There were LPs on the walls the last time I visited the KFOG studio.

This was just five or six years ago, before the recent drastic format changes to the station neutered its free-spirited appeal. But still, 30 years after most major-market radio stations stopped spinning records, you could leaf through the stacks and marvel at the history. There might be a Journey album from the years before Steve Perry joined the band. Indigo Girls records other than the one with “Closer to Fine.” Multiple versions of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” because who knows when someone will want to play the live version?

When Cumulus Media announced on Monday, Aug. 26, the end of KFOG 104.5 as a music station — it will simulcast KNBR’s sports content beginning Sept. 6 — it felt like a formality. The days of free-form radio with personalities like M. Dung, Wes “Scoop” Nisker, Dave Morey, Dred Scott, Annalisa, Peter Finch and Renee Richardson ended years ago. Rosalie Howarth’s “Acoustic Sunrise” was the last survivor of the peak KFOG era, leaving the air in 2018.

KFOG was special because of the unlimited possibilities: The expertise and knowledge of its employees, the creativity of its outreach to the public, and a musical history that had been accumulated on the station’s walls. The loyalty of its listeners guarantees it will be remembered. An alchemy that never meshed with corporate interests proves that, on the terrestrial radio airwaves at least, it can’t be replaced.

KFOG became KFOG in 1982, retiring its outdated easy listening format, and creating a new path that was, by design, undefinable. The station played a mix of local artists, deep cuts from larger rock acts and wild cards that reflected the personality of the individual DJ. It was as if they were making one three-decades-long mixtape for their listeners. You weren’t born a “Foghead” in the Bay Area; you graduated to it when and if you reached a point of musical enlightenment.

“We’ve got the best listeners,” Morey told The Chronicle in 2002. “It’s like a private club but everybody is in it.”

As a preteen just discovering music, I never listened to KFOG. There was no guarantee they would play Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” or the new Billy Idol hit every hour like I wanted. KFOG morning show host Morey, who introduced “10@10” featuring 10 songs from one year, was also one of the most low-key presences in Bay Area radio. KFOG wasn’t there to fire you up; it was there to lull you into a gentler place.

This worked well in the Bay Area, a region that in the early 1980s was ready to be lulled. The late 1970s were a time of violence and tragedy in the city, and KFOG always felt like the safest space on the FM airwaves. New talent, even the younger DJs including Richardson, gave off a strong sense of institutional history when they were on the air. And the station’s live events — the centerpiece was the “KFOG KaBoom” fireworks show — helped reinforce feelings that KFOG broadcasts were a shared experience.

I still hear tributes to the old KFOG frequently, sometimes from unexpected places. Last week, The Chronicle’s Heather Knight and I hosted a 30-year-old tech worker named Eric Kingsbury on my podcast “The Big Event,” to discuss his decision to walk the 49-Mile Scenic Drive. He began by talking about his childhood in Ben Lomond, and how KFOG started his love for San Francisco.

“I’d always get this sense of excitement when we could finally get to 104.5 and it wasn’t just static,” Kingsbury said, “because it meant that we were about to hit the city, and you’d see the (‘South San Francisco: The Industrial City’) sign. … Something about it always felt magical.”

When Atlanta-based Cumulus bought KFOG in 2005, the headline in The Chronicle read “Four radio stations sold in S.F. — KFOG, KNBR and KSAN not expecting changes.” But it seemed like only a matter of time. Radio stations running on undefinable qualities don’t often last long with corporate decision-makers who work 2,482 miles away.

While it seems like more new radio stations are putting their talent in windowless boxes, the old KFOG had huge picture windows that looked out at the Embarcadero and Rincon Hill. Morey sat from an elevated perch, viewing the changing city. He must have seen what was coming, and he left for Michigan in 2008.

KFOG continued with a subtly shifting lineup after that; Bill Webster joined the morning show, which continued with Finch, Richardson and Irish Greg for a few more strong years. (I was on that show more than any other on KFOG. On and off the air, those hosts were a good hang.)

But the changes came quickly in 2016, when most of the remaining KFOG veterans were moved to other stations or released.

I don’t know where those records on the wall have gone. I’m betting they’re not going to live at a San Francisco radio station any more. But those songs, and what they represent, remain in the listeners.

So thank you KFOG, for embracing the unexpected. Thank you KFOG, for having all the versions of “Solsbury Hill.” And thank you KFOG, for caring about the Bay Area. I wish we had more years together. But 37 years was enough time to change a lot of lives for the better.

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