Spirit of the Radio (Part 1): KFOG

Maybe the best way to talk radio is by exploring the launch of some of the coolest stations in the nation. That coolness can still happen. Probably on digital platforms. The mid range future probably doesn’t include transmitters and towers. But it sure used to....Here’s the first in a series. KFOG SAN FRANCISCO:

In 1980 or so, got a call from General Electric. They were looking to do something with their "beautiful music" (muzak) FM in San Francisco, KFOG. This station had everything. A great signal, cool call letters for the Bay Area, not to mention studios overlooking the Bay at Ghirardelli Square. Kinda knew that another AOR wouldn't cut through there, so designed a concept that was, well, more sophisticated. Aimed at the "upper end" of the Rock demographics. Aimed at people who gravitated more toward The Dead, Joni Mitchell and Peter Gabriel than the hits from Styx and Foreigner which were of course massively popular, but just not in our proposed DNA. First generation FM Rock listeners who have long been abandoned by the stations like KSAN which was no longer a factor. Had to be careful that the station wasn't TOO hip, but based on what the competitors were doing, that wasn't going to be a big problem.

Flew to Connecticut and the presentation for this new concept went great, and Randy Bongarten, then head of G.E.'s radio group loved the idea and we signed it up. In fact, Randy was right in the demographic target so he completely "got it". Green light to put the idea on the air at KFOG.

Hired Dave Logan, we worked together at places like The LOOP in Chicago and WLAV in Grand Rapids (A truly GREAT station in its day) and as an associate at our consulting center Burkhart/Abrams. Beyond the basic architecture and concept of KFOG, we kind of made it up as we went along, with a rather amazing off kilter ( for the right reasons) staff. And since this kind of station had never been done before it was a nice freedom to have, and not unlike the creative spirit at XM. Dave incidentally was part of the early XM team. He had a good line as far as our interaction “ I create the recipe and he cooks it.” Worked well with executing new ideas.

Blessed with incredible cooperation from GE who was more interested in jet engines and loans than a station in San Francisco, we were able to market and program this thing the way we thought it should be marketed and programmed. Didn't have much money but spent it well. First thing was to hire Rodney Dangerfield who did a brilliant TV ad using the "no respect" angle for FM listeners with "taste" who got no respect. The whole station was like. Eschewing the "agency" look for a logo went to R. Crumb the master of "Head Comix". Somehow that didn't work, but we did use David Helton, a protoge of R. Crumb who did the early WMMS Buzzard stuff whch always blew me away. I never understood why radio stations, especially music ones fail to approach the art masters who design things like great album covers instead of the often lame local agencies who usually snap together some disposable graphic identity that has the distinction of looking like VERY other station in town, though KFOG maintained a tasty visual identity throughout their evolution as a rock station.

Research wasn’t really a component early on. The data came in during the execution rather than the creative. It was kind of a “duh” that the album rock audience was aging. There used to be this myth that a Hendrix fan would turn 25 and suddenly clamor for Barry Manilow, because now they were “25+” and no longer 18-24, assuming people grow out of the rock “fad” and mature to adult contemporary. Ahhhh...didn’t happen quite that way. KFOG was geared to be an evolution. Not only in musical POV but in style. It actually recalled some of the magic of early FM, BUT ON 80’s terms.

Musically it was a thought out gumbo of styles, all compatible with each other. In an hour you might hear everything from Bob Marley to Pink Floyd to Joe Jackson. This was also the opportunity to invent new features. Wasn’t hard—- on the plane ride out, came up with Nine at Nine, Psychedelic Psupper, Soul Patrol and scores of others to compliment the focused but eclectic mix, all tied together by a high priority on highly original theater-of-the-mind production that created “magic between the songs.”

KFOG was a cool station. It was very experimental and the kind of programming we tried to inspire on people here at XM. It was also had its share of strangeness. One afternoon our DJ got a box of “cookies” from a fan (that was when FM stations had Fans). He left the cookies in the jock lounge. The GM grabbed a few. Three hours later he was at a sales dinner and the cookies “kicked in”---The poor guy thought he was dying. He called Dave Logan the PD and asked what was in those cookies? Dave calmly reminded him to never eat cookies from listeners and suggested he goes home puts on some Hendrix and waits for it to pass. The DJ was fired and the GM never ate another listener cookie. Suffice to say there were many many other stories, none landing anyone in jail, but in that league.

There was a whole different spirit in radio back then. The station didn’t have “users” —- they had “Fogheads.” It really wasn’t that long ago, pre-consolidation era. Consolidation led to a whole new financial driven mindset. Different rules. I actually tried consulting stations again after I left Satellite Music Network/ABC. It lasted about a week. Definitely not the place to be for me. By this time, there were plenty of competent consultants out there anyways.I left pure consulting in 1988 and by 1998 it was a completely different world and clearly not a better one unless you were a shareholder of major proportion. A lot of guys made a ton of money and that’s great, but when you compare the spirit of radio over the air—it was a completely different business. That’s a key reason I was so adamant that XM doesn’t even remotely mimic the FM model. It has NOTHING to do with listener satisfaction and while there are those who think it does---and it may to some of the true believers still on FM, it absolutely doesn’t to the guys in control of that medium. You’ll see the comments about how these guys are serving their communities, but it’s often denial.

Regardless of platform, it’s inevitable that stations of the creative caliber of KFOG will return ... addressing the tech realities and possibilities of the new roaring 20’s, and delivered with extreme imagination.