KGMZ

KGMZ
City San Francisco
Broadcast area San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, California
Branding 95.7 FM The Game
Slogan The Bay Area's New Sound For Sports
Frequency 95.7 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date June 1, 1960 (as KQBY-FM)
Format Sports Talk
HD2: Country "Wolf Country"
ERP 6,900 watts
HAAT 393 meters (1,289 ft)
Class B
Facility ID 25446
Transmitter coordinates 37°41′23″N 122°26′12″W / 37.68972°N 122.43667°W / 37.68972; -122.43667
Callsign meaning K GaMeZ
Former callsigns KQBY-FM (1960-1962)
KKHI-FM (1962–1994)
KPIX-FM (1994–1997)
KOYT (1997)
KZQZ (1997–2002)
KKDV (2002–2003)
KZBR (2003–2006)
KMAX-FM (2006–2007)
KBWF (2007–2011)
Affiliations
Owner Entercom Communications
(Entercom License, LLC)
Sister stations KOIT, KUFX, KRBQ, KBLX-FM
Webcast KGMZ Webstream
Website 957thegame.com

KGMZ (95.7 FM, "95.7 The Game") is an United States radio station located in San Francisco, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KGMZ airs a sports format.

The station is owned and operated by Entercom Communications, and broadcasts from studios at 3rd and Howard in San Francisco, with a transmitter on San Bruno Mountain. KGMZ serves as the flagship station for the Oakland Raiders, the Oakland Athletics and the Golden State Warriors.[1][2]

KGMZ broadcasts in HD.[3]

History

KQBY-FM & KKHI-FM (1960-1994)

The 95.7 FM frequency debuted June 1, 1960 as KQBY-FM, companion to co-owned KQBY 1550, with 10,500 watts from Mount Beacon above Sausalito, California. It was the last commercial FM application available in the San Francisco market. KQBY had been the original Top 40 music station in the Bay Area, garnering a huge market share for owner Dave Siegel. After competition eroded listeners, the station was sold to former child actor Sherwood R. Gordon, who changed the format to "beautiful music".

When Gordon ran out of money, both stations were sold to Frank Atlass, who financed the purchase from an inheritance. He changed the callsigns to KKHI and KKHI-FM and tried a middle of the road music format. When he ran low on money, the staff was cut to a bare minimum and the format was changed, this time to classical music.[4] Debt problems forced Atlass to sell the stations in 1962.

New owner Buckley Broadcasting retained much of the staff and improved "The Classic Stations" format, attracting prestige-seeking advertisers. In 1968, because the FCC required co-owned/co-located AM and FM stations to have different programming for most of the day, automation equipment was installed for KKHI-FM, resulting in two stations operated by the same staff.

95.7 KPIX-FM (1994-1997)

Labor disputes and declining advertising support eventually brought an end to the classical music programming. The station was sold in May 1994 to Westinghouse Broadcasting, owners of KPIX-TV, and its format was dramatically changed. The station became KPIX-FM, and changed to an all-news format (with some jazz music being played on weekends for a time) on May 30, while also simulcasting with its AM sister station.[5] Hosts included Don Imus, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Gil Gross. During this time, the station briefly attained an all-time ratings high by airing non-stop coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. After the trial, in the Fall of 1995, the simulcast was split when the AM side of KPIX continued with the all-news format, and KPIX-FM modified its format to Hot talk as "FM Talk 95.7 KPIX".

Z95.7 (1997-2002)/The Drive (2002-2003)

In 1997, Westinghouse, now a part of CBS Radio, sold KPIX-FM to Bonneville International due to being over FCC-mandated ownership limits as part of Westinghouse's merger with CBS. The talk format of KPIX-FM ended at 6 PM on May 30, 1997, following that day's broadcast of The Tom Leykis Show.[6] The station then started stunting by simulcasting new sister station WTMX in Chicago for about a month. Following the stunt, the station flipped to an upbeat CHR format as "Z95.7" on July 11 at 11:05 AM, with the call letters KOYT and later KZQZ (which were adopted on July 21). The first song on the "Z" was "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited.[7][8] The slogan was "Today's Hit Music". The format lasted until May 7, 2002, when the station changed its format to classic hits as KKDV ("95.7 The Drive"), inspired by the success of its Chicago sister station WDRV. The first song on "The Drive" was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones.[9]

95.7 The Bear (2003-2005)/Max FM (2005-2007)

WDRV's success did not translate to the Bay Area, and on August 11, 2003, the station turned to a country music format as KZBR ("95.7 The Bear"). The first song on "The Bear" was "Gone Country" by Alan Jackson.[10] On May 11, 2005, at Noon, the station adopted an adult hits format as "95.7 MAX-FM", with new KMAX call letters adopted on April 13, 2006.[11][12] KZBR started with a full complement of announcers, but moved to a more-music, DJ-free approach in mid-April 2006. The familiar voice of "Station 'owner' J.J. Maxwell" or "Max" was actor John O'Hurley, perhaps best known for his work on Seinfeld as catalog king J. Peterman. "It's unexpected and a bit irreverent," said Bonneville's Senior Regional Vice President and General Manager Chuck Tweedle. "And very much in the eclectic spirit of Max 95.7 FM."

In January 2007, Bonneville announced that it would be swapping all three of its San Francisco FM stations, including KMAX, plus $1 million, to Entercom Communications for three of Entercom's radio stations in Seattle, Washington, plus Entercom's entire radio cluster in Cincinnati, Ohio. Entercom took over the station through a local marketing agreement on February 26, 2007.

