KFOG axes DJs; station’s future up in the air

KFOG midday disc jokey Annalisa poses for a photo in a recording studio at the station on Wednesday, October 19, 2011. KFOG midday disc jokey Annalisa poses for a photo in a recording studio at the station on Wednesday, October 19, 2011. Photo: Susana Bates, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Susana Bates, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close KFOG axes DJs; station’s future up in the air 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

KFOG-FM, one of the few surviving links to San Francisco’s history of free-form radio on the commercial dial, has gutted its on-air staff in advance of a new format to be introduced April 20.

Four of the station’s six full-time DJs — Annalisa, Renee, Webster and Dred Scott — were laid off without notice Thursday morning. Also let go was weekend voice Rosalie, host of “Acoustic Sunrise” and “Acoustic Sunset” on Sundays. The layoffs were confirmed by a KFOG staffer who would not speak for attribution because of contingencies of the severance package.

The morning drive team of Irish Greg and No Name has been left intact for now, though its third wheel, Renee, is gone.

“There were a couple of centuries’ worth of musical knowledge and Bay Area history that went down in a matter of minutes,” said Rosalie Howarth, a 32-year KFOG veteran, when reached at her home in Walnut Creek. Her Facebook page read simply, “the sun has set ... on Acoustic Sunrise and Sunset.” Asked if there will be a farewell show, she said, “you never get to do it in radio, and it’s too bad because I already had all my songs picked out.”

KFOG is owned by Cumulus, a nationwide chain of stations that also owns KGO-AM, which underwent a similar bloodletting Thursday. The firings at KFOG were all veterans and mostly voices familiar and beloved by “registered Fogheads,” as the station’s loyal listeners are known. The DJs were let go in individual 10-minute sessions by Justin Wittmayer, vice president and marketing manager, according to the source.

Wittmayer did not return calls requesting comment.

Numbers weren’t there

As of now, “they are using board operators to run the music programming while they get the new staff trained or come to town or who knows,” said Chronicle radio columnist Ben Fong-Torres, who was not surprised by the change. “The numbers have not been there for a good number of years. They’ve been around 20th in the market. I think the owners at KFOG have looked at it and said, ‘This is a stagnant station.’”

When KFOG, 104.5, switched from easy listening to rock in 1982, it was a contemporary take on the free-form, album-oriented, personality-driven radio pioneered by KMPX in the mid-1960s and later by KSAN in the ’70s. The first effusive personality who evolved at KFOG was M. Dung, an irreverent sort with a Wolfman Jack voice and the signature handle “A-waaay baby.”

Over time, M. Dung gave way in the morning to Dave Morey, considered the true soul of the station. Under Morey’s 26-year reign, KFOG popularized “10@10” and “My Three Songs.”

“10@10” ended Morey’s morning drive show with a string of songs from any year going back to the British Invasion of 1964. Morey created the set list, digging deep into B-sides. His push-button sidekick was Don Pardo. After much buildup and birthday shout-outs, Pardo would say, “Lets spin the big wheel and see which year we land on today, Dave,” and off it went.

“My Three Songs” used the theme music of the old Fred MacMurray TV show “My Three Sons” to string together three songs with a hidden link between them. The connection could be in the lyrics or the performer or the producer.

Another popular feature were the rabble-rousing and rapid-fire reports by “Scoop” Nisker, a counterculture figure and old KSAN hand known for his “audio collage.” He did morning news reports before his signature sign-off: “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.”

KFOG rode its cast of characters up the ratings, if never quite high enough.

‘Foghead’ freebies

But it was “dominant among its own target audience of 25 to 54,” Fong-Torres said. It had its own culture, powered by “Registered Fogheads.”

They were rewarded with tickets to private in-studio concerts with major acts performing in town. The best of these short, intimate sets were compiled on an annual CD for 22 years called “Live From the Archives” to raise money for food banks. The CD, released to much anticipation each Christmas and most recently available exclusively at Peet’s Coffee, always sold out and became a collectible.

KFOG also produced the annual KFOG KaBoom, a free concert and fireworks show that started in 1994 as the Sky Concert and drew up to 350,000 people to the San Francisco waterfront. The concert started charging admission to keep the crowds down, and it was discontinued in 2010.

“The call letters KFOG conjured up the city so well, and for a long time the station lived up to the imagery by way of their programming and branding,” Fong-Torres said.

Some Fogheads say the station started its slide in 2008, when Morey unexpectedly retired to the Michigan wilderness.

Now the morning drive shift was a three-way joke-fest by Irish Greg, No Name and Renee to represent the old guard. It still leads into “10@10,” which seldom reaches back to the ’60s and ’70s anymore. The introductory antics are gone, and so is the “10@10 Marathon” on Saturday mornings.

Up until this week, there were still remnants of the old KFOG late at night when Dred Scott was on, during “Acoustic Sunset,” and every Thanksgiving Day at noon, when it played the long version of “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie.

No one knows yet what to expect on April 20.