 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Broadcast area | Southern California |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 600kHz |
| Branding | Newsradio 600 KOGO |
| Programming | |
| Format | News -Talk |
| Network | Fox News Radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KGB,KGB-FM,KHTS-FM,KIOZ,KLSD,KMYI,KSSX | |
| History | |
First air date | June 30, 1925; 99 years ago (1925-06-30) (as KFWV at 1220) |
Former call signs |
|
Former frequencies | 1220 kHz (1925–1926) 620 kHz (1926) |
Call sign meaning | Chosen by an IBM computer; pronounced phonetically as "Ko-Go" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 51514 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 9,000watts day 10,000 watts night |
| Repeater(s) | 94.1 KMYI-HD2 (San Diego) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | kogo.iheart.com |
KOGO (600kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inSan Diego, California. The station airs anews/talkradio format and is owned byiHeartMedia, Inc. Thestudios and offices are located in San Diego'sKearny Mesa neighborhood on the northeast side.
KOGO transmits with 9,000watts during the day and 10,000 watts at night. The station uses a directional antenna with a two-tower array transmitter located off 60th Street at Old Memory Lane in theEmerald Hills neighborhood of San Diego. The signal pattern generally follows the Pacific Coast fromBaja California, Mexico, toSanta Barbara. Because of its reach, KOGO is one of the primaryEmergency Alert System (EAS) stations for the San Diegoradio market. TheKWFN antenna is at the top of one of two towers with theKLNV antenna being at the top of the other.
KOGO is the first radio station on the AM dial in the San Diego market to broadcast usingHD Radio technology. The station issimulcast on 94.1KMYI-HD2.
The station was originally licensed on June 30, 1925, broadcasting at 1320 kHz with 250 watts of power from theU.S. Grant Hotel. The originalcall sign was KFWV. In 1926, the call letters changed to KFSD and the station moved down the dial to 620 AM. KFSD was the first commercially licensed station in the city (KFSD stands for "First in San Diego"); at the time,KFBC/KGB was an amateur station that was not full-time. In 1928, KFSD was facing bankruptcy, so it was sold to Thomas Sharp (who foundedSharp HealthCare in San Diego). (A station inEscondido, not related to this station, now uses theKFSD callsign.)
In 1931, KFSD became anaffiliate of theNBC Red Network.[2] It carried NBC's dramas, comedies, news, sports,soap operas,game shows andbig band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio". KFSD was owned by the Airfan Radio Corporation. In the 1930s, the station also moved to its current frequency of 600 kHz.
In 1948, KFSD moved its studios to a former country club inEmerald Hills, east of downtown San Diego. The facility housed KFSD's studios, transmitter, and offices. That same year, San Diego's first FM station, KFSD-FM (nowKMYI), signed on from Emerald Hills. In 1953, KFSD-TV (nowKGTV) became the third TV station to sign on in San Diego.
In 1961, KFSD was changing formats, so management also decided to change the call letters. The owners at the time fed facts about San Diego and its people into a new device called a computer, which was then asked to give them the perfect call sign for the station. TheIBM computer gave them the call letters KOGO. Thus, in 1961 the San Diego station known as KOGO (pronounced "Ko-Go") was born.[citation needed]
In 1972,Time Life Broadcasting (owners of KOGO-AM-FM-TV since 1961) decided to sell its San Diego broadcast properties. Due to FCC regulations at the time the stations had to be split off. KOGO was sold toRetlaw Enterprises, owned by the family ofWalt Disney. Channel 10 was sold toMcGraw Hill Publishing and the call letters were changed to KGTV (which stands for KOGO-TV). The station at 94.1 FM got back the call sign KFSD but was sold many times over. It was primarily aclassical music station. The FM outlet changed its call letters to KFSD, then KXGL (for the Eagle), then to KJQY (for "K-Joy"), and finally in 2001 toKMYI. The AM station changed its branding toKOGO Radio 60, then toKOGO Radio 6, then toKOGO Radio 6, the radio magazine. It had a mixed format ofmiddle of the road (MOR) music, talk and sports.
The Shadacks (Ed and his nephew Tom) took over KOGO andKPRI (106.5 FM), but both stations had poor ratings in the early 1980s. In 1983 both stations changed to KLZZ-AM-FM (using the name "Class FM/AM") with asoft AC format. But Class struggled in the ratings.
Edens Broadcasting bought the stations and turned them intoTop 40/CHR KKLQ-AM-FM, using the moniker "Q106". Most music listening for young people had switched to FM by this point, but the AM 600 signal was able to serve the remaining listeners who only had AM radios in their cars, or lived in Northern San Diego County where the FM's signal is spotty. The station sometimes would mention that AM 600 could be heard in Los Angeles and Orange County.
