KFOG, But Not 10@10

[CapnJack]

I wonder if there will be any more Live From The Archives CDs after the format change...

[darryl]

Dred Scott

Born in Mendocino, Dred has spent half his life in Northern California and half in Southern… moving back and forth without a passport. His radio career includes stops at stations in Marin, Sonoma and San Francisco (including an early 90s stint at KFOG), plus San Diego and Los Angeles. He lives in Pacifica with Endo the wonder cat, owns a collection of ukuleles and an ever-ready yoga mat. He has never been in jail.

[darryl]

Webster

A welcoming radio voice in the Bay Area for almost 20 years, Webster was raised on Detroit rock; he’s sold, spun and talked about music since high school. Your host for KFOG Private Concerts, he also gets you home every evening – anchoring your afternoon commute with the music and traffic info you need, along with the Three Things you’ll want to know every Monday-Friday at 3pm.

Webster and his wife live in The City, where a live show, a nice IPA, or a run along the Embarcadero are always part of the plan.

[darryl]

Steve Rockwell

The first song he played on the radio was U2’s “I Will Follow”, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1984, on Penn State’s WDFM. But the Northeast was too cold; South Florida too hot; the Bay Area proved just right, in oh so many ways – home for the last 18 years has been a small flat by the beach. Other than the radio thing, Steve “studies” and makes wine, scours the city for ingredients he’s not yet cooked with, tries to like his non-film camera, binge-watches documentaries (unless there’s a Giants game on) and hangs with his wife and the two shelter cats that adopted them.

[ggould]

Thanks for doing the archiving Darryl

[darryl]

I thought it was pretty crummy that they shit-canned the Boob Project blog, so I mirrored it here:

http://www.darryl.com/boobproject/

Images are still pulled from KFOG's website, so those may eventually break. I have copies of the images too though, so it'll just take a (hopefully) small amount of hackery to make it fully independent of the KFOG site. I may try to enlist my wife's help to strip off all the KFOG branding. :-P

[darryl]

Whoa. Looking for KFOG's anniversary, found Dung! http://idiotshow.podbean.com/e/kfog-30th-anniversary-show/

[RGMike]

This piece is really about KGO, but as good a summary as any of what Cumulus hath wrought here in SF:

http://soundwavestv.com/2016/03/31/kgo-and-the-death-of-radio/

[Big Fingers McGee]

I wonder if there will be any more Live From The Archives CDs after the format change...

My initial thought was "no", but a lot will depend on which way "The Devolvement" goes - if it's remotely AAA, there's a chance it could continue. Keep the call letters but dismiss the people underlying it - corporatism at its worst.

[radical347]

Annalisa, Rosalie, Renee, Webster, Dred...all gone.  :’( Irish Greg is apparently staying. Not sure in what capacity.

Any word on No Name? I know he went off the air last week and it looks like his FB and Twitter haven’t been updated in about a week either. Not completely sure if he went too or if they took him out of the picture for now in order to bring him back later.

[urth]

Annalisa, Rosalie, Renee, Webster, Dred...all gone.  :’( Irish Greg is apparently staying. Not sure in what capacity.

Any word on No Name? I know he went off the air last week and it looks like his FB and Twitter haven’t been updated in about a week either. Not completely sure if he went too or if they took him out of the picture for now in order to bring him back later.

That's pretty much what RGM was theorizing. If they're going for some sort of Live 105-ish alternative rock demo then he'd fit right in there. And he's been very notable by his silence through this whole thing, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume he's still in their plans.

[RGMike]

SFGate's article on the KFOG slaughter:

http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/KFOG-axes-DJs-future-up-in-the-air-7223598.php

[darryl]

Annalisa, Rosalie, Renee, Webster, Dred...all gone.  :’( Irish Greg is apparently staying. Not sure in what capacity.

Any word on No Name? I know he went off the air last week and it looks like his FB and Twitter haven’t been updated in about a week either. Not completely sure if he went too or if they took him out of the picture for now in order to bring him back later.

Instagram would seem to indicate that he's been on vacation for the past couple of days.
https://www.instagram.com/noname_138/?hl=en

Man, what a crappy thing to come back to, unless upper management gave him a heads-up and told him to keep it to himself. That would *also suck highly*. (This has happened to me in tech.)

