KSFO (810 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, featuring a conservative talk radio format. Owned by Cumulus Media, KSFO's studios are on Battery Street in San Francisco's Financial District. KSFO used the call sign KGO from 1924 to 2024.
KSFO's transmitter site is in Fremont, near the Dumbarton Bridge, where its prominent towers are used by pilots as a landmark when navigating. KSFO broadcasts with 50,000 watts, the highest power permitted for AM stations by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It uses a directional antenna with a three-tower array. Most of its signal is sent north and south to avoid interfering with the other Class A station on 810 AM, WGY in Schenectady. Most nights, using a good radio, KSFO can be heard throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Due to its extensive groundwave signal, its daytime coverage extends into many areas of Northern California.
History 1920s and 1930s After several late-night test broadcasts, using the experimental call sign 6XG, the station signed on, as KGO, on January 8, 1924. It broadcast from General Electric's (GE) Oakland transformer manufacturing plant."New K. G. O. Will Open Tomorrow", Oakland Tribune, January 8, 1924, p. 15. (The original two-story brick building, constructed specifically for the station on East 14th Street, was demolished sometime in the 1980s.) The station was authorized for a then-impressive transmitting power of 1,000 watts."New stations", Radio Service Bulletin, February 1, 1924, page 2. KGO was part of GE's three-station holdings, in addition to WGY in Schenectady, New York, and KOA in Denver, Colorado. At its debut it was known as the "Sunset Station", because it was GE's West Coast outlet."KGO, 'Sunset' Station, Ready to Broadcast", Washington (DC) Evening Star, January 8, 1924, page 3.
As was the custom with early radio stations, the programming consisted of performances by local talent, including the KGO Orchestra. which provided some of the music, and a dramatic group known as the KGO Players, which performed weekly plays and short skits, often under the direction of Bay Area drama instructor Wilda Wilson Church. The station's music, which was also performed by other local orchestras and vocalists, included classical selections as well as popular dance music the next night. Due to GE's association with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and RCA's 1927 launch of the NBC Red Network, KGO was soon operated by NBC management out of studio facilities in San Francisco.
The March 28, 1928, reauthorization of the Radio Act of 1927 included a provision, known as the Davis Amendment, which mandated an "equality of radio broadcasting service" within the United States. This specified an "equitable allocation" among five regional zones. On November 11, 1928, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) implemented a major broadcasting station reallocation, based on its General Order 40. Included in this band plan was the designation of what became known as "clear channel" stations, which were high powered stations with extensive nighttime coverage. This plan designated 40 U.S. clear channels, divided eight to each region, with KGO, on 790 kHz, included as one of the Region 5 assignments."The Listener's Dial" The only other station assigned to 790 kHz was WGY."Revised list of broadcasting stations, by frequencies, effective 3 a. m., November 11, 1928, eastern standard time", Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission for the Year Ended June 30, 1928, Together With Supplemental Report for the Period From July 1, 1928, to September 30, 1928, pages 200-214. KGO and WGY were both owned by GE, with WGY considered the company's showcase station. GE was able to effectively transfer KGO's clear channel assignment from Region 5 to WGY's Region 1, by increasing the power of WGY to 50,000 watts, while limiting KGO to 7,500 watts. (Directional antennas were not developed until the early 1930s, so both stations operated with non-directional antennas.) Any question about the propriety of this action became moot after the Davis Amendment was repealed on June 5, 1936.
1940s and 1950s In 1941, stations on 790, including WGY and KGO, were moved to 810 as part of the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA)."United States station assignments by frequency", Arrangement between the United States of America, Canada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico, comprising recommendations of the North American Regional Radio-Engineering Meeting (supplemental to North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, Habana, 1937). Signed at Washington January 30, 1941; effective March 29, 1941, pages 1421–1443.
When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required NBC to sell one of its two networks (and that network's owned-and-operated stations), KGO's license switched from Radio Corporation of America to the Blue Network, Inc., effective January 23, 1942. The NBC Blue Network initially simply dropped "NBC" from its name to become the "Blue Network", then in June 1945 became the American Broadcasting Company. KGO became one of the founding stations of the ABC Radio Network as a result.
In the post World War 2 period, KGO produced many live music programs, including that of Western Swing bandleader Bob Wills, whose music was a staple of the time. KGO was instrumental in bringing the first exercise show to broadcasting, hosted by Jack LaLanne, a fitness instructor and gym operator in nearby Oakland. LaLanne conducted his radio fitness show for many years on KGO, moving in the late 1950s to KGO-TV and a successful TV syndication career.
