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KFOG is an FM radio station in San Francisco, California, broadcasting on 104.5 and sister station KFFG 97.7 FM MHz. The 97.7 transmitter is located near Cupertino, California, and it is a simulcast of 104.5 KFOG.

The stations' formats are adult album alternative, an eclectic variety of blues, reggae, folk, pop, and rock music from the mid-1960s to the present, which the station calls "World Class Rock." Both stations are owned by Cumulus Media.

History [link]

The station signed on on February 4, 1960 as KBAY and was owned by Kaiser Broadcasting, a company started by local industrialist Henry J. Kaiser.

The KFOG call letters have been around for decades, and were used when 104.5 played beautiful music. On September 16, 1982, they dropped the easy listening format for a blend of album-oriented rock which they called "Timeless Rock". The station featured a wide range of music, from the psychedelic sounds of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to newer artists such as Prince, the Eurythmics, and the Thompson Twins. They avoided more commercial bands such as Loverboy, which were widely played on many other AOR stations at the time. KFOG's specialty programming included the nightly "Psychedelic Psupper" and the "Sunday Night Idiot Show", which featured 1950s oldies. KFOG was inspired by San Francisco's freeform rock radio heritage, dating back to KSAN.

When KFOG went on the air, the Bay Area was deluged with AOR stations. KMEL was the established, tightly-formatted album-oriented rock station that had been playing rock music since 1977. KRQR was the hard rock station and KQAK was a new station with a friendly, loosely programmed, personality-driven alternative rock/new wave format. There were two other rock stations in the South Bay - KSJO and KOME. One San Francisco rock station, KSFX, switched to talk radio in May of that year. Of the six Bay Area rock stations that were on the air in late 1982, KFOG is the only one that remains.

The station has evolved over the years, but has now been airing an eclectic rock format from the transmitter on Sutro Tower for more than twenty-five years.

KFOG programming and promotions [link]

KFOG has a reputation for being devoted to their listeners, whom they call "Fogheads." The weekday morning show from 6 to 10 Pacific Standard time often features prize giveaways (usually concert tickets), and guests candidly field questions from callers and e-mails. The station gives registered Fogheads first crack at tickets to private concerts and exclusive events.

The station holds a popular outdoor concert, KFOG KaBoom, at San Francisco's Piers 30 and 32 each May. This is followed by a nighttime fireworks show synchronized to a soundtrack. The extravagant fireworks display draws over 350,000 people. The lineup for the 2009 edition included Los Lonely Boys, Susan Tedeschi, and Chuck Prophet.

Many of the concerts KFOG sponsors are recorded for KFOG's "Live from the Archives", a massive library of live performances that drawn on once a year for a limited-edition CD called KFOG Live From the Archives. No more than 35,000 copies of each volume are pressed, and all of the proceeds are donated to Bay Area Food Banks. Volume 16 was released in November 2009.^[1]

KFOG has a tradition of playing various songs at the same time each week. On Friday afternoons at 5 p.m., the station always broadcasts the song "Smoke Two Joints", playing a version by either The Toyes or Sublime. On Wednesdays, KFOG plays music from new bands, often including indie rock groups.

In 2002 KFOG was the first in the nation to put its music on iTunes and on HD Radio. KFOG streams its programming live over the Internet worldwide.^[2] There is a foghorn sound effect heard from time to time.

Notable personalities and shows [link]

• KFOG KaBoom
• Rosalie Howarth is on Sunday mornings. The Sunday evening format includes Acoustic Sunrise and Acoustic Sunset.
• The Putumayo World Music Hour is syndicated across the United States.
• Weekends include The House of Blues Hour,^[3] the KFOG Sideshow, Live From The Archives-The Show, and the Putumayo World Music Hour.
• 10@10^[4] is one of KFOG's most popular features, broadcast at 10 a.m. and repeated at 10 p.m. weekdays, with a 7 a.m. Saturday morning marathon replaying all five shows from that week. The general theme is "ten great songs from one great year" but the show also occasionally features other special themes. The show is currently hosted by Midday personality Annalisa.

HD radio [link]

KFOG Broadcasts in HD Radio and has the following stations:

• HD-1 KFOG
• HD-2 KFOG

References [link]

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ www.kfog.com
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ [3]

External links [link]

• KFOG Website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KFOG
• Radio-Locator information on KFOG
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KFOG
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KFFG
• Radio-Locator information on KFFG
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for KFFG

Coordinates: 37°45′18″N 122°27′11″W / 37.755°N 122.453°W / 37.755; -122.453