In the early 1990s, Par Broadcasting purchased the stations and ended the simulcast, flipping the AM station to atalk format on April 25, 1994.[3] Par bought back the call letters KOGO for 600 AM. The KOGO call sign, during the hiatus, was used inVentura, California on the 1590 AM frequency (nowKVTA).[4] At that time, 1590 was owned by Jack Woods (formerly Charlie of Charlie and Harrigan onKFMB andKCBQ).[5][6]
In 1997, Par Broadcasting sold its San Diego stations toJacor/Citicasters, which in turn merged withClear Channel Communications. Clear Channel becameiHeartMedia in 1999. KOGO was reunited with its original FM sister in 1998 when Jacor/Citicasters purchased the radio properties ofNationwide Communications, including 94.1 FM.
On October 14, 2014, KOGO added three news blocks to its program schedule.[7] Over time, the news block in morningdrive time has remained but the midday and afternoon news blocks have been switched to talk programming. In May 2009, KOGO's newscasts outside of morning and early evening were being produced by Los Angeles sister station 640KFI. It was also disclosed that some newscasts in the evening were prerecorded.
During theOctober 2007 California wildfires, news, information, and talk from KOGO was simulcast on every San Diego-area station owned by Clear Channel. This continued from the night of October 21 to the evening of October 24. KOGO dropped all commercial breaks during this period.
KOGO was also simulcast on Channel 24/7 ofXM Satellite Radio, which the service used foremergency information. Regular programming on KOGO returned on the night of October 24 at 11 p.m. with the syndicatedCoast to Coast AM.
KOGO programming began simulcasting on 95.7KUSS on November 7, 2011.[8] Management saw fewer young and middle-aged listeners switching to AM so the plan was KOGO would gain younger listeners by being on the FM dial.
The simulcast ended on November 16, 2012, at 7 p.m., when KOGO-FM beganstunting withChristmas music.[9] After Christmas it switched torhythmic adult contemporary music as KSSX. The combined ratings of AM 600 and FM 95.7 did not make the simulcast as profitable as keeping the AM as a news/talk outlet and switching the FM to a music format.
As of November 2024, Weekdays begin with "San Diego's Morning News" with Ted Garcia and Veronica Carter. In middays, KOGO airsnationally syndicated shows from co-ownedPremiere Networks:The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show andThe Sean Hannity Show. Late afternoon and eveningdrive time features local shows from Mike Slater, Lou Penrose, Leland Conway and Mark Larson.[10] In late nights and early mornings, KOGO carriesCoast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory andThis Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal.
Weekends feature shows on money, health, faith and technology. Weekend programs includeThe Kim Komando Show,Sunday Night with Bill Cunningham,Rich DeMuro on Tech,Armstrong & Getty,Somewhere in Time with Art Bell andThe Jesus Christ Show with Neil Saavedra. Most hours begin with an update fromFox News Radio.
Until the 2012–2013 academic year, KOGO was the official broadcast home for theSan Diego State Aztecsfootball andmen's basketball programs.[11] However, some basketball games were transferred to co-owned 1360KLSD if the football team was also playing at the same time, or if it was a weekday early-evening game on the West Coast. With the 2013–2014 season, Aztec football and basketball games began airing onXEPRS-AM (The Mighty 1090).
KOGO carriedSan Diego Padresbaseball games from the team's debut in theNational League in1969 through1978. Padres games again were heard on KOGO in the early 2000s, before losing the rights to 1090XEPRS in2003.
KOGO was also the radio home of theSan Diego Chargersfootball team in the early 1980s.Ted Leitner did play-by-play withPat Curran in the booth. Pre- and post-game show duties were handled byRandy Hahn andJim Laslavic. The games were eventually simulcast onKLZZ (106.5 FM). In1985,XETRA 690 AM took the broadcast rights. Leitner was replaced byLee Hamilton, who had come in fromPhoenix.
KOGO was the co-flagship station of theSan Diego Fleet in the now-defunctAlliance of American Football, alongside co-owned 1360KLSD. The AAF did not complete its inaugural 2019 season.
| ByAM frequency | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ByFM frequency |
| ||||
| NOAA Weather Radio frequency | |||||
| Digital radio by frequency & subchannel | |||||
| Bycall sign | |||||
| Defunct | |||||
32°43′16″N117°04′10″W / 32.72111°N 117.06944°W /32.72111; -117.06944
