Detroit native Michael “Mickey” Luckoff earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan before he began his career in radio sales at WJBK/Detroit. He then became a national sales rep for Metromedia, spending time in Chicago and Los Angeles as well as Detroit.
He joined KGO as a sales manager in 1972. After only six months on the job, Luckoff was promoted to general sales manager and was named president and general manager in 1975.
Luckoff presided over KGO’s 30-plus years of market dominance. The station’s “Newstalk” format led Bay Area ratings starting in 1978. KGO won 10 Marconi Awards from the National Association of Broadcasters during Luckoff’s tenure.
Luckoff also served as general manager of co-owned KSFO, overseeing the station’s transition to a politically-conservative “hot talk” format.
Three years after the stations were acquired by Citadel Broadcasting and after KGO’s ratings dominance had ended, Luckoff quit in 2010, saying of his corporate bosses, “They don’t treat people well. They undermine you at every turn.”