Bay Area radio station KFOG pronounced dead

A beloved Bay Area radio station that catered to fans of rock ‘n' roll for nearly 40 years is about to die.

Cumulus Media Inc. on Monday announced that San Francisco alternative rock station KFOG (104.5-FM) will flip to a simulcast of KNBR-AM sports radio on Friday, Sept. 6. In a media release, Cumulus said KNBR-FM will give sports fans “another place to tune into KNBR's high-profile personalities and in-depth coverage of the Bay Area's favorite teams.”

“We are excited to bring KNBR, The Sports Leader and official home of the Giants and 49ers, to a wider audience of sports listeners in the Bay Area,” said Doug Harvill, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus San Francisco.

Harvill spent little time eulogizing KFOG, simply saying, “It's never easy to say goodbye to a station, and we want to thank the staff, listeners, and advertisers who together made KFOG the legendary and beloved station that so many of us in San Francisco had the opportunity to enjoy.”

On one hand, the decision to drop KFOG shouldn't be surprising. Under Cumulus, which acquired KFOG in 2005, the station had been struggling for years and was long plagued by mediocre ratings. It didn't help matters, wrote Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman, “that rotating personnel, format rearrangements, incompetent programming decisions and key players lost through management incompetence accelerated KFOG's demise.”

In what came to be known as the “March Massacre” of 2016, Cumulus fired most of its DJs as part of what it termed an “Evolution.”

For many local loyalists known as “Fogheads,” it once was the go-to station for great rock music, and home to popular disc jockeys such as Dave Morey, Kim Wonderley, Bonnie Simmons, Wes “Scoop” Nisker, Dred Scott and Rosalie Howarth, along with fan-favorite shows like “Ten at 10? and “Acoustic Sunrise.”

On his Facebook page, Scott called KFOG's demise the “least surprising news of the day.” But he added that, “As someone who put in two tours of duty (18 years apart!), I'll never forget the excitement of going to North Beach to hang out before my first shift on big-time San Francisco radio. Sad.”

The station began as KBAY-FM in 1960, operated under Kaiser Broadcasting with an easy-listening format. The call sign switched to KFOG four years later and in 1982 the easy-listening music was dumped for a blend of album-oriented rock and classic rock. Along the way, it gained a reputation for snubbing mass-appeal bands.

The pre-alt version of KFOG that launched in the 1980s was named to the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame earlier this year.

As for the KNBR expansion, Cumulus said it will offer listeners “a stronger signal and provide a broader broadcast range for the station's leading sports programming.”

It provides KNBR with an extra outlet to work around conflicts when the 49ers play at the same time as the Giants. It also gives KNBR an FM outlet to compete with its key rival - 95.7 The Game, which has long touted its audio quality as an advantage over KNBR.

The latest move by Cumulus follows several major changes at KNBR, which recently added Greg Papa to its lineup and parted ways with Gary Radnich and Bob Fitzgerald while revamping its midday and drive-time programming.