KFOG, But Not 10@10

[RGMike]

Irish Greg posted that he is no longer at KFOG.

Just saw that. He says it's all good, but what else can he say? I don't expect him to say much else publicly. Hope he is able to find a new place to land close by.

Btw, this is another sign that the original plan when they blew up the station isn't working and now they're tinkering with it.

I think there wasn't that much of a plan to begin with.   They needed *somebody* to produce the Pinfield show and Greg was an experienced warm body. Now that it's up and running (and with Alicia T added) they figure it can run itself. Or someone cheaper can do the grunt-work.

[darryl]

They have a producer. It's Charlene Goto (@ProducerChar on Twitter). She's got her own Production company (http://www.go-toproductions.com/#!about/c4nz) which is certainly wise, considering the volatility of working at the shitshow that is KFOG right now.

I've never heard her on air. Her LinkedIn says she's done the production (starting with Sarah & Vinnie in 2002) for a while. Greg's LinkedIn shows a few more years under his belt, but he also grew more comfortable being on the air over the years.

All this is to say that maybe a lot of this came down to budget. Irish Greg, Renee, Annalisa, Webster, Dred -- they probably had (slightly) larger salaries than relative unknowns like Charlene and Alicia Tyler.

The stupidest thing in my mind though is that they probably had to pay a premium to get the "name recognition" of Matt Pinfield, whose biggest claim to fame was 120 Minutes that was cancelled back in 2003. Pinfield's Twitter had photos of ginormous crates of vinyl that he was shipping to California, which I'm sure KFOG sprung for. And both he and Tyler have talked about AirBNBs and temporary housing that they've stayed at in the city. Relocation expenses are not insignificant.

The biggest shame though is that I'm mainly just bored whenever I tune into KFOG. While this has been true musically for years, I think the only thing keeping it tolerable *was* Renee, Irish Greg, yes No-Name, and of course Annalisa, Webster and Dred.

Oh, and I know nobody else cares, but they're continuing to push the Pinfield's Playlist as a "thing". (I guess they paid for the fancily produced intros, so they want to wring every last cent out if it.)

They're not being diligent about tweeting it, but last Thursday Pinfield went into an overly long intro for Burning Sensations' "Belly of the Whale": "This band was founded by Tim McGovern of The Motels..." trying to make it sound like a huge rarity...

Except... Dave used to play this all the time on 10at10.

[RGMike]

The stupidest thing in my mind though is that they probably had to pay a premium to get the "name recognition" of Matt Pinfield, whose biggest claim to fame was 120 Minutes that was cancelled back in 2003. Pinfield's Twitter had photos of ginormous crates of vinyl that he was shipping to California, which I'm sure KFOG sprung for. And both he and Tyler have talked about AirBNBs and temporary housing that they've stayed at in the city. Relocation expenses are not insignificant.

All true, tho' Pinfield was already part of the Cumulus family, with that syndicated weekend show he does ("Flashback" or some other generic title). To that, they added an evening show after he arrived in SF and (I think) a 3rd show.  So I'm guessing having him doing mornings in a big market is a selling point in getting stations to carry one or more of those side projects.

I'm waiting to see how they do in the next ratings book, they actually were up a tick in July/August.

[radical347]

An article from a few years back about my (formerly) favorite AAA station, KMTT/Seattle: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/dj-john-fisher-remembers-life-as-part-of-the-mountain-family/

Around 2011, KMTT blew out most of their staff and tweaked their format (in their case, to a more repetitive classic rock-leaning AAA). I knew something was amiss when I visited Seattle in 2012 and tuned into what used to be my favorite station, to find it in some sort of repetitive classic rock hell (and the occasional out of place song after 2006 so that they could still call it AAA i.e. Amy Winehouse “Rehab”) and only a brief period of time during the afternoons with a real DJ (John Fisher, who had been with the station for a long time). The call letters were still KMTT but it was no longer KMTT. When I visited the next year, the station was completely gone.

Replace 2011 with 2016, KMTT with KFOG, repetitive classic rock hell with repetitive 90s recurrent hell, and John Fisher with Rosalie.

[RGMike]

Punched up KFOG in the car earlier and they were playing Social Distortion's cover of "Ring of Fire". The first pleasant surprise the station has given me in the five months of The Evolution. Of course, it was immediately followed by 4 Non-Blondes, but ya can't have everything.

[RGMike]

Latest ratings: KFOG back down a tick (from 1.9 to 1.8 ) after a slight rise last month.  That big Pinfield-driven surge ain't materializing.

