KFOG, But Not 10@10

[Davefish]

I see my other post was long eclipsed by this thread. I just heard a promo for the Morning After. Sooooo forced. Not looking forward to it.

[radical347]

It's the overnight & they're playing "Walk" by the Foo Fighters.  This was the single before "These Days" (which is currently in low rotation) but was not added then.  As far as I know, neither of these made the AAA chart.

[Tinka Cat]

sundaygal and I invaded the KFOG studio yesterday (actually we were invited... well, actually one was invited and one tagged along, heheh).  It was pretty nice being there. My first time in a real big radio station!  (thanks SG!)   

AL was pretty accommodating, showing us all sorts of high-tech things, like the touch screen that brings up the sound FX for 10at10's the BeeepBoopBoop time machine sound, the choral "Ten At Ten!" inserts, the list of news and TV clips she has (I was *this close* to looking for the Bosom Buddies "Sunny Sunny Sunny" clip and erasing that bastard!). Super cool.  The KFOG playlist is all digitized.  The A-Z comes from a disc drive mostly.  If they needed to, they could pop in a CD, but a station like KFOG w a defined (?) format has all that stuff digitized for easy access.  Their CD library in the studio takes up one wall, full of Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan, Stones, etc.  You know the drill.  I espied the Kinks "Muswell Hillbillies" CD and thought of Urth, a true Twentieth/Twenty First Century Man.  (I also saw their Train CD collection and naturally thought of all the deep sadness in the world.   ) 

Renee was there, too.  DC was around, heard his voice I think, but no face time w him. 

We also got to meet the new morning show jock, Tony! Not surprisingly, he was pretty nice as SG as I chatted with him, I mean grilled him, about things, like what kind of music he liked. 

SG: Ok, quick: Your top five bands.
Tony (without pause): Billy Joel.

Mike prob has a crush on him already!  HAHAH       He didn't name any other bands though.. damn.   I hate not being to judge people on their taste in music!

Me: The last concert you attended as a FAN...?
T:  Green Day. I drove three hours to see them.  (He used to live in Kentucky, and he was used to, he said, "people putting their firearms on the table.")

I asked him how man different fart SFX the morning show would have.  He answered "probably a dozen."   (kidding!  he said "only two or three...")  ok, seriously, no fart SFX will be heard.  I asked him about "Twitch" and (I think, anyway) he was pretty careful to imply that was his OLD self. 

He's not too keen on certain popular "gimmicky" (I think he used that word, didn't he?) 80s music, and he cited one of the XM Satellite 80s stations --  the one that plays the pop hits, -- as something he didn't really like.  (Frankly I would probably agree with him on some of that. That particular station isn't that earth-shattering and they play the obvious.)

 I get the feeling he's pretty liberal.  He seems to be in his mid 30s, married w a brand new baby.  Thinks Florida is full of weirdos.   Could be worse!

[Alicat]

sundaygal and I invaded the KFOG studio yesterday (actually we were invited... well, actually one was invited and one tagged along, heheh).  It was pretty nice being there. My first time in a real big radio station!  (thanks SG!)   

AL was pretty accommodating, showing us all sorts of high-tech things, like the touch screen that brings up the sound FX for 10at10's the BeeepBoopBoop time machine sound, the choral "Ten At Ten!" inserts, the list of news and TV clips she has (I was *this close* to looking for the Bosom Buddies "Sunny Sunny Sunny" clip and erasing that bastard!). Super cool.  The KFOG playlist is all digitized.  The A-Z comes from a disc drive mostly.  If they needed to, they could pop in a CD, but a station like KFOG w a defined (?) format has all that stuff digitized for easy access.  Their CD library in the studio takes up one wall, full of Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan, Stones, etc.  You know the drill.  I espied the Kinks "Muswell Hillbillies" CD and thought of Urth, a true Twentieth/Twenty First Century Man.  (I also saw their Train CD collection and naturally thought of all the deep sadness in the world.   ) 

Renee was there, too.  DC was around, heard his voice I think, but no face time w him. 

We also got to meet the new morning show jock, Tony! Not surprisingly, he was pretty nice as SG as I chatted with him, I mean grilled him, about things, like what kind of music he liked. 

SG: Ok, quick: Your top five bands.
Tony (without pause): Billy Joel.

Mike prob has a crush on him already!  HAHAH       He didn't name any other bands though.. damn.   I hate not being to judge people on their taste in music!

Me: The last concert you attended as a FAN...?
T:  Green Day. I drove three hours to see them.  (He used to live in Kentucky, and he was used to, he said, "people putting their firearms on the table.")

