Cumulus Pulls the Plug On News/Talk KGO

[David]

Say goodbye to 810 KGO in San Francisco. Cumulus pulled the plug on the news/talk format rather abruptly Thursday morning. 810 is currently stunting with a sports betting format teaser.

radioinsight.com/headlines/243623/kgo-signs-off-news-talk-format/

I really don't understand the radio industry's current fascination with the sports betting format. IMO, it seems like a very narrowly focused format with limited appeal. Cumulus' sports betting station KAMP-AM 1430 in Denver is consistently one of the bottom dwellers in the Nielsen ratings, and its audience share hasn't increased in the past four quarters. When 1430 in Denver was known as KEZW and aired a soft oldies format, its ratings were consistently in the middle of the pack, and sometimes a few slots higher. IMO, a sports betting format seems like a surefire way to kill a radio station.

[CAwasinNJ]

At the end of the day the numbers that really matter are how much money the stations are making. Online betting has exploded over the past few years and is projected to keep expanding. There might not be a huge number of listeners, but those that ARE listening are probably going to be pretty valuable. It's the same reason why Bloomberg is on 99.1/99.5HD2. Not that many people are listening, but the ones that are are the movers and shakers with lots of money and influence.

[David]

I know that Prop 26 & Prop 27, which would legalize certain types of sports betting associated with California Native American tribes, are on the November ballot. However, unless Cumulus is going to try to influence public opinion in favor of allowing online sports betting in California ahead of the election, I don't understand why they were in such a hurry to flip KGO's long time talk format. IMO, it makes little sense to have a radio station with a sports betting format in a state where online and in person betting isn't legal yet.

[CAwasinNJ]

I don't pretend to understand the legalities of online betting, but maybe things aren't as cut and dried as they seem. A couple of years ago I got some (unsolicited) junk mail telling me how great such and such a sports betting site was. Supposedly sports betting isn't legal here. We can't even have a lottery for crying out loud. I didn't bother pursuing it.

It's also worth noting that KGO's ratings were terrible, especially for a 50kw (albeit somewhat directional) signal.

[henry]

KGO isn't the first heritage station to vanish. KFWB dumped all news in 2009 and news/talk shortly after that.

Prop 27 is likely to fail by a big margin. Bill Handel said on his show last week that the big sports betting companies have pulled all their "Yes on 27" spots, since it's just throwing money in a hole at this point. KGO may be done with news/talk, but I don't think its sports betting format will last long, either.

[David]

Audacy now has AM sports betting stations in 13 markets, and almost all of them rank at or near the bottom of the ratings. I've been told by some friends in the broadcasting industry that low ratings don't really matter for stations with the sports betting format, because the low ratings are offset by high billings for commercials. That may be true, but I'd still hate to be a salesperson trying to sell spots on a radio station that's consistently a "bottom dweller". Only time will tell how successful KGO is if Prop 27 is defeated.

[CAwasinNJ]

High billing = High demand = An easier sale

The ratings are irrelevant if the advertisers really want to be on the station.