On December 1, 1947, KGO's power was increased to 50,000 watts, as it switched to a directional antenna that limited its signal toward WGY in the west, while WGY continued to operate with a non-directional antenna. It was reported at the time that KGO's upgrade "retired the nation's oldest regularly operating transmitter-a 7,500-watter... in use since Jan. 8, 1924".
By the late 1950s, KGO suffered from poor ratings. In 1962, ABC installed new management, including program director Jim Dunbar from Chicago sister station WLS. Dunbar revamped the station into one of the country's first news/talk stations. While the new format was initially unsuccessful, Dunbar stressed the "live and local" aspect of the programming by running the talk shows every day from locations such as Johnny Kan's Chinese restaurant, Señor Pico's Restaurant, and the hungry i nightclub. This higher profile caused KGO's ratings to begin a steady climb. Among KGO's personalities during this period was future Radio Hall of Fame member J.P. McCarthy, the station's morning host in the early 1960s.
1960s–1980s After trying various formats, KGO eventually shifted to news and talk programming, relying heavily on the ABC radio network for its news programs. KGO started carrying Paul Harvey's twice-daily programs but also began to develop a strong local news staff that produced extended morning and afternoon newscasts. The local talk show hosts included Les Crane, Owen Spann and Jim Eason, who often interviewed visiting celebrities in the KGO studios. Owen Spann also originated special broadcasts from Europe and Africa, interviewing government officials from those countries. Local director-actor Jack Brooks hosted a Saturday-morning entertainment program until his sudden death in June 1984, after directing a production of Kismet for the Capuchino Community Theatre that featured Jim Eason as the poet Omar Khayyám. Dr. Dean Edell began his regular medical programs at KGO, leading to nationally syndicated broadcasts
Two of KGO's three towers partially collapsed during the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989. All three were replaced.
1990s–2010s
In March 2008, solar panels were installed at KGO's transmitter site in Fremont, California, to offset some of its power consumption during daytime hours. The installation was a test bed for Pacific Gas and Electric Company and is located near the Dumbarton Bridge. The solar system uses both CPV (SolFocus) and PV (Premier Power) arrays and provides about 17 kilowatts, or 33% (one third), of the radio frequency (RF) power output from the 50 kW transmitter (or about one-tenth of the total power consumption of their transmitter site over a 24-hour period). United States Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi turned the system on during an on-air ceremony."KGO Flips the Solar Switch" by Tom Vernon, December 18, 2008 (radioworld.com)
For over 30 years, from July 1978 to January 2009, KGO was the number-one station in the San Francisco Bay Area in the Arbitron ratings, a feat unmatched by any other station in the United States. According to the 2010 Arbitron ratings, however, KGO had lost its lead to KCBS, with KOIT-FM as a close second, and KGO listing at third. When KGO switched to all-news in December 2011, it fell further behind in the local ratings. As of Spring 2013, KGO placed 16th in the market, with approximately half of their listenership when they were number one.
Until December 5, 2011, KGO created nearly all of its own local programming, with very limited syndicated content. The majority of its programs were hosted by San Francisco Bay Area broadcasters. The daily schedule included many issues-oriented talk shows, with weekday hosts that included Gene Burns, Gil Gross, Ronn Owens, John Rothmann and lawyer Len Tillem. The station also carried a variety of specialty programs, particularly on weekends, with John Hamilton discussing travel and leisure, Gene Burns covering fine food and dining (on a show separate from his weekday program), Joanie Greggains hosting a health-and-fitness program, and Brent Walters, who teaches "Comparative Religions" at San Jose State University, hosting the early Sunday morning show, God Talk. In 2014, KGO brought in John Batchelor at midnight. News/talk weekend hosts now include Brian Copeland, "Karel" Charles Karel Bouley, and Pat Thurston.
Up to 2011, the weekday morning news (from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.) was co-anchored by Jon Bristow and Jennifer Jones-Lee. The afternoon news (from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.) featured veteran reporter Chris Brecher and award-winning reporter/anchor Bret Burkhart.
Until the format change in December 2011, KGO hosted an annual fundraiser called the "KGO Cure-a-Thon" to help raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with all of the station's regular programming pre-empted for an entire day during the event. Listeners were encouraged to call in and donate money to help in the fight against these kinds of cancer. An auction was also held to help raise money. Notable items up for auction have included a trip with Gene Burns on a private jet to various destinations, such as Las Vegas and Italy, for a gourmet dinner. Cumulus Media has announced that it will not be continuing the KGO Cure-a-Thon charity event despite the fact it has raised millions of dollars for charity in the past.