KFOG may have flipped formats, but its memory will live on thanks to an ambitious fan of the station.
In late August, Cumulus Media, the parent company of KFOG (104.5 FM), announced the San Francisco alternative station would begin simulcasting sports broadcaster KNBR-AM (680 AM) the following month. The move marked the end of an era for a radio station that had a small but loyal following on the FM dial, and fans took to the Internet to mourn its demise.
One fan, Kristi Wachter, decided to take action.
“A friend told me Thursday morning that KFOG was shutting down for good – and they were doing a day-long farewell broadcast, featuring lots of Ten at Ten episodes and Live from the Archives sets,” Wachter wrote on her blog. “Thanks to him, I was able to tune in and listen to almost the whole day. It brought back a lot of memories.”
Wachter, who called herself “a registered Foghead” — the nickname the station gave its fans — kept thinking about ways she could honor the station and its legacy.
“Just before I went to bed, it occurred to me that it might be cool to put together a quick website commemorating the station and especially its golden age,” Wachter wrote.
She registered the web address KFOGForever.com, installed a piece of publishing management software called Drupal and spent about a day erecting a bare-bones website. As of October, pages on former KFOG DJs were interspaced with links to playlists and historic KFOG broadcasts, including about 90 minutes of its first broadcast.
“I was saddened when a friend passed along the news that KFOG was closing down completely, and I wanted to create this simple site to honor all the wonderful years of great music and wonderful people that I remembered from the best years of KFOG,” Wachter wrote on KFOGForever.com.
Wachter promises more content will be available on the website in the coming months.
“KFOG was a big part of my life for many years, and it’s nice to take some time to remember it,” she said.