Oh, and over on FB, Dean K (engineer, sometimes filled in late nights) posted this in response to Rosalie/Dennis Constantine's post below:

I truly enjoyed working at kfog with Dennis and the whole crew there. There was a time where there was genuine enthusiasm for the station and being part of a team that wanted to make creative and fun radio to share with the Bay Area. Producing the PlaySpace was simply a joy. But I made a decision to leave because I wanted to take no part in the direction that the station was headed as explained to me in detail by my supervisor. Who knows how the station will end up but this is an extremely heavy handed way to treat the staff who were just trying to do the best that they could under the direction of their program director. And a shock to the listeners who are being shown the door. Most of the complaints on social media are coming from listeners at the higher side of the age demo and I would think that if there was an outcry from a significant base of 20 to 30 year-olds the management would take notice, otherwise it just confirms the decision. Modern radio...its not for the meek. I wish the best for all my kfog and kgo friends.

Ah, but I do recall looking at his LinkedIn before, and yeap, he quit back in March 2015. So looks like changes were afoot even then.

(Useless trivia -- it was Dean who recorded those often played spots with me talking about being a Snowboarding Foghead and my wife being a Hula Dancing Foghead. That was at the 2014 Concert for Kids down in San Jo -- in exchange for our spots he very generously gave us his two extra tickets so my wife and other son could get into the show!)

[darryl]

As mentioned above, Rosalie reposted and commented on this lovely remembrance and photo from Dennis Constantine:

A million thanks and blessings to everyone of our friends and listeners, colleagues and co-workers who have weighed in and commiserated, ranted and railed, and offered support, praise and memories. You are all incredibly generous with your praise and insightful in your analysis. We are beyond grateful, and your messages will continue to warm our hearts long after the furor dies down and the phones & FB cool down...that's when we'll need it most! Let's not lose touch; all of us, on both sides of the mic, have been part of something extraordinary together!
Thanks for the photo Dennis Constantine.

I've been overwhelmed and saddened by the news of the massive layoffs at my former radio home in San Francisco. There are many good people who have done incredible work over the years who find themselves out of work and unappreciated. At KFOG, Rosalie, with over 32 years of dedication and love for the station; my radio wife Renee with her enthusiasm and positivity; Phenomenal human being Annalisa with 10@10; Webster, who kept afternoons alive and fun, and Dred, one of radio's most creative voices. And then there are all the amazing, talented people at KGO who poured their heart and soul into creating great radio.

I know all too well of radio's challenges of finding the next generation of listeners. However, blowing up a brand name and hoping to rebuild from the ground up is not the best strategy. Other brands have been tremendously successful in rebranding. Others have failed miserably. I remember when the iconic Coca-Cola followed their "research" and "evolved" in the future by introducing "New Coke." Eventually, they needed to return to the classic Coke formula (even though they fudged on the sweetener).

In the cases of KGO and KFOG, now is not time for New Coke. Certainly, the programming formula could be adjusted to make the taste more acceptable to younger listeners, but there is no need to overturn the lives of the human beings who have been dedicated to creating great radio and the station's listeners who have come to depend on those stations. Now, instead of building upon a 2 share of listeners, the stations will need to build from scratch, which is a much more difficult road to follow.

Maybe this will all turn out to be a huge April Fools publicity stunt, and the stations will come back and apologize. But then again, who would purposely plan something like that. That would be just pure evil.

I will miss 10@10, Acoustic Sunrise and Sunset and listening to the fun of being on the air at KFOG and KGO. My love and devotion to all my friends who find themselves wondering what's next.
I love you.

https://www.facebook.com/rosalie.howarth/posts/10208068047491216

[darryl]

SFGate's article on the KFOG slaughter:

http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/KFOG-axes-DJs-future-up-in-the-air-7223598.php

The morning drive team of Irish Greg and No Name has been left intact for now, though its third wheel, Renee, is gone.

Damn. What a hack. "Third wheel"??

1. What, were Irish Greg and No Name on a date?
2. What, was Renee somehow considered "extra" to the Morning Show? Uh... she's been there at least as long as Irish Greg, if not longer, and held it down solo after they axed Greg.

Ok, reading the rest of the article. It's well-researched, digging deep into KFOG's history.

Asked if there will be a farewell show, she said, “you never get to do it in radio, and it’s too bad because I already had all my songs picked out.”

Well, Dave got to do his. But he's the exception, I know.

Wait, I spoke too soon about well-researched:

It still leads into “10@10,” which seldom reaches back to the ’60s and ’70s anymore. The introductory antics are gone, and so is the “10@10 Marathon” on Saturday mornings.

Uhm... Annalisa had plenty of introductory antics. They're just *different* from Don Pardo spinning the big wheel. And uh, the Marathon was still running as of last Saturday. Anyways, his tenses are all screwed up. Those are all in the past now. *Sigh*