I asked him how man different fart SFX the morning show would have.  He answered "probably a dozen."   (kidding!  he said "only two or three...")  ok, seriously, no fart SFX will be heard.  I asked him about "Twitch" and (I think, anyway) he was pretty careful to imply that was his OLD self. 

He's not too keen on certain popular "gimmicky" (I think he used that word, didn't he?) 80s music, and he cited one of the XM Satellite 80s stations --  the one that plays the pop hits, -- as something he didn't really like.  (Frankly I would probably agree with him on some of that. That particular station isn't that earth-shattering and they play the obvious.)

 I get the feeling he's pretty liberal.  He seems to be in his mid 30s, married w a brand new baby.  Thinks Florida is full of weirdos.   Could be worse!

Allrighty. Good investigative work. Way to take one for the team. Thanks.

[Davefish]

Thanks super cool, Tinka and Sunday! How did you get invited?

[sundaygal]

sundaygal and I invaded the KFOG studio yesterday (actually we were invited... well, actually one was invited and one tagged along, heheh).  It was pretty nice being there. My first time in a real big radio station!  (thanks SG!)   

AL was pretty accommodating, showing us all sorts of high-tech things, like the touch screen that brings up the sound FX for 10at10's the BeeepBoopBoop time machine sound, the choral "Ten At Ten!" inserts, the list of news and TV clips she has (I was *this close* to looking for the Bosom Buddies "Sunny Sunny Sunny" clip and erasing that bastard!). Super cool.  The KFOG playlist is all digitized.  The A-Z comes from a disc drive mostly.  If they needed to, they could pop in a CD, but a station like KFOG w a defined (?) format has all that stuff digitized for easy access.  Their CD library in the studio takes up one wall, full of Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan, Stones, etc.  You know the drill.  I espied the Kinks "Muswell Hillbillies" CD and thought of Urth, a true Twentieth/Twenty First Century Man.  (I also saw their Train CD collection and naturally thought of all the deep sadness in the world.   ) 

Renee was there, too.  DC was around, heard his voice I think, but no face time w him. 

We also got to meet the new morning show jock, Tony! Not surprisingly, he was pretty nice as SG as I chatted with him, I mean grilled him, about things, like what kind of music he liked. 

SG: Ok, quick: Your top five bands.
Tony (without pause): Billy Joel.

Mike prob has a crush on him already!  HAHAH       He didn't name any other bands though.. damn.   I hate not being to judge people on their taste in music!

Me: The last concert you attended as a FAN...?
T:  Green Day. I drove three hours to see them.  (He used to live in Kentucky, and he was used to, he said, "people putting their firearms on the table.")

I asked him how man different fart SFX the morning show would have.  He answered "probably a dozen."   (kidding!  he said "only two or three...")  ok, seriously, no fart SFX will be heard.  I asked him about "Twitch" and (I think, anyway) he was pretty careful to imply that was his OLD self. 

He's not too keen on certain popular "gimmicky" (I think he used that word, didn't he?) 80s music, and he cited one of the XM Satellite 80s stations --  the one that plays the pop hits, -- as something he didn't really like.  (Frankly I would probably agree with him on some of that. That particular station isn't that earth-shattering and they play the obvious.)

 I get the feeling he's pretty liberal.  He seems to be in his mid 30s, married w a brand new baby.  Thinks Florida is full of weirdos.   Could be worse!

I love it that TC skimmed over the fact that during the visit he mentioned Rush at every given moment possible.  Good gawd.       

[Big Fingers McGee]

Are people really that PO'd about the new morning show? I mean yeah, there's resistance to change, but what I saw at sfgate was ridiculous.

[Tinka Cat]

Are people really that PO'd about the new morning show? I mean yeah, there's resistance to change, but what I saw at sfgate was ridiculous.

sfgate commenters are usually ridiculous, but in this case it pretty much mirrors what Facebook comments are like, too.

 

[sundaygal]

Are people really that PO'd about the new morning show? I mean yeah, there's resistance to change, but what I saw at sfgate was ridiculous.

I mean, really...it's day one.  Isn't there a 90 day probationary period when you start a job?  Christ.

[RGMike]

Are people really that PO'd about the new morning show? I mean yeah, there's resistance to change, but what I saw at sfgate was ridiculous.

I mean, really...it's day one.  Isn't there a 90 day probationary period when you start a job?  Christ.

yes, but this is a diff direction from what's been there for, what? 20 years?  I listened in the 6:00 hour today and it was actually WORSE than yesterday. It's Alice meets Live 105 and I say bollocks.

