SAN FRANCISCO NEEDS A NONCOM AAA STATION

San Francisco just lost its only commercial Alt Rock-leaning AAA station KFOG. 

How did this happen in the cradle of progressive rock radio? 

The Bay area was where the format that became AAA started.

KMPX and KSAN inspired generations of listeners, programmers and musicians. 

The ties between progressive radio and the local music scene built the careers of the Grateful Dead, Green Day, Sly and the Family Stone, the Dead Kennedys, Counting Crows and many, many more.

There are two reasons San Francisco no longer has a local AAA station:

1. Commercial station operators think they can’t make enough money, and,

2. No noncommercial operator has seriously pursued the format.

Our premise is that we can’t do anything to change reason one. But, if we do things right, a noncommercial AAA station can be build and certainly can succeed.

WHAT HAPPENED TO KFOG?

KFOG began in 1982 during the final days of KSAN.  According to Sam Whiting, a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle [link], the first song was “Rock This Town” by the Stray Cats.

KFOG was at the top of the ratings during the 1980s and 1990s.  It became an important part of the cultural fabric of the Bay area. KFOG’s listeners were called “Registered Fogheads.

Then KFOG became another casualty of commercial radio’s hyper-consolidation. After several corporate owners, KFOG was acquired by Cumulus Media, a company known from ring every last nickel out of stations they owned. This was the beginning of the end for KFOG.

In 2016, Cumulus fired all of KFOG’s on-air hosts as a “cost saving measure.” Then in August Cumulus pulled the plug on KFOG and now it is a repeater of their sports talk station KNBR.

 Ironically, KFOG had just been named by the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame as Legendary Station of the Year.

A well-known media consultant told Spark News the inside story about Cumulus and KFOG.

“KFOG went from a top-5 billing FM station in SF to out of the format.  Cumulus just doesn’t understand Triple A and it died a slow painful death.” 

OPTIONS FOR BUILDING A NEW NONCOM AAA STATION

The following scenarios are fantasies but they are based in reality.  We offer these plans as a public service to organizations that have the capability to build a new AAA station. We are forwarding our ideas to people who can make decisions.

Our hypothetical scenario begins with two very successful public radio stations: NPR News/Talk KQED and Classical KDFC. Both of these stations have HD channels that have very few listeners.

Let’s say one of these companies starts a new AAA station on an HD channel with the intention of simulcasting it on one or more FM translators.

The Educational Media Foundation (EMF) has two FM translators for KLVS, their local K-Love repeater. We’ve called EMF “God’s favorite money changers” because they are currently the biggest station trader in the nation. EMF does “deals for the Lord” and they are good at it.

EMF owns FM translator – K281BU-FM – 104.1 FM – licensed to San Francisco. 

his baby puts a terrific signal over a large part of the metro (see the map on the right).

Let’s say KQED or KDFC offered EMF a Public Service Operating Agreement (PSOA) that would allow 104.1 FM to carry the new AAA station’s programming from an HD channel. EMF does deals like this every day.

EMF owns a second FM translator that repeats K-Love -K205BM-FM 88.9 FM, licensed to Oakland. 

It offers the advantage of covering important areas of the East Bay.

You might ask Why would EMF want a station other than K-Love on one of their FM translators?

Answer: They like the cash flow. EMF makes most of its money trading, buying and selling FCC licenses.

There is also neo-Pacifica community station KPOO. 

It has one of the best signals in northern California.

Perhaps they could be convinced that a station with actual listeners is a better way.

Another option is a frequency owned by the non-profit San Francisco Public Press (link). They are a news collaboration with big aspirations.

There also are other options we haven't covered today.

But nothing will happen until you believe it can happen.  

“Where there is a will, there will be a way.”