It happened in an instant. One minute, you had decades of talk radio history, and the next, a looped recording of "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers was playing over and over. If you grew up in Northern California, KGO 810 AM radio wasn't just a frequency on the dial. It was the background noise of morning commutes, the voice in the kitchen while coffee brewed, and the place you went when the hills were on fire or the earth started shaking.
Then, in October 2022, Cumulus Media pulled the plug on the talk format. Just like that.
The shockwaves through the Bay Area media landscape were massive. People were angry. Some were confused. Most were just sad. KGO had been a 50,000-watt powerhouse since the 1920s, a "clear channel" station that could be heard in Alaska on a crisp night. Losing that voice felt like losing a piece of the city's skyline. But to understand why KGO 810 AM radio matters—and why its sudden pivot to sports betting (and eventually more automated programming) felt like such a betrayal—you have to look at what it used to be. It wasn't just "news." It was community.
The Power of the 810 Signal
Radio is weird. You can’t see it, but you feel it. KGO's transmitter in Newark, California, sitting right on the edge of the salt marshes, gave it a physical advantage most stations would kill for. Saltwater is a literal conductor for radio waves. Because those towers were planted in the bay mud, the signal skipped across the water and flattened out across the West Coast.
For years, KGO 810 AM radio was the top-rated station in San Francisco. Literally for decades. From 1978 to 2009, it held the #1 spot in the Arbitron ratings. That is an insane run. No other station in a major market has ever really duplicated that kind of dominance. It survived the rise of FM. It survived the early internet.
The secret wasn't just the signal strength; it was the people behind the microphones. You had legends like Owen Spann, Jim Eason, and later, the powerhouse lineup of Ronn Owens, Gene Burns, and John Rothmann. These weren't just "hosts." They were intellectuals who could pivot from a local school board election to a crisis in the Middle East without missing a beat. They invited you to disagree. Honestly, that’s what made it great. You’d hear a caller from Oakland get into a heated debate with a host, and it felt like a real conversation happening at a diner.
The 2011 "Bloodbath" and the Beginning of the End
If you ask any die-hard listener when things started to go south, they won't say 2022. They’ll tell you about December 2011.
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That was the day Cumulus Media decided to fire most of the legendary talk hosts and pivot to an "all-news" format. It was a disaster. It was corporate maneuvering at its worst. They tried to mimic the success of KCBS 740 AM, but they didn't have the infrastructure or the soul to pull it off. Listeners fled. Ratings tanked. It was painful to watch a legacy brand struggle to find its identity for the next decade.
The station eventually brought back some talk elements, but the magic was fractured. Ronn Owens, the face of the station for over 40 years, was eventually moved to a digital-only format before retiring. By the time the station flipped to "The Spread" (a sports betting format) in 2022, KGO 810 AM radio was a ghost of its former self.
Why AM Radio Still Matters (Even When the Giants Fall)
You might think AM radio is dead. You’re wrong.
Sure, the audio quality isn't great. Yes, electric vehicles cause interference with the signal. But AM radio—specifically stations like KGO 810 AM radio—serves a function that Spotify or a podcast can't replicate. It’s local. It’s live. When the power goes out and the cell towers are congested, that 50,000-watt transmitter in the Newark marshes is still pushing out information.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and various emergency management agencies still rely on these "Primary Entry Point" stations. KGO was one of them. It was built to survive a nuclear blast and keep broadcasting. There is a weight to that kind of responsibility. When a corporate owner decides to flip the format to gambling odds, they aren't just changing the music; they are dismantling a piece of the public safety infrastructure.
The Content Gap in the Bay Area
Since the decline of KGO, there’s a massive hole in Northern California’s media diet. Where do you go for long-form, intelligent conversation that isn't polarized into an echo chamber?
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- KCBS 740 AM/106.9 FM: Great for headlines every ten minutes, but they don't do deep-dive interviews.
- KQED 88.5 FM: Excellent public radio, but it has a very specific "NPR" vibe that doesn't always capture the raw, gritty energy of a call-in talk show.
- KSFO 560 AM: KGO's sister station, but it leans heavily into conservative syndication rather than local, centrist, or diverse local perspectives.
Basically, the "Newstalk" format that KGO pioneered is gone. We have podcasts now, sure. But a podcast doesn't know that there’s a multi-car pileup on the Bay Bridge right now. A podcast doesn't take a call from a guy in San Jose who just saw something weird in the sky and wants to talk about it.
The Reality of Modern Radio Economics
Let's talk money. It's usually the reason everything changes.
Running a newsroom is expensive. You need reporters, editors, anchors, and engineers. You need a fleet of news cars. You need insurance. Running a sports betting feed or a syndicated talk show? That’s cheap. You can run that from a server in a different state with one person monitoring the board.
Cumulus Media, like many large radio conglomerates (iHeartMedia, Audacy), has been buried under debt for years. When you're more worried about paying off interest than serving the local community, the first thing you cut is the "local" part. KGO 810 AM radio wasn't failing because people stopped listening to talk radio; it was struggling because the corporate model required higher margins than a local newsroom could provide.
Interestingly, there’s been a minor pushback. Some politicians and broadcast advocates are fighting to keep AM radio in cars. They argue that it's a matter of national security. They’re right. But keeping the radio in the dashboard is only half the battle. You need something worth listening to on the other end of the signal.
What Listeners Can Do Now
If you're one of the thousands who still misses the old KGO, you aren't alone. The landscape has shifted, but the "KGO style" exists in fragments elsewhere.
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First, follow the people, not the frequency. Many former KGO hosts have moved to the digital space. John Rothmann, for example, has been active on YouTube and through various speaking engagements. Pat Thurston and other voices from the later years are still active in the media community.
Second, support local independent media. Whether it’s a local news site like The San Francisco Standard or a community-supported radio station like KCSM or KALW, the only way to prevent another KGO-style collapse is to prove there is a market for local content.
Finally, pay attention to the FCC. There are constantly debates about media ownership caps. When one company owns six stations in a single market, they tend to consolidate newsrooms. This "homogenization" is exactly what killed the unique identity of KGO.
Moving Forward Without the 810 Giant
KGO 810 AM radio will likely never return to its 1990s glory. The era of the "King of the Hill" radio station is largely over, replaced by a fragmented world of streaming, satellite, and social media. But the legacy of that station serves as a reminder of what radio can be: a bridge between communities, a source of truth in a crisis, and a place where a city talks to itself.
To preserve the spirit of what KGO once represented, focus on these actionable steps:
- Diversify your "Emergency" sources: Don't rely on a single AM station for news. Ensure you have a weather radio that picks up NOAA frequencies and follow local OES (Office of Emergency Services) accounts on decentralized platforms.
- Support the AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act: This legislation aims to require car manufacturers to keep AM radio in new vehicles. It’s currently a hot topic in Congress and matters for the survival of the medium.
- Archive the history: Sites like the Bay Area Radio Museum have preserved hours of old KGO broadcasts. Listening to them isn't just nostalgia; it’s a masterclass in how to conduct civil, intelligent public discourse.
- Explore "Hyper-Local" Podcasts: Look for creators who are focusing specifically on Bay Area politics and culture. They are the spiritual successors to the talk show hosts of the 80s and 90s.
The towers in the marsh still stand. The signal still goes out. But the heart of KGO 810 AM radio now lives in the memories of the people who grew up with it and the new creators trying to fill the silence it left behind.