DC says "be patient" but this isn't just new people coming in to continue a tradition -- it's a completely different mindset and sound.  If I want "I'm proud to be a conservative" I can listen to Greg Kihn; if I want "lick-ass" there's Lamont & Tonelli. I'm giving Renel a try tomorrow.

[RGMike]

Rich Lieberman (who continues to write about the KFOG/Cumulus debacle) points out that Ben Fong-Torres, in Sunday's Chron, wrotev a lengthy puff piece about Nikki  Blakk of the Bone but failed to mention the Webster/Irish Greg firing, which was 2 weeks past and not a too-late-to-add "breaking" story.

[Tinka Cat]

Rich Lieberman (who continues to write about the KFOG/Cumulus debacle) points out that Ben Fong-Torres, in Sunday's Chron, wrotev a lengthy puff piece about Nikki  Blakk of the Bone but failed to mention the Webster/Irish Greg firing, which was 2 weeks past and not a too-late-to-add "breaking" story.

BF-T might be on vacation or might be on a pub sked that writes well (too far?) in advance.     He might cover it -- probably will. 

Then again, maybe he will softball the whole issue or ignore it in hopes of staying on sCumulus' good side so he can someday return to KFOG Wacky Zoo as the fart jokes guy.

[RGMike]

Rich Lieberman (who continues to write about the KFOG/Cumulus debacle) points out that Ben Fong-Torres, in Sunday's Chron, wrotev a lengthy puff piece about Nikki  Blakk of the Bone but failed to mention the Webster/Irish Greg firing, which was 2 weeks past and not a too-late-to-add "breaking" story.

BF-T might be on vacation or might be on a pub sked that writes well (too far?) in advance.     He might cover it -- probably will. 

Then again, maybe he will softball the whole issue or ignore it in hopes of staying on sCumulus' good side so he can someday return to KFOG Wacky Zoo as the fart jokes guy.

Liberman is esp hard on BF-T (too hard, IMHO, for a guy who used to be "Big Vinnie").  But to Ben's credit, he did the Fogheads-are-pissed story last year when the music was tweaked. And I don't think KFOG had him back on again until Chinese New Years. Gung Hay Fat(head) Choy.

[darryl]

Hey all, I wrote to Ben Fong-Torres, asked if he had any inside information.  Here's his reply (and my original query below):

Greg's right. it's radio. it's ratings & revenue. It's change. (i don't think it was to cut costs, or they wouldn't have brought in three hosts.)

ben

From: Darryl
Message:

Hey Ben - is there a "story" behind what happened with KFOG's Morning Show? Axing 14-year veteran Irish Greg and Webster?

Is it as the radio-info.com boards surmise, just a cost-cutting measure?

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=212083.10

As Irish Greg writes: "Wow...after 14 years producing the Morning Show at KFOG I just got canned. Radio is a nasty business."

I listened a bit to Greg Gory, Tony Longo and Melanie Walker today. They self-graded their first show as B-/C+.

I wasn't that impressed, but I still long for Dave Morey. ;-{

[darryl]

As parents with kids 4 and 8, we can sympathize with the FB and SFGate commenters that are unhappy with the direction the new jocks seem to be taking things. KFOG used to be a relatively safe thing to listen to. Peter Finch delivered news with an even hand, not sensationalizing it. Dave, then Webster, with Irish Greg and Renee would discuss things civilly, with a sense of humor. Guests were interesting, fun.

For all of some of y'all's hating on Renee, I do think she brought a balance to the team. A bit of whimsy and silliness that certainly Webster and Irish Greg don't have.

My wife commented that the "lick ass" story and "fear of swallowing a toothbrush" thing were the kind of things you might hear on Sarah and Vinnie. Don't get me wrong, I was a big fan of theirs for a while, and still sometimes flip over to them. But it's not really the kind of stuff I want my kids to hear. And apparently it's not just people with kids that dislike that kind of yammering.

But my wife cherishes the memory of bringing our 2-year old to one of the Live and Local events in San Jose at Gordon Biersch, and my son being confused as to what was going on until he heard Dave's voice over the speakers and asked "Are we home?"

*SIIIIIGH*

So I was looking at the WTF thing.  Check out this schedule:

http://www.879harrisville.com/whens-the-frequency.html

Ben Fong-Torres has (had?) a show there?  [Mentions that he's working on a book, so he's in re-runs.]

Ok, definitely seems interesting.  Will check out next week for sure.