KGO was a pioneering radio station, launched by the General Electric Corporation (GE) on January 8, 1924. The station was one of three launched by GE with plans to cover the nation with radio signals (the other two were KOA in Denver, CO and WGY in Schenectady, NY).
At the start, the studios were at the transmitter site but within five years, management of the station was taken over by the National Broadcasting Company, created by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), of which GE was the majority shareholder. Studios were moved to San Francisco.
By the 1940’s, KGO was a mainstay of the NBC Blue Network, leading to its purchase by the newly-formed American Broadcasting Company (ABC) when it was spun out of RCA. KGO’s power was boosted to 50,000 watts in 1947, creating a powerhouse that could be heard far beyond the Bay Area.
The station’s glory years began in the 1960’s when management shifted to a news/talk format. A parade of top talent led KGO to top the Bay Area’s Arbitron ratings from July 1978 to January 2009.
KGO was a pioneering radio station, launched by the General Electric Corporation (GE) on January 8, 1924. The station was one of three launched by GE with plans to cover the nation with radio signals (the other two were KOA in Denver, CO and WGY in Schenectady, NY).
At the start, the studios were at the transmitter site but within five years, management of the station was taken over by the National Broadcasting Company, created by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), of which GE was the majority shareholder. Studios were moved to San Francisco.
By the 1940’s, KGO was a mainstay of the NBC Blue Network, leading to its purchase by the newly-formed American Broadcasting Company (ABC) when it was spun out of RCA. KGO’s power was boosted to 50,000 watts in 1947, creating a powerhouse that could be heard far beyond the Bay Area.
The station’s glory years began in the 1960’s when management shifted to a talk show-dominated format, eventually settling on what it called “News/Talk”. A parade of top talent led KGO to top the Bay Area’s Arbitron ratings from July 1978 to January 2009.
The once-proud brand slowly lost its luster under the ownership of industry giant Cumulus Media. The news department was shut down, local talk gave way to a sports-betting focused format called “The Spread”, the syndicated conservative talk show programming of co-owned KSFO was transferred to KGO’s airwaves, and it all came to an end on the first day of 2025.
On the morning of January 1, 2025, KGO’s call letters vanished into history, replaced by KZAC.
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Pacific Coast Station KGO (1924)