| City of license | San Francisco, California |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Branding | Hot Talk 560 KSFO |
| Slogan | The News and Views You Won't Hear Anywhere Else |
| Frequency | 560 kHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | 1925 |
| Format | News/Talk |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 34472 |
| Callsign meaning | Dual meaning: San FranciscO airport code for San Francisco International Airport |
| Affiliations | ABC News |
| Owner | Cumulus Media (Radio License Holding VIII, LLC) |
| Sister stations | KFOG, KGO, KNBR, KSAN, KTCT |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | ksfo560.com |
KSFO is a conservative talk radio station in San Francisco, California, USA, broadcasting on 560 kHz AM. It operated under the ownership of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) until the radio group was purchased by Citadel Broadcasting in 2007. The station is now owned by Cumulus Media, following its 2011 merger with Citadel.[1]
The content of the KSFO's talk programming is solidly conservative, which is in stark contrast to the rather liberal San Francisco area, with show hosts such as Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Laura Ingraham.[2] The station also airs Coast to Coast AM and The Mutual Fund Show with Adam Bold. The conservative station is also in direct contrast to co-owned liberal News/Talk KGO-AM, which operates from the same studio compound.
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KSFO went on the air in 1925. In its heyday, starting in 1955, it played MOR and jazz music, sports, and, particularly memorably, rebroadcast antique radio shows at particular times of the year. At the time, the station was owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters and called itself "the world's greatest radio station." KSFO's signature jingle, "The Sound of the City" (written by Johnny Mann and sung a cappella by the University of California Men's Octet), became legendary in San Francisco — reportedly requested by listeners as much as any popular song on the station's playlist — and was subsequently adopted by other like-formatted stations around the country. Memorable broadcasters of KSFO's history include Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Don Sherwood, Jeff Skov, Aaron Edwards, Jim Lange, John Gilliland, Gene Nelson, Dan Sorkin and Jim Eason. The station's history included stints as the flagship station for both San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics baseball (at different times) and San Francisco 49ers, University of California [3] and Stanford University football. A history of KSFO in the heyday of Don Sherwood (1950s and 1960s) can be found in Laurie Harper's biography, "Don Sherwood — The World's Greatest Disk Jockey."
The station's news department earned national and international journalism awards for coverage of the Peoples Temple massacre in Jonestown, Guyana[4] and the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by former Supervisor Dan White. Newscasters, sportscasters, and DJs from KSFO played an annual softball game to benefit the Police Athletic League; the No-Stars' arch-rivals were Reno Barsocchini's VIPs.
The station eventually switched to a format consisting almost entirely of conservative opinion talk shows, some of which are local while others are nationally syndicated.
Beginning in 1997, KSFO's early morning schedule included a trio of hosts described by their fans as "humorous, hardline, uncompromising conservatives", Lee Rodgers, Melanie Morgan, and Tom Benner, known on the air as "Officer Vic". The former two were originally the major contributors to the show; the latter covers traffic and weather, and often contributes political satire. Melanie Morgan was terminated in February 2008 due to budget constraints; the show continued until February 18, 2010 with Lee Rodgers and Officer Vic, with frequent assistance from other KSFO staffers. Upon Lee Rodgers' retirement, Brian Sussman left his weekday evening slot and took over The Morning Show, effective February 19, 2010. In June 2009, KSFO picked up Morgan's new syndicated program, America's Morning News, when it went to air. It airs in the very early morning slot, immediately before The Morning Show.[5] While on the air, in 2009, Lee Rodgers referred to Officer Vic as "Mr. Mann" and "Bob", leading some listeners to think that he is Mr. Robert Mann of Walnut Creek, and not Crescent City.
KSFO was the former flagship station for Michael Savage. Some of the conservative hosts at sister station KGO, such as David Gold and Savage, who were not well-received by that audience have subsequently hosted shows on KSFO. Savage and Gold no longer host shows at KSFO, although Gold frequently fills in when other hosts are absent.
In 2007, the station was purchased by Citadel Broadcasting, along with the rest of The Walt Disney Company/ABC Radio's radio stations, excluding Radio Disney affiliates. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[1]
In late 2008, KSFO made a major scheduling change, by moving The Sean Hannity Show to the early afternoon slot (12 p.m. to 3 p.m.), so that it could be broadcast live. The Dr. Laura Show, which had been broadcast live in that slot a long time, was truncated and moved to the evening 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. slot where it aired until it ended production, and was replaced by Laura Ingraham. Hannity's show is followed by the nationally-syndicated live Mark Levin Show.
After Lee Rodgers, was let go in February 2010,[6][7][8] and replaced by the Brian Sussman Show (who was formerly in the 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. slot). Brian Sussman's former slot was replaced by the nationally-syndicated John Batchelor Show, also live, immediately following Mark Levin.
Weekend hosts for KSFO include conservative commentators such as Barbara Simpson and Rabbi Daniel Lapin, as well as some non-political content, such as shows on home renovation, gardening and real estate.
KSFO, in its current talk format incarnation, has drawn much controversy. The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most liberal metropolitan areas in the United States and most of the controversy has been due to on-air comments from their hosts.
In 1995, Dan Fowler, then Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, sent a letter to constituents condemning KSFO's so-called "hate speech":
In this letter Fowler urged citizens to:
On June 29, 2006, Melanie Morgan responded to the San Francisco Chronicle regarding her "Hang 'em" comment:
If he [New York Times editor Bill Keller] were to be tried and convicted of treason, yes, I would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber ... It is about revealing classified secrets in the time of war. And the media has got to take responsibility for revealing classified information that is putting American lives at risk.[10]
Beginning in 2005, a liberal blogger calling himself "Spocko" began recording KSFO talk shows and posting excerpts of these shows on his blog as examples of what he viewed as hate speech; he began a letter-writing campaign[11] to advertisers on KSFO, alerting them to these examples and urging them to withdraw their support of the station. Some of Spocko's examples include:[12]
Some advertisers, including Netflix, MasterCard, Bank of America, and Visa, withdrew their support from KSFO.[13]
On December 22, 2006, Spocko received a "cease-and-desist" letter from ABC lawyers, insisting that he remove audio clips of KSFO radio hosts claiming that he had violated copyright law. On January 2, 2007 his Internet service provider, 1&1 Internet, complied with the cease-and-desist letter and took down his website.[14]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has agreed to defend Spocko against threats of a DMCA SLAPP suit. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a successful history in defending against legal assaults on fair use and the first amendment, as exemplified by the Barney case.
News of this spread through blogs including Daily Kos[15] and The Spotlight Project, eventually reaching large audiences at social news sites like Slashdot, Digg, and reddit.[16]
Spocko's statement on the controversy:[17] "Advertisers should be able to decide if they want to keep supporting this show based on complete information. We already know that management at ABC and Disney support these hosts, which means that the ABC/Disney Radio brand now apparently includes support for violent hate speech toward Muslims, democrats and liberals."
KSFO primarily defended itself by criticizing Spocko for acting anonymously and claiming many of his quotes were taken wildly out of context, and that they had previously apologized for several of the cited instances.
On January 12, 2007, KSFO responded to the criticism by dedicating three hours to airing its side of the controversy, and posted the audio on its website.[18][19]
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