TORONTO, ONTARIO - Perhaps the most-watched vacancy in the radio industry has finally been filled. KGO Newstalk 810 in San Francisco, which many view as the premier commercial talk radio station in the United States, has announced a host for its weekday, 10 pm to 1 am slot which has been vacant since December 2007. Longtime weekend overnight host John Rothmann will take over the time slot starting tonight.
KGO had been using a long series of rotating hosts from its fill-in stable since Bernie Ward was removed from the time slot (which he had held since 1992 except for a stint in the 7-10 pm slot) when he was indicted on child pornography charges. Early in the process (that's almost eighteen months ago now), long-time fill-in and one-time weekend host Christine Craft and weekend host Charles "Karel" Bouley alternated two-week assignments. That ended when Karel was fired from the station, and other voices including Rothmann, Pat Thurston, and Joanne Green were heard, as well as some who clearly were not interested in the permanent position because of other commitments including Brian Copeland and Jim Gabbert.
The varied voices in the slot kept the show fresh in the opinion of some, but it was also uneven, and it got to the point that even regular listeners didn't know who was on. When taking a taxi ride in the Bay Area in December 2008, the driver had tuned in to KGO and I asked him, "So, who's working the 10-1 slot tonight, Christine Craft?" "No, the other woman... Pat Thurston." It was actually Joanne Green's voice that greeted us after the commercial break ended.
While many observers had hoped that a woman would again get a weekday slot on the station (Sean Nix had once held the same 10-1 shift in the mid-1990's while Bernie Ward had been on 7-10 pm, so it wouldn't have been a first), Rothmann is a hard choice to question. His knowledge of world politics is impeccable and the biggest complaint about him has been that his topics do not branch off often enough into other areas (well, other than the minority that seems to dislike how he pronounces "Pakistan"). However, when he has gone into more pop culture areas when filling in for morning host Ronn Owens, reaction has been positive.
The biggest question is why KGO management waited until now to announce Rothmann as permanent host. Presumably, he has been available and interested the entire time. It almost seems like KGO was courting an outside candidate who finally decided he or she was not interested, and then they looked internally and decided Rothmann was the cream of their own crop.
The hiring of Rothmann is interesting in light of the host hired for Ward's other former show, the Sunday morning God Talk show. San Jose State professor Brent Walters has been holding down that position superbly since mid-2008, and he is well-known for his personal library called the Ante-Nicene Archive. Rothmann has been accused of sounding like a college professor on the air and has his own 15,000-volume library. Combined with weekend 10 pm-1 am host Dr. Bill Wattenburg, a former college professor, there's quite a stable of academics on the air at the station.
While that might indicate that KGO is increasingly pursuing more high-brow and intellectual talk shows, some have questioned whether that will help them pursue a younger audience. Like many AM talk stations, KGO's audience has skewed older and older in recent years. However, the young people that do listen to the radio at all (and not just their portable music players) do tune in National Public Radio in reasonable numbers, and perhaps KGO will be able to make inroads into that audience with hosts like Rothmann and Walters. Whether KGO returns to its glory era as I expressed concern about last November remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, another thing KGO is known for, Mike Amatori's production skills, have been put to good use in announcing Rothmann's new shift. A promo is running with sound from Richard Nixon: "There are so many decisions that are made that shape history and there is no longer a need for the process to be prolonged." Just perfect.
John Rothmann's first shift as 10 pm-1 am (Pacific time) weekday host on KGO airs tonight, 14-September-2009.
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