrong & Getty) then Mark Thompson, who used to be on KFI (Conservative L.A.) but leans left, then Pat Thurston (Progressive) as are Chip Franklin and Nikki Madoro. The evening show is John Rothmann (used to be a Republican, definitely anti-Trump policies, and thinks the country is in great danger from the current Republican Administration and Congress). After 9:00pm it's back to right-wing with John Bachelor.

I've listened to KGO for 45 years, with the exception of the years where they went to the all=news format. I stopped listening out of protest over the way they axed their talk lineup (Ray Talliaferro, Gene Burns, John Rothmann).

It all seems like pretty much a dog and pony show anymore.

[Auggie]

5. I stopped listening after the purge too

That was back in December 2011. A real heartbreaker.

[ailsagirl]

6. Ahhh... that makes sense now

It was Rothmann I'd heard those two times and, yes, "definitely anti-Trump policies, and thinks the country is in great danger from the current Republican Administration and Congress)."

He seemed so normal that it was confusing. Now it makes sense.

Thanks for the summary!

[Adsos Letter]

10. Rothmann is an interesting guy.

Worked for the Nixon campaign and (I think) was in the White House during Watergate, considered an expert on “American Politics and the Presidency.”

I listen to his show just about every evening (6:00-9:00) and generally have kgo on in the background throughout the day; I’ll even listen to A&G in the morning to hear how the Right is spinning things.

Rothmann loves to confront Trumpers with actual facts to refute their BS.

[ailsagirl]

11. I'll have to start listening to him

Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2019, 10:46 PM - Edit history (1)

What I can't listen to are the crazies that call in-- the mute button comes in handy.

[Brother Buzz]

12. Rothmann goes back to Goldwater - He attended the 1964 Republican National Convention....

in San Francisco as a teen. He was brought up 'Old School Republican', but he's one of the better progressive voices out there today.

I've met and talked with him twice and can say with authority, he is scary smart and has a near perfect photographic memory. Hell, he can read a 500 page tome in three, four hours and can quote from it almost verbatim.

I would consider him an expert on american politics and the presidency, but believe it or not, his real expertise is vice presidents; nobody, past or present, knows more about vice presidents than John Rothmann. Nobody!

[ailsagirl]

15. Interesting

I'd to listen to him if I could zap all commercials AND all callers.

[Thunderbeast]

4. My dad kept Ira Blue on all night when I was a kid

We could pick it up in Portland at night.

Broadcast from the "Hungry Eye" in North Beach.

[ailsagirl]

7. Those were the days...

[CountAllVotes]

13. No more Ray Taliaferro

I realize the Ray is now deceased but I used to listen to him from 1-5 a.m. every week day night.

KGO is sure not what it once was and sure doesn't represent San Francisco very well any longer.

[ailsagirl]

14. That's for damn sure!!!

[CountAllVotes]

17. When I heard he had died ...

Oh my!



RIP Ray! You were loved by many, myself being one of them!

[Brother Buzz]

16. Ray's biggest feather in his cap was discovering and introducing us to PNAC...

months before the rest of the nation learned. Apparently he stumbled across an article by an obscure Scottish journalist, and said, "What?", and started connecting the dots.

PNAC was hiding in plain sight. Everything from "Statement of Principles" to opinion pieces on regime change in Iraq was parked in a quiet little web page just waiting to be read, including the smoking gun, "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor", all before 911.