[Davefish]

I find the new format to be much more listenable than the previous one. The no 80's provision certainly doesn't seem to have taken hold. I don't love it, certainly, but I can actually switch to it and hear something worth listening to now.

[RGMike]

I find the new format to be much more listenable than the previous one. The no 80's provision certainly doesn't seem to have taken hold. I don't love it, certainly, but I can actually switch to it and hear something worth listening to now.

they have actually re-added a few songs that were originally banished back in April (like TFF "Everybody Wants to Rule the World")

Personally, I find that whenever I punch them up in the car, I get 4 Non-Blondes or "Bittersweet Symphony", which must mean they play them a LOT.

[dischead]

I find the new format to be much more listenable than the previous one. The no 80's provision certainly doesn't seem to have taken hold. I don't love it, certainly, but I can actually switch to it and hear something worth listening to now.

they have actually re-added a few songs that were originally banished back in April (like TFF "Everybody Wants to Rule the World")

Personally, I find that whenever I punch them up in the car, I get 4 Non-Blondes or "Bittersweet Symphony", which must mean they play them a LOT.

Based on casual listening only in the car (where they compete with the other pre-sets), I have them pegged as a '90s hits
station.  I haven't noticed much outside that range, although some of the more contemporary material tends to run together
temporily for me, as I don't have it firmly associated with the year of release.

[RGMike]

I find the new format to be much more listenable than the previous one. The no 80's provision certainly doesn't seem to have taken hold. I don't love it, certainly, but I can actually switch to it and hear something worth listening to now.

they have actually re-added a few songs that were originally banished back in April (like TFF "Everybody Wants to Rule the World")

Personally, I find that whenever I punch them up in the car, I get 4 Non-Blondes or "Bittersweet Symphony", which must mean they play them a LOT.

Based on casual listening only in the car (where they compete with the other pre-sets), I have them pegged as a '90s hits
station.  I haven't noticed much outside that range, although some of the more contemporary material tends to run together
temporily for me, as I don't have it firmly associated with the year of release.

here's the latest playlist snapshot:

http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/7/stationplaylistrequest.asp?c_let=KFOG-FM

Love how "Budapest" is listed under "Newer Music".

[radical347]

I had it on Sunday morning for Rosalie and Rockwell. Attitude-wise, it almost felt like the old KFOG for a sec. I too found it more listenable than a few months ago. It was very heavy on the 90s/00s. They played some newer songs (i.e. Saint Motel - Move), but it seemed like the majority were recurrents/golds. Also, way too much Coldplay but at least they stuck in one that hasn't been on heavy rotation for awhile (Life in Technicolor ][). I didn't mind the disappearance of classic rock. The playlist on the link is mostly representative of what I heard but it also includes songs that only got one spin last week on Acoustic Sunrise. If it were just the music alone that changed, then I'd probably even listen to it more than the old KFOG. But they will always be on my bad list for blowing out the staff.

[CapnJack]

KFOG's rating down from 1.8 to 1.7...

http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb009

[RGMike]

KFOG's rating down from 1.8 to 1.7...

http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb009

Big dip for The Breeze -- from 4.0 to 3.2 -- and Live 105 down to their lowest in quite some time (1.5).  And -- kind of odd -- KNBR took a drop two months in a row, despite the Giants jockeying for a post-season slot.

[RGMike]

Apparently, KFOG has made it official that there will be no "Live From the Archives" this year. OTOH, they *are* doing Concert 4 Kids at the Masonic in December, this year featuring Band of Horses, Blind Pilot and the Revivalists. That seems a few notches below the sort of names they used to get, but maybe I'm just not hip to what "the kids" are listening to

Punched them up in the car earlier, in time to hear No Name say "coming up: Blind Melon, Train and Saint Motel!" Good lord, talk about a deal-breaker.

[radical347]

1. I'm not surprised there will be no LFTA this year and saying they hope to have one next year seems like a passive-aggressive cop-out.

2. On the other hand, I am surprised that they are having Concert for Kids. They don't deserve to call it the "KFOG 31st Annual" one, though. I would have said they don't deserve to hold one either...but I guess it's for a good cause.

3. Band of Horses actually is pretty hip in my opinion, although I don't think KFOG has had any of their songs on the playlist since "Is There a Ghost?" back in 2008. EDIT: Now they're spinning their latest, "Casual Party" but in low rotation.

4. I like the lineup. I might actually want to go to this thing, although two nights of Live 105's Not So Silent Night is that weekend and I don't want to be all concerted out before that. They haven't officially announced the lineup but I am pretty sure of about half the bands (by looking at other holiday concerts & so-far empty spaces in the tour schedule on artists' website).