95.7 The Wolf (2007-2011)

On February 28, 2007, at 12:30 p.m., after playing Venus by Bananarama and going into a stopset, KMAX-FM began stunting with an automated voice similar to Microsoft Sam counting down to 7:50 a.m. the next morning, March 1, while occasionally giving quotes from movies, TV shows, songs, and pop culture references, as well as directing listeners to call numbers such as 415-777-7100 (the number for the San Francisco Chronicle's Metro Desk) or 415-954-7926 (the number for KGO-TV) for more information. The end of Max FM was notified beforehand with an e-mail sent out that morning to listeners, and shortly after 2 p.m. that day, Max's website went offline, replaced with a message thanking listeners, giving a brief goodbye message, and telling listeners that they were "preparing a brand new radio station that we believe you will like even more than Max", promoting that it would "be fun, energetic, Bay Area focused and unlike any other station in the area", promoting said format's launch at the time aforementioned, and ending by saying "we sincerely hope you join us for the ride."

At the promised time, KMAX returned to country as "95.7 The Wolf, The Bay Area's Fresh Country", launching with 10,000 songs in a row commercial-free, with the first song being "Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)" by Big & Rich.[13] The launch of "The Wolf", and most of the initial imaging production was created by Krash Creative Solutions, and was also simulcast live from the main stage at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, being heard by hundreds of radio and record executives. On March 19, 2007, KMAX changed their call letters to KBWF to go with the "Wolf" branding.

After playing 10,000 songs in a row, they continued with an additional 15,000 songs still commercial-free. On April 2, 2007, The Wolf began adding jocks, with Nikki Landry doing mid-days, JoJo Kincaid on afternoons and the Nite Wolf with Mark "Tic Tak" Allen on nights. On April 16, 2007, The Wolf brought in The Y'all Turnative Morning Show with Gill Alexander, LeBaron Meyers, Marcus Osborne, Sue Hall and Eddie King.

KBWF became the Oakland Athletics flagship station, replacing KTRB, on March 31, 2011. The first game broadcast was on April 1, 2011.[1]

Sports Radio 95.7/95.7 The Game (2011-Present)

On April 15, 2011, at 10 a.m., after playing "Heads Carolina, Tails California" by Jo Dee Messina, KBWF began stunting with a montage of various San Francisco sports highlights of the last few decades, as well as songs typically played at sporting events.[14][15]

At 4 p.m. that day, the new "SportsRadio 95.7" soft-launched with the Oakland Athletics' pre-game show with Chris Townsend and the game following. After the game, the station resumed stunting, which lasted until the following Monday morning at 6 a.m., when SportsRadio 95.7 made its official debut. The flip came after the station became the new FM affiliate for the A's.[16][17]

On August 1, 2011, at 6 am, the station relaunched as "95.7 The Game", completing the flip to sports with a new official on-air lineup. The station also changed their calls to KGMZ to go with the "Game" moniker.[18]

The change to all-sports briefly left San Francisco again as the largest radio market without a full power country station (this changed in May 2014, when KSJO flipped from ethnic programming to country as "Nash FM," until changing to a Bollywood music format). However, the format remains on 95.7 HD2 as "Wolf Country 95.7." Before the changeover, it aired classic country as "The Deuce".

On January 1, 2016, KGMZ switched from ESPN Radio to Fox Sports Radio programming.

On August 25, 2016, the Golden State Warriors announced that KGMZ would be their new flagship station for the team, moving all of their game broadcasts and pre-game and post-game shows from KNBR. [19]

Former Staff

KKHI era 1960–1994

(also was Mutual Broadcasting System network control and news for west coast)

95.7 KPIX era 1994–1997

Z95.7 era 1997–2002

95.7 The Drive era 2002–2003

95.7 The Bear 2003–2005

95.7 MAX-FM era 2005–2007

95.7 The Wolf era 2007–2011

Sportsradio 95.7 era April – August 2011

95.7 The Game era August 1, 2011 – present

Former On-Air Personalities

Current On-Air Personalities

References

  1. 1 2 Siglich, Joe (March 31, 2011). "A's reach agreement to broadcast games on FM station". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  2. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/Warriors-drop-KNBR-head-to-95-7-The-Game-9184253.php
  3. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=4 HD Radio Guide for San Francisco
  4. ↑ http://www.bayarearadio.org
  5. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1994/RR-1994-07-15.pdf
  6. ↑ http://formatchange.com/kpix-fm-stunts-with-chicago-simulcast/
  7. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1997/RR-1997-07-18.pdf
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjdZnOI4SsY
  9. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2002/RR-2002-05-10.pdf
  10. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2003/RR-2003-08-15.pdf
  11. ↑ San Francisco/Oakland – 95.7 Max FM – Variety Hits
  12. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2005/RR-2005-05-20.pdf
  13. ↑ http://formatchange.com/957-kmax-fm-goes-from-variety-hits-to-country-the-wolf/
  14. ↑ https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/32742/the-wolf-gives-way-to-sports-in-san-francisco/
  15. ↑ http://www.athleticsnation.com/2011/4/15/2113242/95-7-the-wolf-is-now-sportsradio-95-7-fm
  16. ↑ http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2011/03/31/as-radio-kbwf.html
  17. ↑ https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/32661/oakland-athletics-name-95-7-kbwf-new-flagship/
  18. ↑ https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/netgnomes/52582/entercom-to-rebrand-sportsradio-95-7-san-francisco/
  19. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/Warriors-drop-KNBR-head-to-95-7-The-Game-9184253.php
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