Dr. Bill Wattenburg reacts to KGO radio format change

 

 

 

Former KGO radio talk show host Bill Wattenburg says he’s not angry and there are no sour grapes on his part about being fired by KGO after four decades on the air.   On Saturday, December 3, Wattenburg told the Examiner.com that although he believes KGO’s decision to move to a mostly all-news format was a mistake, he wishes them well with the change. 

 

 

 

“There are other stations that want to enter the talk radio business in the Bay Area and West Coast,” Wattenburg said.  “Killing KGO talk radio will make it much easier for new stations to build up instant audience very quickly. The hosts fired from KGO take with them a combined audience ten times greater that any new talk radio station could hope to create in several years if they start with unknowns in the business. Surely, the new stations will have places for those released from KGO. And they will profit very nicely with no start up delays. Many of the talk radio sponsors want some place to go.”

 

 

“When they called Thursday afternoon to say they no longer needed me, they heard no complaint from me,” Wattenburg continued.   “I told them I expected as much. It was three minutes at most. I wished them luck. The remaining KGO staff will need it.”

 

Wattenburg has a Ph. D. in electrical engineering and nuclear physics from UC Berkeley where he later taught.   He was fondly known as “Dr. Bill” by callers who appreciated his knack for being able to explain complex science in terms that a lay person could easily understand.   He was also derided by other callers who took issue with many of his conservative views and his challenging of government bureaucracies and environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club.  

 

 

Wattenburg was known at KGO for fighting against environmental policies that he believed would ultimately cause harm to the environment.   He was long a strong voice for nuclear power noting that those who campaigned against nuclear were harming the environment by forcing the US to burn more coal and other fossil fuels. (He explains his position on nuclear power safety in the YouTube video on the left.)  Wattenburg raised a red flag about MTBE being added to gasoline long before regulators acknowledged it was poisoning ground water.   He was also among the first to report that while the BP gulf oil spill was a tragedy, it would not be the environmental Armageddon that many in the media had predicted.     (More on that here.)  While politically conservative on most issues, Wattenburg took a liberal stance on many other social issues including abortion and gay rights. 

 

Wattenburg told the Examiner.com that he accepted the decision by KGO’s parent company, Cumulous Media, as one that would be best for business.  Wattenburg along with hosts Ray Taliaferro, John Rothmann, Gene Burns,  Gil Gross, Joanie Greggains, and Len Tillem were all given the ax.

 

“The local Cumulus chiefs made a business decision. I told them that I respect that and wish them success,” Watenburg wrote.  “ If they fail, they will suffer the consequences on Wall Street, and then a new crew will be showing them the door.”

 

Wattenburg added that when he got the news about being let go from KGO, he was already thinking of taking some time off to explore “other adventures.”